Characters / The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes! – Masters of Evil

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Baron Zemo

Baron Heinrich Zemo

Voiced by: Robin Atkin Downes

First appearance: "Breakout, Part 1"

Member since: "Living Legend"

Zemo: "Your incompetence is unfortunate, Stark. We do not have much time. Zola gave the Enchantress a location. I sent the Crimson Dynamo to delay her, but she will make him talk. She will come here next."

Iron Man: "You sent Dynamo to die?"

Zemo: "That's what a team is for, yes?"

Zemo: Welcome, Asgardian.

Thor: I know thee. You are Captain America's foe, Zemo.

Zemo: (chuckles) You may call me master. Now kneel before me.

Heinrich Zemo, 12th Baron Zemo, was a Nazi Mad Scientist and pretender to German nobility who used himself as the test subject for a number of experiments in genetics intended to transform him into humanity's most superior specimen. These modifications made Zemo roughly a physical equal to America's super soldier Captain America and vastly increased his longevity. As leader of the German elite research corps HYDRA during World War II, Zemo spearheaded numerous projects to develop new forms of warfare against the Allied forces. One of these projects, a biological warfare agent codenamed Virus X, came to an end in a confrontation between Zemo and Captain America, in which Cap shattered the vat containing Virus X over Zemo's head. The effect was to permanently fuse Zemo's mask to his head and force him to resort to treatments administered by Arnim Zola to stave off the gradually lethal effect of Virus X. Imprisoned in the Raft by S.H.I.E.L.D. as a war criminal 6 years prior to the series premiere, Zemo escaped during the Breakout to retake control of HYDRA, now an international terrorist organization, from Baron Strucker. These plans were siderailed by the unexpected unthawing of Captain America's frozen body by the Avengers, as Zemo decided that he still had a score to settle with the star-spangled patriot. After failing to beat Cap one-on-one with the assistance of Arnim Zola's creation Doughboy, largely thanks to last-minute assistance by the Black Panther, Zemo met the Enchantress and the Executioner and went on to form the Masters of Evil under their influence.

