Arnim Zola

Arnim Zola is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books by Marvel Comics. He is a master of biochemistry and is an enemy of Captain America and the Avengers. He first appeared in Captain America #208 (April 1977), created by writer/artist Jack Kirby.[1] He was originally a Nazi biochemist during World War II and survived into the modern age by transferring his conscious mind into the body of a sophisticated robot which protected it by storing it in its chest and displaying a digital image of Zola's face on its chest plate.

Arnim Zola
Arnim Zola
Art by Steve Epting
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceCaptain America #208 (April 1977)
Created byJack Kirby
In-story information
Team affiliationsHydra
PartnershipsRed Skull
Notable aliasesThe Bio-Fanatic
AbilitiesGenius biochemist and scientist
Specially modified robot body grants:
ESP Box
Mind control
Mind ray
Mind transfer

Arnim Zola was a biochemist during World War II, experimenting with genetic engineering. His skills as a geneticist drew the attention of the Red Skull who used him in an attempt to create super soldiers. One of his experiments led to the brain of Adolf Hitler being copied into a being later known as Hate-Monger.[2] In order to survive the end of World War II Zola managed to transfer his mind into a robot body and later enabled his mind to survive by uploading itself to various networks as the robotic body was destroyed.

Arnim Zola has appeared in animated television series and live-action movies. Toby Jones portrayed the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and the season one finale of the television series Agent Carter.

Publication history

Created by Jack Kirby, Arnim Zola first appeared in Captain America #208 (April 1977), followed by issues #209-212 (May–August 1977) of the same title.

The character subsequently appeared in:

  • Super-Villain Team-Up #17 (June 1980)
  • Captain America #275-277 (November 1982-January 1983)
  • The Avengers Annual #13 (1984)
  • X-Factor Annual #3 (1988)
  • Captain America #350 (February 1989)
  • Marvel Comics Presents #24 (July 1989)
  • Excalibur v.1 #36 (April 1991)
  • Captain America #383 (March 1991)
  • #387 (July 1991)
  • #393-396 (October 1991-January 1992)
  • Captain America Annual #11 (1992)
  • Marvel Comics Presents #106 (1992)
  • Fury #1 (May 1994)
  • Captain America #437 (March 1995)
  • Iron Man/X-O Manowar: Heavy Metal #1
  • X-O Manowar/Iron Man in Heavy Metal #1 (September 1996)
  • Thunderbolts #4 (July 1997)
  • #24 (March 1999)
  • Wolverine #139 (June 1999)
  • Thunderbolts #33 (December 1999)
  • Captain America #50 (February 2002)
  • Secret War: From the Files of Nick Fury (2005)
  • Marvel Holiday Special #2006
  • Captain America #24 (January 2007)
  • #26 (July 2007)
  • X-Men #200 (August 2007)
  • The Uncanny X-Men #488 (September 2007)
  • Cable & Deadpool #45 (November 2007)
  • Thunderbolts: International Incident (April 2008)
  • Captain America #34-36 (March–May 2008)
  • #38 (July 2008)
  • Wizard Deadpool #0
  • Invaders Now! #2 (November 2010).

Arnim Zola received an entry in the original Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #1 (January 1983), The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #1 (August 1985), and All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #12 (2006).

Fictional character biography

Arnim Zola was a Swiss biochemist during World War II who became one of the first human genetic engineers in history after finding papers and equipment used by the offshoot race of humanity known as the Deviants. He finds a ready home among the Nazi Party, who see his experiments as a means to ensure the existence of the Master Race.[3]

One of his first accomplishments is the creation of a brain pattern imprinting device, which allows a person's mental essence to be projected into a cloned brain. Zola uses this machine on Adolf Hitler, creating the Hate-Monger. Zola was later approached by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker into taking part in the establishment of HYDRA.[4]

The Red Skull also financed some of Zola's experiments, allowing him to produce such creations as Primus, Doughboy, and Man-Fish.[5] During one such experiment, Zola collects humans from the rubble of New York City after the devastation caused by the being known as Onslaught. Zola endows a teenager with superpowers, creating the hero known as Jolt, who is eventually stopped by the Thunderbolts.[6] Zola also collected DNA samples of Captain America at the time when Red Skull's body began to age rapidly,[7] and used this template to create a new body for his ally.[8]

