Red Skull: Bio, Origin & History

Real Name: Johann Schmidt

First Appearance: Captain America Comics 1 (March, 1941)

Powers: The Red Skull possesses no true powers.  He is an elite strategist in all forms (military, political, corporate, etc…)

Affiliation: HYDRA, Third Reich, People’s Militia

Enemies: Captain America, Bucky Barnes

Love Interests: Like a robot, the Red Skull is incapable of love

Did You Know: During his time under Hitler, Hitler was afraid of him.

A Little History…

Born into a broken home, led by a drunk of a father, Johann came into the world hated.  At birth his mother died and shortly thereafter his father attempted to drown him. He did this believing his infant son to be the cause of his wife’s death.  The doctor quickly took Johann away, sent him to an orphanage, and the next day his father committed suicide.

Johann ran away from the orphanage at 7 and lived out his early life on the streets. 

As a method of survival, Johann took up a job at a hotel as a bellhop. During this time, he wound up being responsible for serving the room of Adolf Hitler. In the middle of a delivery, Johann watched as Hitler savagely beat one of his officers. After the beating, Hitler proclaimed he could train Johann to be a better officer than his former…he did just that.  

Hitler would bestow Johann with a red mask and name him the Red Skull.

Known now as the Red Skull, Johann was placed in charge of a group of Nazi Terrorists; a job he became quite prolific at. Seeing what was happening in the War, the United States began to counter Hitler’s influence with the man from Operation Rebirth, Captain America.

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