The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: What’s hidden in plain sight in episode 4?
By Mike McNulty
Zemo’s Philosophy on Supremacy
From the first episode, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier didn’t shy away from politics. Granted, it’s also rooted in the politics of the MCU, but it very much mirrors sociopolitical issues in our own world. In particular, this series has been exploring the idea of superheroes as nationalist symbols. After all, much of the story centers around who gets to carry a stylized American flag emblazed upon a shield. And with episode, we have Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl) directly linking nationalism, superheroes, and the concept of supremacy together.
It may seem like a stretch when Zemo links Nazi Germany, Super Soldiers, Ultron, and the Avengers. Yet it highlights a rather uncomfortable reality not just about blind nationalism but, in a metatextual sense, the very concept of superheroes themselves. There is buried within the very premise of superheroes of what German philosopher Fredrick Nietzsche dubbed the Übermensch. If, as he claimed, “God is dead,” then man could take the place of God, someone who could surpass traditional religious values and morality and establish new ones for themselves. Those that do would become (wait a for it) a “Superman,” someone who embodies the best qualities and virtues that this now supposedly “enlightened” humanity has to offer.
Of course, as the 20th Century proved, when one starts thinking themselves above the rest of humanity, that’s when the trouble starts. It’s no coincidence that Adolf Hitler adopted many of Nietzsche’s ideas into the National Socialist German Workers’ Party platform, and that his delusion about establishing a “Master Race” gave rise to the Holocaust. Yet if you look at the Golden Age of Comics, including Captain America, every costumed crimefighter not only take the law into their own hands, but are depicted as physically and mentally superior to the average person. They just happen to be fighting for “Truth, Justice, and the American Way.”
Look also at what has happened in the MCU, and you’ll see example after example of the Avengers believing they had the moral high ground simply because they were the Avengers. That very attitude is what directly lead to the events of both Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Captain America: Civil War (2016). And how is that belief of one’s own “supremacy” over the common masses because they have power any different than the Red Skull, Ultron, Thanos, the Power Broker… or Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman)? How is that different than of the Hitler, Stalin, and every other dictator throughout history? No wonder Zemo’s argument to Sam that “the desire to become a superhuman cannot be separated from supremist ideals” is so thought-provoking… and frightening.