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• Adaptation Origin Connection: This Zemo is the founder and original leader of HYDRA: while the Zemo family has occasionally been associated with HYDRA in the comics, it's never been that integral a role.
• Adapted Out: Helmut Zemo, the Earth-616 Heinrich Zemo's son and successor, does not exist in The Avengers EMH. Rather, his qualities are combined with those of Earth-616 Heinrich into the show's Heinrich.
• A God Am I: Baron Zemo has such a massive god complex that he orders Thor to genuflect before him without a hint of doubt in his mind that he is the true superior of a Norse god.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Well, he is the pretender to a defunct German barony.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Shows Abomination why he should be leader in spite of his lack of powers after knocking him on his face.
  Zemo: And you wish to know why I lead? Because I am better than you.
• Bad Boss: He sacrifices Arnim Zola and the Crimson Dynamo to the Enchantress just to give himself more time to reach the Avengers and hide behind them like a sniveling coward. Also forces Wonder Man to work for him unless he wants his ionic energy form to dissipate, as the Enchantress's magicks are supposedly the only thing holding him together.
• Becoming the Mask: And in this case, the trope is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. When Virus X contaminated him, his mask became fused to his actual face.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Formed one of these with Enchantress, both in a plot sense (forgetting that the Masters of Evil are more than 5 people), in Season One. Both together and individually, they create most of the conflict that the Avengers face in Season One, although all of it in the end is to lay the ground for Midgard's conquest by Loki while Loki's busy conquering the other Nine Realms. Zemo doesn't know this, unlike Enchantress, and spends the season trying to kill the Avengers as a first stepping stone to taking over the world.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Zemo and Enchantress's Big Bad Duumvirate compete with Baron Strucker for the dubious honor of Big Bad status in Season One.
• The Chessmaster: In keeping in with his Manipulative Bastard and Team Killer ways, Zemo is moreso the proper embodiment of this trope than any other character to whom it can be applied in this series, as Zemo literally sees the Masters of Evil at his command as nothing more than wholly expendable pawns in a grand game for the control of the world.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He even outplays Enchantress in this, putting a mind control collar on her as she uses the Norn Stone magic to summon Asgard's armies to Midgard even without full knowledge that if left alone Enchantress would betray him instead. In fact, he's so notorious for it that in "Assault on 42", Cap won't even bother letting him out of his cell like the other villains because he knows he'll back-stab him sooner or later.
• Composite Character: He's the original Baron Zemo (Heinrich Zemo), but his costume and skills are taken from his Earth-616 counterpart's son, Helmut.
• Dirty Coward: Zig-zagged. In "Masters of Evil", Zemo has the audacity to command Thor to kneel before him and hold a rapier to the Abombination's throat when he challenged his authority as leader. In "This Hostage Earth", Zemo fought Thor in single combat with only laser-powered variants on his usual Gun And Sword. In "Acts of Vengeance", Zemo then sacrifices his teammates one-by-one to buy himself time to reach the Avengers and ask them for refuge and assistance against the Enchantress and the Executioner, who are seeking revenge. This makes him look initially as a Dirty Coward, and it certainly makes him a Sociopath. However, it's ultimately shown that Zemo went to the Avengers for protection not out of cowardice or fear, but rather convenience, especially since his contingency plan to save his skin runs the risk of destroying the universe.
• Empowered Badass Normal: He's not superhumanly strong or durable but has used genetic treatments on himself over his lifetime to become a peak human physical specimen, the Nazi idealization of the "pure Aryan." He is also a brilliant scientist and a ruthless strategist, as well as a formidable expert in hand-to-hand and armed combat, going up against his enemies with a rapier and pistol (or Laser Blade and laser blaster in Thor's case).
• Evil Counterpart: To Captain America. Cap is a bastion of honor, justice, virtue, freedom, and all of that other good stuff and is also a genetically enhanced peak human super-soldier. Zemo is a scumbag who pursues petty vendettas even when he's had the better part of a century to get over it, throws his teammates and acquaintances under the bus if it suits him with no hint of remorse, is noble only in title, and also happens to be a genetically augmented super-soldier.
• Evil Genius: Zemo is a genius when it comes to genetic engineering, military tactics, and consummate manipulation of others' desires and emotions.
• Evil Is Petty: Just look at the following exchange from "Masters of Evil":
  Captain America: What do you want? The war is over. After all these years, is revenge on me really that important to you?
  Zemo: Yes. But now, Captain, I've been promised the world, and you will live just long enough to see me have it.
• Evil Virtues: Ambition, Determination, Diligence, Passion, Patience, Resourcefulness, and Valor.
• Expressive Mask: The eyes on his mask move with his expressions.
• The Faceless: He's never seen without his mask on, mostly because in the present day he simply can't remove it.
  • Facial Horror: His unmasked face can be seen on a computer screen in Zola's lab in "Living Legend." It's in the background, but he looks like he's made of smudged clay after getting splashed with Virus X.
• Find the Cure!: A villainous version, and he brought it on himself anyway. In the absence of one though, Zemo just uses Zola's treatments.
• Greater-Scope Villain: From the perspective of Season One's HYDRA story arc, in that Zemo was the original leader of HYDRA in WWII, although it had been passed down to Baron Strucker by the beginning of the series.
• Gun And Sword: His two weapons are a blaster gun and a rapier. He used a special Laser Blade when fighting Thor though, probably because his usual rapier would easily shatter before Mjolnir's blows.
• The Heavy: Of Season One. While Loki is the biggest threat, he stays in the background conquering the Nine Realms while the Enchantress deals with the Avengers. Zemo ends up the leader of the Masters of Evil that she forms to do so, and is far more competent and dangerous than the other member of the season's Big Bad Ensemble, Strucker. Come the end of the season, Zemo has outlasted Strucker and betrayed the Enchantress, coming incredibly close to hijacking Loki's plan, with the trickster god himself serving as the Arc Villain of the remaining two episodes.
• Horrible Judge of Character: In Season 2, he believes that the noble Captain America would hold his end of the bargain and protect him from the Enchantress's wrath. Unfortunately for him, the Captain was replaced by a duplicitous Skrull agent who has no such scruples. Even then, the real Captain America doesn't trust him at all, refusing to let Zemo out from his cell to help fight off Annihilus's forces.
• Master Swordsman: A sword is his main weapon, and is a competent duelist capable of holding his own against Captain America and even Thor.
• Motive Decay: Initially, he reignites his feud with Captain America partly out of revenge and to find a cure for his condition using the Captain's blood. Once he founds the Masters of Evil, he instead seeks to Take Over the World and his efforts to find a cure have been forgotten.
• Mythology Gag: His appearance in a flashback in "Living Legend" is his costume from his first appearance in the comics.
• Nazi Nobleman: A Nazi Baron in this case.
• Older Than They Look: Although you don't actually see his face, he is biologically 30, but chronologically 100.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He was about to claim leadership of HYDRA back from Baron von Strucker after being freed from the Raft, but news of Cap's revival and allying with the Avengers leads him to ditch his former faction and seek revenge personally.
  Zemo: (to Cap) Let the Skull have Bucky. Your life is mine to take!
• Purple Is Powerful: Just like his comic book counterpart.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He wears purple along with spotted fur on his collar and boots. But he's more manly and badass than almost any other super-villain in the show except maybe Doctor Doom, Graviton, and Korvac.
• Revenge Before Reason: He would rather stick to his meager funds and help from Zola to get direct revenge on Captain America than bring the full force of HYDRA to bear upon him. Part of this is probably because he prioritizes killing Captain America as soon as possible before kicking Baron Strucker off his throne as the Supreme Hydra. And he got within literally three feet of doing it in "Living Legend", with virtually the unanimous approval and deference of all of HYDRA's grunts, before instantly turning away upon learning of Captain America's revival.
  • Abomination called him out on it as well, thinking that while Zemo was feeding his ego, they could have simply killed the Avengers, thus making things easier down the road. Zemo didn't listen.
• Save the Villain: Zemo, Abomination, and Wonder Man go to the Avengers for protection from the Enchantress and the Executioner in "Acts of Vengeance." It doesn't go quite as well as they'd hoped.

