Johann Schmidt

"He thinks he's a god and he's willing to blow half of the world to prove it." - Chester Phillips

Johann Schmidt is an ex SS officer and scientist who has his own branch of the German Army under his command known as HYDRA.

Captain America: The First Avenger
Johann Schmidt was an SS officer who reached the rank of Obergruppenführer (Lieutenant General) and got into Hitler's inner circle. He believed in some of Hitler's stories that many other Nazis didn't and became to have an obsession for the ocultism. Then he created his own branch known as HYDRA, named after the mythological creature. Dr. Abraham Erkshine had been forced to test the super soldier serum on Johann Schmidt, corrupt and greedy for power. After the serum had been used on Schmidt, he not only developed a darker nature but it also had physical side effects. Schmidt invades a castle in Norway searching for an artifact he calls "The jewel of Odin's treasure room". The artifact is said to give it's finder unbelievable power and Schmidt believed it would give him power. A monk tries to stop him from stealing it but Johann shoots and kills him. Schmidt and Nazi scientist, Arnim Zola experiment with the artifact which is really the cosmic cube and attempt to harness it's power. Then they started to create their own wunderwaffe using the Tesseract´s power. Schmidt then kills three SS officers when they reveal HYDRA wants to take over every country in the world including Germany. Schmidt reveals that his cause is looking beyond Hitler's plans and imagination and that HYDRA wont grown up under Hitler´s shadow, so he becomes an enemy and traitor of the Axis powers. While on a solo rescue mission, Steve Rogers briefly confronts Schmidt and Schmidt tears away the skin on his face revealing that he is the Red Skull (he became Red Skull after the super soldier serum was tested on him). Red Skull and Zola retreat. Rogers leaps onto Red Skull's jet as it leaps off, Red Skull was on a mission to destroy the US with the energy from the cosmic cube. Red Skull and Captain America fight within the cockpit ending in a stalemate as the battle damages the cube power core. The Red Skull claims the Cube in an attempt to use its power to destroy Rogers, but the Cube responds to the user's desire. The Red Skulls desire being to obtain the power of the Gods which in the Cube's case was Asgardian in nature. Thus the Cube open's a portal to Asgard where the Red Skull is transported leaving behind the Cube to burn through the hull of the ship toward the Arctic Ocean.

Character traits
Johann Schmidt is a megalomaniac genius who firmly believes in Nietzsche's theory of Übermensch (beoynd-human), a race of superhuman beings destined to rule the normal ones. Believing himself to be such a man, he used both magic and science to obtain a central position in Hitler's army, until his conceit arrived to the point of believing to be greater than Hitler himself, thus starting a plan to overthrow him. Schmidt is pitiless and cruel, but also a scientific genius, who's able to see beyond appearances and managed to see the truth behind myths believed to be superstition, in reality fragments of alien technology.

As a result of the formula developed by Abraham Erskine, Schmidt was horribly disfigured, but also obtained incredible attributes, such as an enormous strength, speed, stamina and reflexes, and got even his intelligence increased, becoming a war mastermind. In combat, he uses canonical firearms, but after the retrieving of the Tesseract, he gained access to a source of energy the like of which has never be seen, and used it to implement his weapons.

Relationships

 * Steve Rogers - Archenemy.
 * Bucky Barnes - Enemy.
 * Peggy Carter - Enemy.
 * Howling Commandos - Enemies.
 * Arnim Zola - Ally.
 * Heinz Kruger - Ally.

Behind the Scenes

 * Hugo Weaving based the Red Skull's accent on renowned German filmmakers Werner Herzog and Klaus Maria Brandauer.
 * The Red Skull searches for a powerful artifact, the Cosmic Cube. In the 2007 film Transformers, Hugo Weaving voiced the villain Megatron, who also searched for a similar cosmic cube-shaped relic (the AllSpark).

Appearances/Actors

 * Canon (1 film)
 * Captain America: The First Avenger (First appearance) - Hugo Weaving

Trivia

 * In the comics the Red Skull was Hitler´s right hand, second in command and personal assassin and he has no relationships with HYDRA. Although, he helped Baron von Strucker (the original HYRDRA's director) to escape from Germany and to organize HYDRA in the japanesse occupied territory in the final days of the WWII.