Hugo Weaving played the Red Skull in
Captain America: The First Avenger, but the one-time leader of HYDRA made his return in
Avengers: Infinity War (with Ross Marquand taking on the role instead). Trapped on Vormir, Johann Schmidt had become a guardian of the Soul Stone, but how did the actor go about portraying this very different take on the character?
Well, it turns out that Joe and Anthony Russo had some very unique direction for him!
"[The Russo Bros.] came to me and said we want you to take Hugo's Red Skull and infuse him with a bit of Yoda," Marquand revealed during a recent interview with
Nerds4Life.
"He's a wise soul, he's 84 years older, and he's also an apparition. He's kind of a ghost at this point."
"He's no longer the diabolical, ambitious man that we know him as in 1944. He's a complicated anti-hero," the actor continued. "I thought that was such a fun take on him, because he's just so broken -- he's a cursed man, and I love playing that."
Over the weekend,
Marquand talked about his future as the Red Skull in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and made it clear that he would like to see what were to happen if the villain returned to Earth. After all, he has now been freed form Vormir, and if he can't get his hands on Steve Rogers, Bucky (or the new Cap) could very well end up in his crosshairs.
Time will tell on that front, but Marquand certainly delivered a fun new take on the Red Skull, and there are still plenty of places the character could go in this shared world moving forward.
CLICK HERE to check out some rarely seen concept art from Captain America: The First Avenger!