Respect Arnim Zola (Complete Respect Thread?)
By ProfessorRespect 16 Comments
Revenge is good. As good a fire to move forward as any. Remember those who stood on your fingers as you climbed the craggy cliffs. Remember their faces. Remember their families....
Introduction
Zola's pretty underrated as a whole, and I've wanted to cover his feats in more detail, considering there's a considerable lack of information on his capabilities. As one of Captain America's main villains, it doesn't seem right.
Biological Amps
Creates the superhero Charcoal using genetic experiments (Thunderbolts #4)
Creates the superhero Jolt through brutal experimentation (Thunderbolts #4)
Scan 1/2- During WW2, he creates the Ubermensch, a being with the combined physical stats and powers of the Invaders (Namor, Captain America, Human Torch and Toro) with it only losing due to it not having finished the process. (Captain America and Bucky #622)
Biological Creations
A random fodder slime creature overpowers Mach-1 (Thunderbolts #4)
Scan 1/2- Creates a army of MODOK's, all armed with his Doomsday Chair tech (Captain America Reborn #5)
Scan 1/2- Creates a bunch of Hulk clones from Banner's skin cells. While these clones were physiologically perfect, the lack of Banner's mind or rage guiding them meant that they were weaker than the real thing. However, they were able to adapt to offence presented to them already, showcasing that Hulk's other physical capabilities were indeed intact. (Avengers Annual #13)
Scan 3- These clones were also grown literally from the ground up, allowing them to be consistently spammed out as a endless army.
Creates biological equivalents to LMD's (Life-Model Decoys) namely in this case Gorgon. The copy lacked Gorgon's experience and skill, but was still as vicious, and maintained his hax and biological features. (Superior Octopus #1)
Scan 1/2/3- Makes a creature capable of overpowering Reed Richards and Hank Pym out of a replica of Hulk's pants (Avengers Annual #13)
Scan 1/2- Primus, one of Zola's beings, is able to one shot Captain America with a punch (Captain America #209)
Scan 1/2/3- Primus and two of his clone brothers could also shape shift, which is used to mimic the Avengers to great effect as well as their stats (Captain America #393)
Scan 4- Primus is also able to tank Wolverine's Adamantium claws as well. (Wolverine #139)
Scan 1/2- Zola makes the Unavengers, a group of mutates that are able to fight evenly with the likes of Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, etc in a issue long brawl (Captain America #23)
Scan 3- Tony's mutate replica is able to knock out Iron Man with a energy blast. (Captain America #24)
Dimension Z
Zolo has his own dimension where he is king, full of thousands of his own mutated beings (Captain America #1)
Scan 1- The time difference in Dimension Z is INSANE, with Captain America spending more than a decade there while in the normal 616 universe, he'd been gone for less than 30 minutes. This is how Zola was able to prep as much as he did, as well as have children and a massive mutate army while little changed everywhere else. (Captain America #9)
Scan 2/3- When Captain America leaves Dimension Z for a few seconds and enters the place, it's been a few years. (Captain America #10)
Scan 1- Zola in Dimension Z creates a city sized flying fortress with thousands of mutants armed with his consciousness virus, a high potency weapon that uses presumably nanotech to turn someone's biological body into Zola himself. (Captain America #7)
Scan 2- The fortress also uses dimensional travel to try to enter Earth.
Scan 1/2- The Zola virus (or at least, a prototype of it) is able to completely overwhelm Captain America's body within a space of time. Through he tries to fight it off, he can't, and is forced to cut most of the virus out by hand by spilling blood, through this doesn't remove it from his body and merely delays the process. (Captain America #3)
Zola's ships could also teleport whenever required from Dimension Z to 616, doing so to escape capture (Captain America #25)
Doughboy, The GOAT
Scan 1- Doughboy, a sentient blob of dough, is able to overpower Captain America and his lady friend (Captain America #209)
Scan 2- Doughboy can also move at supersonic speeds, making him surprisingly fast
Doughboy also is durable enough to survive the effects of space, as well as provide a living quarters for those within it, making it quite cozy (Captain America #209)
Doughboy can also shape-shift into large aircraft, as well as functioning like it (Captain America #393)
Scan 1/2- Doughboy stomps a bunch of trained fodder and eats them (Captain America #383)
Scan 1/2/3- Eric Masterson's Thor and Captain America are overpowered by Doughboy's well, dough. They'd eventually escape after Thor smashed the guy into small enough pieces that he couldn't reform. (Captain America #395)
Intellect
Mastered DNA and genetic coding and creation decades before modern science (Captain America #209)
Norman Osborn states that he has no equal in genetic engineering (Thunderbolts International Incident)
Norman himself doesn't really understand things on the analytical level of Zola, as shown by his confusion when Zola tries to explain scientific theories to him (Captain America Reborn #1)
Zola is stated to be perhaps the most intelligent geneticist alive (tho High Evolutionary is better tbh) (All New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #12)
Scan 1- Zola manages to figure out and reverse engineer Doom tech (Captain America #26)
Scan 2- This turned out to be Time Platform tech, which is really impressive considering time travel is a restricted level of tech that guys can only really do at Reed/Doom tiers of intellect (Captain America Reborn #1)
Zola modifies alien tech intended for cancer treatment into a weapon capable of wiping out all life on Earth (Excalibur #36)
Speed
Has a computer's reflexes (apparently enough to react to someone moving before a second passes though this is hyperbole) (Invaders Now #4)
Strength
Smashes a bus on Falcon (Captain America #24)
Technology
As Zola's machinery is (mostly) organic in nature, it makes it almost impossible to shut down using conventional means (Avengers Annual #13)
Freezes Vision by manipulating his molecular structure using a AIM weapon he designed (Captain America Reborn #5)
Scan 1/2/3- Zola creates a Doomsday Virus that turns people into horrific mutants from point contact by manipulating their molecular structure and removing their consciousness while enhancing aggression and rage. This was what in universe made Zola abandon his human form and start using robotic bodies. (Invaders Now #2)
Scan 4- In the modern day, Steve gives the virus out to multiple geniuses, including Hank Pym, Beast and Reed Richards....they fail to develop a cure, mostly because the Virus itself is derived from magic, making it impossible to counter using scientific means.
Zola improves on Stark's suit design, allowing Hydra Supreme to harness the Cosmic Cube in a mech suit (Secret Empire #9)
Zola knocks out Spectrum in one shot using the organic limbs of his tech (Avengers Annual #13)
Zola successfully hacks into Vision using a A.I. Virus (Secret Empire #5)
Zola's robot bodies got jet boots (Captain America #24)
Telepathy (The E.S.P. Effect)
The ESP Box bypasses Shamrock's mind and sees into the spiritual dimension (Marvel Comics Presents #24)
The ESP Box when attached to technological support can animate matter from radio range (Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe #1)
Scan 1/2/3- Using his ESP Box, Zola spreads his mind throughout a entire castle, making every part of it host to his mental powers and animating inanimate matter. (Captain America #211)
Conclusion
Zola's great for prep capabilities, and Dimension Z is legit a solid strat to use, kinda like The City for Maker (actually....pretty much just like it) and he's good for making lots of fun fodder. He's a smart dude, and he needs a lot more credit.