As part of another experiment, he collects the DNA of multiple superpowered individuals and uses it to create Proto-Husks that are destroyed by Deadpool.[9]

A copy of Zola, who had been impersonating Brian Braddock's mentor Professor Walsh, dies at Meggan's hands.[10]

During the "X-Men: Endangered Species" storyline, Arnim Zola was among the nine supervillain geniuses recruited by Beast to help him reverse the effects of Decimation.[11]

In the aftermath of the Superhuman Civil War, Zola joins the Red Skull in his newest attempt to kill Captain America, which succeeds. Afterwards, while Red Skull is busy with his plans to control America with a puppet government, Zola attempts to reverse-engineer a mysterious device given to him by Doctor Doom, as well as craft a device that will separate the Skull's consciousness from the mind of Aleksander Lukin, which was the result of misuse of the Cosmic Cube. He manages to unlock the device's secrets and has a brainwashed Sharon Carter hooked up to it. However, she breaks off the connection, just as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents storm the base. Zola quickly transfers Red Skull out of Lukin but his body is destroyed by the Grand Director. Red Skull is stuck in one of Zola's robot bodies.[12]

Stuck in a computer somewhere during the "Captain America: Reborn" part of the "Dark Reign" storyline, Zola is located by Norman Osborn. He informs the current director of H.A.M.M.E.R. that Captain America is locked in space and time on the date of his supposed death. Doom's machine was meant to bring him back for an unknown purpose but because of Sharon, he has become unstuck in time, causing him to relive the events of World War II.[13] By the time Zola rebuilds the machine in Castle Doom, Sharon Carter is brought to him so that he can transfer the Red Skull's mind into her body.[14]

Eventually, Captain America finds Zola hiding in an alternate dimension, Dimension Z, where time moves at faster rate than on Earth. There. Zola has built a massive fortress where he is making a massive army of genetically altered soldiers with the intent of conquering Earth. In the initial assault, Cap rescues a genetically engineered infant boy (Zola's son, Leopold). In the decade stranded in Dimension Z, Cap raises the boy as his own son, Ian. The two take up with the peaceful Phrox, and eventually lead a rebellion to stop Zola's forces, now commanded by Zola's daughter, Jet Black. Ian is later captured by Zola, and brainwashed to accept Zola as his father again, but eventually breaks out of his control, only to be shot by Sharon Carter. Eventually, Carter sacrifices herself to destroy Zola and his fortress, allowing Cap and a now reformed Jet to escape back to Earth, where only seconds have passed since his arrival in Dimension Z.[15]

During the "AXIS" storyline, Red Skull tells Arnim Zola that everything is in place on his end. Zola is confronted by his daughter Jet Zola who refuses to return to her father's side. Falcon sneak attacks Zola. Ian finds and frees Sharon Carter, only to learn that Zola has a bomb strong enough to destroy all of New York City. Falcon removes the telepathic antenna on Zola's body to stop him from controlling the bomb, but it only sets the bomb to activate. Falcon takes the bomb high into the sky above New York before it goes off.[16] Upon the Unvengers being defeated, Arnim Zola fled with Jet Zola.[17]

Arnim Zola later appears as a member of Hydra's High Council at the time when Captain America had previously been brainwashed by Red Skull's clone using the powers of Kobik to be a Hydra sleeper agent.[18]

When Otto Octavius' mind in the Proto-Clone's body returns to one of his old bases only to find it is being occupied by Hydra following the "Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy" storyline, he defeats the Hydra soldiers when Arnim Zola appears to recruit him into Hydra. Zola grants him the leadership of some Hydra soldiers to work for him in arranging the destruction of Parker Industries.[19]

