Red Skull
Real Identity: Johann Schmidt
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Characteristics and Powers: Johann Schmidt is basically Hitler in everything but serial number. But given that he doesn’t have to stay in Berlin and manage a country, he’s allowed to be more mobile and active. He’s always had an interest in trinkets and artifacts that could advance the Third Reich. To that end, he took an injection of Super Soldier Serum developed by Dr. Erskine. It enhanced all his physical traits, but mutated his face into a hideous, gaunt crimson skull.
One of the artifacts he found was the Tesseract (a.k.a. the cosmic cube, Space Stone), long buried in a Norse crypt, presumably when Asgardians came to Earth. With his buddy Arnim Zola, a toady-ish Nazi scientist, they use the Tesseract’s power to create powerful weapons (i.e., laser guns) to combat the Allied Forces and win WWII. I don’t know what these weapons really do that’s special besides glow blue and vaporize the target. I guess there’s no collateral damage or risk of the victim surviving, so there’s that.
Relationship to the Hero(es): There are lots of connections, but none of them are personal. Thanks to an “Operation: Paperclip”-like defection, Erskine came to America to peddle his Super Soldier Serum on some unsuspecting recruit. This resulted in Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America. WWII became the Cap vs. Red show as he persistently foiled H.Y.D.R.A’s plans in two-fisted action. But they never come into direct personal conflict until the end. We don’t get the prolonged back-and-forth conflict as one would in a comic book serial or an eighties cartoon (e.g., He-Man, Ninja Turtles, G.I. Joe). Which is sad–I wanted to see more of that giant tank.
Goals/Motivation: Well, I could talk all about the Third Reich’s goals and so on, but Schmidt’s immediate desire in this movie is the Tesseract. And he gets it. Then uses it to make cool weapons, and maybe usurp his beloved Führer? But that darn pesky Captain America keeps foiling his plans. So go big or go home. Using a big plane called the Valkyrie, he takes off with a bunch of Tesseract-infused bombs ready for a world tour. I don’t know how bad these bombs could be, but they sound pretty devastating.
Relatability: I wish I could have answered this question differently ten years ago, but we’re living in a new age. Nazis seem to be lurking everywhere. Could be a neighbor. Could be someone you work with. And they don’t seem to be afraid to crawl out of the woodwork like rats anymore. Dog whistles are whistles, and they’re not undetected. If you don’t know one personally, you’ve seen them on TV. College white boys with tiki torches or YouTube reels on the r/publicfreakout. Just like HYDRA agents in the MCU, you never know who might be one, and they seem to think they’re entitled to something. Punch a Nazi today.
Fun Factor: I… don’t think I’d like to be a super soldier. Especially if it meant I had to be a Nazi at the same time. Besides, Red Skull doesn’t really have anything special. His power lies in being Hitler’s fanboy. All he really has is the standard core package of superpowers–strength, agility, stamina, etc. The wiki says he’s a scientist and a marksman and a physicist, but that never comes up in the movie.
Fatal Flaw: I really can’t think of anything better to say other than he thought he was strong enough to control the Tesseract. All he really does is pick it up to put it back. It appears the filmmakers concentrated more on the protagonist’s part of the script, and just lifted the antagonist’s characteristics from Indiana Jones. It’s very Deus ex Machina to have him sucked into a black hole and conveniently removed from contention.
Method of Defeat: Tussling with Captain America inside the Valkyrie (bound for bombable cities), the Tesseract, which is… acting as the plane’s engine? Powering the bombs? It’s not clear. Anyway, it gets knocked out of place. Schmidt picks it up. A magic black hole appears above his head. He is transported to points unknown (until Avengers: Infinity War), giving Captain America freedom to get rid of HYDRA’s last traces.
Final Rating: ★★
