He was first introduced in “Captain America: The First Avenger”. « Red Skull » is one of the most iconic characters of the Marvel Universe. But even if you’re a super villain fanatic , chances are you don’t know all the facts that we’re going to mention about him today! 👹
Johann Schmidt aka “The Red Skull” is undoubtedly Captain America ‘s greatest enemy . And in 2011, they went head-to-head in Captain America: The First Avenger as part of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. Towards the end of the film, Schmidt attempts to exploit the Cosmic Cube’s power without proper protection and ends up being teleported to the alien planet Vormir, where he becomes the keeper of the Soul Stone. 🙏
There are many stories we could see about the psychopath nazi . Not least because of this, we are dealing with ten facts about the Red Skull that many of you are certainly not aware of.
10) Frozen in time
In comics, Johann Schmidt is frozen as is The Cap. After a fight between the two in an underground bunker, Red Skull gets trapped under the rubble, but thanks to the support beams falling on him, he doesn’t get crushed by the rubble. Instead, an experimental gas is released, causing him to fall into a state where he is unable to move. ❄️
It is only decades later that the evil organization known as AIM finds him and brings him back to modern times. Red Skull has always been Captain America ‘s greatest enemy . The fact that he survived would therefore have made it possible to organize future encounters for the various sequels in the years that followed.
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9) The Story of the Red Skull
It would have been great if the story of the Red Skull had been explored, although it’s pretty dark. It all started when his father committed suicide after trying to drown Schmidt after his mother died during childbirth. ” Red Skull Incarnate ” is an excellent narrative that delves into Schmidt’s youth. ✍️
Among other things, we learn that after the murder of a Jewish girl with whom he had fallen in love, Schmidt’s mind begins to crack and he joins the Nazis, killing his childhood friend Dieter in front of Adolf Hitler . This leads to the now infamous tale that the dictator took him under his wing and nicknamed him the Red Skull, a devotee of the art of death .
8) Glory to Hydra!
Red Skull is shown as the main leader of Hydra in Captain America: The First Avenger. In the comics, however, it is Baron Wolfgang von Strucker who forms the group on the orders of Johann Schmidt, bringing together the Thule Society and the Nazi Hand. 👀
The organization’s origins date back millions of years during human evolution, but it wasn’t until World War II that the group became a tremendous threat to world peace. If Hydra has a role in the future Captain America films, further exploration of the organization would have given it more credibility than it was introduced in the original film.
7) The dust of death
Johann Schmidt received his physical signature through the effects of a serum from super-soldat underevolved in Captain America: The First Avenger. In the comics, however, this happens very differently. He was a sadist and “Dust of Death” was one of his main tools to eliminate his enemies. 🔫
The dust was fired from a rifle, causing his enemies’ faces to shrink and turn red, leaving them dead. He originally wore a Red Skull mask given to him by Hitler, but not until his most famous weapon was causing his own disfigurement, rather than the serum.
6) The Sleepers
During World War II, the Red Skull created five machines that remained hidden from public view while they slept. So that if the Axis powers lost the war, these “sleepers” would be unleashed, wreaking untold destruction and giving the Red Skull the victory it craved. These gigantic weapons featured prominently in the comics but were not mentioned in the film. 🎥
Even when Skull disappeared at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, the Sleepers could have had a role in subsequent films, leading Rogers and the Avengers to track them down and try to destroy them as part of the Hydra storyline .
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5) Mother Superior
Red Skull was determined to find a successor to its twisted legacy, and in Captain America #290 we are introduced to Sinthea Schmidt aka “Mother Superior”. Although we don’t learn about her origins in this issue, it was later revealed that Johann had attempted to kill her, mimicking his father’s actions. 🔪
Only when a lady named Susan Scarbo intervenes does the scene stop to prevent a catastrophe. During her childhood, Skull came back and used a special machine to age her and give her superpowers.
4) Cosmic Skull
Although Schmidt was in Vormir as the keeper of the Soul Stone in Avengers: Infinity War , the Red Skull’s connections to the cosmos existed in very different ways in the comics. He eventually worked with Korvac, even visiting Galactus’ spaceship to unlock unlimited energy for his new warp abilities.
Even with his disappearance at the end of the first Captain America film , the Red Skull’s return could have been seen in one of the future phases of the MCU, assuming Kevin Fiege and his company plan to use the Devourer of Worlds at a later date.
3) The clone of Steve Roger
In Captain America: Renaming, the Red Skull found a way to transfer his own spirit into a clone of Steve Rogers, giving him the same physical appearance and abilities as Cap. The two eventually fought each other when a captive Rogers attempted to escape from Schmidt’s mind.
These events followed the “death” of Captain America, in which Rogers did not actually die but was trapped in all of his old memories. Also in this storyline, Sinthea Schmidt – now known as Sin – was caught in an explosion, giving her the same facial disfigurements as her father and eventually becoming her own version of the Red Skull.
2) Dell Rusk
Had Johann Schmidt not been transported to Vormir in the films, we could have seen him become an all-powerful infiltrator known by the name Dell Rusk. As Biscotte, Schmidt succeeded in becoming Secretary of Defense for the United States government, thereby gaining enormous political power without even a whiff of the Dust of Death . 🤨
However, he uses his power to create a biological weapon, but once again his plans are thwarted by the Avengers. Having Dell Rusk in the background in Captain America: The Winter Soldier would have been an interesting concept and would have kept the Red Skull’s story alive
1) S-Men
Unfortunately, this story wouldn’t have been possible when the Red Skull was introduced in the MCU as they were X-Men characters then owned by Fox. However, now that Disney owns the X-Men, the Red Skull S-Men could add a lot of momentum to the future of the X-Men franchise. 😍
in the comics, the S-Men were trained to destroy mutants by imprisoning them in a concentration camp in Genosha on the orders of the Red Skull. Today he is in possession of Charles Xavier’s brain. The way the Red Skull is used in the UCM now, this story arc will likely never be used. But he’s a fantastic example of just how twisted and evil Johann Schmidt really is.