- “You could have the power off the Gods! Yet you wear a flag on your chest and think you fight a battle of nations! I have seen the future Captain, there are no flags.”
- ―Red Skull
Johann Schmidt, a.k.a. Red Skull, is a supervillain in Marvel Comics. He is the archenemy of Captain America. In some incarnations, he is the leader and founder of the evil organization known as HYDRA. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he first appears in the film Captain America: The First Avenger.
Red Skull was created by Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, and France Herron.
Background
Personality
Red Skull is the total counterpoint to his archenemy Captain America; while Rogers is good and selfless, the Skull is evil and ambitious. He has little patience for failure and is capable to kill his own minions for giving him the bad news. However, he has shown some elements of pragmatism toward his minions, as he did not execute his soldiers for failing to remove the top of a stone coffin at Norway, and instead just removes it himself with his superhuman abilities.
Similarly, he was also shown to have good deductive reasoning skills, as he not only deduced that the "Tesseract" inside the coffin was not the real deal due to it being the "jewel of Odin's treasure room", and thus not the sort of item to be buried in a grave, but also that the Asgardian object was within close proximity, even deducing that it was in an engraving of Yggdrasil. A similar display of his deductive reasoning and strategic mind was later demonstrated when he had the Austrian HYDRA facility self-destruct due to realizing that Captain America's presence in the revolt meant that their HYDRA forces had no chance of stopping him.
He also has a god complex, and despite wearing a normal-looking mask over his skull face, he later eschews it to signal his pride on his own detachment of humanity. Despite his admitted pride in his "leaving humanity behind", he does show some disgust toward him no longer being considered of Aryan perfection, or at the very least that Hitler exiled him for that reason and also expressed some anger at being called the Red Skull.
The long years spent on Vormir made Red Skull a different individual than the one seeking absolute power that he was on Earth. He had become more humble and although he remained indifferent to all those in search of the Soul Stone, he nevertheless revealed to them the cost of obtaining the gem.
Powers and abilities
- “You are deluded Captain. You pretend to be a simple soldier but in reality you are afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind. Unlike you I embrace it proudly, without fear!”
- ―Red Skull to Captain America about his new powers.
- Strategic Genius: The Red Skull is a master of political, military, and subversive strategy, as well as a brilliant planner and organizer.
- Scientific and Mechanical Genius: The Red Skull, at least in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, also possessed a high-level of scientific aptitude, and was implied to have designed several of his vehicles and weapons, including the Valkyrie bomber.
- Hand-to-Hand Combat: In his original body the Red Skull was a fine hand to hand combatant, although not to the level of Captain America. He was also a brilliant fencer and a skilled marksman.
- Immortality: After becoming stranded on Vormir, Red Skull was able to live for decades without aging.
Appearances
Captain America: The First Avenger
Johann Schmidt is the leader of HYDRA, the science branch of the Nazis. He goes to Norway and gets the Tesseract to power his weapons. When some high-ranking Nazi officers go to oversee his results, they find he has his own plans to take over the world, including Germany, and Schmidt kills them.
When Captain America goes to rescue some HYDRA prisoners, he ends facing Schmidt, who proves to be strong enough to dent Cap's shield. He then removes his human mask and reveals his Red Skull face, revealing he was Erskine's first supersoldier experiment. Then he escapes.
As days pass, Captain America thwarts several of Red Skull's operations, culminating on the capture of his right-hand man scientist Arnim Zola, who gives the location of the Skull's main base out of fear. So, Captain America finds Red Skull and makes him pay for stealing the Tesseract to use it for his evil plan. The Red Skull takes the Tesseract to a ship from where he plans to bomb the world's capitals, but Cap gets on board and fights him. Red Skull tries to escape with the Tesseract, but it seemingly disintegrates him as he tried to take the fully charged Tesseract with his bare hands.
Avengers: Infinity War
When it was initially believed that Red Skull was destroyed by the Tesseract, in reality, the cube transported Red Skull to the planet Vormir. There, he became the guardian of the Soul Stone, and underwent a metamorphosis into a nigh-immortal wraith called the Stonekeeper. Thanos, guided by Gamora, visits the planet on a search for the Stone. At the temple, Red Skull presents himself to them and advises the Titan that to get the Soul Stone, one must be willing to sacrifice the person they love the most. Thanos struggles with this choice until he finally chooses Gamora to satisfy this request. With the offering, Red Skull allows Thanos to claim the Soul Stone and disappears afterward. As the years have passed, Red Skull now wears a hooded cloak while residing on Vormir.
Avengers: Endgame
In 2014, Red Skull meets Hawkeye and Black Widow moved in time, came back to recover the Soul Stone. Red Skull explains to them how they can have the stone, which causes a fight between the two heroes to sacrifice themselves while Red Skull watched them. In the end, Black Widow made the sacrifice. Once Hawkeye returns to present day, 2023, he tearfully mentions Red Skull's words about the rules of the soul stone, mentioning Black Widow's sacrifice. Angry and distraught over what happened, Hawkeye tells Thor to fly over to Vormir and confront Red Skull himself about the rules of the stone, as Thor believes Natasha can be brought back, when she actually can't, and the actions are irreversible. After the Battle of Earth and Tony Stark's death, Steve Rogers returns the soul stone to Red Skull off-screen, but it is unknown if this means Red Skull could leave Vormir or not.
What If...?
Season 1
Red Skull appears as the main antagonist of "What If... Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?" and like his Sacred Timeline counterpart, he plans to power his weapons by using the Tesseract. But the Tesseract was taken by Captain Carter when his trusted scientist Arnim Zola was traveling in Berlin.
As his forces were overwhelmed by Carter, Rogers, and the Howling Commandos, he planned of another alternative to use the Tesseract's power: to summon the true champion of HYDRA. Regaining the Tesseract, he opens the portal and has unleashed a monster from another dimension. What he believed HYDRA won the war, he was crushed to death by their champion.
Gallery
Trivia
- Although the character is famously known as the Red Skull, Captain America: The First Avenger primarily refers to him by his real name, Johann Schmidt, with his Red Skull alias only being referenced once in the film by one of his Nazi superiors. It is implied that Schmidt hates the moniker, as he reacts to it with contempt before executing the superiors.
- "Johann Schmidt" is basically a German translation of the English name John Smith, a popular stock name and alias in English and U.S. pop culture and an unofficial Disney Prince (who himself is based on a real life American historical figure).
- Red Skull is indirectly mentioned in the first Avengers movie when Captain America mentions "The last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing", to Loki.
- The directors of Avengers: Infinity War confirmed that after Thanos claimed the Soul Stone by killing Gamora, Red Skull fulfilled his servitude and was allowed to leave Vormir free to pursue his goals.[1]
- In Captain America: The First Avenger, Red Skull tells Steve Rogers that he has seen the future and that Rogers has the "power of the Gods". This is forsehadowing the events of Avengers: Endgame, when it is revealed that Rogers is indeed worthy of wielding Thor's hammer Mjölnir.
See also
- Red Skull (The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes)
- Red Skull (Marvel Animated Universe 2012-18)
- Red Skull (Phineas and Ferb)
- Red Skull (Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers)
References
External links
Red Skull on Marvel.com
Red Skull on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
Johann Schmidt (Earth-199999) on the Marvel Database
v - e - d  | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
v - e - d  | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|