Red Skull

History

Johann Schmidt

Johann's mother died giving birth to him and his father committed suicide. Johann was saved by the doctor who delivered him. The doctor sent him to the orphanage where he had no friends. He ran away and became a thief and beggar. He found menial jobs but spent in time in prison serving his time for stealing. He was then hired by a Jewish shop keeper whose daughter, Esther was the only one to treat him nicely. Johann became fond of her and forced himself on her, but Esther rejected and he murdered her. The murdering of Esther had let him vent his rage that he had kept in when he was younger.

Later, he became a bellboy at a hotel where Adolph Hitler came to stay. During that night he brought Hitler refreshments while where in he was talking with the secret police about letting a spy escape. When Hitler exclaimed "I could teach that bellboy to do a better job than you!" he looked at Johann and saw the raw hate that he held inside him. He hired him as his right-hand man and Johann eagerly followed his orders from there on. Hitler gave Johann the Mask of the "Red Skull" as a tool to become the embodiment of NAZI intimidation.

Before the 1940s, Red Skull was sent to spy on the United States. The US created a costumed hero by the name of Captain America so there would be a counterpart to the Red Skull. The US officially entered World War II and from there on, Captain America would become Red Skull's arch-nemesis.

Hitler was very proud of his protege letting him do whatever he wanted and financing several bases for the Skull which were filled with powerful weapons developed by Nazi scientists. During the war, he stole the plans of a "Nullatron" which could control people's minds.  It was adapted by a scientist named Brain Drain and got Nazi scientists to create a projector that could suspend a certain area. Skull however idolized Hitler because he totalitarian.   Unfortunately Red Skull didn't really want to become someone's subordinate, and so, Skull killed most of Hitler's advisers and became the second most powerful man in the Third Reich.  Hitler now knew he could not control the Red Skull and feared that the Red Skull would make a plan to overthrow him.

After Baron Strucker had a fallout with Hitler, the Red Skull sent him to Japan to create the organization Hydra. He disconnected himself with Skull and became the leader of this organization, threatening the peace throughout the world.

The war continued and Hitler vowed that if he could not take over the world, he would destroy it. Skull proposed that five gigantic war machines be built in five different locations so that they could absorb the energy and if the Allies ever won, they would unleash the war machines which they would called "Der Tag" ("The Day"). Hitler allowed him to do so, unaware that Skull was actually planning to take over the world himself. The war the nearing to an end when the Allies learned about "Der Tag" but had no idea what the plan would do. So they got Captain America and Bucky to investigate and fought against the Red Skull many times. During the final days of WWII Captain America and Bucky were to prevent a desperate attempt from the Nazis from sabotaging supply bases in England. The Red Skull sent his lackeys, known as the Exiles where a large group of German soldiers and their wives had a secret island called Exile Island where they would organize an army for the future.

Red Skull realized that Germany was about to be defeated and he was even more desperate to get rid of Captain America and Bucky. He assigned Baron Helmut Zemo to kill them both. However, Captain America was parachuted in Berlin to discover what the plans of "Der Tag" were. Captain America tracked down Skull and he threw a grenade at him, but it bounced off his shield, where it landed near Red Skull. He did not die from the explosion, but was severely wounded and buried by the rubble. Thinking he was dying, he told Captain America about the Sleepers (the five war machines). An Allied plan then bombed the place and Captain America barely escaped. Captain America was then picked up by the Allies, discovering it was trick by Zemo where he would be suspended many years. The support pillars saved Red Skull from being caved in, and bunker released a gas that also put him into suspended animation where he slowly healed.

Later Red Skull was found by a search team sent by an organization called THEM which was a ruling council of Hydra. By this time, three sleepers had been destroyed by Captain America who had been released from suspended animation. Skull cooperated with THEM and stole the Cosmic Cube from AIM. After he stole it, he came across Captain America once again who had defeated him once more. Captain America was just too powerful for him as Hitler had died and Skull believed it was his turn to take over the world. He gathered his Exiles, a fragment of Hydra, the last two Sleepers and yet was still defeated.

Skull wanted an heir and he fathered a daughter on Exile Island. The woman had died in childbirth and the Skull contemplated killing the child because it was a girl but he was talked out of it by Mother Night. The Red Skull had a mansion on the island where she was raised by Mother Night for the first few years of her life. The child was named Synthia, Sin for short.  The Skull returned a few years later and put Sin into a machine that aged her to adulthood where she was endowed with superpowers and was called Mother Superior and she began working for him as the leader of the Sisters of Sin. For some time, Red Skull cooperated with Hate Monger who was a clone of Hitler. Even so, Red Skull did not share his power with Monger and trapped his consciousness with the Cosmic Cube.

Some time later the Skull began seeing Mother Night, he frequently abused her and humiliated her which angered one of his followers, Cutthroat, whom tried to convince her to run away with him. When Mother Night was seriously considering leaving with Cutthroat, he was stabbed by the recently returned Crossbones.

