When Tony and Natasha become concerned about Steve not checking in during his recent travel, they follow his tracks to an old Hydra castle, home to one of Captain America's greatest foes: Baron Zemo.
When they run into the old villain's son, what does he hope to accomplish by having Cap relive one of his most tragic memories?
Tropes:
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Steve is hypnotized into thinking he's back in the war, facing Zemo, so that Helmut can gain access to his dad's lab.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Not entirely monochrome, but Zemo's illusion is nigh-completely washed out.
- Disney Death: At episode's end, Zemo plunges off a cliff face into the water below, filled with sharp rocks, and Tony's sensors are unable to find anything.
- Distressed Dude: Bucky got captured by Heinrich and dragged off to his lab. Steve rescued him, but Heinrich was able to escape. Helmut's illusion has it happen again.
- Evil Old Folks: Helmut, son of Heinrich, is a very elderly man, as you'd expected from someone whose dad was around in World War 2.
- Fountain of Youth: Apparently one effect of Zemo's serum is it reverses aging. Helmut goes from a decrepit old man to looking like he's in his mid-30s, while being strong enough to fight Cap and Black Widow on even grounds.
- Genre Savvy: On seeing Cap's been brainwashed, Iron Man and Black Widow immediately check for the usual methods of controlling someone (being injected with a Psycho Serum or controlled by a doohickey).
- Lonely Bachelor Pad: Until the end of the episode, apparently in all the time he's been at Avengers Tower Steve has never actually unpacked his stuff.
- Mythology Gag:
- Among Steve's possessions is a photo of Peggy Carter (styled after her appearance in Captain America: The First Avenger, naturally).
- Zemo's apparent demise at episode's end is in keeping with his pre-Thunderbolts habit of falling to his presumed death a lot.
- Painful Transformation:
- The two goons who get turned into monsters by Helmut.
- Helmut's injecting himself with the super soldier serum clearly hurts like Hell.
