WinterBaron

WinterBaron is the slash ship between and Bucky Barnes and Baron Helmut Zemo from the Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom.

Captain America: Civil War
Zemo planned a revenge towards The Avengers which included using Barnes as a tool to pit them against each other. This was motivated by the fight between The Avengers and Ultron (an out-of-control AI created by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner) that had caused the destruction of Sokovia and death of Zemo's family.

The plan was executed by framing Barnes for UN bombing which killed T'Chaka, the King of Wakanda, and lured Barnes out of hiding. After Barnes was arrested by the authorities, Zemo posed as the psychiatrist who was intended to check Barnes' mental state and managed to activate his Winter Soldier Programming using the Winter Soldier Book he had obtained from killing a HYDRA operative. Zemo asked the Winter Soldier about a certain Mission Report and information about HYDRA's facility in Siberia. He then ordered the Winter Soldier to flee, causing a ruckus among The Avengers.

Power Broker
Seven years after Civil War, Bucky found out from Sam Wilson about an anti-nationalist group consisting of super soldiers, which is called the Flag Smasher. Being aware that someone had recreated the super soldier serum, Bucky visited Zemo in prison to seek his assistance. Just as Bucky entered Zemo's cell, Zemo began to recite the Winter Soldier Programming words. Bucky told him that his days as the Winter Soldier were over, in which Zemo acknowledged in return. Zemo told him that he had just wanted to see how the "new" Bucky would have reacted to the words. Zemo then apologized to Bucky for his action, telling him that it had not been personal and that Bucky had only been a means to an end.

Bucky told Zemo that someone had been recreating the super soldier serum. This got Zemo's attention since the man had worked to prevent super soldiers from existing. Zemo told Bucky that he knew where to begin and this led to Bucky breaking him out of prison. Bucky then managed to convince Wilson to bring Zemo on mission with them.

On the flight to their next destination, Zemo managed to get Bucky' book which was filled with a list of people he helped and wronged as the Winter Soldier. The book also included Zemo's name. When Bucky found out that Zemo had his book, he lashed out and threatened to kill Zemo if he dared to touch the book again. Zemo apologized and later told both Bucky and Wilson that they were going to Madripoor where they could not walk in as themself, therefore Bucky had to pretend to be the Winter Soldier again.

In a bar in Madripoor, Bucky posed as the Winter Soldier who was under Zemo's control. Zemo ordered him to attack some people in order to get Selby (the person who had the lead key to the serum recreation)'s attention. After Bucky beat up some people, the trio gained their permission to meet Selby. Selby refused to give them information for free, therefore Zemo pretended that the Winter Soldier code words still worked, and he offered to give Bucky to Selby in exchange for information. Selby agreed to this and told them the name of the person who had been recreating the Super Soldier serum which is Wilfred Nagel; yet before she managed to give them further explanation, the trio's covers were blown by a call from Wilson's sister.

They were helped by Sharon Carter, who had been living as fugitive in Madripoor, and eventually managed to find Nagel. After getting the information they needed, Zemo killed Nagel with a straight shot to his head. This prompted Wilson to urge Zemo to go back to prison, yet Bucky managed to convinced Wilson to let Zemo stay, insisting that they needed any help they could get. The trio then continued their journey to Riga.

When they reached Zemo's residence in Riga, Bucky separated himself from both Wilson and Zemo to face Ayo who was looking to get Zemo back to prison.

Quotes
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry. It was never personal. You were simply a means to a necessary end."

- Zemo to Barnes, Power Broker "Super Soldiers go against everything he believes in. He is crazy, but he still has a code."

- Barnes about Zemo, Power Broker "I took the liberty of crossing off my name in your book. I hold no grudges for what you thought you had to do. Goodbye, James."

- Zemo to Barnes, Truth

Fanon
The fandom started on April 2, 2021, when episode 3 of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was aired. Some fans picked the name of the ship using a poll on twitter. Among "Zucky", "Zoldier", and "Bemo"; "WinterBaron" got the highest votes. While some fans on AO3 used "Zucky", they were gradually following "WinterBaron" name usage. The ship has a quite large of Russian fandom in proportion which also uses "WinterZemo" and "Zecky" alongside with "WinterBaron".

WinterBaron is the most written ship for Zemo on AO3. On the first day the ship started, there were only four WinterBaron fanfictions on AO3, it then reached 600+ in four months following. On May 1, 2021 WinterBaron Discord (18+) was created as a medium for fans to discuss about the ship.

