6) Helmut Zemo – Captain America: Civil War
Though superhero movies these days boast some of the best casts (those late-year Oscar contenders are going to have a difficult time topping Civil War‘s ensemble), these projects are rarely about character or hard-hitting emotions. Few superhero movie performances are truly much to write home about. Credit to Civil War‘s Daniel Bruhl, then, for making such fine lemonade out of the lemons of a typically under-developed MCU baddie.
Like the unfortunately vast majority of Marvel movie villains, Helmut Zemo isn’t particularly interesting on the page. Thanks to Bruhl, though, Zemo becomes a remarkably sympathetic do-badder, quietly driven and forever scheming in a way that we legitimately recognize. Zemo should be two-dimensional, but instead he’s compelling in his zealous conviction and unshowy intellect. Hopefully we’ll see him in the MCU again.