• The Sociopath: To Zemo, another human being's life is utterly worthless unless it can be manipulated to provide him something of palpable and pragmatic benefit. When his allies and teammates have outlived their usefulness, they can be discarded, as far as Zemo's concerned, like a man discards a broken piece of equipment and, if possible, to benefit him further even in being discarded, like in the instance of Crimson Dynamo in "Acts of Vengeance." Zemo offers to fulfill promises to his subordinates in return for loyalty and servitude, yet it is obvious Zemo couldn't care less about these promises and seeks to exploit his subordinates for all he estimates them to be worth to him. In all likelihood, if the Masters of Evil had succeeded in their titular episode, Zemo would have just let Wonder Man fade away. Even before knowing for certain from Thor that Enchantress would betray him in time, Zemo already distrusted her and planned to turn her into his mindless slave at the right moment to use her Asgardian armies to conquer Earth. In the end, the only thing that Zemo cares about is the acquisition of power, no matter how many people he has to back-stab and trample underfoot to get it.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Rarely raises his voice even when praising his own victory and prowess or watching his plans fall into place just as he would anticipate.
• Spanner in the Works: Ultimately proves to be this for the Enchantress's plan.
• Spared By Adaptation: In the comics, Baron Heinrich Zemo died through being hit by a rock slide. Here, Zemo lives until the end and is imprisoned in 42 instead.
• Tactical Withdrawal: Knows when it's time to leave a battle with the Avengers in order to fight another day, making a retreat in both "Living Legend" and "Masters of Evil." He might even have been a Karma Houdini if the Enchantress's revenge quest didn't force him to seek asylum with the Avengers in "Acts of Vengeance." Even still, he might have escaped at the end of the episode if he didn't get kicked in the face upon regaining consciousness by the Skrull Captain America.
  Zemo: You would have let the Enchantress destroy me... Oh, you have changed, Captain.
  "Cap": You have no idea who I am. (knocks out)
• Take Over the World: His motivation, which Loki had promised him.
• Team Killer: He sees his team members simply as pawns to be used and discarded when necessary. Especially revealing in the exchange with Iron Man at the top of the entry.
• Übermensch: Played straight in the Nazi sense and deconstructed in the Nietzschean sense. In the Nazi sense, Zemo is the Ubermensch because he is both German and the pinnacle of genetic and physical perfection. In the Nietzschean sense, Zemo is a deconstruction in that he has no use for conventional morality and lives according to his own set of values, but the ideal he upholds in the absence of typical morality is that his superiority entitles him to treat other people as if they were objects only existing to help actualize his will to power.
• Villains Want Mercy: Played with. In "Acts of Vengeance", Baron Zemo sells the lives of the other Masters of Evil piecemeal for successive opportunities at seeking protection from the Avengers. But Zemo certainly doesn't beg for it by any means. He knows his enemies too well to subdue his uncontrollable ego long enough to manage anything like that. With the Avengers, Zemo knows they'll protect him from Enchantress even if he keeps acting the odious way he usually does, that is to say, acting wholly entitled to the Avengers' protection in spite of everything and making no display of submission/inferiority whatsoever. He even acts like he's still in charge during the whole scene.
  • It should be pointed out though that Zemo counted on Cap to make sure the Avengers defended him, and the fact that Cap in that episode was a Skrull impostor sort of threw a monkey wrench in the way he expected things to work out, not that he wasn't prepared for that though.
• Villainous Breakdown: He has a little one in "Acts of Vengeance" when Skrull Captain America decides not to turn on the anti-magic field intended to neutralize Enchantress, not that he isn't prepared for it like any good villain.
• Would Hit a Girl: Hit, shoot, stab, mind control collar, etc.

