The other day the famous CBM.com user LEVITIKUZ were having a discussion on Marvel movie's villains. It is his belief that none of the Marvel movie villains, including fan favorite Loki, has been great thus far. I then proceeded to ask about my favorite Marvel baddie of all time, the Red Skull. LEVITIKUZ said exactly, "Red Skull was ok. He wasn't great or special. He didn't do anything memorable. He was typically "destroy the world" villain. Hell I don't even remember one thing Red Skull did." It is my goal to prove that the Red Skull is the greatest Marvel movie baddie thus far.
1. The Red Skull is responsible for the "deaths" of Captain America and Bucky.
As those who have watched Captain America: The First Avenger recall both Bucky and Captain America both supposedly perished in the movie. Of course we in the real world know that Captain America is alive and still fighting evil alongside the Avengers, and we know that Bucky has survived into the modern day as Winter Soldier. However, do you think Cap's love Peggy Carter knows Steve and Bucky are alive yet. Also Howard Stark, the man who is just responsible for Cap's Birth as Abraham Erskine, died never knowing Steve survived. The same goes for Dum Dum, Falsworth, and the rest of the crew that fought alongside Captain America to bring HYDRA down during the war. Therefore the Red Skull did something that Loki even couldn't, and that is "kill" his archenemy.
2. If it weren't for the Red Skull the Avengers might never have formed.
Even though Loki is directly responsible for the formation of the Avengers, the Red Skull laid the foundation down for the team's formation by finding the Tesseract. Just think that if the Red Skull had never found the Tesseract, or had tried a different plan to conquer the world than using the Tesseract, Loki would never have come back from exile and the Chitauri would never have attacked New York. In other words we have the Avengers today because the Red Skull found the Tesseract during World War II.
3. The Red Skull is responsible for the Winter Soldier.
On the day Schmidt gave Arnim Zola to try and stop Captain America on the train to HYDRA's base it became imminent that Bucky would become the Winter Soldier, when he "died" during that fateful train battle. This will definitely be a sore point for Cap if he cant save his former friend from himself because he will always know that it was the Red Skull, his greatest enemy, that turned his best friend into a foe.
However, the Red Skull is not just great in Captain America: The First Avenger. If the Red Skull ever comes back to the MCU then he could be an even bigger threat than he was in Captain America: The First Avenger. For example:
4. The Red Skull could bring down SHIELD.
It has been speculated that Robert Redford's character, Alexander Pierce, is actually the Red Skull back from the dead (if he died). If this is the case then a plot point for Captain America: The Winter Soldier or Captain America 3 is that Schmidt could destroy SHIELD from within and from the ashes arises a new HYDRA to terrorize the world. Of course this could lead to the Red Skull killing key SHIELD members like Nick Fury and Maria Hill. Although, a way to incorporate the show Agents of SHIELD into the movie universe is that Coulson and his team could fight alongside Cap to defeat the Red Skull once and for all. Then Coulson could replace Nick Fury as the director of a new SHIELD.
5. The Red Skull could have his own war with the Avengers.
One of the plot points to the newest Avengers animated series Avengers Assemble is that the Red Skull forms a team of villains called the Cabal to counter the Avengers. I really hope that this becomes the plot for some Avengers movie, only instead of the Cabal, the Red Skull could form the Masters of Evil in the place of Baron Zemo. This could lead to a partnership between Loki and the Red Skull as the leaders of the team which the game Avengers Initiative had indicated before it was cancelled.
Well I hope you the reader will find my arguments valid, and if not I will just debate you further in the comments section.