During the "Secret Empire" storyline, Arnim Zola was present with Hydra's High Council as Hydra takes over the United States.[20] It was later revealed that Arnim Zola was behind the A.I. Virus that is controlling Vision to be a part of Hydra's Avengers. As the Hydra Helicarriers attack the hideout of the Underground, Arnim Zola mentions that their attacks won't bring down their defenses. Captain America states that they will unleash their secret weapon. Arnim Zola tells Captain America that their subject in the vault is awake but disoriented and that the procedure they did on him is temporary as his condition will degrade quickly. After brushing off Arnim Zola's concerns, Captain America states that they only need their subject for a short time to bring the Underground down. When the vault opens, it is revealed that the person they are talking about that is a somehow-revived Bruce Banner.[21]

During the "Spider-Geddon" storyline, Arnim Zola and some Hydra agents locate Superior Octopus' hideout in order to get him to return to Hydra and help rebuild it. When Superior Octopus states that he upheld his bargain with Hydra, Arnim Zola states that one "leaves" Hydra when he dies. Upon taking down the Hydra agents, Superior Octopus is then attacked by a bio-duplicate of Gorgon that Arnim Zola created. When Gorgon's blindfold falls off, Superior Octopus is turned to stone by his petrifying stare. Under Arnim Zola's orders, the bio-duplicate of Gorgon shatters the petrified Superior Octopus. Just then, the bio-duplicate of Gorgon is beheaded by Superior Octopus who revealed that Arnim Zola is not the only one who is an expert at cloning. After dismantling Arnim Zola, Superior Octopus has him carry a message to the rest of Hydra stating that he rejects their offer and that anyone who comes after him will receive similar "treatment."[22]

Arnim Zola 4.2.3

A flawed copy of Arnim Zola's consciousness in a robot body is recruited by the Shadow Council. He faces the Secret Avengers who are investigating the Shadow Council's mining operations inside of a "bad continuum" (a malformed reality). Although he is defeated by the Secret Avengers, his fate afterwards is unknown.[23]

Powers and abilities

Arnim Zola has no natural superpowers, but he is a scientific genius and biochemist specializing in genetics and cloning. He is not only capable of creating exact clone copies of his "clients", he has also created monsters which are conditioned to do his bidding.

Zola's most noticeable feat was performed upon himself. He constructed a specially modified android body which lacks a head. Instead, Zola's face is located via holographic projection on his chest. Atop his shoulders is an ESP Box, a psychotronic device which he uses to exert his control over his monster creations. The ESP Box also lets Arnim Zola gain mental control over others, fire mental blasts, and transfer his consciousness into another android body. In a limited effect, the Box can also be used as an offensive weapon. Whenever his body is damaged or utterly destroyed, Arnim is able to send his personality to another one stored elsewhere, thus giving himself a form of immortality.[24]

Other versions

Ultimate Marvel

Arnim Zola appeared in Ultimates Annual #2, written by Charlie Huston. Just like his Earth-616 incarnation he was also a Nazi biochemist. His role in World War II was to make a cadre of special master race troops to serve as Adolf Hitler's bodyguards.[25] Captain America was able to infiltrate Arnim Zola's facility and kill his first experimental monster, which Zola dubbed "Siegsoldat" ("Victory soldier"). The experiment's dead body then fell on Arnim Zola, seemingly killing him.[25] Zola did not die and the O.S.S. rescued him so as to harvest his intellect on the post-war super soldier program. Later they mapped his brain and created an artificial intelligence out of it before the tumors he had could degrade his mind.[25] A short time after the Liberators attacked the United States,[26] a white survivalist group called the Marauders attacked the military base where Zola's AI was being held and stole it, along with some other weaponry. Zola was then able to convince the leader of the Marauders to allow Zola to commence experiments on him. Zola mutated the man until he was approximately 20-foot (6.1 m) tall and installed armor plating (and Zola's AI brain) on him with a hologram of Zola projected from the chest and was called Uber-Siegsoldat. He then took over the Marauders and got them to gather people for his experiments. Captain America and Falcon were sent after him and were able to defeat him by freeing the people he had kidnapped, who promptly tore apart his body, whereupon Captain America collapsed a support strut onto the Zola AI.[25]