Amora The Enchantress

The Enchantress (Amora)

Voiced by: Kari Wahlgren

First appearance: "Thor the Mighty" (Micro-Episode: "The Isle of Silence")

Member since: "Living Legend"

Amora the Enchantress is Asgard's most powerful sorceress and Loki's partner in his scheme to conquer the nine realms, she takes on the Avengers on Midgard, not that this fact prevents her from lusting after Loki's adoptive brother and Arch-Enemy Thor, whose repeated spurning of her advances due to her commitment to universal domination is a constant source of ire to her.

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• Art Evolution: Her character design underwent a few changes in between her first appearance in "Thor the Mighty" (the part comprising the Micro-Episode "The Isle of Silence"), and her reappearance in "Some Assembly Required." Her design was once again changed after her power amp from Surtur in "Powerless."
• Colony Drop: While fighting Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Crimson Dynamo, she uses her magic to send debris of ice into the air before sending it all crashing down on them.
• The Dragon: Initially to Loki, before being one to Surtur involuntarily.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Though Zemo is the leader of the Masters of Evil, the Enchantress is secretly manipulating him and the Masters to further Loki's goals. Unfortunately, Zemo is aware of this and betrays her first.
• Evil Costume Switch: On being "recruited" by Surtur, she goes from her iconic green outfit to a red one with a horned headpiece and a spikey collar.
• Evil Duo: It is clear that Amora is the more powerful one initially, judging by Loki allowing her to tease him in their first appearance and her breaking the Isle of Silence spell. However, Loki clearly wants to be in control and plays mastermind, and Enchantress is terrified of failing him.
• Evil Is Burning Hot: As Surtur's herald, she commands his army of Fire Demons and gains the ability to control fire.
• Foil: To Jane Foster, her rival for Thor's affections. While Jane is an ordinary mortal, Amora is a powerful sorceress and Asgardian. While Jane is selfless and willingly throws herself in the thick of the fighting just to help others, Amora is a duplicitous schemer who relies on others to do the fighting for her. While Thor and Jane's relationship is one founded on mutual respect, Amora's own feelings for Thor is portrayed as a one-sided obsession and she will use mind control to keep him under her thrall. To reinforce their status as foils, both Jane and Amora share the same voice actress.
• The Heavy: She plays this role in Season 1. While Loki is the overarching villain of the season, it is Amora who drives the plot forward by directly antagonizing the Avengers and forming the Masters of Evil.
• Hot Witch: An extremely beautiful woman who happens to be one of Asgard's most powerful magic-users.
• Ms. Fanservice: A beautiful, buxom blonde whose main shtick is to seduce men into doing her bidding. While her iconic green outfit is relatively modest, her Evil Costume Switch upon becoming Surtur's herald is far more revealing.
• Moral Myopia: In Season 2, she seeks revenge on her former teammates for betraying her, despite the fact that they only betrayed her because she intended to betray them first.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In Season 2, she goes after all the Masters of Evil to get to Zemo for his betrayal.
• Smug Snake: While she's a competent schemer, she sometimes gets outplayed by other villains whom she expects to stick to the roles she expects them to play. Just ask Malekith and Zemo.
• Stalker with a Crush: For Thor, and she will not take "no" for an answer. She saves him from being disintegrated by Ultron, but only so she can keep him for herself. When Thor tries to leave to fight Ultron, she resorts to wiping his mind to keep him under her thrall.
• Villainous Crush: For Thor. She is constantly tying him up and tries to mind-control him when she saves him from Ultron.
• Woman Scorned: Part of the reason why she sides with Loki is because Thor rejected her advances, and seeks to hurt the mortals Thor cares for out of spite.

Executioner

The Executioner (Skurge)

First appearance: "Thor the Mighty" (Micro-Episode: "The Isle of Silence")

Member since: "Living Legend"

Amora's silent and faithful bodyguard, an Asgardian warrior with a magic battle axe.

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• Absurdly Sharp Blade: His axe can slice through reality to make quick exits.
• Adaptational Badass: While Skurge in the comics is no slouch, he's usually outclassed by the likes of Thor. Here, he's able to go toe-to-toe with the Hulk, even after he loses his Executioner's Blade.
• Bald of Evil: He has no hair and is associated with the Enchantress along with the Masters of Evil.