During the flight to Madripoor, Zemo read another book underneath Barnes's amend notebook. The book was titled in German "Das Nein in der Liebe: Abgrenzung und Hingabe in der erotischen Beziehung" (translation: "How to Say No to The One You Love: Demarcation & Devotion in the Erotic Relationship"). Zemo was at the end of the section of the book which was titled "Same Sex Fantasies in Heterosexuals" and the beginning of "The Overt No in Love." Some fans speculate that this reading was directed towards Barnes.

The dynamics of this ship is quite varied among fans due to the complicated nature of Zemo's character. Most fans have different takes on the ship. Some would argue that Zemo, being the man who loves his family dearly and treats his guests and employees nicely, would treat Barnes affectionately and help him through his trauma; some would argue that Zemo, being the manipulative man who broke up the avenger, would take benefit of Barnes's condition; and some others would take it in between. Most of the ship is open to interpretations but it is a quite popular fanon that Zemo has an unrequited pining on Barnes which led him not to kill Barnes despite his intolerance towards super soldiers. Many fans also believe that Zemo has the capability to accept and admire Barnes as a whole, including his darker side that is the Winter Soldier.

Some fans have noted the similarities between WinterBaron and Hannigram (ship between Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter) since the first day Episode 3 of "The Falcon and The Winter Soldier" was aired. These similarities draw some Hannigram shippers to the ship. The fans describe WinterBaron as the softer version of Hannigram. The similarities include both ships having their protagonists framed by mastermind villains that later turned into their enemy-allies. Prison break planned by Barnes to free Zemo was the highlight of the similarities. The hype over the similarities was then encouraged by Bryan Fuller (the developer and executive producer of Hannibal TV Series) who liked a tweet about WinterBaron. Nevertheless, there is also a minority of fans who deny their similarities, arguing that unlike Hannibal, Zemo is an anti-supremacy who is much less toxic; and that watering down Barnes and Zemo as "Murder Husbands" would completely miss the point of their characters.

WinterBaron has gotten a lot hate from antis, especially on twitter. Some antis confuse Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Zemo with his comic counterpart, who is a HYDRA operative, and connect the ship to Hydra Trash Party. On the contrary, MCU Zemo is an anti-supremacy who is hostile towards HYDRA. He had shown his distaste for HYDRA by hunting down people who had been recruited by them, killing their operative, and considering them as supremacists which he despised.

Some antis also seem to confuse Zemo with Zola, the HYDRA scientist who had turned Barnes into a Super Soldier, considering the way that they think Zemo had abused Barnes for years. The truth is Zemo had only met Barnes for the first time in Berlin. It was several days before he got imprisoned for his crime.

Beside those two reasons, the fans also deal with backlash for shipping Barnes with the person who had framed him for murder and reactivated his Winter Soldier programming. While acknowledging that Zemo's action towards Barnes had been wrong, some WinterBaron supporters also agree that Zemo had been consumed by vengeance and grief over his family's death, and that he was sorry for his action towards Barnes (As he told Barnes in the German prison). Some supporters believe that once Zemo got to know Barnes, he started to develop some respect toward him. This was shown by the way Zemo made Barnes his super-soldier-killing exception and broke his own code. Some fans also agree that Zemo and Barnes had reached a sort of peaceful resolution at Sokovian Memorial where they decided not to harm each other and got Zemo's name crossed off on Barnes' list. While some antis insist that Zemo and Barnes inarguably hate each other, Zemo had stated explicitly to Barnes that he held no grudges against him.

Fandom
FANFICTION


 * Баки/Земо tag on Книга фанфиков
 * Баки/Земо tag on Книга фанфиков

TWITTER


 * twitter@winterbarons/
 * twitter@inczucky/
 * twitter@inczucky/

TUMBLR



Trivia

 * Zemo and Barnes had their character original soundtracks blend together on a soundtrack titled "Attack, Soldier!" from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier : Vol. 1 (Episodes 1-3) album by Henry Jackman.
 * In 2021, on Marvel official site, Barnes is listed as Zemo's only ally, while Zemo is listed as both ally and enemy for Barnes.
 * The scene where Zemo was stroking Barnes' chin was improvised by Daniel Brühl (Zemo).
 * Zemo was mentioned by Sebastian Stan (Barnes) as one of his two favorite villains in People Magazine's Facebook live streaming.

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WinterBaron