Daniel Brühl Confirms 'Captain America: Civil War' Character

Five months after Daniel Brühl was cast in Captain America: Civil War, the actor is finally ready to talk about his role. In a recent interview, he confirmed what we've long suspected: He's playing Baron Helmut Zemo in the movie. More on the Daniel Bruhl Baron Zemo news after the jump. 

The news comes at the end of The Independent's wide-ranging profile of Brühl. "I think I can tell you that without being thrown into Marvel prison," he said. "For the first few days I'll walk around like a little boy, just amazed by the megalomania of it. It's such a huge project. We could do 20 films with the budget."

Marvel Studios announced Brühl's casting in Captain America: Civil War in November. Speculation about his character began the moment the news hit, and Baron Zemo was considered to be one of the more likely suspects. Various reports have additionally pointed to Zemo as Brühl's character. But now we have official confirmation, straight from Brühl himself.

The original Baron Zemo was Heinrich Zemo, a prominent Nazi scientist who perished in a battle against Captain America in World War II. Brühl is playing Helmut Zemo, son of Heinrich, who wants to avenge his father's death. He's a somewhat ambiguous villain who poses as a hero when it suits him, which could add an interesting wrinkle to the story.

In the comics, Helmut Zemo plays both sides during the Civil War. Zemo recruits villains to the pro-registration side, at the request of Iron Man, but he also helps Captain America break out of prison. None of that tells us what Baron Zemo will be doing in the movie version of Civil War, though, as the MCU likes to shake things up as it sees fit.

Captain America will have a whole lot on his plate in the next film. In addition to Zemo, he'll also be dealing with the return of Brock Rumlow a.k.a. Crossbones (Frank Grillo), and presumably the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), too. Also appearing in the film will be Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch, Anthony Mackie as Falcon, Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther, and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye.

Captain America: Civil War shoots this spring for release on May 6, 2016.