Sturm und Drang: The Life and Times of the Red Skull!

Captain America has been captured by the Red Skull, who has grown incredibly old and seeks one final battle with his greatest enemy. The Skull — aka Johann Schmidt — explains that the process that put him in suspended animation for decades is starting to wear off and he is going to die.[1] Removing his trademark mask so Rogers can see his true face, the Red Skull decides to tell Captain America his secret life story before their final battle. However, to even the playing field, the Red Skull had Captain America secretly drugged to cause him to rapidly age as well.

Before they begin their discussion, the Skull orders his daughter Mother Superior and his lacky Baron Zemo to remove Nomad from the room. At first, Jack Monroe refuses to go down without a fight but after looking Cap in the eyes surrenders without incident. Mocking Steve Rogers for his penchant for having young sidekicks, the Skull leads him to a faithful replica of a pre-war German cafe so they can talk in peace.[2] At first, Schmidt rages about the company Captain America chooses to keep — Jews, Blacks, and Gays — and is about to lash out but Steve stays his hands. Refocusing his attention, the Skull finally gets to telling his story, promising Steve that he will soon see that they are like brothers and two sides of the same coin…[3]

Johann Schmidt was born in the year 1899 to Herman and Martha Schmidt somewhere long the German country side. Herman was an abusive alcoholic and when Martha died giving child birth, he went into a rage and tried to drown his newborn son for killing his wife. Luckily, the doctor was able to stop Herman from murdering his son and took him away from the home. Schmidt grew up in an orphanage where he felt like an outcast and was bullied. One day he had enough and ran away, having to steal and sleep in barns in order to survive. Schmidt explains that he missed the warm darkness of his mothers womb and the barns he slept in was where he felt closest to her.

As a young man, Schmidt found himself in an our of jail for his petty crimes until a local Jewish shopkeeper took pity on him and gave him a job. He fell in love with the shopkeeper’s daughter, but lacking the social skills to communicate this he tried to force himself upon her. She rejected him and Johann beat her to death with a shovel. He found that he enjoyed taking a human life but still fled the scene to avoid punishment for his crime. The Skull pauses his story for a moment to revel in Captain America’s disgust in hearing this part of his sordid life.

Continuing his story, Schmit explains that he returned to his former life of sleeping in barns. He soon grew to believe that he needed to find a master to help him navigate the world. It was by this time that the Nazis were rising to power. Having taken a job as a bellhop, Schmidt didn’t give the Nazis much thought until the day he was sent up to deliver refreshments to a room being rented out by Adolf Hitler. He arrived just as the Nazi leader was shouting at a subordinate for failing to follow his orders to the letter. Hearing Hitler rant and rave made Schmidt realize that he had finally found the master he so desperately sought. As fate would have it, Hitler was pointing out that he teach the bellhop to do a better job. Seeing the hatred in Schmidt’s eyes sparked some inspiration in Hitler and he took the young man under his wing to do just that. Leaving the task to his men, Hitler was furious when they were merely trying to train him into being a soldier for the SS and decided to take a personal hand into molding Johann into something more. After months of training and tutilage, Johann Schmidt was transformed into the Red Skull, the most feared Nazi in all of Germany. Although he followed Hitler’s orders, Schmidt knew that someday he would surpass his master eventually. The rest is history, the Red Skull routinely clashed with Captain America until both men were hurtled into the present day by being placed in suspended animation.

Elsewhere in Skull House, the Falcon and Bernie Rosenthal are still being held prisoner with a catatonic Arnie Roth. They have been trying to find a way out of their cell when suddenly Jack Monroe is teleported into the room. With Nomad’s help, they are able to find a ventilation shaft that might be the escape route they’ve been looking for.

Back in the cafe, the Red Skull continues his story, telling Captain America how when he was in suspended animation he felt closer to the womb than ever before. When he was revived in the present day he learned that Captain America survived into this era as well and sought to destroy his old enemy his attempts to achieve world domination.[4] Defeated time and again, the Red Skull stopped seeing them as two mortals fighting an age old war, but two gods that would fight against one another for all eternity.

The Red Skull then decides to let Captain America in one something else he kept secret for years. Shortly after his return, while living on the Island of Exiles, the Red Skull became smitten by one of the maids as she reminded him of his mother. The Skull, desiring a heir to inherit his legacy, the Skull impregnated the woman. Just as with his mother, this maid died giving childbirth and the Skull was angered that she gave birth to a daughter rather than the son he wanted. Just like his father before him, the Red Skull was about to kill the baby by throwing it into the ocean, but decided against it and decided to raise her to become his successor anyway. However, Shmidt found the process of raising a child was too slow and so he invested in technology that could artificially age his daughter into adulthood. To give his little girl friends whom he could also mold into loyal soldiers, the Skull also adopted a number of orphan girls. They under went the same process and were transformed into Mother Superior’s Sisters of Sin.

Little knowing that both Mother Superior and Baron Zemo are watching from the closed circuit security system, the Red Skull reveals that he changed his mind about his daughter. He couldn’t accept a woman being his successor, particularly once he started rapidly aging. With death looming on the horizon, Schmidt decided to take Baron Zemo under his wing to be his new heir. However, Zemo bungled things too much and now Johann realizes that when he dies, his evil dies with him and when that happens he intends to take one other thing with him: Captain America.