Arnim Zola III

A young, apparently fully human named Arnim Zola III appeared in Ultimate Mystery. He appears as a member of Roxxon's brain trust. Not much is known about Zola other than he works the Roxxon Brain Trust worked to investigate the mysterious attacks on their employer and similar attacks like the attack on the Baxter Building. They soon discovered that fellow member Jennifer Carpenter is actually Jessica Drew in disguise leading Samuel Sterns to assume a Hulk/Leader-like form to subdue.[27] When Doctor Octopus arrived, Zola and the rest of the Roxxon Brain Trust learn of Jessica's motive and that Drew was one of Doc Ock's clone creations. After Spider-Man rescues Jessica from the Roxxon Brain Trust, Zola was present when the same attacker crushes the Roxxon building under the orders of Reed Richards.[28] Zola and the other Roxxon Brain Trust members survived the attack and began working on making super-soldiers through their dark matter experiments like they did with Bombshell and Cloak and Dagger.[29]

Spider-Gwen

In the "Spider-Gwen" reality during World War II, Arnim Zola attempted to unleash the Nazis of Dimension Nazi on all of Earth-65 only to be stopped by Captain America (Samantha Wilson).[30]

Secret Wars

During the 2015 "Secret Wars" storyline, there are two different versions of Arnim Zola residing in Battleworld's domains.

  • In the Battleworld domain of the Walled City of New York, Arnim Zola has a road named after him on Hydra's part of the domain called Zola Road.[31]
  • In the Battleworld domain of the Hydra Empire, Arnim Zola is the leader of the United Confederacy of Hydra which rules over the Hydra Empire.[32] When the Resistance led by Steve Rogers have been killed off by Venom and the Vipers, Arnim Zola wanted to claim the substance in Leopold Zola in order to heal his version of Leopold Zola. During the fight, Nomad used a device designed by Tony Stark to trap Arnim Zola inside Steve Rogers' corpse.[33]

