Red Skull: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''His eyes, [[Uh-Oh Eyes|unfathomably empty]], devoid of [[Lack of Empathy|all compassion... all humanity]]... No one has eyes like that... no one! All these months I've lived in a fool's paradise, [[Selective Obliviousness|refusing to believe]] his claim to be [[Legacy Character|the real Red Skull]], refusing to believe that my [[Arch Enemy|greatest enemy]] had found a way to [[Not Quite Dead|cheat death]]... but he has. [[Knight of Cerebus|The Red Skull lives]]... [[The End of the World as We Know It|God help us all.]]''|'''[[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]]'''}}

The [[Arch Enemy]] of [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]] and one of the oldest villains in comics, and widely regarded as one of the most despicable. Right-hand man of [[Adolf Hitler]] in the Marvel Universe, [[Nebulous Evil Organization|HYDRA]] brought him [[Back ~~From~~ the Dead]] to plague the world once again. There have been at least three major versions of the Skull. Red Skull/George Maxon first appeared in ''Captain America Comics'' #1 (March, 1941). The better known Red Skull/Johann Schmidt first appeared in ''Captain America Comics'' #7 (October, 1941). 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). Schmidt was revived in ''Tales of Suspense'' #79 (July, 1966).

The [[Arch Enemy]] of [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]] and one of the oldest villains in comics, and widely regarded as one of the most despicable. Right-hand man of [[Adolf Hitler]] in the Marvel Universe, [[Nebulous Evil Organization|HYDRA]] brought him [[Back from the Dead]] to plague the world once again. There have been at least three major versions of the Skull. Red Skull/George Maxon first appeared in ''Captain America Comics'' #1 (March, 1941). The better known Red Skull/Johann Schmidt first appeared in ''Captain America Comics'' #7 (October, 1941). 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). Schmidt was revived in ''Tales of Suspense'' #79 (July, 1966).

The established origin of the better known Skull is relatively complex. He was born as Johann Schmidt in a small German village, probably sometime in the [[The Roaring Twenties|1920s]]. The Skull's mother Martha died giving birth to him, causing his drunken lout of a father to [[Offing the Offspring|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 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 [[Adolf Hitler]]. Schmidt was present for one occasion when Hitler was angrily berating the head of the [[Gestapo]] (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. [[Gone Horribly Right|He did]].

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** [[Shadow Archetype]]: He's the Nazi counterpart of Captain America, and has the rank to fit?

* [[Ax Crazy]]

* [[Back ~~From~~ the Dead]]

* [[Back from the Dead]]

* [[Bad Boss]]: He frequently kills all but his most loyal or competent underlings--and sometimes even them--either [[You Have Failed Me|for failure]] or for [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|outliving their usefulness]], but just as often [[For the Evulz]]. He once killed his ''accountant'', for pete's sake, because "she was a bad accountant". And he usually uses his "Dust of Death" poison, one of the most agonising and horrible weapons in his arsenal, when he feels like doing the deed.

* [[Bad Boss]]: He frequently kills all but his most loyal or competent underlings--and sometimes even them--either [[You Have Failed Me...|for failure]] or for [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|outliving their usefulness]], but just as often [[For the Evulz]]. He once killed his ''accountant'', for pete's sake, because "she was a bad accountant". And he usually uses his "Dust of Death" poison, one of the most agonising and horrible weapons in his arsenal, when he feels like doing the deed.

* [[Badass Normal]]: 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 [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]], one of the best martial artists in the world. He is an expert marksman and a brilliant and imaginative strategist, and like a true [[Magnificent Bastard]] 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|Alien Invasions]], [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]], power-mad superhumans and all manner of catastrophes, and he consistently demonstrates why he has that reputation.

* [[Bastard Understudy]]: To Hitler.

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** Of course, the same story has him remembering both of his parents, including their faces and behaviour, [[Infallible Narrator|despite both of them being dead before he was a day old]], as well as what it was like to be pulled out of the womb -- he says he has an amazing memory. These days, that's largely ignored. His superhuman powers of memory either completely justify his amazing out-of-the-blue ability to learn anything, or suggests he was being less than honest about it.

*** Curiously, [[Doctor Doom]] has made similar claims. Maybe it's just an innate power of [[Marvel Comics]] archvillains?

* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: After coming [[Back ~~From~~ the Dead]] with the "perfect Aryan" face of his rival, Captain America, his first major scheme ended with him being disfigured with an actual "red skull" for a face after he inhaled his own "dust of death" while trying to kill Cap.

* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: After coming [[Back from the Dead]] with the "perfect Aryan" face of his rival, Captain America, his first major scheme ended with him being disfigured with an actual "red skull" for a face after he inhaled his own "dust of death" while trying to kill Cap.

* [[Joker Immunity]]

* [[Kick the Son of a Bitch]]: Magneto once kidnapped the Skull and locked him in an abandoned fallout shelter, telling him that death would be too good for him and that he wanted the Skull to wish that Magneto ''had'' killed him after the coming ordeal. The shelter was completely empty except for some jugs of water, which Magneto advised the Skull to conserve, and had no light source. So for weeks, the Skull was locked in a dark room with concrete walls, slowly starving to death. He raged, pounded on the walls, tried in vain to reach the exit high above him, sobbed, and eventually began hallucinating. By the time he was found by Crossbones, Mother Night, and Machinesmith, he was utterly broken and wished to die.

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* [[Those Wacky Nazis]]

* [[Torture Technician]]: His hobby, apparently. At least on one occasion he even had his own [[Torture Cellar]], which he said was for "recreation".

* [[Training ~~From~~ Hell]]: Claimed to have liked it, to hope and pray that Hitler would come up with something more intense and cruel than last, because pain and punishment and torment were his motivators.

* [[Training from Hell]]: Claimed to have liked it, to hope and pray that Hitler would come up with something more intense and cruel than last, because pain and punishment and torment were his motivators.

* [[The Ubermensch]]

* [[Ungrateful Bastard]]: He once claimed to have searched for years for the physician who pulled him out of the womb...so he could kill him for dragging him out of the darkness and into the light, and for saving him from his father's attempts to murder him.

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[[Category:The Forties]]

[[Category:Marvel Universe]]

[[Category:~~Red Skull~~]]

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]