Road To INFINITY WAR: Red Skull Concept Art From CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER Will Give You Nightmares

The Red Skull made only one appearance in the MCU but he's remained a fan-favourite villain ever since. Here, we take a look at some concept art showing alternate designs and he looks seriously f***ed up!

By JoshWilding - Feb 02, 2018 07:02 AM EST

Filed Under: Captain America: The First Avenger

Avengers: Infinity War is set to be released later this year and with so much of the movie shrouded in secrecy, fans continue speculating about what could be on the way when Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the Guardians of the Galaxy assemble to battle Thanos. One prevailing theory is that the Red Skull will somehow return after being teleported away at the end of 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger.

We'll have to wait and see but this collection of concept art certainly points to that being a possibility and the alternate designs you'll find here for the Skull's big screen look might just give you nightmares!

So, from shocking alternate takes on Captain America: The First Avenger's big bad to that bizarre vehicle he was driving and scenes which did and didn't make it into the movie, click either one of the buttons below to check out this list of artwork in its entirety. Then, be sure to let us know your thoughts on them and the possibility of the Red Skull's eventual return in the comments section.

Meet The Monster

The Red Skull has a very simple look in the comic books but Marvel clearly wanted to explore some options and those included a pretty horrific looking burned visage which explains where his nose went!

The Stuff Of Nightmares

Well, this is twisted! The Red Skull's lips have vanished and his teeth are jutting out of his mouth in a very bizarre fashion, giving him the look of someone who would fit in well in a horror movie.

Captain America Vs. The Red Skull

What an awesome piece of imagery! With HYDRA planes flying overhead, Steve Rogers leaps into action against his Nazi foe in this atmospheric shot setting the tone for the Phase 1 Marvel movie.

The Red Skull Opens Up New Doors

Here, the Red Skull looks up at the Cosmic Cube (well, Tesseract) as it opens new doors to other realms. Could this ultimately explain where the villain vanished too at the end of the Marvel movie?

Red Skull Ready For Action

These alternate costume designs show just how different the villain could have looked and the one on the right is very regal looking while also incorporating some modern HYDRA imagery.

Red Skull Behind The Scenes

This behind the scenes image shows the Red Skull (before his nose was removed with CGI) wielding the Tesseract moments before its power overwhelms him and he's teleported away to parts unknown.

The Red Skull Holds Power In His Hands

The Red Skull can be seen here opening what looks an awful lot like a doorway to another world and while this is just concept art, it could explain what Marvel originally had planned for the villain.

More Alternate Costumes

You can see how all of these alternate costumes ultimately inspired what ended up on screen and any one of these would have worked. After all, they're all very similar to the comic books.

The Red Skull Takes Aim

The Red Skull stands tall next to one of his very powerful weapons here and if you look in the top right-hand corner, you'll notice how it was then brought to life in live-action on the big screen.

Johann Scmidt

Here, we get to see the human side of the Red Skull and it's worth noting that one designs featured the villain looking a lot like Batman bad guy, Two-Face. That might have been fun to see!

The Red Skull Poses

The Red Skull standing tall and posing for a portrait was one of Captain America: The First Avenger's most memorable scenes and here we see how that was dreamt up by Marvel's concept artists.

Cosmic Cube In Hand

In the movie, we quickly learned that the Red Skull wasn't able to wield the Tesseract with his bare hands but here we see him holding that and not feeling any sort of ill effects as a result.

Red Skull Commands His Army

The Red Skull was in charge of a powerful army in Captain America: The First Avenger and here we see him delivering a rousing speech to his HYDRA goons who Steve Rogers would ultimately defeat.

Red Skull's Coupe

The Red Skull had a very unique ride in Captain America: The First Avenger and here we see how that was brought to life. If he returns, here's hoping the villain has a ride every bit as unique.

From Concept Art To Real Life

Here, we see a comparison between concept art and the masks which were created for Hugo Weaving to wear in the movie. Seeing its evolution is fascinating and the villain did look very cool.

