Johann Schmidt

**Johann Schmidt** (ヨハン・シュミット, *Yohan Shumitto*), also known as **Red Skull** (レッド・スカル, *Reddo Sukaru*), is a main fictional character and one of the antagonists of the *DC and Marvel* series. He is the arch-nemesis of Captain America and his partner Bucky, second to Baron Zemo and one of the feared commanders of an adept terrorist organization known as HYDRA during World War II. Later in present time, He became the leader of HYDRA and some years later formed the Cabal. Both groups' goal is global domination.

"*Picture an army of mythological beasts, unleashed upon the battlefield. The Allies won't even comprehend the forces that are destroying them.*"

—Red Skull.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice Actor*: Liam O'Brien (English), Not Known (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Latin American Spanish)

### Appearance

#### As Red Skull

For most of the time, Red Skull was dressed in a pre-1938 black Allgemeine-SS uniform. He wore a military decoration similar to the Iron Cross around his neck, despite the fact that the Iron Cross was not reinstated before 1939. When he was in captivity of S.H.I.E.L.D., he wore the green prisoner clothes.

#### As Dell Rusk

Under the guise of Dell Rusk, he wore an elegant black suit.

* Hair Color: N/A
* Eye Color: Yellow
* Height: Not Known
* Weight: Not Known

## Personality

Red Skull is a power-hungry, manipulative, highly intelligent, cruel, arrogant, egocentric who seeks power and dominance over everything. He is a skilled orator, able to gave him the power to win people's hearts and minds and strike doubt in the resolute and courageous minds, and use it his advantage where he feigned loyalty and strength to those who followed him.

His personality is completely based on Nazism, as has many megalomaniac tendencies, and often refers to himself as a superior as he believe that the serum has made him evolve beyond his human condition. He had neither pity nor mercy toward those he marks as inferior. On his own account, he is "a leader of men". His self-proclaimed nature showed greatly in his encounters with Iron Man. Skull avidly labelled Iron Man as a fool and saw the Armored Avengers' preference to rely on his suits an attribution to his "cowardly" nature, and would also frequently consider himself to be a sacrificial person, in order to achieve his goals, while he presumed that Stark would make no such actions to accomplish his. Ironically, for all his pretentiousness, he is willing to except his errors in judgement. His observation skills also account for his ability to quickly adapt to any given situation, easily subduing Iron Man and subsequently stealing his armor.

## Powers and Abilities

### Abilities

* **Master strategist**: At the time of the WWII era, Red Skull had an army on his command and planned strategies to conquer the world.
* **Skilled hand-to-hand combatant**: He has been rigorously trained by the Führer's best trainers in Hand-to-Hand combat & can even rival a super soldier himself, namely Captain America.
* **Skilled marksman**:
* **Strategic Mind**: Red Skull is very well-known for his ability to produce elaborate schemes and his display of strategy. Naturally forming a plan that consists of two or more goals to serve his needs, holding back a hidden plan that wouldn't be revealed until later, and a fall-back plan in case his current plan tends to fail.
* **Military Protocols**: He not only founded, but lead HYDRA during WWII without any opposition from his subordinates & would've won if not for Captain America. He has since then led several highly trained & well equipped militias all loyal to his will.
* **Political Sciences**: He is a highly gifted subversive strategist and political operative, having mastered political sciences of may counties most notably Germany, Russia & The United States. This also shows his mastery over the knowledge of the common wealth laws.
* **Biological Immortality Gained Through Biological Enhancements**: Once he was injected with a prototype variant of the Super Soldier Serum, he mutated into a red-colored skull-like being & gained superhuman physical & mental abilities. These abilities were degrading as his super-soldier serum was unstable, until the effects of the Time Stone stabilized his super-soldier serum & thus restoring his super-soldier conditioning.
* **Artificially-Increased Healing Factor**: His natural healing abilities are enhanced. This allows him to regenerate at an accelerated rate. It seems unlikely that he can regrow limbs. This constant cellular regeneration is causing his aging process to come to a complete stop. This healing factor makes him difficult to kill.
	+ **Enhanced Strength**: He can go toe to toe on strength levels with Captain America in Hand To Hand Combat. He can even overpower him at certain times, likely due to his greater experience & tolerance for damage. Notably, Cap, while in Red Skull's body, was able to send the real Red Skull, who was in his own body, flying through the air with his attacks.
	+ **Enhanced Intellect**: He is a master level manipulator, strategist, politician, intimidator, interrogator, espionage, scientist, militant, spy, martial artist, marksman, scientist, intuitive genius, enforcer & leader. However, all of his intellectual abilities are based on Nazism.
	+ **Enhanced Speed**: He has shown to have the exact amount of inhuman speed as Captain America. He can react to oncoming attacks instantaneously.
	+ **Enhanced Durability**: His mutated red hyde is far tougher than Captain America's skin.
	+ **High Endurance**: He can tolerate more damage or fatigue from any apparent than even Captain America & tires much slower in combat than average olympic level humans.

### Equipment

* Red Skull wields a German Broomhandle Mauser pistol.

## History

### Past

#### World War II

##### The HYDRA Super Soldier

"*Even now, Cap is leading the charge against the dreaded Red Skull and his HYDRA forces.*"

—Radio broadcast.
Not much is known about Johan Schmidt's youth. It is known however, that at some point in his life, he joined the Nazis, and became a high-ranking officer of HYDRA. He served as second in command to Baron Zemo, the leader of HYDRA. He was injected with the imperfect version of the Super Soldier Serum, becoming the first and only Super Soldier of HYDRA. The imperfected serum increased his strength, but it also disfigured his face, and he became known as the Red Skull.

Soon, he led the German armies, with the HYDRA forces leading all attacks, into conquering much of the continental Europe. However, the Allies, led by Captain America, counterattacked and liberated much of the territory under German occupation.

##### The Bifrost Bridge

"*You may come out now, Captain. I know you're here. You have arrived just in time to witness history!*"

—Red Skull to Captain America.
In 1943, Red Skull was a commander of HYDRA fortress in Norway. He began to develop multiple advanced creations, the primary focus of research being Norse mythology. When Captain America and the Howling Commandos attacked his fortress, Red Skull activated a teleporter machine which tapped into the Bifrost Bridge, transporting multiple monsters from the other realms into Midgard. He intended to form an army of legendary beasts and creatures so he could send them against the Allies and win the war.

##### Defeat

"*I will have my revenge. On you, and the world!*"

—Red Skull to Captain America.
However, Red Skull's plan was stopped by Captain America and Bucky who damaged his machine, starting a fire in the fortress. He attempted to escape with his advanced rocket plane but was followed by Captain America and Bucky. As Captain America reached him, he set his transport to self-destruct and flew away in an ejector seat. Though he failed to destroy Captain America, his greatest enemy ended up frozen in ice.

#### Winter Soldier

"*Captain America has abandoned you, little one. You have a new teacher now.*"

—Red Skull to Bucky.
Immediately after the destruction of the plane, Red Skull and his men found Bucky in the water and took him to one of the secret HYDRA bases. The HYDRA doctors and technicians gave Bucky a new, cybernetic arm to replace the one which he lost during the explosion of Red Skull's plane. He brainwashed Bucky and turned him into his loyal henchman. He personally trained him, and Bucky became Red Skull's best assassin. The brainwashed Bucky became known as the Winter Soldier.

## External links

* Red Skull *Wikipedia*
* Red Skull *Marvel Database*