Johann Schmidt, the Red Skull, is one of the oldest and most influential antagonists in Marvel Comics history. Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Schmidt debuted in Captain America Comics #7 in October 1941 and has remained Steve Rogers’ nemesis for over eight decades. The Red Skull was behind some of the most ambitious storytelling in the Captain America franchise, and his devious acts include manipuling Sharon Carter into assassinating Steve Rogers in Ed Brubaker’s run, masqueradind as Secretary of State “Dell Rusk” to release a biological weapon at Mount Rushmore, his partial mind-transfer into Soviet general Aleksander Lukin, and Nick Spencer’s Secret Empire arc, where the Red Skull literally rewrites reality with the help of a Cosmic Cube to make so Rogers has always been a sleeper Hydra agent. The through-line across all these stories is that the Red Skull is always scheming to challenge Captain America’s beliefs and undermine his life.
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At the dawn of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America: The First Avenger understood the Red Skull’s appeal. Hugo Weaving’s Schmidt is a fanatic who considers Hitler a small thinker and who’s ready to take over the world with the full might of Hydra. The film’s climax, in which the Tesseract disintegrates Schmidt and hurls him across the universe, was even designed to leave a door open. For audiences in 2011, the implication was that the Red Skull was still alive; he had just been teleported somewhere, waiting to return. In fact, the Tesseract by then was such a mysterious object that it could be the perfect excuse for Marvel Studios to teleport Schmidt into the present day, so his feud with Steve (Chris Evans) could continue. The Winter Soldier’s presence across three films, Hydra’s persistence, and even the steady expansion of the MCU’s cosmic mythology all created narrative hooks for the Red Skull to reemerge. Marvel Studios never followed through, eventually dumbing down the character.
Avengers: Infinity War Officially Removed the Red Skull as a Threat in the MCU
When the Red Skull finally returned in Avengers: Infinity War, his absence from the MCU had stretched across seven years and three Captain America films. By then, Steve Rogers had discovered that his entire modern-era history was shaped in part by Hydra, dismantled SHIELD from within, gone to war with the Avengers over Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), and effectively brought his arc as a soldier to its conclusion. The Red Skull had become a footnote in Steve’s history, and the villain’s appearance in Vormir underlined his insignificance. In Avengers: Infinity War, Schmidt appeared as a hooded spectral figure, recast with Ross Marquand performing in place of Hugo Weaving, serving as the designated guide explaining the Soul Stone’s sacrifice requirement to Thanos (Josh Brolin) and Gamora (Zoe Saldaña). He speaks in riddles about being “cursed” by the Tesseract and condemned to tend this cosmic checkpoint indefinitely before floating away from the movie.
The Red Skull’s reintroduction actively redefined him as a passive player on the grand cosmic scale. That’s the same character who organized global terror networks in Marvel Comics, manipulated SHIELD agents, and engineered political coups from the shadows. Heck, the Red Skull has frequently played with the Cosmic Cube’s ability to change reality, putting his own mind at risk just to torment Steve. In the MCU, though, the villain is reduced to a supernatural functionary with no agenda. The appearance in Avengers: Endgame repeated the pattern, as Schmidt stood to the side as Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) fought to decide who would sacrifice their life in exchange for the Soul Stone. The Russo brothers confirmed post-release that Schmidt was freed from his guardianship once the Soul Stone was claimed in Avengers: Infinity War. However, that happened offscreen, and his new personality as a wise cosmic guru means we are unlikely to see him become a villain again. As it turns out, the MCU turned the Red Skull from a menacing foe into a glorified cameo.
Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame are currently streaming on Disney+.
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