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

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!

Feature Opinion
By JoshWilding - Feb 02, 2018 07:02 AM EST
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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Kumkani
Kumkani - 2/2/2018, 7:10 AM
Underrated villain
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 2/2/2018, 7:27 AM
@BlindWedjat - sure is
ODanil
ODanil - 2/2/2018, 7:10 AM
blackandyellow
blackandyellow - 2/2/2018, 7:14 AM
Between Red Skull, Strucker, and Zola, they really haven't done Cap's villains much justice.
Kman
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
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
Kman - 2/2/2018, 8:21 AM
@RolandD - same here, they def left the door open for it
Ha1frican
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
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
blitzburgh - 2/2/2018, 9:45 AM
@blackandyellow - I liked skull
Chewtoy
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
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
MrPositive - 2/2/2018, 7:15 AM
KnifeWasTooSlow
KnifeWasTooSlow - 2/2/2018, 1:17 PM
@MrPositive - The only MCU movie that has awful greenscreen work... :L
Kman
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
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
Kman - 2/2/2018, 8:24 AM
@Otis - yup... I think it was as good as we could ask for
superbigguy32
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.
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