THE RED SKULL
Real Name: Johann Schmidt
Occupation: Former beggar, theif, bellboy, terrorist-leader for the Third
Reich, would-be world conquerer.
Legal Status: German Citizen with criminal record, now listed as dead;
current alias: as an American citizen with no criminal record
Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 240 lbs.
Strength Level: Maximum human development
Powers: The Red Skull's mind currently inhabits a body cloned from Steve
Rogers, complete with active Super-Soldier formula, which has enhanced his
body to the maximum human efficiency. Further, the Red Skull is a strategic
genius on par with Gengis Khan or Napoleon. He is a very skilled martial
artist, and a master marksman with various weapons.
Weapons: The Red Skull has various scientific weapons, but his most
infamous is his Dust of Death, a pollen-like poison which kills almost
instantly, and constricts and discolors the skin of the victim to become a red
skull in death. He himself has fallen victim to the venom in his current body,
giving him a permanent "red skull" appearance inside a perfect body.
Click here for the Red Skull's History
First Appearance The Nazi Red Skull The Classic Red Skull During the 1950's, Communist powers would create their own Red Skull, who would fight Captain America IV on behalf of the Soviet Union. After his re-animation, the original Red Skull would have the imposter killed in prison. The Red Skull's bunker was found and excavated by HYDRA, who would revive the Red Skull, who co-operated with them long enough to seize the A.I.M.-developed Cosmic Cube. But whether he used the Cosmic Cube, Sleeper robots, or a horde of nazi thugs, all of his plans were foiled by Captain America. Eventually, the Red Skull would begin to rapidly age, a delayed effect of the gasses which had preserved him for decades. Capturing Captain America and injecting him with a compound to make him age, he tried to goad Captain America into killing him; instead, he died of old age, and his body was burned. Unknown to the world, however, Armin Zola had preserved the mind of the Red Skull at death, and transfered his mind into a body cloned from Steve Rogers. Alive again, the Red Skull denounced Nazism as an outdated philosophy, and became determined to destroy America from within, using its own capitalism. The Red Skull created or funded the creation of several different subversive groups, including Ultimatum, the Watchdogs, Scourge, the Resistants, and Power Brokers, Inc. Through his agent on the Commission, he masterminded their investigation and eventual replacement of Steve Rogers as Captain America, leading to John Walker taking up the role; he then began a campaign to cause Walker's breakdown, using Walker's ever-increasing instability and violence to besmirch the reputation of Captain America. During this time, in combat with Steve Rogers as the Captain, he accidentally dosed himself with the Dust of Death, giving him a permanent "red skull" visage. The Red Skull began to build an organization of operatives called the Skeleton Crew, headed by Crossbones, and including such others as Cuthroat, Mother Superior, Blackwing, Hobgoblin, the Voice, and Machinesmith. His operatives would fail, and become captured. The Red Skull would again apparently perish, this time disintigrated while trying to obtain (again!) a new Cosmic Cube. However, the explosion of the Cosmic Cube imbued the Red Skull with its unlimited Cosmic energies, and the Red Skull would eventually re-form, and begin to torment Captain America once more, ultimately falling when Captain America tricks him into apparently distintigrating himself while trying for even more power. Dead? I don't think so....
