WinterBaron

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

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 "Super Soldiers go against everything he believes in. He is crazy, but he still has a code."

- Barnes about Zemo    ‏  "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

Fanon
The dynamics of this ship is quite varied because of the unpredictable nature of Zemo's character. Most fans has 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 Bucky affectionately and help him through his trauma; some others would argue that Zemo, being the manipulative man who broke up the avenger, would take benefit of Bucky's situation; and some people would take it in between. It is quite popular fanon that Zemo has an unrequited crush on Bucky which led him not to kill him despite his intolerance towards super soldiers.

During their flight to Madripoor, Zemo read another book underneath the Bucky's amend notebook. The book was titled "Das Nein in der Liebe: Abgrenzung und Hingabe in ser erotischen Beziehung" (in english: "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 section of the book which was titled "The Overt No in Love." Some fans speculated that this reading was directed towards Barnes.

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

On the first day the ship started there was only 4 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.

Fandom
FANFICTION



TWITTER



Trivia

 * Zemo and Barnes had their character original soundtracks blend together in 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).