Another Day, Another Portrait

This alternate take on the Red Skull getting his likeness captured on canvas is pretty cool and it's just a shame the painting has never popped up elsewhere in the MCU as it would be a neat Easter Egg.

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91 Comments

1 2 3

Kumkani - 2/2/2018, 7:10 AM

Underrated villain

HeavyMetal4Life - 2/2/2018, 7:27 AM

@BlindWedjat - sure is

ODanil - 2/2/2018, 7:10 AM

blackandyellow - 2/2/2018, 7:14 AM

Between Red Skull, Strucker, and Zola, they really haven't done Cap's villains much justice.

Kman - 2/2/2018, 7:18 AM

@blackandyellow - I thought Red Skull was pretty good... just need to see more of him, under-utilized.

RolandD - 2/2/2018, 7:59 AM

@Kman - They never showed that he died, so I have always expected him to come back. Fingers crossed.

Kman - 2/2/2018, 8:21 AM

@RolandD - same here, they def left the door open for it

Ha1frican - 2/2/2018, 8:32 AM

@blackandyellow - The only one I think was a waste was Strucker but they actually used him in an interesting way through his son on Agents of Shield

RolandD - 2/2/2018, 8:33 AM

@Kman - Just surprised that they did not bring him back in WS. He could have neatly fit in that storyline although would have had to bring him back somehow. The return is the one thing that might not have rung true as it was fairly grounded story (once you allow for super soldiers, of course). I’m hoping Feige already had him in mind for coming back in conjunction with the Infinity Stones in one of the next two Avengers movies.

blitzburgh - 2/2/2018, 9:45 AM

@blackandyellow - I liked skull

Chewtoy - 2/2/2018, 10:44 AM

@blackandyellow - I quite liked the Red Skull, Arnim Zola and Zemo... Strucker was wasted, but he was mainly a Nick Fury villain and a casualty of them doing away with SHIELD and Hydra after The Winter Soldier.

However, I’d love for any of the Hydra baddies to return and be the villain behind the Black Widow film... Strucker included.

Tonic24k - 2/2/2018, 7:14 AM

One of the best MCU villains to date. Perfectly executed. Now get him back in the mix!

MrPositive - 2/2/2018, 7:15 AM

KnifeWasTooSlow - 2/2/2018, 1:17 PM

@MrPositive - The only MCU movie that has awful greenscreen work... :L

Kman - 2/2/2018, 7:20 AM

The all red, with the teeth showing looks pretty cool. But it might have looked weird when he's speaking. Overall I think the final product was fine.

Otis - 2/2/2018, 8:20 AM

@Kman - Yeah, you're right. I was thinking it would have been terrifying to see him with the lipless teeth, but it would've been ruined the second he started speaking. It'd look more like a mask than a face. What we got was amazing, anyway.

Kman - 2/2/2018, 8:24 AM

@Otis - yup... I think it was as good as we could ask for

superbigguy32 - 2/2/2018, 7:32 AM

Red Skull has always been one of my favourite villains. I hope they bring Hugo Weaving back, but if not...I like Burn Gorman for back up.

1 2 3

Road To INFINITY WAR: Red Skull Concept Art From CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER Will Give You Nightmares

The Red Skull made only one appearance in the MCU but he's remained a fan-favourite villain ever since. Here, we take a look at some concept art showing alternate designs and he looks seriously f***ed up!

Meet The Monster

The Stuff Of Nightmares

Captain America Vs. The Red Skull

The Red Skull Opens Up New Doors

Red Skull Ready For Action

Red Skull Behind The Scenes

The Red Skull Holds Power In His Hands

More Alternate Costumes

The Red Skull Takes Aim

Johann Scmidt

The Red Skull Poses

Cosmic Cube In Hand

Red Skull Commands His Army

Red Skull's Coupe

From Concept Art To Real Life

Another Day, Another Portrait

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