So far, the Red Skull learned that the gas that put him into suspended animation was making him age faster than usual. He wanted Captain America to die with him, so he brainwashed Nomad and poisoned Captain America's food which also made him age quickly and also undid the effects of the Super-Soldier serum. Skull then captured Captain America and injected him and Captain America with a poison that would give them only hours to live. They both fought, and Captain America won once again. Red Skull expired after old age. Captain America then returned to his normal self again.

Unknown to the world, Arnim Zola, who was a Nazi scientist preserved the mind of Skull and transferred it into a clone of Captain America. Alive once again, he decided to destroy America with its own kind of government rather than Nazism. He masterminded the replacement of Steve Rogers and John Walker took his place. With that, he made Captain America have an infamous reputation. During this time, he battled with Steve Rogers and accidentally dosed himself with the Dust Of Death which gave him the red skull permanently.

While buying weaponry from Aleksander Lukin in Russia the Red Skull learned that Bucky was still alive but being held in stasis, and tried to purchase the body. Lukin later had the Winter Soldier kill the Skull and stole the Cosmic Cube. However, the Skull used the remaining power in the Cube to transfer his mind into Lukin's body. They battled for control and searched for a way to separate their minds with the help of Arnim Zola.

The Death of Captain America

Albert Malik

Following the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, Georgi Malenkov of the Soviet government appointed Albert Malik to the the identity of the Red Skull, hoping to capitalize on the original's reputation despite the history of hostility between communism and Nazism. His first assignment was to locate Hitler's strongbox, reputedly located at the United Nations, in search of Nazi weapon secrets. He invaded the United Nations building later that year, but was opposed by the most recent Captain America and Bucky, who defeated him. He eventually recruited the electricity-powered Electro, a Soviet super-operative who had himself fought Captain America and Bucky earlier, to aid him in another attempt. Although Electro was waylaid in the battle with Captain America and Bucky, Malik succeeded in obtaining the strongbox. When he finally examined it, however, he found that it only contained a plaque identifying the real strongbox's location. He finally found the strongbox, but it proved to be worthless, containing not the "secret weapon" the Soviets had hoped for but Hitler's old manuscripts, medals and sketches.

Malik later embarked on a scheme to obtain American atomic rockets for the USSR by masquerading as a scientist, then subsequently killed and replaced Senator Joseph McRooter, in which identity he recruited war criminals to spread false accusations of communist sympathy. However, Captain America and Bucky defeated him on each occasion.

Hoping to avoid further battle, Malik eventually moved his operations to Algeria, becoming the mastermind of a criminal organization. Decades after his clashes with the 1950s Captain America, he identified two undercover U.S. government agents, Richard and Mary Parker. He had both of them killed  and framed for illicit defection; little is known about his activities for the next twenty-plus years.

In recent years, the Parkers' son Peter learned of the charges against his parents and traveled to Algeria to investigate their deaths. Malik sent his assassin, the Finisher, to stop Spider-Man, but the killer was defeated, and Peter forced a confession from the Finisher that provided the evidence he needed to prove his parents weren't traitors. Apparently driven from Algeria, Malik later obtained a nuclear weapon, but was opposed by Le Peregrine, Hawkeye and the Sandman, all employed by the mercenary Silver Sable. Malik activated his bomb, but the Sandman was able to prevent it from detonating, and Malik was sentenced to prison in Algeria.

Malik's underlings broke him out of prison, almost all of them dying while getting him to an escape helicopter. As he flew away, he donned his mask and began to plot new schemes, but his pilot proved to be a renegade member of Angel's Scourge Program. The Scourge shot Malik through the chest, knocking his corpse from the helicopter, then contacted his employer, the Nazi Red Skull, who laughed at his impersonator's demise.

Powers and Abilities

He has no superhuman abilities but he is gifted strategist and political mastermind. When the Red Skull acquired the super soldier serum enhanced body clone, he received the same abilities of Captain America. his strength, agility, speed, dexterity, balance, reflex, coordination are above that of an ordinary human. He has also trained in the use of different firearms and hand-to-hand combat.

He usually have a trick cigarette that can fire the "Dust Of Death"- a poisonous gas towards his victim and can change the victim's face into a "red skull".

Alternate Versions

Earth X (Earth-997)

Johann Schmidt was killed by Captain America and later, the Red Skull legacy was passed on to Ben Beckley, son of the Comet Man. Ben was later killed by Captain America and later seen with his father.

Marvel Zombies (Earth-2149)

Red Skull is one of the infected of th zombie plague and is now a zombie. He is seen finally killing his nemesis, Colonel America, by ripping out the last part of his brain of his head. His head was chopped of by Spider-Man and finally had his head stepped on by Giant Man.

Old Man Logan

Ultimate Universe (1610)

Earth-1610 Ultimate