First Avenger OFFICIAL: Hugo Weaving is Red Skull

[Bad Superman]

Found this on deviant art:

that's badass.

 

[Brian Braddock]

Pretty damn cool design;

Just not a fan of the veins on the old bonce there - looks a tad phallic.

 

[Compi716]

Wow, that's incredibly grotesque. It could work.

There was a post a while back from someone saying that he read plot points of Cap and Thor off some Dutch marketing site (or something like that). According to the points, Skull undergoes a physical transformation, resulting in a deformed read head.

If that's to be taken seriously, then it means he won't simply don a mask. Regardless of how they do it, I'm a big fan of the way Epting draws Skull, and wouldn't mind seeing him like that in the movie.

 

[roach]

Since the movie is in rewrites I dont think anything can be considered fact about the film...Red Skull can be done two ways....1)Transformation which would give him the origin of a failed Supersoldier experiment. 2)Man in a mask which would give the production problems since they want to explain Cap's costume...they'll need to explain the skull mask

 

[Webhead2006]

well they could do both mask skull first uses to intimate troops and all that. Then if they go and have him get mutated by a rouge version of the SSS he could end up being deformed skull head.

 

[roach]

I prefer the mask route

 

[Webhead2006]

yea i dont have much prefrence to either myself. i would be fine with mask or mutated as long as it has a good reasoning behind it.

 

[kaijunexus]

I'm not quite as familiar with the Red Skull's history as I am with many other characters. Would someone care to briefly summarize his general history in the comics, as well as how he transitioned from a skull mask into actually having a disfigurement?

 

[roach]

As with many supervillains, Johann Schmidt had a traumatic childhood that warped his mind, paving the way for villainy in his adult life. Johann Schmidt was born in a village in Germany to Hermann and Martha Schmidt. Schmidt's mother died in childbirth and his father blamed Johann for it and tried to murder him, only to be stopped by the attending doctor. The father later committed suicide and Johann was orphaned. He grew up on the streets as a beggar and a thief struggling to survive and his hatred of humanity grew with each day. A key episode was when he fell for a local Jewish girl, but when she spurned his clumsy advances, he murdered her, finding a release for his frustrations. With that, his depravity grew even more.

Schmidt worked as a menial laborer and in his late teens, during the rise of the Third Reich, Schmidt got his most prosperous job; a bellhop in a major hotel, while there he served the rooms of Adolf Hitler himself. By chance, Schmidt was present when the Führer was furiously scolding an officer, during which Hitler pledged that he could create a better National Socialist out of the bellhop. Looking closely at the youth and sensing his dark inner nature, Hitler decided to take up the challenge and recruited Schmidt.

Dissatisfied with the standard drill instruction his subordinates used to train Schmidt, Hitler took over personally, and trained Schmidt as his right-hand man. Upon completion, Hitler gave Schmidt a unique uniform with a grotesque red skull mask, and he emerged as the Red Skull for the first time. His role was the embodiment of Nazi intimidation, while Hitler could remain the popular leader of Germany. To that end, The Red Skull was appointed head of Nazi terrorist activities with an additional large role in external espionage and sabotage. He succeeded, wreaking havoc throughout Europe in the early stages of World War II. The propaganda effect was so great that the United States government decided to counter it by creating their own equivalent using the one recipient of the lost Project Rebirth, Steve Rogers, as Captain America

 

[Webhead2006]

nice recap roach.

 

[Rock Sexton]

IMO, the way it's drawn in the comics, won't translate well over on the big screen. A "deformity" will be far more imposing than a mask if done correctly.

 

[Webhead2006]

now with zola in the film i think we could lead to mutated skull look maybe.

 

[roach]

I dont know...I dont see an organization based on racial superiority allowing a deformed person rise up....its more devious for it to be a mask.....hell I'd play up that people think its a deformity to reveal its a mask. Its easy to be evil if your face looks like a skull...but it shows how screwed up he is if he wears a mask

 

[Webhead2006]

well they can write it in if its tied to the SSS forumla that they are not doing it correctly and it causes side effects and all that leading to skull's skull appearance. Who knows we will have to see. well i do think we can start off with a mask, but then lead into mutated look also.

 

[The Infernal]

It should be a mask, that's how it started out. They probably changed it later on in the comics because they thought it would be cool if his face was actually like that.

 

[roach]

actually I think its still a mask

 

[Webhead2006]

well like i said i dont see why we cant have both him startin out in a skull mask, which then leads to mutated/deform look if he experiments on himself or what not.

 

[Captain America]

This is a perfect choice!

 

[WillardNation]

*resubscribes*

 

[skiddyboy]

I dont know...I dont see an organization based on racial superiority allowing a deformed person rise up....its more devious for it to be a mask.....hell I'd play up that people think its a deformity to reveal its a mask. Its easy to be evil if your face looks like a skull...but it shows how screwed up he is if he wears a mask

At the end of the day if Hitler said "this guy is the man" then the Nazi party would fall in line.

 

[gdw]

Well, I didn't see this yet, but I could have missed it.
I believe in the books, the Red Skull technically always wore a mask. However, given a lot of the manips people have made, a disfigured Red Skull certainly seems to be a prominent idea.

I actually always had assumed he was disfigured, until more recently when I read it was a mask.

I think disfigurement seems to add depth to a character, making what they are something they can never escape, never separate themselves from it.

Well, what's the general preference? I even thought the look in the old crappy film was pretty good, until he "fixed" his face in the "present day."

Also, given the look they gave Langella in Masters of the Universe, I am very excited about the possibilities for his look in the film, though I am also prepared for utter disappointment. Not that they've disappointed so far, just that an idea like this can be completely screwed up quite easily in a movie.

 

[gdw]

Where's the poll option?

 

[Microchip]

Personally I'd go with masked, at least to start. Something crude, plain but memorable. I think I know where you're going with the "never can escape from, has to live with" part, but Red Skull should be evil because he's evil, not because he's hard done by and has to life with a horrible disfigurement. He's kind of a bad buy that you're not supposed to empathize with at all.

 

[Danalys]

I'd go for a red mask reminiscent of the skulls on nazi uniforms, which covers a super soldier serum prototype disfigurement. Just so you can have a reveal and save on time making up the actor. I figure the nazis would want to hide the fact they they botched their attempt somewhat. The mask allows a counter point between Cap and the skull one inspiring through hope the other fear.

 

[weezerspider]

I'd go for a red mask reminiscent of the skulls on nazi uniforms, which covers a super soldier serum prototype disfigurement. Just so you can have a reveal and save on time making up the actor. I figure the nazis would want to hide the fact they they botched their attempt somewhat. The mask allows a counter point between Cap and the skull one inspiring through hope the other fear.

I could dig that.