WinterBaron

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

Captain America: Civil War
Zemo family got killed in a fight between the Avengers and Ultron (AI created by two members of the Avengers) that caused the downfall of Sokovia. Zemo was determined to avange his family and bring the Avengers to fall, to stop them playing God amongst men. Knowing he could not win by force, Zemo sought to manipulate the Avengers into destroying each other. One of his plans included using Bucky Barnes as a tool for pitting The Avanger against each other.

To initiate his plan, Zemo located Vasily Karpov, one of the former leaders of the Winter Soldier Program, who was in hiding as HYDRA had been wiped out. Eventually, he killed Karpov and obtained Winter Soldier Book. Using all the information he had obtained, Zemo then proceeded to frame the former Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes, into taking the fall for a bombing which then killed the Wakandan king T'Chaka.

Bucky Barnes was eventually caught and subdued. Zemo soon managing to get past security, posed as the psychiatrist Theo Broussard that was intended to examine Barnes' state of mind. Zemo then reactived Barnes' Winter Soldier programming using the code words he learned from the Winter Soldier book. He asked about Barnes about his one particular mission report and then ordered him to flee and cause ruckus. among the Avengers.

Zemo eventually arrived at the HYDRA Facility all of found some Winter Soldiers who were still held inside Cryostasis Chambers, peacefully awaiting their next orders. Zemo killed all those five soldiers in their sleep.

Later, Bucky Barnes who had regain his consciousness, Steve Rogers, and Tony Stark arrived to the HYDRA Facility. Zemo played them a footage of the Winter Soldier tracking down and killing Howard and Maria Stark. Just as Zemo had planned, seeing his parents being killed by the Winter Soldier drove Stark into a fit of rage, made worse as Rogers revealed that he had always known this, resulting in Stark furiously attacking his former allies to kill Barnes the Winter Soldier. Zemo then quietly escaped during all of the chaos.

Zemo was eventually found by T'Challa. He explained about his motives to T'Challa, and then tried to killed himself and to reunite with his family, but he was stopped by T'Challa. He then got arrested for his crimes in Berlin Prison.

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier
Seven years after Zemo got arrested, Barnes found that someone had been recreated the Super Soldier serum and now there were new super soldiers around, running an anti-nationalism organization called Flag Smasher.

Assuming that HYDRA had something to do with this, Barnes got the idea to visit Helmut Zemo who had intensively studied the organization. Barnes told Wilson that he had to see Zemo alone, and to trust him to do that because he and Zemo had a history together.

As soon as Zemo got visited by Barnes in prison, he recited the Winter Soldier Programming words, only for Barnes to say that did not work anymore. Zemo then told him that he knew that, but he only wanted to see how the 'new Barnes' would have been reacted to the words. Zemo then apologized to Barnes for framing him for T'Chaka's murder, explaining that it had never been personal, while telling him that he was only a means to an end. Barnes changed the subject and told Zemo that someone had recreated the Super Soldier Serum which got Zemo's attention. Zemo told Barnes that he knew where to begin. Barnes then helped Zemo broke out of the prison. Wilson demanded that Zemo be returned to prison, but Barnes argued that they needed him.

Barnes and Wilson were brought by Zemo to his private plane and they flew off. During the flight, Zemo somehow had managed to get and read Barnes' amend/revenge book (which has his name on the list). Barnes launched out of his seat and grabbed Zemo by the throat, vowing to kill him if he ever touched the notebook again. Zemo apologized, noting that he understood that it was a list of names of the people he had wronged as the Winter Soldier. Zemo then informed them that they were going to Madripoor, and they could not walk into it as themselves, so Barnes would have to become the Winter Soldier once again.

In Madripoor Zemo was acting as the Winter Soldier's handler. He causued a ruckus that earned the trio a meeting with Selby. Zemo explained that he wanted Selby to tell them everything they knew about the Super Soldier Serum, and in exchange, he would give her the Winter Soldier.

Zemo caressed Barnes' chin while promising that the Winter Soldier would do anything that Selby required of him. Upon offering Barnes as a bargaining tool, Zemo learned from Selby that Doctor Wilfred Nagel was responsible for the recreation of the serum. Before Selby could offer Nagel's location for a fee, Sam Wilson received a call from his sister. The call blew Sam's identity. As Selby declared the trio be killed, she got killed by an unseen gun.

Wilson, Barnes, and Zemo fleed the premises. The entirety of Madripoor was alerted to Selby's death, with a bounty placed on the trio's heads. The mysterious gun killed several bounty hunters, later revealing herself as Sharon Carter. She was now a fugitive living off the grid on Madripoor for having stolen Steve Rogers' shield and The Falcon's wings to save Barnes from Zemo during the Avengers Civil War. Sam then promised her a pardon from government if Carter helped them to find Nagel, in which Carter accepted.

Carter brought them to Nagel's laboratory. While Carter remained outside to fend the lab against the remaining bounty hunters, Nagel was nterrogated at gunpoint. He told them that he had created twenty vials of the serum, but it was stolen by Karli Morgenthau (now a super soldier and a leader of Flag Smashers).

Once they got the information they needed, Zemo took his chance and killed Nagel, making sure that the super soldier serum couldn't be recreated anymore. A firefight then occurred by more bounty hunters that was coming close in on the lab. Zemo defeated multiple bounty hunters before stealing a getaway vehicle from inside a shipping container. Wilson insisted that Zemo should go back prison, only for Zemo to note that they needed him. Barnes agreed with Zemo and then got in the front seat of the car, sitting beside him.

