Some never before seen concept art of Red Skull from Captain America: The First Avenger has arrived online today, courtesy of artist Ryan Meinerding, Head of Visual Development for Marvel Studios. He shared the awesome piece below, which sees Hugo Weaving’s Johann Schmidt in elaborate Nazi regalia, on his Twitter account, and revealed that it should’ve featured in the movie during the scene in which Red Skull gets his portrait painted.
Red Skull’s always been one of the most popular supervillains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the character being among the more faithful lifts from the comics. Despite fans’ wishes, however, he never returned to the MCU. That is, until earlier this year when Avengers: Infinity War finally saw the HYDRA leader make his long-awaited comeback.
The recent blockbuster revealed that Red Skull had been transported to the planet Vormir after the events of The First Avenger. He’d remained there for the following 80 years, now seemingly gifted with immortality and certain supernatural powers, and was in the service of the Infinity Stones themselves, forced to act as the guardian of the Soul Stone.
The villain was very different in personality, too, now much humbler and more somber than before. To go along with this new characterization, The Walking Dead‘s Ross Marquand took over the role from Weaving, who’d previously suggested that he wouldn’t be interested in returning. So good was Marquand’s impersonation of the actor though, that most probably didn’t notice the difference.
Now that Red Skull‘s back in circulation, here’s hoping he makes further appearances in Phase Four and beyond. Fingers crossed for him making his way back to Earth, too, in order to face off again against Steve Rogers, or perhaps whoever succeeds him as Captain America.