• Co-Brutes: With the Abomination in the Masters of Evil.
• Dimensional Cutter: His Executioner's Blade can cut through time-space, allowing him to travel across even dimensions.
• The Dragon: To the Enchantress.
• Elemental Powers: He can create fire and ice via his axe.
• Enemy Mine: In "Assault on 42", Skurge is one of the prisoners that is released to help fight the Annihilation Wave.
• Evil Counterpart: Seems to be the team's answer to Thor, being an big Asgardian with an enchanted weapon.
• Evil Virtues: Love, Loyalty, and Valor, all strong enough in his personage that he would brave the Norn Stone of Muspelheim itself without misgivings for his beloved Enchantress.
• Facial Markings: He seems to have some bizarre light and dark markings on his head and arms. Whether they're warpaint or something else is unknown.
• Hand Cannons Akimbo: His new weapons in Season Two, since he lost his axe to the Hulk in "This Hostage Earth."
• Heel–Face Turn: He seemed pretty close to doing this when he helped the Avengers fight the Annihilation Wave and learned from Thor that Amora was imprisoned and possessed by Surtur, agreeing to help his fellow Asgardian when the time came. But since "Assault on 42" was the last episode that he appeared in and the Surtur story became an Aborted Arc, nothing came from it.
• Love Makes You Evil: As with the comics, he serves Enchantress probably due to being smitten with her.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Executioner.
• Physical God: He is an Asgardian.
• Silent Antagonist: He never makes a sound.
• Undying Loyalty: He seems to be extremely loyal to the Enchantress, as he always does what she tells him, never questions her and even uses himself as a shield for her when she's in actual danger. He willingly teams up with Thor when the Thunder God informs him of the Enchantress's fate and offers a partnership in order to save her from Surtur.

Wonder Man

Wonder Man (Simon Williams)

Voiced by: Phil LaMarr

First appearance: "Everything is Wonderful"

Member since: "Everything is Wonderful"

Giant-Man: Simon, I'm glad to see you up and about, but what are you doing with these people? You're a good man. You don't want any part of this!

Wonder Man: I don't have any choice. They're the only reason I'm even alive. And if I want to stay alive, I do what they say!

Scientist, inventor, and industrialist Simon Williams used his corporate funds to conduct research into the practical application and harnessing of ionic energy, but too much spending on the theoretical and not enough profitable results left Williams's company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Taking interest in Williams's chosen research specialty, Tony Stark bought out his company to both acquire the attached intellectual properties and save the company's many employees from imminent unemployment. Williams, not truly a businessman at heart, failed to see this and myopically became fixated on the conceptualization of Stark as a greedy pig whose sole purpose was to make his life miserable. His despair at losing his life's dream to another led to a lapse in Williams's judgement, causing him to trust his brother Eric, A.K.A. The Grim Reaper, to introduce him to A.I.M. scientists who could turn him into an ionically-powered super-being capable of crushing Iron Man. Instead, Wonder Man lost his physical form and became an unstable Energy Being, seemingly withering away into nothingness during a fight with Iron Man and Ant-Man even as they tried to save him with Stark Tower's giant ARC Reactor. In actuality though, Wonder Man was preserved at the last possible moment by the magicks of the Enchantress, forcing him to work for the Masters of Evil in exchange for his life.

