New Character - Baron Zemo (Helmut Zemo) 5*

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Comments

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 7,071 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited 25 August 2025, 22:03

    @Borstock said:
    So, is he a gimmick character that won't work well with the AI controlling it?

    I don't think anybody knows yet.

    There's been a change to his black passive vs the post here -- the post says that he drains 3 additional AP when a teammate casts a power, which is not ideal given that he reduces AP costs by 3 on his black active power, so you net 0 AP.

    In game, when that ability is set to 5 covers the AP drain goes to 1. That's a pretty big deal! But I really want to get his black ability to 5 to actually see how it's supposed to work, and there's no reasonable way to do that yet.

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 7,071 Chairperson of the Boards

    The Thunderbolts synergy could be something, I guess, but he overlaps on colors with Moonstone and Winter Soldier and I don't know if his passives are good enough to bring him over the 1*.

    Maybe you can build some kind of obnoxious defensive team where the attacker has to kill him first, and then gets knocked around by the free AP? I'm not sure who this would be, though. Those teams would have Hulk probably and he can't use Zemo's colors.

  • BriMan2222
    BriMan2222 Posts: 1,713 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited 25 August 2025, 22:19

    @ViralCore said:
    FWIW, adding Red Skull to the game may get it banned in China. So it may just be a monetary reason. China's Ministry of Culture forbids:

    • Gambling-related content or game features
    • Anything that violates China’s constitution
    • Anything that threatens China’s national unity, sovereignty, or territorial integrity.
    • Anything that harms the nation’s reputation, security, or interests.
    • Anything that instigates racial/ethnic hatred, or harms ethnic traditions and cultures.
    • Anything that violates China’s policy on religion by promoting cults or superstitions.
    • Anything that promotes or incites obscenity, drug use, violence, or gambling.
    • Anything that harms public ethics or China’s culture and traditions.
    • Anything that insults, slanders, or violates the rights of others.
    • Other content that violates the law

    Also, some replies are a perfect example of how fragile and uninformed certain perspectives can be.

    Are the other marvel games that already have him banned in China? If marvel contest of champions, marvel snap, and all the other games that already have him aren't banned then I would imagine MPQ would be safe if they added him as well.

  • ViralCore
    ViralCore Posts: 184 Tile Toppler

    @BriMan2222 said:

    @ViralCore said:
    FWIW, adding Red Skull to the game may get it banned in China. So it may just be a monetary reason. China's Ministry of Culture forbids:

    • Gambling-related content or game features
    • Anything that violates China’s constitution
    • Anything that threatens China’s national unity, sovereignty, or territorial integrity.
    • Anything that harms the nation’s reputation, security, or interests.
    • Anything that instigates racial/ethnic hatred, or harms ethnic traditions and cultures.
    • Anything that violates China’s policy on religion by promoting cults or superstitions.
    • Anything that promotes or incites obscenity, drug use, violence, or gambling.
    • Anything that harms public ethics or China’s culture and traditions.
    • Anything that insults, slanders, or violates the rights of others.
    • Other content that violates the law

    Also, some replies are a perfect example of how fragile and uninformed certain perspectives can be.

    Are the other marvel games that already have him banned in China? If marvel contest of champions, marvel snap, and all the other games that already have him aren't banned then I would imagine MPQ would be safe if they added him as well.

    They ban at will, just because one game passes, doesn't mean another will.

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 7,071 Chairperson of the Boards

    @BriMan2222 said:

    @ViralCore said:
    FWIW, adding Red Skull to the game may get it banned in China. So it may just be a monetary reason. China's Ministry of Culture forbids:

    • Gambling-related content or game features
    • Anything that violates China’s constitution
    • Anything that threatens China’s national unity, sovereignty, or territorial integrity.
    • Anything that harms the nation’s reputation, security, or interests.
    • Anything that instigates racial/ethnic hatred, or harms ethnic traditions and cultures.
    • Anything that violates China’s policy on religion by promoting cults or superstitions.
    • Anything that promotes or incites obscenity, drug use, violence, or gambling.
    • Anything that harms public ethics or China’s culture and traditions.
    • Anything that insults, slanders, or violates the rights of others.
    • Other content that violates the law

    Also, some replies are a perfect example of how fragile and uninformed certain perspectives can be.

    Are the other marvel games that already have him banned in China? If marvel contest of champions, marvel snap, and all the other games that already have him aren't banned then I would imagine MPQ would be safe if they added him as well.

