History ComicBook / RedSkull

The ArchEnemy of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and one of the oldest villains in comics, and widely regarded as one of the most despicable. Right-hand man of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, ComicBook/{{HYDRA}} brought him BackFromTheDead to plague the world once again. There have been at least three major versions of the Skull. George Maxon, the first Red Skull first appeared in ''"Captain America Comics''" #1 (March, 1941). The most (in)famous Red Skull, Johann Shmidt, first appeared in ''"Captain America Comics''" #7 (October, 1941). The third Red Skull, Albert Malik first appeared in ''"Captain America Comics''" #61 (March, 1947). Malik was established as the Communist Red Skull in ''"Young Men''" #24 (December, 1953). Shmidt was revived in ''"Tales of Suspense''" #79 (July, 1966).

* CunningLikeAFox: Especially young Johann Shmidt, who also looks vaguely fox-like with his red hair and pale, thin face.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: The young Johann Shmidt grew up as a homeless orphan in [[CrapSackWorld Weimar Germany]], and survived off odd jobs, begging and petty crime. Apart from insecurity, he also suffered horrible abuse from criminals and Communists; even the original [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] origin story showed him being savagely beaten by a street gang as a small boy, and later versions have only gotten progressively [[DarkerAndEdgier more]] violent and disturbing.

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Supposedly, the young, poor Johann Shmidt dreamed of a man with a calm, deep voice who would show him his true purpose in the world. Years later, he came to remember the dream after he met Hitler.

** The original origin story was essentially a somewhat exaggerated version of Adolf Hitler's real-life biography before World War I. It showed the young Johann Shmidt as a struggling orphan who worked menial jobs and sometimes committed crimes against property to survive; other authors (for example, Creator/MarkWaid) elaborated on this. In this version, Shmidt suffered abuse from the police and other criminals, but was not himself violent or insane; however, his experiences gave him a [[TheCynic very bleak]] view of the world, and engendered [[RageAgainstTheLegalSystem massive resentment]] on his part against [[DemocracyIsBad the system]]. He joined the Nazis because he genuinely thought they'd make Germany and the world a better place, and not least because [[EvilMentor Hitler]] was the first person ever to believe in him and treat him as a man of worth.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The correct spelling of his name is "Johann Schmidt" (two letters ''n'' in the first name, a ''c'' between the ''s'' and ''h'' in the second, ending with a ''d'' followed by a ''t''), both officially and according to all ordinary rules and standards of German orthography. For whatever reason, many people appear to find this extremely difficult to remember, including some official writers and proofreaders. Especially the variant "Johann Shmidt" (which looks quite ridiculous to native German-speakers) is fairly common.

* TomTheDarkLord: The Red Skull's real name is Johann Shmidt, the German cognate of [[MrSmith John Smith]]. In German it makes him sound like a bit of a country bumpkin -- Which is [[BilingualBonus precisely what his family were!]]

** For further perspective, consider that two of the most dangerous villains in Marvel are ComicBook/{{Magneto}} and ComicBook/DoctorDoom. For as dangerous as they are, and as villainous as they can be, both of them absolutely '''[[EvenEvilHasStandards hate]]''' the Red Skull. It also makes perfect sense (apart from just hating a Nazi in general) considering the former is Jewish and the latter is Romani, both of whom were considered "impure" by the Nazis and were exterminated ''en masse''. Magneto in fact survived the Holocaust and witnessed the Nazis' cruelty first hand, though he didn't meet Red Skull back then, while Doom faced his share of oppression at the hands of the Latverian dictatorship and certainly would've faced it by the Nazis as well.

** In an issue of ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', the titular runaways kidnapped future member Victor Mancha after learning of his destiny to be a supervillain. When looking through candidates of who his father could be, they went through multiple candidates including ComicBook/TheKingpin, Electro, The Leader, freaking ''ComicBook/{{Galactus}}, among others, but the villain that made him draw the line? You got it, the Red Skull. Keep in mind that he could handle the idea of being ''Galactus'''s son, but not the Red Skull. Fortunately for him, he was right -- his real father is ComicBook/{{Ultron}}, and even ''that'' didn't cause him grief like the idea of having a Nazi for a father did.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: In Universe, the Red Skull is without question one of the most reviled, despised, detested, and flat-out hated villains in the entire Marvel Universe, loathed by both heroes and villains alike. Put simply, when even '''[[ComicBook/TheJoker the Joker]]''' ''[[EvenEvilHasStandards of all people]]'' [[EvenEvilHasStandards wants nothing to do with you]], you know you're a vile, irredeemable piece of trash.