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• Adaptational Villainy: In the comics, Wonder Man was a villain for only one issue of the original Avengers series and has been depicted as a hero for the vast majority of his published existence. Despite this, he's a Tragic Villain and member of the Masters of Evil in the show. However, he does however make a Heel–Face Turn in his final appearance, where he pulls a Heroic Sacrifice to stop Enchantress.
• Anti-Villain: Type II.
• Create Your Own Villain: Tony could've handled the situation with Simon a lot better. When Simon comes pleading to Tony to not buy up his company, Tony ignores him the entire time, never once thinking to explain why he's really doing it. As a result, a desperate Simon turns to A.I.M. in order to get revenge.
• Energy Being: Turned into one by A.I.M., though the implication seems to be that he originally just wanted to become superhuman.
• Evil Virtues: Valor, Selflessness, Passion, and Humility.
• Flying Brick: Flight, Super-Strength, size manipulation, ionic energy beams, etc.
• Genius Bruiser: An inventor with breakthroughs in a field of research that impress Tony Stark and can fight the Avengers to a standstill.
• Gone Horribly Right: His transformation only succeeded because one of MODOC's mental bolts struck the ionic beam being used on him, changing the variables sufficiently that it succeeded. It is heavily implied from words spoken between MODOC and the Grim Reaper that no previous test subject survived and that Simon Williams probably would have died under normal circumstances (i.e. had Wasp and Thor not invaded the A.I.M. laboratory).
• Heel–Face Turn: Finally ditches Zemo and his group during "Acts of Vengeance", probably due to encouragement from Black Panther and Ant-Man in all of his appearances as well as the realization that Baron Zemo is a heartless monster who would sacrifice him at the drop of the proverbial hat to save himself.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Sacrifices himself to destroy the dangerous Muspelheim Norn Stone.
• Killed Off for Real: Since his Heroic Sacrifice is the last we see of him, this can be safely assumed.
• Motive Decay: In "Everything Is Wonderful", Wonder Man is so dead-set on avenging himself on Iron Man that he hardly seems to care about the fact that he lost his body and is now an Energy Being. In all his subsequent appearances, possibly due to the sobering effect of falling to pieces, being pulled back together by Enchantress, and being coerced into working for the bad guys, Wonder Man has no motive for anything he does beyond not wanting to die and lamenting the ethereal state of his existence. He only brings up his original motive of hating Iron Man again in an exchange with the Black Panther about his reasons for being allied with Baron Zemo in "Acts of Vengeance."
• Redemption Equals Death: Wonder Man is redeemed in the end by personal sacrifice.
• Revenge Before Reason: He's willing to let his sociopathic HYDRA lieutenant brother Eric introduce him to a Large Ham big-headed psionic Jet Pack cyborg so that his beekeeper-suited goons can turn him into a super-powered being, all to get back at Stark for buying out his already dying and badly mismanaged company.
• Save the Villain: In "Everything Is Wonderful", Iron Man and Ant-Man try to get Wonder Man to Stark Tower's giant ARC Reactor in time to stabilize his ethereal form. They don't make it in time, and Wonder Man seemingly disintegrates. Later on in the series, in "Acts of Vengeance", Zemo, Abomination, and Wonder Man go to the Avengers for protection from the Enchantress and the Executioner. It doesn't go quite as well as they'd hoped.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In "This Hostage Earth", Black Panther convinces him that his is a lost cause, considering who he works for, and the fact Midgard is on the brink of being merged with the other Nine Realms and overrun with their creatures of myth courtesy of Zemo and Enchantress, and Wonder Man deserts the battle.
• Sizeshifter: Can change his size without limit (as far as we know).
  Ant-Man: You're able to expand the ionic energy? That's amazing!
  (Gets punched in the face by Simon)
• Token Good Teammate: He's the only one that isn't really a bad guy, is visibly depressed by the evil deeds he's hooked into committing, has no desire to fight with a superhero (with the exception of Iron Man in "Everything Is Wonderful", though he never seems to bring up that grudge in his subsequent appearances), and ultimately saves the world at the cost of his life.
• Tragic Villain: Wonder Man doesn't particularly want to be a villain, but Enchantress's enchantments will wear off and allow his energies to dissipate if he stops working for the Masters of Evil.
• Trapped in Villainy: The only reason he's with the Masters of Evil is because the Enchantress's magic is the one thing keeping him alive. He doesn't want to be a villain otherwise. (Unless it involves attacking Tony Stark).

Crimson Dynamo

Crimson Dynamo (Ivan Vanko)

Voiced by: Chris Cox

Fist appearance: "Iron Man is Born!" (Micro-Episode: "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.")

Member since: Some time in between "Everything is Wonderful" and "Gamma World"

Ivan Vanko is a Russian inventor who blames Howard Stark, and Tony Stark by proxy, for the life's misfortunes of his late father Anton. Vanko's grudge leads him to become the Crimson Dynamo, Iron Man's equal and opposite number.

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• All There in the Manual: His real name hasn't been spoken on the show, but according to his bio in the tie-in comic, it's Ivan Vanko and his grudge against Iron Man stems from something that happened between his father and Tony's dad, Howard.
• Arch-Enemy: One of several to Iron Man, but the most prominent one in this series.
• Composite Character: Wears bulky armor ala Gennady Gavrilov and, as mentioned in All There in the Manual, has elements of already-Composite Character (of Whiplash and Crimson Dynamo I) Ivan Vanko from Iron Man 2—his real name and motivation for his grudge against Iron Man.
  • Decomposite Character: In essence since, as noted, he's Ivan Vanko from Iron Man 2, only without any of the Whiplash elements or bearded look.
• Dirty Communists: He's Russian. He's called the Crimson Dynamo. His armor is entirely red-colored, and "CCCP" is spelled out on the back as if the implications weren't obvious.
• Evil Counterpart: To Iron Man. They both use Powered Armor and are part of major super-teams. Both lost their fathers at a young age. However, Iron Man is the creation of a major capitalist corporation and has a futurist outlook, while Crimson Dynamo is self-evidently a technological relic of Soviet Bolshevism and is primarily motivated by a backwards-looking dynastic grudge against the Starks.
• Evil Virtues: Loyalty, Selflessness, Valor and Honor. He'll go after Enchantress and Executioner on Baron Zemo's orders without question when it would be much easier to turn tail and run, since it is only Zemo that Enchantress wants really. Also, Dynamo's grudge with Iron Man is to preserve the dignity of his late father Anton Vanko.
• Gatling Good: His hands on the suit can transform into gatling guns.