Looking forward to meeting with Morgenthau, Zemo redirected them to Riga. When they arrived at Zemo's residence in, Barnes separated himself from them. He then come face-to-face with Ayo. Ayo declared that she was there to get Zemo and asked why Barnes had allowed him to escape prison after Zemo had killed their king. Barnes told Ayo that Zemo was a means to an end, then Ayo gave him eight hours left with Zemo.

After Ayo left, Barnes returned to the building where they were staying. He informed that he had encountered the Dora Milaje, who had come from Wakanda to recapture Zemo. Barnes insisted that he was not followed there. Zemo questioned how he could be sure, to which Barnes insisted that he would have known. Zemo then commented on how sweet it was, at least, of Barnes to defend him.

While discussing about Morgenthau, Zemo had suggested that the concept of a super soldier would always trouble people and claimed that this mind set had previously led to the Nazis, as well as the Avengers and Ultron. Zemo continued to claim that anybody who took the Super Soldier Serum got on the path to supremacy and had to be killed.

Seeking to learn where they could find the Flag Smashers, Zemo joinef Wilson and Barnes as they visited the GRC's Resettlement Camp. With no luck in getting the funeral location, Barnes and Wilson met up in the courtyard where they watched Zemo talking with the refugee children, and were suspicious after Zemo got a girl to whisper something in his ear.

Returning to Zemo's residence, Barnes then questioned what the girl told Zemo, as he just explained that Karli would be in the afternoon. Barnes then noted that the Dora Milaje were still coming for him, suggesting that he keep talking. However, Zemo suggested that Barnes would leave him to the Dora Milaje once they got to Morgenthau, as he noted that he had wanted to keep his leverage. In response, Barnes furiously grabbed Zemo's drink and smashed it, threating him with his leverage instead. Wilson then adviced Barnes not to engage with Zemo. After Barnes calmed himself, Zemo tried to offer him a cup of Cherry Blossom tea that he made for them, only to get refused by Barnes. After Barnes left, Zemo released the breath that he had been holding all along.

To find Karli, Barnes and Wilson followed Zemo through the streets, until they ran into John Walker and Lemar Hoskins who ended up joining them to the funeral location. At the building, Walker handcuffed Zemo to the wall, while Wilson went into the funeral to speak with Karli Morgenthau. Eventually, Walker broke into the room and threatened to arrest Morgenthau, leading her to flee. Meanwhile, Zemo frees himself from his handcuffs before confronting and repeatedly shooting Morgenthau. This causes her to drop the vials of super soldier serum, which Zemo promptly destroys. While stomping on the vials of super soldier serum, Walker knocks out Zemo to the floor with a bang on his head with the shield.

In his residence, Zemo recovered from the blow to the head by drinking a whiskey and wearing a wet cloth over his eyes. Zemo claimed that Morgenthau was beyond any redemptions, and they could not allow her, nor the Flag Smashers to turn themselves into gods, as he believed Super Soldiers should never be allowed to exist. However, Wilson noted that Zemo was also talking like a god. He then asked Zemo about his feeling and if Bucky, as a super soldier, should not exist as well. Zemo fell silent to that question.

Walker and Hoskins then arrived to apprehend Zemo. The Dora Milaje appeared shortly after for the same man, leading to a fight between Walker, Hoskins, and the Wakandans. As Wilson and Barnes joined in to break up the fight, Zemo escaped through the sewers from the bathroom. While Sam was in disbelief, Barnes knew all along that Zemo could pull something like that.

After dealing with Morgenthau and Walker, Bucky was going to leave. Sam asked if he was off to take care of Zemo in which he ignored. Barnes then traveled to meet Zemo. Zemo had fled to Sokovia, to visit the Sokovian Memorial. Soon enough, while Zemo was standing by the memorial, he was noticed the arrival of Bucky Barnes, with Zemo noting that he thought Barnes would have arrived sooner. Zemo told Barnes that he did not need to worry about him, since he had decided not to kill him. Barnes responded sarcastically and made it clear that he had a gun with him.

Zemo then explained that Karli Morgenthau had become radicalised beyond the point of redemption. He noted Barnes that HYDRA had programmed him to kill, so he knew what had to be done about Morgenthau. Although Barnes claimed that he appreciated Zemo's advice, he insisted that they would stop Morgenthau in their own way.

Barnes then aimed the gun toward Zemo; Zemo did not resist, and instead nodded in approval to Barnes, giving him permission to shoot; only for Barnes to reveal that the gun is unloaded. Zemo was then surrounded by the Dora Milaje. He smiled at Barnes as he realized what was happening. He then told Barnes that he had already crossed off his own name outof his list. He also claimed to hold no grudges against Barnes and said his final goodbye to him. Then he is taken by Dora Milaje to be imprisoned in the Raft.

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

Zemo's Book
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 was directed at Barnes.

Fandom
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 fans which also uses "WinterZemo" alongside with "WinterBaron." On May 1, 2021 WinterBaron Discord (18+) was created as a medium for fans to discuss about the ship.

FANFICTION



TWITTER

Music
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.

Status of Relationship
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.

Parallel Ship
WinterBaron has some parallel scenes and slight parallel dynamic with Hannigram which attracted some fans of the ship. Previously, Bryan Fuller, Hannigram's Producer, also liked a tweet about WinterBaron.

Reference
[https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Baron_Zemo Baron Zemo. Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki]

[https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Captain_America:_Civil_War Captain America: Civil War. Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki]

[https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Power_Broker_(episode) Power Broker (Episode). Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki]

[https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/The_Whole_World_Is_Watching The Whole World is Watching. Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki]

[https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Truth Truth. Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki]

[https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Winter_Soldier Winter Soldier. Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki]