Dr Arnim Zola

Dr. Arnim Zola: Mad Genius   

A Swiss biochemist gets caught up with a couple of corrupt visionaries. This is the basis for one of Marvel's greatest super villains. Dr Arnim Zola is one of the most intelligent minds of his generation, but why is he not loved and accepted by his peers of science? Zola's love for science and relentless pursuit of discovery result in his path crossing ways with some truly evil men. This raises the question when does genius become madness. And Dr Zola is trapped right between these two classifications. A creative genius and mad scientist  are often very similar with only society deciding which one is which. 


 Dr Arnim Zola has big ideas. Unfortunately those big ideas need money and funds to take fruition. Lucky for him, he is in Germany during the beginning of Wold War II and the Nazi party quickly provides him a home and a perfect place to reach his full potential. Now one would think being associated with a man like Adolf Hitler would be despicable enough, but alas he meets someone even more contemptible. The Red Skull, a science experiment gone wrong and leader of HYDRA, who can fully finance Dr Zola's genetic experiments. 

The first thing Dr. Zola and the Red Skull do together is harness the power of the Tesseract. This unlimited power source gives way to various modern inventions of weaponry. The Red Skull wants to expedite the process and begin systematically wiping out the planet. Zola is hesitant to do such a thing and is more interested in just studying the Tesseract's amazing power and capabilities. This scene hints at the possibility of Dr. Zola just wanting to be scientist just like the rest of his peers. However he as perceived as a mad scientist because of his area of study, time frame, and the people he is working for. Much like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein ,Dr Arnim Zola has a passion for creating life and inventing biological things. Likewise his field of work outcasts him from society and leads him to make very unethical decisions. 

If Dr Zola invented biological weapons for the United States of America instead of for the Nazis in World War II would we still perceive him as a mad scientist? It is hard to say but we would probably praise him as a genius and say he revolutionized the field of Biochemistry. But since he works for the Nazis he is considered a mad scientist. Eventually his bad company turns him into a truly evil man and fully earns the title of a mad scientist. This is truly unfortunate though because if events would have unraveled differently Dr Arnim Zola could have been a very valuable asset to mankind.