    Those games exist but they're apparently heavily censored and the "local" versions are released by Chinese publishers.

    I'm not sure if MPQ is currently available in China at all. I think I remember a couple of Chinese players, but I think they had to sneak around to get to the game, via VPN or similar. This was a very long time ago though!

  • WhiteBomber
    WhiteBomber Posts: 758 Critical Contributor
    edited 25 August 2025, 22:47

    @Borstock said:
    So, is he a gimmick character that won't work well with the AI controlling it?

    It is really hard to imagine a team where you would really give a damn about him in the AI hands, but the same could be said for like 95-99% percent of the characters in this game. If anything, due to his death passive, he really would just be a slightly annoying 3rd to the ones you actually might care about (noted Hulk and Frankie etc.)

    That said, I am definitely not arguing he is good, however, Moonstone IS great (offensively), and he is a good partner for her. I was actually a little surprised by how much damage his countdowns were doing when there's like 20 on the board, and that with him being as low level as possible. Championed, he could kill some people at a reasonable pace with the right ability spammers and buffers.

  • JoeHandle
    JoeHandle Posts: 735 Critical Contributor

    Oh, China is always an exception. Everywhere else still cool with MPQ Jesus, so should still be good to go!

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 7,071 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited 25 August 2025, 23:55

    Duh, Ikaris.

    I was even running that team, with pre nerf Frankie! Bring Ikaris/Hulk/Zemo with purple supports. Ikaris flies away and Hulk can't die so they have to kill Zemo first. Then he lays there dead and makes purple and yellow for Ikaris.

    Is it good? Not sure. The AI could waste your purple on Zemo's ability if he's not dead yet, but it might be something.

  • WhiteBomber
    WhiteBomber Posts: 758 Critical Contributor

    Thanks for adding the buffed numbers @S0kun and extra thanks for someone noticing he needed them!

    Quick napkin math from the new countdown tiles: at 450, with 3 Hydras on the board (1 cast of his yella) the damage is 48,603. W/ Moonstone Thunderbolt buff, that's 85k. Though, with Moon, you should way more than 3 on the board. If you can protect them, he will deal out some damage.

    He's no Namor, but the buff is nice.

  • WhiteBomber
    WhiteBomber Posts: 758 Critical Contributor
    edited 26 August 2025 00:17

    Curious that selecting his yellow passive "Head of Hydra" in game, changes the color of the ability from Yellow to Green, is this intended @S0kun ? That would make him a little more valuable with Frankie :lol: Ikarus5 is disgusting though, definitely one of those teams you don't want to start with AP.

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 7,071 Chairperson of the Boards

    You could also build some kind of Countdown Shenanigans team with him, and a few of that crew would really appreciate his AP reduction. But Coulson exists, so I generally want my shenanigans on 1-turn countdowns, not 3. Maybe something with Hobgoblin?

  • WhiteBomber
    WhiteBomber Posts: 758 Critical Contributor
    edited 26 August 2025 01:41

    Yeah, his countdown tiles so far seem like they want to stack with themselves for the damage increase and having them at 3 turns means you basically need to stun the other team at match start for them to be functional. Fortunately, Moonstone4 make it so you can successfully spam AND stun (Daredevil4 is maybe fun here too).

    For now, I am finding most of his value in his black reduction and I'll take any reason to use my ascended Magik3.

    Some very quick use case videos for the funsies:

    Zemo's Black Magik3 - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wJmEBnqRogw
    Zemoon Infinite (championed Hydra spam would be quite nice) - https://youtube.com/shorts/V_gE9VK851A

  • Waddles_Pines
    Waddles_Pines Posts: 1,267 Chairperson of the Boards

    In the comics have they ever explained why he has those giant gold rectangle things on top of his ears...

  • Blackstone
    Blackstone Posts: 759 Critical Contributor

    @entrailbucket said:
    Duh, Ikaris.

    I was even running that team, with pre nerf Frankie! Bring Ikaris/Hulk/Zemo with purple supports. Ikaris flies away and Hulk can't die so they have to kill Zemo first. Then he lays there dead and makes purple and yellow for Ikaris.

    Is it good? Not sure. The AI could waste your purple on Zemo's ability if he's not dead yet, but it might be something.

    Zemo doesn't die though. He has protocols in place to make sure his consciousness is preserved until it can be transferred to another body. Which is how he can continue to help with resource management.

