One of the most shocking moments in Avengers: Infinity War was the unexpected return of Red Skull, last seen back in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. Fans had been calling for the HYDRA leader to make another appearance ever since his open-ended exit from that film made it look like he’d been teleported into space rather than disintegrated, and late last month, they finally got their wish.
What folks didn’t expect, though, was for him to be revealed as the guardian of the Soul Stone. When Thanos and Gamora travel to Vormir in search of the elusive Infinity Stone, we learn that Johann Schmidt has been isolated on the planet since he held the Space Stone in his hand at the end of The First Avenger. As such, he didn’t wear his old Nazi uniform in his Infinity War appearance and instead donned a grim reaper-like shrouded cloak.
With no official images of the villain having materialized as yet, our best look at Red Skull’s new appearance comes in the form of this piece of artwork, as shared on Reddit. It doesn’t show us anything we haven’t seen already, but for those eager to catch another glimpse of the baddie, it should suffice.
As you probably know, Hugo Weaving played the part in the character’s first appearance, but when the actor came clean that he didn’t really want to go back under that uncomfortable prosthetic mask, it looked like a return for Red Skull was out of the question. As it happened, Marvel came up with the perfect way to get around Weaving’s reluctance – they found the ideal replacement.
The Walking Dead‘s Ross Marquand took over the part for the villain’s cameo in Avengers: Infinity War. Aside from possessing a certain likeness to Weaving, Marquand has a reputation as an exceptional impressionist and, as you can see when you watch the movie, he got Weaving’s cod-German accent as Red Skull down to a T. In fact, he’s so good in this tiny role that we’d love to see him return again in a future MCU movie, though only time will tell if that indeed happens.