Red Skull

The Red Skull (Johann Shmidt) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics and its predecessor Timely Comics. In Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), the Red Skull's secret identity was revealed to be George Maxon; It would be retroactively established that he was merely a decoy who was working for the real Red Skull. Albert Malik would later adopt the Red Skull mantle, only to be killed in a plot orchestrated by the original. In his comic book appearances, the Red Skull is depicted as a Nazi agent and protégé of Adolf Hitler during World War II. Although he initially wears a fearsome blood-red skull mask, Shmidt suffers a horrific disfigurement decades later that causes his face to match his namesake. The Red Skull has endured as the archenemy of the superhero Captain America. The Red Skull has been adapted in various media incarnations. Scott Paulin portrayed the character in the 1990 direct-to-video film Captain America. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Hugo Weaving portrayed the Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and was then replaced by Ross Marquand in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Steve Blum, Liam O'Brien and others have provided the character's voice in media ranging from animation to video games. Publication history The original Red Skull was introduced in Timely Comics' Captain America Comics #1 (cover-dated March 1941) which was written and drawn by the team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. On separate occasions, both Kirby and Simon claimed to have had the original idea for the character, and at the 1970 San Diego Comic Con, Kirby said the Red Skull was created by France Herron. Simon later credited both Kirby and Herron with having a role in creating Red Skull.