  • Blackstone
    Blackstone Posts: 759 Critical Contributor

    @Waddles_Pines said:
    In the comics have they ever explained why he has those giant gold rectangle things on top of his ears...

    Technology to protect him from psychic attacks.

  • bluewolf
    bluewolf Posts: 6,383 Chairperson of the Boards

    @Blackstone said:

    @Waddles_Pines said:
    In the comics have they ever explained why he has those giant gold rectangle things on top of his ears...

    Technology to protect him from psychic attacks.

    I’ll bet they have insult-canceling technology too.

    “Hey Pink-Hood! Why are you wearing that? Did someone fall into a vat of boiling super glue or something? Ha ha! You’d have to be really dumb to do that!”

    He hears: “All praise to Baron Zemo! He is the greatest criminal strategist of all time!”

  • revskip
    revskip Posts: 1,149 Chairperson of the Boards

    @ViralCore said:
    FWIW, adding Red Skull to the game may get it banned in China. So it may just be a monetary reason. China's Ministry of Culture forbids:

    • Gambling-related content or game features
    • Anything that violates China’s constitution
    • Anything that threatens China’s national unity, sovereignty, or territorial integrity.
    • Anything that harms the nation’s reputation, security, or interests.
    • Anything that instigates racial/ethnic hatred, or harms ethnic traditions and cultures.
    • Anything that violates China’s policy on religion by promoting cults or superstitions.
    • Anything that promotes or incites obscenity, drug use, violence, or gambling.
    • Anything that harms public ethics or China’s culture and traditions.
    • Anything that insults, slanders, or violates the rights of others.
    • Other content that violates the law

    Also, some replies are a perfect example of how fragile and uninformed certain perspectives can be.

    China didn't ban the Captain America First Avenger movie which was the Red Skull origin story. He's also not banned in China in several other Marvel games. So I think he's probably not missing inclusion for that reason. Marvel did however retcon the original Sorcerer Supreme to not be Tibetan to avoid not being able to release that film there due to China's occupation of Tibet. Which is why we got Tilda Swinton for that role.

  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 11,549 Chairperson of the Boards

    @bluewolf said:

    @Blackstone said:

    @Waddles_Pines said:
    In the comics have they ever explained why he has those giant gold rectangle things on top of his ears...

    Technology to protect him from psychic attacks.

    I’ll bet they have insult-canceling technology too.

    “Hey Pink-Hood! Why are you wearing that? Did someone fall into a vat of boiling super glue or something? Ha ha! You’d have to be really dumb to do that!”

    He hears: “All praise to Baron Zemo! He is the greatest criminal strategist of all time!”

    Hey Zemo, remember when your Dad invented Adhesive X and he was all "This is my greatest invention EVER!" and then The Avengers borrowed Paste Pot Pete's anti-glue formula and immediately dissolved it ruining years and years of work!

    Zemo: "Daddy's glue, it's the best it's true!"

  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 11,549 Chairperson of the Boards

    @revskip said:

    @ViralCore said:
    FWIW, adding Red Skull to the game may get it banned in China. So it may just be a monetary reason. China's Ministry of Culture forbids:

    • Gambling-related content or game features
    • Anything that violates China’s constitution
    • Anything that threatens China’s national unity, sovereignty, or territorial integrity.
    • Anything that harms the nation’s reputation, security, or interests.
    • Anything that instigates racial/ethnic hatred, or harms ethnic traditions and cultures.
    • Anything that violates China’s policy on religion by promoting cults or superstitions.
    • Anything that promotes or incites obscenity, drug use, violence, or gambling.
    • Anything that harms public ethics or China’s culture and traditions.
    • Anything that insults, slanders, or violates the rights of others.
    • Other content that violates the law

    Also, some replies are a perfect example of how fragile and uninformed certain perspectives can be.

    China didn't ban the Captain America First Avenger movie which was the Red Skull origin story. He's also not banned in China in several other Marvel games. So I think he's probably not missing inclusion for that reason. Marvel did however retcon the original Sorcerer Supreme to not be Tibetan to avoid not being able to release that film there due to China's occupation of Tibet. Which is why we got Tilda Swinton for that role.

    China did ban Spider-Man: No Way Home, Shang-Chi, Eternals, Dr. Strange 2, Thor: Love & Thunder and Black Widow without any real explanation, although Eternals and Dr. Strange 2 might have been down to refusal by Marvel to edit certain content. It seems whatever the ban was about it ended in 2023.

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