'Avengers: Infinity War' Prelude Comic May Hint That Red Skull is Alive

Like so many Marvel Studios movies, Avengers: Infinity War has a prelude comic book that helps [...]

Like so many Marvel Studios movies, Avengers: Infinity War has a prelude comic book that helps fans get context for how the characters and situations of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have developed in between films.

In the Avengers: Infinity War Prelude comic, we get a look at a pivotal moment in the MCU: when Captain America fought Red Skull over the Tesseract, during that climatic scene of Captain America: The First Avenger. In the film, Red Skull is seemingly vaporized by the Tesseract's power when he tries to pick it up with his hand; however, this Infinity War prelude seems to depict a different interpretation of that moment.

See for yourself:

Avengers Infinity War Prelude Comic Red Skull Death Scene Alive

As Screen Rant points out, the artwork in the panel has clear motion lines toward space, and even a "Fooshhhhh" sound effect - neither of which are anywhere near standard for a comic book scene depicting a character being vaporized. There's a fair argument to be made that this is a transportation or warp effect, which is also a much more likely reaction to touching the Tesseract, now that we understand it is in fact the Space Infinity Stone.

Looking back at the footage for Captain America: The First Avenger, it's easy to see how that same moment could also be a warp effect - simply done in an early visual style, before Marvel Studios had worked out the details and visual language of Space Stone's powers. Of course that's all just speculation - nothing has ever been officially stated about Red Skull's whereabouts in the the MCU. That hasn't stopped fans from believing that he could still show up again somewhere down the line; either revealed as a mastermind pulling strings in a future Captain America movie, or even as a secret ally to Thanos in Infinity War.

We do know that if Red Skull is still out there, and Marvel wants to bring him back one day, it would have to almost certainly be a new actors under the facial prosthetics. First Avenger star Hugo Weaving has been none to shy that he has no desire to return to the role. At the very least, this Avengers: Infinity War prelude comic suggests that somewhere out there in space, there's a door open to explain how Skull makes a comeback.

*******

Do you think the Red Skull is making a return to the MCU? When do you see it happening? Let us know in the comments section!

Black Panther is now in theaters. It will be followed by Avengers: Infinity War on May 4th, Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6th, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020

5comments