Red Skull

He is one of the most feared and hated men in the Marvel Universe. And he is the archenemy of the Marvel Universe's greatest beacon of hope, Captain America. First appearing in Captain America #1 (1941), this Red Skull, George Maxon, was revealed to be an agent of the true Red Skull, Johann Schmidt who appeared in Captain America Comics # 7 (1941). After a traumatic childhood, Schmidt was working as a bellhop at a major hotel, serving the rooms of Adolf Hitler himself. He was present when Hitler was berating an officer, saying that he could create a better National Socialist out of the bellhop. Looking closely and seeing Schmidt's dark inner nature, Hitler took him under his wing and personally oversaw his training. Upon completion, he gave Schmidt a unique Nazi uniform with a blood red skull mask. Thus the Red Skull, the embodiment of Nazi intimidation was born. Schmidt was put in charge of Nazi terrorist activities and this would bring often into conflict with the man who would become his most hated enemy, Steve Rogers aka Captain America. The two clashed often for the duration of the war, until the Skull was apparently buried under the rubble of a building during one of their final wartime conflicts. In reality, he had been exposed to a experimental gas which left his body in suspended animation. He was revived years later by the terrorist organization AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics), and quickly subverted a cell of the group for his own world domination plans. Often his plans would involve the Cosmic Cube, a device created by AIM that could turn any wish into reality. Years later, he was assassinated by the Winter Soldier under orders from the former Soviet General Aleksander Lukin who wanted the Skull's new Cube for himself. Using the Cube's power to attempt a body switch with Lukin, the Skull only succeded in transferring his mind, and the two would wage a constant mental battle for control. After engineering Cap's death, the Skull set upon two tasks, to control the soon to be born child of Steve and his girlfriend, SHIELD Agent Sharon Carter and place his political puppet Gordon Wright in the White House. Both plans failed, and Lukin was killed, but not before the Skull's chief scientist Arnim Zola transferred his mind into one his spare robotic bodies. It is revealed that the Skull did not in fact kill Steve but using Doctor Doom's sophisticated time technology had trapped Steve's body in the time-stream. He then attempted to retrieve Steve using Sharon Carter and Doom's tech, but the machine was destroyed. After much effort and calling upon Doom's assistance once again, the Skull retrieved Steve's body from the time-stream and placed his own mind into it, gaining control. But Steve proved to be too strong and forced the Skull out of his body and back into the robotic one, which was destroyed in battle with the Avengers. But for how long will the villain stay dead? And for all you movie fans out there, you can see Hugo Weaving play this villainous Nazi in Captain America: The First Avenger, who will also be the head of the terrorist organization HYDRA. Once again the film's release date is July 22 so mark those calendar's people!