However, as the war dragged on the Skull started to see that Germany was not going to win, and [[KnowWhenToFoldEm instead made plans to escape]] and build a new power base elsewhere to [[TheRemnant continue the struggle]]. In the meantime he assigned rival Nazi Baron Heinrich Zemo to a secret mission to assassinate Captain America, hoping the two would kill each other off. In the event, Zemo was defeated and Roger's sidekick ComicBook/BuckyBarnes was (seemingly) killed, but not before Captain America tracked the Skull to his secret bunker and engaged him in battle. Cap won and apparently killed the Skull, but in reality he was merely placed in SuspendedAnimation, a fate that Cap would shortly suffer too after his battle with Zemo.

* TheSociopath: Definitely one.

* HumansAreBastards: After living out his childhood in the streets of chaotic interwar Germany, the Skull was already convinced of this. UsefulNotes/WorldWarII with its massive war crimes and atrocities on all sides really hammered home the point.

* ParentalSubstitute: Pretends to be a loving father figure to [[spoiler:Kobik the Cosmic Cube girl]] while teaching her that Hydra is the best thing since sliced bread.

* MyDeathIsOnlyTheBeginning: So the [[spoiler:Red Onslaught]] may rise, the Red Skull must die!

* SlobsVersusSnobs: Despite of (or maybe ''because'' of) his own poor background, Red Skull ''hates'' lower-class slobs almost as much as he does the [[UpperClassTwit wealthy elite]]. May be psychologically justified, in that he has worked ''[[HadToBeSharp very]] [[TrainingFromHell hard]]'' to better himself in spite of his humble origins, and is disgusted with people who won't even try.

-->-- '''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica''', Captain America #370

-->-- '''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica''',Captain America #370

-->-- '''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'''

The established origin of the better known Skull is relatively complex. He was born as Johann Shmidt in a small German village, probably sometime in the [[TheEdwardianEra 1910s]]. The Skull's mother Martha died giving birth to him, causing his drunken lout of a father to [[OffingTheOffspring try and drown him]], saying that the infant had murdered his wife. A doctor managed to prevent him from killing his newborn son, but the angry father went on to commit suicide. Growing up alone, the rise of the Nazis backdropping his life, young Shmidt eventually found himself living a hard life on the streets. All while nursing a growing anger and frustration towards the rest of the world. As an older teen, Schmidt managed to get a job as a bellhop for a major hotel frequented by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. Shmidt was present for one occasion when Hitler was angrily berating the head of UsefulNotes/TheGestapo (or just some random German officer) for letting a spy escape, and screamed at the man that he could make even the bellhop into a better Nazi than him. [[GoneHorriblyRight He did]].

Hitler, who seemed to recognize much of himself in the frustrated, resentful, unsuccessful yet obviously talented young man, became a sort of EvilMentor and father figure to him, encouraging him to educate himself and grooming him for a powerful position in the Nazi state. (According to one version, to be his own successor.) Subordinate only to Hitler himself, the young, brilliant and ruthless Shmidt was placed in charge of foreign espionage and terrorist activities, playing a key role in Nazi victories in Europe and spreading fear (his red skull mask was intended to be a symbol of terror while Hitler could remain the popular leader in a national version of GoodCopBadCop). He eventually moved onto the United States as UsefulNotes/WorldWarII continued and sabotaged the top secret Project Rebirth by assassinating Prof. Erskine. Preparing for the inevitable war against Germany, the Americans decided to create their own GoodCounterpart to the Red Skull's evil, the sole successful Super Soldier serum test subject, Steve Rogers, and trained him to become ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, the man who was to become Schmidt's ArchEnemy.

* ColorCharacter

* DomesticAbuser: The villainess Mother Night is a truly terrible human being... but read [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks the stories]] where she and the Skull were an item, and cringe. It was one of the most hideously abusive relationships in comics; the Skull beat her savagely, yelled and screamed at her for no reason, humiliated her in front of his subordinates, and refused to let her kill herself (which she requested because she thought, if he was beating her so much, [[LoveMartyr clearly she is failing him somehow]]) because "you'd like that, wouldn't you?", whereupon he promised to ''beat her some more''.

* LethallyStupid: Sin, throughout the [[Creator/EdBrubaker Brubaker]] ''Captain America'' run. Almost ''everything'' that goes wrong with the Skull's plans in this period is due to her gleefully juggling the VillainBall and the IdiotBall, and she causes a lot of unrelated havoc besides. Arguably, this arc ''justifies'' everything bad he's been saying about her.

* RogueAgent: In the movie and some other adaptations, where he leads the RenegadeSplinterFaction HYDRA rather than the Nazis. Averted in the comics, where his loyalty to Nazism is his defining character trait, except (arguably) for a period in the 1980s, when he was acting out of character for both [[CameBackWrong in-universe]] and [[NoSwastikas out-of-universe]] reasons. Indeed, in the comics he sometimes ''fights'' renegade Nazis, who seek to usurp the Nazi dream of which he considers himself the protector.

