Arnim Zola appeared in 1977 Marvel Comics called Captain America. Dr. Arnim Zola, Ph.D, was a Swiss scientist working for the Nazis during World War II. He become the lead scientist of Project: Nietzsche, creating Super-Soldiers in the Nazi's quest for world domination. Zola was one of the first biochemists in history using notes left by the Deviants. He was able to transfer his consciousness into a robotic body, allowing him to continue his experiments well into the next century.
Dr. Arnim Zola was born and raised in the Weisshorn Mountains of Switzerland in the early part of the 20th Century. He was a child prodigy excelling in all areas of science and was accepted into the best schools in Europe.
Dr. Zola studied under Wladyslav Shinski. In 1928, he attended a genetics conference along with Jonathan Drew, Herbert Edgar Wyndham, and Noah Black. Zola was the first human genetic engineer in history, basing his work on some papers from the Deviants. Later, Zola received secret aid from Phaeder and his son Maelstrom in developing genetic advancements.
After this, Dr. Zola found supporters in the Nazi party in Germany, who wanted to use his discoveries to assure the existence and triumph of a "master race".
During World War II; Dr. Zola aided the Nazi scientist Baron Heinrich Zemo in creating a series of androids which could expand from the size of a doll to over six feet tall.
Dr. Zola kidnapped the allies team of heroes the Invaders and used the the DNA of Captain America, Sub-Mariner, Human Torch (Jim Hammond) and Toro to create his new super-soldier the Ubermensch. However Bucky arrived to save his friends and was able to hold off the Ubermensch long enough to free his friends from their captivity and they destroyed Zola's experiments.
Accounts vary, but at some point Zola established a process by which a person could project their mind onto a cloned body (It is believed that it was one of his first projects). He presented this process to Adolf Hitler.
Dr. Zola later performed experiments of the town of Vliet, Netherlands. He turned the townsfolk into monsters who were killed by the Invaders. To save himself from the infections he transferred his mind to his robotic body.
Talking with the Red Skull he presented him with a pill to use to place himself in suspended animation. Zola then presented Hitler with a completed cloned body to which he could transfer his mind before death. After Hitler walked out, Baron Strucker, a fugitive, entered the room. Strucker invited Zola to take part in the establishment of Hydra.
Since around 1944, Strucker would think of Zola in his ESP-box body - this would support that Zola had switched bodies at this point.
However, while another account does show Zola in his ESP box on the day that Hitler's original body died, Hitler as the Hate-Monger would later recall Zola was still in his original body.
In any event, Zola prepared a series of bodies for Hitler to use in his new identity of the Hate-Monger. (Zola once told Captain America that surgeons had extracted Hitler's brain and that he had preserved it to create a new body for it. This story appears to be a ruse to hide the truth about the Hate-Monger. Since then, the truth behind the Hate-Monger has been discovered, and is known to Spider-Man, Silver Sable, and Nick Fury.)
Hitler, according to a soldier who was with him the day his original body died, supposedly recommended Zola's process to Baron Zemo. "like your Führer, Zemo", he said, "you will become... a God... Zola will see to that." It appears that Zemo did not for some reason undergo the process.
In 1952, Zola was one many Nazi scientists brought to the states after the war. He helped on the US Nuclear program.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Super-Genius Intelligence: Arnim Zola possesses a brilliant mind, with knowledge and technological understanding far beyond the standard of the time.
- Expert Biochemist: Arnim Zola is considered one greatest genetic engineers in history, a biochemist whose knowledge of genetics was enhanced by his study of Deviant science. He studied under Wladyslav Shinsky.
- Robotic Expert: He was able to build a functioning robot body with the limited technology of the 1940s.
Arsenal[]
- Zola's Robotic Body: Zola's consciousness has been transferred in to a robotic body allowing him a form of immortality. If a body is destroyed his mind is downloaded to a spare body.
- ESP Box: Arnim Zola possesses the ability to mentally control his various genetic creations by means of the ESP Box mounted atop his torso and surgically attached to his central nervous system. Although most of the creatures possess limited intelligence and the capacity for creative thought, Zola can override their mental processes if he so desires. The ESP Box is a retractable device that can convert brain waves into electronic signals for transmission as telepathic commands within ordinary radio range. Normally, Zola is capable of controlling only his own organic creations, but if he remains linked to his support equipment, he can stimulate his own mental power to such a degree that he can create a psychokinetic network able to animate inorganic matter within radio range. Zola is unable to control natural organic life. The ESP Box also provides Zola with the following powers:
- Mind Control
- Mind Ray
- Mind Transfer
- ESP Box: Arnim Zola possesses the ability to mentally control his various genetic creations by means of the ESP Box mounted atop his torso and surgically attached to his central nervous system. Although most of the creatures possess limited intelligence and the capacity for creative thought, Zola can override their mental processes if he so desires. The ESP Box is a retractable device that can convert brain waves into electronic signals for transmission as telepathic commands within ordinary radio range. Normally, Zola is capable of controlling only his own organic creations, but if he remains linked to his support equipment, he can stimulate his own mental power to such a degree that he can create a psychokinetic network able to animate inorganic matter within radio range. Zola is unable to control natural organic life. The ESP Box also provides Zola with the following powers:
- Zola deploys mental commands to his creations in the form of energy bolts of approximately 100,000 volts. Similar in purpose to the ESP Box, the prod is limited in range to 18 feet and can only work on his own organic creations.
- Zola uses exotic weaponry, androids, and genetically engineered lackeys in his schemes. His androids (or "bio-servants") can host Zola's mind and life-force.