• Mother Russia Makes You Strong: More like Mother Russia built your giant robot suit.
• Mini-Mecha: The suit is about twelve feet tall and has all kinds of weapons.
• Save the Villain: Once the Avengers learn from Baron Zemo that he sent Dynamo on a suicide mission to buy time, Iron Man and Hawkeye appoint themselves to a task force to save him from the Enchantress's wrath.
• Soviet Superscience: It's apparent that the Crimson Dynamo is a relic of the old Soviet Union from aspects of his armor design, specifically the all-red coloring and the imprint spelling out "CCCP" on the back. It stands to reason then Vanko was originally commissioned to create the armor by the Soviet government before the end of the Cold War.

• Villainous Sacrifice: He is sent off to try and delay Enchantress and Executioner so that Baron Zemo and his two remaining cohorts, the Abomination and Wonder Man, have the time to reach Avengers Mansion for refuge. He doesn't do too bad a job, but eventually they get the better of him. Fortunately, Iron Man and Hawkeye intervene. Baron Zemo indicates he expected Dynamo to die in battle and characteristically thinks nothing of it.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Turns on the Avengers anyway when Zemo orders them to. It seems that Dynamo's belief in loyalty to the team may in this case be his undoing.

Abomination

Abomination (Emil Blonsky)

Voiced by: Robin Atkin Downes

First appearance: "Hulk vs. The World" (Micro-Episode: "This Monster, This Hero")

Member since: "Gamma World, Part 2"

"I'll always beat you Hulk. I'm better than you in every way!"

A Russian-born British soldier who succumbed to gamma radiation to become a monstrous super-villain. After numerous fights with the Hulk, he was imprisoned at The Cube until the Breakout, and went on to work for the Leader. He later was recruited into the Masters of Evil by Baron Zemo after the Leader's plan failed.

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• Arch-Enemy: Ties with his usual ally, the Leader, for this position in the Hulk's rogues' gallery.
• The Brute: As big as Hulk and stronger (at baseline levels, though Hulk's strength increases with anger) than him too.
• Co-Dragons: To the Leader, along with the Absorbing Man.
  • The Dragon: Resumes duty to the Leader back in Prison 42.
• Commander Contrarian: In the Masters Of Evil; he and Zemo don't get along at all, with Blonsky often questioning the Baron's decision-making and authority.
• Composite Character: His head and coloring is based on his comic book counterpart, the overall design of the rest of his body resembles Rick Jones as A-Bomb, and his bio on the show's website and in the tie-in comic state he's a British soldier like his incarnation in the movie, The Incredible Hulk.
• Evil Brit: Well, he speaks with a British accent.
• Evil Counterpart: To Hulk, although only in a superficial sense in that they're both the resident green gamma mutate on both their respective teams.
• Evil Virtues: Only really Loyalty (to the Leader only) and Determination. All that can be said is that it really does take determination to keep trying at villainy after getting whacked across the Nevada desert, kicked into the ceiling of a vast underground cavern by Giant-Man, and then smashed into the ground by Giant-Man's enlarged palm. All in all though, he's actually kind of unimpressive.
• Fish Person: His head is fish-like, but the rest of him is more reptilian.
• Genius Bruiser: Unlike the Hulk, he retains his original personality - complete with military training.

• Pet the Dog: In "Assault on 42", he picks up the Leader and takes him to the gateway during an attempt to escape, rather than simply just leaving him there to die.
• Save the Villain: Zemo, Abomination, and Wonder Man go to the Avengers for protection from the Enchantress and the Executioner in "Acts of Vengeance." It doesn't go quite as well as they'd hoped.
• Talking Is a Free Action: That's what he thought.
• Underestimating Badassery: He does not think Ant-Man is a threat at all. When he arrives, Ant-Man destabilizes Wonder Man's ionic energy form with a weapon retrieved from his lab, causing him to briefly dissipate, and he then takes out Abomination by kicking him out of the building and into the cavern ceiling of the underground base as Giant-Man. He also suffers from this when challenging Zemo's leadership. Zemo effortlessly evades him and takes him down with a couple well-aimed strikes to show him who's boss. Abomination also underestimates the Wasp, and while she, unlike Pym and Zemo, can't actually physically overpower Abomination, she can deliver a painful bioelectric sting to his eye and trick Abomination into collapsing a mound of rock-and-ice debris on top of himself.

• Undying Loyalty: In contrast to his relationship with Zemo, Abomination seems to be very loyal to the Leader; he even delaying his own escape from Annihilus to help Leader escape as well.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: He's the only one to suggest just killing the Avengers while they had the chance, but Zemo's Pride proves to be the team's undoing.

Arnim Zola

Arnim Zola

Voiced by: Grant Monger

First appearance: "The Big House"

"I am the finest bio-engineer on the planet, and over the years I have learned one important thing. Every problem has a solution."