* TookALevelInBadass: The [[DeliberatevaluesDissonance heroic]] example of Hitler inspired young Johann Schmidt to get a grip on himself and make something out of his hitherto miserably failed life. He succeeded, and indeed, [[GoneHorriblyRight arguably surpassed]] his mentor, going from pathetic LowerClassLout to RenaissanceMan with CharlesAtlasSuperPower.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: No, not him. But most major villains of the Marvel Universe are too disgusted by the Skull to willingly work with him. It doesn't help his case that two of Marvel's heavy hitters, ComicBook/DoctorDoom and ComicBook/{{Magneto}}, are a half-Romani and a Jewish holocaust survivor, respectively. In [[ComicBook/BatmanAndCaptainAmerica a crossover]], he mutually refuses to work with ComicBook/TheJoker, not so much for ethical standards as "[[MadArtist artistic]]" ones. The Joker glories in psychological torture and poetic death - he finds ''far'' more value in compelling [[Film/TheDarkKnight a good man to kill a child]], or [[Film/Batman1989 an entire major American city to abandon basic hygiene]], than he does mass (even ''millions-strong'') graves full of indiscriminate victims. So to the Joker, Skull is a talentless hack, and to the Skull, Joker is a useless lunatic. Also, while the Joker might be a criminal lunatic, he draws the line at working with Nazis (see below).

* JerkJock: An [[AxCrazy extreme]] example when he went insane after his mind was moved into a clone of Captain America. See below.
* JokerImmunity: Unlike the Joker, it's infuriating, considering what he is.

* MasterPoisoner: As part of his spy/assassin tradecraft. His trademark is the "dust of death" poison described elsewhere on this page, but he's been shown to use various other substances over the years, always to good effect.

* MightMakesRight: An interesting treatment, arguably a subversion for a villain. The Skull believes this is how the world works, but he doesn't think it's ''right'' in the moral sense that it has to.

* ThePowerOfFriendship: Arguably, darkly subverted. When the Cosmic Cube caught the Skull in a nightmarish [[LotusEaterMachine mind prison]], it was his devotion to Hitler that finally brought him back to real life.

* RaisedByOrcs: Well, raised by Nazis (but only in ''Film/CaptainAmerica1990'').

* SuperiorSuccessor: To Hitler, arguably, certainly a ''worthy'' successor in any case.

* ThickerThanWater: To an extent. He [[UnderStatement doesn't really]] go very easy on [[DaddysLittleVillain Sin]], but then again, he doesn't on himself, either. He certainly puts up with more from her (both in the way of failure and insolence) than he would from pretty much anyone else.

* {{Ubermensch}}: Nazi-style, too.

* BetrayalInsurance: Stemming from his [[HumansAreBastards very dark]] view of humanity, he is especially good at this, and often structures his plans so that even betrayal by a close ally will not doom them to failure. A triple betrayal (by three independently acting conspirators) did manage to sabotage his bid to game the US Presidential elections, however. Though even then it was arguably a close call.

** In the [[InherentInTheSystem internal politics]] of Nazi Germany, much like Albert Speer he used his personal access to the Fuehrer to build up his own power base and discredit his rivals or play them off against each other. He started out as a fairly low-ranking special intelligence operative, but by 1941 or so he was arguably the second most powerful man in Europe, and kept this position throughout the rest of the war.

* CityNoir: His backstory shows [[{{Oktoberfest}} Munich]], of all places, like this. Arguably justified, in that it's Munich during the hyperinflation/Great Depression, when ''all'' major German cities were pretty dystopian.

* DontYouDarePityMe: '' '''Not''' '' the way you expect it: It's actually ''the Skull'' pitying ''Captain America'', who reacts like this. Explanation: Because of values dissonance with some of modern culture (remember, he was born in the late 1910s), Cap is sometimes disturbed by what the America he fights to protect has turned into. The Skull (roughly equally old) is one of the few people alive who can actually, empathetically understand this, but also the last person in the world Cap ''wants'' any kind of sympathy from. Especially since their shared dislike of modernity is arguably a kind of NotSoDifferent. It's also been played straight on other occasions, like a more typical hero/villain interaction.

* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne: And not just if you're the chosen one of ''good'' ... Arguably, Red Skull has suffered ''even more'' tragic and traumatic events than his GoodCounterpart Cap, which is no mean feat; see other entries on this page. It's rather harder to feel sorry for him, though, since he also [[PayEvilUntoEvil inflicts them]] on others.