In other media

Live-action

Animation
  • Arnim Zola makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in The Super Hero Squad Show episode "Wrath of the Red Skull". He is seen in a flashback giving the titular character a wedgie back when the latter was called the Pink Skull.
  • Arnim Zola appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Grant Moninger. In the episode "The Man in the Ant-Hill", he is seen as an inmate at the Big House before escaping in the episode "Breakout, Part 1" alongside his fellow inmates. In the episode "Living Legend", Baron Zemo reunites with Zola when they unleash Doughboy on New York to fight the Avengers while Zemo fights Captain America. After Doughboy is defeated, Zemo finds Zola pinned under the Executioner while the Enchantress proposes an offer to Zemo. Following this, Zola and Doughboy maintain a presence within the Masters of Evil. In the episode "Acts Of Vengeance", Zola monitors Masters of Evil members Living Laser and Chemistro until the Enchantress and Executioner eliminate them. He and Doughboy attempt to fight back when the two Asgardians come for them next, but are easily defeated.
  • Arnim Zola appears in Ultimate Spider-Man, voiced by Mark Hamill. In the episode "S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy", Zola hacks into Amadeus Cho's Iron Spider armor to facilitate his escape from the Triskelion and reassemble his robotic body. After awakening his Synthezoid army however, Cho, Spider-Man, Agent Venom, Power Man, and the Whizzer join forces to stop him and destroy his army. In the episodes "Attack of the Synthezoids" and "The Revenge of Arnim Zola", Zola replaces most of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s staff and the New Warriors with synthezoids, leaving only Spider-Man, Agent Venom, Cloak, and the Rhino. While fighting off the Synthezoids, Cloak uses his powers to track his partner Dagger and locate Zola's hostages. The villain uses S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Tri-Carrier to destroy the Triskelion, but Cloak is able to teleport his allies onto the airship in time so they can confront Zola. In the ensuing fight, Zola attempts to download himself into Spider-Man's body, but fails to before he is eventually defeated. In the two-part season four premiere "HYDRA Attacks", Zola leads HYDRA in an attack on the Tri-Carrier and collaborates with Doctor Octopus to convert the airship into HYDRA Island as well as transform his HYDRA agents into goblins. However, the Web Warriors launch Zola and HYDRA Island to Saturn while Doc Ock escapes. By the episode "Double Agent Venom", Zola pilots HYDRA Island back to Earth, but is defeated by Scarlet Spider while fighting Spider-Man and Agent Venom. In the episode "Anti-Venom", Zola assigns HYDRA scientist Michael Morbius to work with Doc Ock to create the Anti-Venom symbiote. In the two-part episode, "The New Sinister Six", Doc Ock betrays Zola and converts HYDRA Island into Octopus Island before knocking him off, but Scarlet Spider foils Doc Ock's plans and destroys the airship. In flashbacks depicted in the three-part episode "The Spider-Slayers", Zola recruited Doc Ock into HYDRA to perfect a spider-soldier project. After being cornered by Spider-Man, Scarlet Spider, and Spider-Woman in the present, Doc Ock reveals Zola and HYDRA Island are still active. Scarlet Spider and Spider-Man force Doc Ock to take them to Zola's location, where they defeat the Spider-Slayers and Doc Ock uses Zola's nanotech to rejuvenate himself. While Zola reactivates HYDRA Island, the Web Warriors arrive to help Spider-Man deactivate it once more. Zola downloads himself into Spider-Man's wrist communicator, but the latter tosses it into the sea before the former can evolve into a bigger threat.
  • Arnim Zola appears in the Avengers: Secret Wars animated series two-part episode "Avengers No More", voiced again by Mark Hamill. He appears as a member of the Cabal.
  • Arnim Zola appears in the 2010s Spider-Man animated series episode "Spider-Island" Pt. 2, voiced again by Mark Hamill. While Manhattan's citizens were developing spider powers, Zola sends Crossbones and a group of Hydra agents to obtain the key to a Vibranium vault. Black Widow leads Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen in faking their surrender to Crossbones to discover who hired him. Upon learning of Zola's involvement, they and several spider-powered civilians are able to defeat Crossbones while Zola escapes.[35]
  • Arnim Zola appears in the anime series Marvel Future Avengers, voiced by Volcano Ota in Japanese and Kirk Thornton in English.
  • Toby Jones is set to reprise his role as Arnim Zola in the Disney+ / Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) series, What If...?[36]

Film
Toby Jones as Arnim Zola in the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger.

Toby Jones portrays Arnim Zola in the live-action films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and produced by Marvel Studios:

  • First appearing in the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger, Zola is a HYDRA scientist who helped the Red Skull harness the Tesseract's power during WWII. After being captured by Captain America, Zola is forced to reveal the location of the Red Skull's base.
  • As revealed in the 2014 sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Zola took advantage of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s participation in Operation Paperclip to revive Hydra by slowly taking over the former from within over the course of the intervening decades. Having also experimented on Bucky Barnes during WWII, Zola personally oversees the young man's transformation into the Winter Soldier. After contracting a terminal illness in 1972, Zola had his consciousness transferred into a supercomputer in a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. From there, Zola masterminded S.H.I.E.L.D.'s "Project Insight" in the present as a means to identify and target potential threats to Hydra's interests. Zola reveals all of this to Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff when the two find the supercomputer housing his consciousness, stalling them in a sacrificial attempt to kill them with a missile sent by Alexander Pierce. Zola's supercomputer is destroyed, but Rogers and Romanoff survive and eventually foil "Project Insight" and expose Hydra, effectively leading to the organization's downfall.
  • Zola was originally set to appear in the 2015 film Ant-Man, with concept art suggesting he downloaded a copy of his artificial intelligence to an android body akin to the comics.[37]

Video games

Miscellaneous

References
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  2. Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. p. 9. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
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  34. Misiano, Christopher (director); Michele Fazekas & Tara Butters (writer) (February 24, 2015). "Valediction". Marvel's Agent Carter. Season 1. Episode 8. ABC.
  35. "Spider-Island: Part 2". Spider-Man. Season 1. Episode 20. February 4, 2018. Disney XD.
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