Arnim Zola served as HYDRA's premier geneticist during WWII. Surviving into the modern day as an enormous, bizarre hybrid of man and machine, he continued to serve Baron Zemo, helping him transform his body and survive the effects of Virus X. Having been incarcerated in the Big House until the Breakout, he is now free to unleash his creations upon the world again. He later served as the resident non-combatant scientist and lair-keeper for the Masters of Evil.

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• Cephalothorax: Except his face is just a computer screen. He has no real flesh body, only a digitized mind that he can transfer into his robot body.

• Evil Virtues: Loyalty, Resourcefulness, Patience, Honesty, and Diligence.

• Killed Off for Real: When last seen, Zola was taken down in a Curbstomp Battle by the Enchantress with a few magic bolts. Judging by Enchantress's select diction during her confrontation with Zola, it can be assumed that she killed him after extracting what she falsely believed to be Zemo's location from him. All that's seen of him afterwards is his body plastered to the ceiling of the Masters of Evil HQ with the slime-substance of his own Doughboy.
  Enchantress: (after destroying an attacking Doughboy) That was a fatal mistake, you pathetic freak. (blasts Zola while he's down)

• Stupid Jetpack Hitler: Is a Nazi war criminal/scientist's computerized mind inside a weird android body who creates floating clay creatures named Doughboys and administers a genetic treatment that keeps Baron Zemo alive in spite of the effects of Virus X.

Other Members

Other Members

Voiced by: Nolan North - Living Laser and Chemistro; Troy Baker - Grey Gargoyle

By the time the Masters of Evil gained the Norn Stones, they recruited three other supervillains: Living Laser, Chemistro, and the Grey Gargoyle.

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• Alas, Poor Villain: Chemistro got it pretty bad, begging and screaming and everything for Enchantress not to shoot him with his Alchemy Gun. It did him no good.
• And I Must Scream: The Living Laser is stuck permanently as an incorporeal, formless pillar of light, and Chemistro is trapped in his own Powered Armor, which was turned into an inflexible solid gold sheath around him. And both are still alive.
• Arch-Enemy: Living Laser really hates Iron Man. It's one-sided, however.
• Butt-Monkey: Chemistro.
• Elemental Powers: Chemistro's Alchemy Gun. Specifically, it can transmute any substance into another form of matter.
• Energy Being: Living Laser.
• Energy Weapon: Living Laser. Surprise.
• Hollywood Acid: Chemistro's gun can melt objects with acid.
• Light Is Not Good: Living Laser is made of pure light energy.
• Minor Injury Overreaction: Chemistro was brought in as a counter for Hawkeye, for whom he held a personal grudge (like most of the other Masters held for their Avengers counterparts). His grudge? Hawkeye punched him in the face (in "Breakout, Part 1") and no longer even remembers it, supposedly.
  • Hawkeye claims he didn't even remember it. Whether he was lying to irritate Chemistro or not is up to interpretation.
• Powered Armor: Chemistro.
• Psycho for Hire: Living Laser.
  Iron Man: What are you even doing here, Parks? What is it you're after?
  Living Laser: Zemo wants something. Don't know what, don't care. Because I'm doing exactly what I want: turning you into a smoking pile of ash.
• Save the Villain: When Chemistro inexplicably recovers from his incapacitation in his solid gold form and charges through the doors of Avengers Mansion during the fight with the Enchantress and the Executioner out front. He appears to be traumatized and is carried to the lower levels of the building by the Wasp, but it turns out that "Chemistro" was actually the Enchantress in disguise.
• Taken for Granite: Grey Gargoyle can turn anyone he touches to stone.
  • Chemistro is turned to gold by Enchantress with his own Alchemy Gun, as part of her revenge spree against the Masters of Evil.
• Villains Want Mercy: Chemistro. In "This Hostage Earth", when he gets his suit splashed with his own acid amidst the dimensional convergence of Midgard with Alfheim, he whines for Hawkeye to help him remove it. Also, in "Acts of Vengeance", Chemistro begs for mercy from Enchantress and sells out Arnim Zola for the chance to live a little longer, but the closest to mercy he receives is that Enchantress technically didn't kill him, although which is the crueler fate can be left open to debate.
• Wicked Cultured: Grey Gargoyle spends his time in his cell drinking tea in his rather posh surroundings. He is French, after all.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Enchantress and Executioner do this to Grey Gargoyle in "This Hostage Earth", and later to the other two in "Acts of Vengeance." However, considering that Laser and Chemistro lived, unlike Gargoyle, this may be construed actually as a form of mercy by an Asgardian on a lesser, mortal being.

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