* EvilColonialist: In some stories set before/during World War II, mainly when he attacks the fictional African region of [[ComicBook/BlackPanther Wankanda]].

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: In Universe, the Red Skull is without question one of the most reviled, despised, detested, and flat out hated villains in the entire Marvel Universe, loathed by both heroes and villains alike. Put simply, when even '''[[ComicBook/TheJoker the Joker]]''' [[EvenEvilHasStandards wants nothing to do with you]], you know you're a vile, irredeemable piece of trash.

* BadassNormal: Though he may be a thoroughly despicable human being, there is no doubt that the Red Skull is badass. He is a highly skilled fighter capable of regularly holding his own against ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, one of the best martial artists in the world. He is an expert marksman and a brilliant and imaginative strategist, and like a true MagnificentBastard is unafraid to put himself in harm's way or use himself as his own best chess piece to see his plans come to fruition. He is considered one of the deadliest threats to mankind in a world that has to put up with regular {{Alien Invasion}}s, {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, power-mad superhumans and all manner of catastrophes, and he consistently demonstrates why he has that reputation.

* StraightEdgeEvil: The Skull leads a very temperate and austere private life, avoiding alcohol, frivolous sex and other similar vices. (Occasional smoking seems to be the one exception.) He also submits to a grueling regimen of studies and physical training to preserve and improve body and mind. Justified by his Social Darwinist philosophy that personal worth depends on ability: He ''must'' "be all he can be" or become unworthy of his station.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: No, not him. But most major villains of the Marvel Universe are too disgusted by the Skull to willingly work with him. It doesn't help his case that two of Marvel's heavy hitters, ComicBook/DoctorDoom and ComicBook/{{Magneto}}, are a half-Romani and a Jewish holocaust survivor, respectively. In [[ComicBook/BatmanAndCaptainAmerica a crossover]], he mutually refuses to work with ComicBook/TheJoker, not so much for ethical standards as "[[MadArtist artistic]]" ones. The Joker glories in psychological torture and poetic death - he finds ''far'' more value in compelling [[Film/TheDarkKnight a good man to kill a child]], or [[Film/{{Batman}} an entire major American city to abandon basic hygiene]], than he does mass (even ''millions-strong'') graves full of indiscriminate victims. So to the Joker, Skull is a talentless hack, and to the Skull, Joker is a useless lunatic. Also, while the Joker might be a criminal lunatic, he draws the line at working with Nazis (see below).

* EvenEvilHasStandards: No, not him. But most major villains of the Marvel Universe are too disgusted by the Skull to willingly work with him. It doesn't help his case that two of Marvel's heavy hitters, ComicBook/DoctorDoom and ComicBook/{{Magneto}}, are a half-Romani and a Jewish holocaust survivor, respectively. In [[ComicBook/BatmanAndCaptainAmerica a crossover]], he mutually refuses to work with ComicBook/TheJoker, not so much for ethical standards as "[[MadArtist artistic]]" ones. The Joker glories in psychological torture and poetic death - he finds ''far'' more value in compelling [[Film/TheDarkKnight a good man to kill a child]], or [[Film/{{Batman}} an entire major American city to abandon basic hygiene]], than he does mass (even ''millions-strong'') graves full of indiscriminate victims. So to the Joker, Skull is a talentless hack, and to the Skull, Joker is a useless lunatic. Also, while the Joker might be a criminal lunatic, he's also an American criminal lunatic.

** ComicBook/TheJoker abruptly ends a partnership with Red Skull when his Nazi affiliation comes out. Red Skull [[YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame simply wonders why he is so surprised when he thinks that the Joker would make a great Nazi]]. The Joker is ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness NOT]]'' '''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness happy]]''' about this, proclaiming "[[EvenEvilHasStandards I may be a criminal lunatic, but I'm an American criminal lunatic!]]"

The established origin of the better known Skull is relatively complex. He was born as Johann Shmidt in a small German village, probably sometime in the [[TheEdwardianEra 1910s]]. The Skull's mother Martha died giving birth to him, causing his drunken lout of a father to [[OffingTheOffspring try and drown him]], saying that the infant had murdered his wife. A doctor managed to prevent him from killing his newborn son, but the angry father went on to commit suicide. Growing up alone, the rise of the Nazis backdropping his life, young Schmidt eventually found himself living a hard life on the streets. All while nursing a growing anger and frustration towards the rest of the world. As an older teen, Schmidt managed to get a job as a bellhop for a major hotel frequented by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. Shmidt was present for one occasion when Hitler was angrily berating the head of UsefulNotes/TheGestapo (or just some random German officer) for letting a spy escape, and screamed at the man that he could make even the bellhop into a better Nazi than him. [[GoneHorriblyRight He did]].