“I mean I’m still not dead”: Captain America: Civil War Star Still Has Not Lost Hope For His Return to MCU
German-Spanish actor Daniel Brühl is known for portraying the character of Helmut Zemo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starting with 2016’s Captain America: Civil War and the 2021 series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The actor has been appreciated for his work in the MCU, impressing the audience, especially in the Disney+ series in which he starred alongside Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie.
Before Brühl portrayed Zemo, he starred as Fredrick Zoller in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, which helped him set his place in the industry. He later appeared in movies including The Bourne Ultimatum, The Fifth Estate, A Most Wanted Man, Rush, and more. But Brühl has now addressed one of the most frequently asked questions: his return to the MCU.
Captain America: Civil War star Daniel Brühl reveals if he will return to the MCU as Helmut Zemo
Ahead of his upcoming series Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, Daniel Brühl spoke with Screen Rant, where he was asked about his probable return to the MCU. He mentioned that he is a very patient man, and he can wait, adding that he has recently wrapped a show titled The Franchise. Brühl noted that the show is a satire about the superhero universe, so it was fun for him to switch sides, hoping that Marvel would find it equally funny.
But knowing Marvel, they have a lot of sense of humor, so they will probably find it as funny as I did. And who knows? I mean, I’m still not dead; I’m very confident that I’ll be back.
Brühl had previously reminded fans that his character is not dead when he was asked about his absence from the Thunderbolts squad. At the time, he spoke to RadioTimes and said,
Even if I could, I couldn’t know. The only thing I can say that everybody knows is that I am not dead.
Fans have pointed out that there is a high probability of the actor’s character showing up in a cameo role in Thunderbolts, maybe in the post-credits, to set up a sequel to a new version of the team. They also noted that with the rapport Zemo now shares with Falcon and now Captain America, Sam Wilson played by Anthony Mackie, which was explored in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, there is a probability of him making an appearance in Captain America: Brave New World.
Daniel Brühl’s transformation as Karl Lagerfeld was ‘crazy’
The actor, who is confident about his return to the MCU, transformed into the late German designer Karl Lagerfeld before he was able to morph into a recognizable figure and take pop culture by storm. The six-episode series is based on Raphaëlle Bacqué’s biography of Kaiser Karl and takes the audience through the world of 1970s Parisian high fashion.
In his interview with Deadline, the actor recalled how he was a part of Karl Lagerfeld’s photo shoot at the Berlinale after his performance in Good Bye, Lenin. He said,
There was this Karl Lagerfeld photo shoot, and all the German actors were standing together cramped like sausages, and my Spanish pride kicked in, and I just thought, ‘This is embarrassing’. But Lagerfeld saw it out the corner of his eye and gave me a nod and a smile as if to say, ‘That’s cool’.
The actor revealed that the late designer made him feel at ease and remembered that the designer didn’t recognize him, but after they clicked pictures, he did and said that he was a fan of him. Talking about him channeling the same aura as Lagerfeld, whom he met once, Brühl added that he wanted to crack through that shield and find out who that person was.
The series premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it received a 3-minute standing ovation with appreciation for Daniel Brühl’s transformation. Actress Jeanne Damas, who plays Paloma Picasso in the show, praised the actor by stating that watching his transformation was crazy, adding that he speaks French with a German accent, but when he was Karl, it was even a different one.
Becoming Karl Lagerfeld premieres on Hulu on June 7, 2024.