Finishing his tale, the Red Skull expected Steve Rogers to be so full of disgust but sees nothing but pity in the eyes of his enemy. However, the Skull vows to make Captain America finally hate him and then they will fight one last time as ultimate enemies. Having some final business to attend to, the Red Skull leaves Steve with his thoughts before the inevitable final battle.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Red Skull, Nomad, Falcon, Mother Superior, Baron Zemo, Bernie Rosenthal, Arnie Roth, (in flashback) Hermann Schmidt, Martha Schmidt, Adolf Hitler

Continuity Notes

1. The Red Skull was put in suspended animation around the end of World War II until he was revived in the present day. See Tales of Suspense #79.

2. The Red Skull mentions the “boy sidekicks” he has had over the years:

   • Obviously he starts with James Barnes, the original Bucky. James was Captain America’s partner pretty much from the beginning in Captain America Comics #1. The Skull states that Bucky died before the end of the war. This has been the prevailing opinion since Avengers #4. What nobody knows yet is that James survived and has been active as a Russian assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Captain America won’t learn the truth until Captain America (vol. 5) #14.

   • Rick Jones became Steve’s first sidekick in the present day after he was revived in Avengers #4. At first, Steve refused to let Rick take on the mantle of Bucky. However, he did have a brief stint in the role from Captain America #110 through 117.

   • Jack Monroe was the Bucky of the 1950s. He too ended up in suspended animation until recently and at the time of this story had become Captain America’s partner as the new Nomad. See Captain America #155, 281 and 282.

3. This story expands upon the Red Skull’s origins from Tales of Suspense #66. However, many of the revelations made here are contradicted in Red Skull #1-5. Marvel has yet to explain this discrepancy as of this writing (November, 2021) A possible explanation is given below.

4. When the Red Skull is recounting his exploits in the present day, there is a montage of some of his many battles with Captain America. They are:

   • When the Red Skull first obtained the Cosmic Cube. This happened shortly after he was revived in the present. See Tales of Suspense #79-81.

   • Captain America’s battle with the Exiles from Captain America #104.

   • When the Captain America defeated the Red Skull with the Falcon for the first time in Captain America #118.

   • Lastly, when the Red Skull unleashed the 5th Sleeper in Captain America #212.

Topical References

• This story states that World War II ended 40 years prior to this story. This should be considered a topical reference. The Sliding Timescale pushes the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe forward in time, causing the length of time between it and the end of World War II to expand over time.

Conflicting Accounts of the Red Skull’s Origins

The story that the Red Skull tells of his past here contradicts the story told in Red Skull #1-5. The differences are as follows:

1. In the story above, the Red Skull states he was born in 1899 to Herman and Martha Schmidt. That his mother died in childbirth and his father committed suicide after failing to drown his newborn son. Red Skull #1 contradicts this by saying the Skull was born in 1914. The only commonality is that Schmidt’s mother died giving birth to him. Who his parents were and what became of his father is left a mystery.

2. While the Red Skull’s account of being put in an orphanage and being abused until running away and living on the streets and stealing to survive was part of the account in Red Skull, paints a more sympathetic boy who was a victim of numerous abuses.

3. The account of him working for a Jewish shop keeper is also apparently true. However in the accounting in Red Skull, Johann was not a grown man, but still a teenager when this happened. Also, rather than murdering the shopkeepers daughter for rejecting his advances, Johann had a decent relationship with the shop keeper who decided to give him a chance. He was devoted to protect the shop from Nazis during their rise to power. However, the shopkeeper’s daughter was horrified when he slit the throat of a boy who tried to trash their shop. He abandoned them shortly after due to this negative response.

4. The Skull’s narrative also doesn’t touch how prevalent the Nazis were in his life. They were ever present. In Red Skull, Johann was depicted actually fighting Nazis in the street with youths who resisted their rise to power. However, when his only friend was beaten to death in the street, Johann joined the Hitler Youth.

5. However, Johann only did so, so that he and his friends could get close to Hitler an assassinate him. However, at the last moment, Johann betrayed his friends and that is how Hitler decided to take Schmidt under his wings

So why are these accounts very different? Well, from a publication stand-point, the Red Skull mini-series was created in response to the popularity of X-Men: Magneto Testament, a story that told the story of Magneto’s time living in Auschwitz during World War II. Write Greg Pak worked hard to make that story as historically accurate as possible for a work of fiction and it was a huge success. Pak then did Red Skull as a follow up to tell a similar story about the Red Skull. Pak again heavily drew from history to weave the narrative of his story. A lot of elements from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s original origin story and the one above were implemented and adapted into a story that was as historically accurate as possible.

The differences being that I don’t believe Stan Lee or J.M. DeMattis really took any effort to write historically accurate stories. DeMattis tale is less focused on the historical events going around the Red Skull’s life and more on his mommy issues, a trope DeMattis was notorious for.

Either way, Marvel has not explained why these two stories are very different. At the time of this writing (November, 2021) the last profile the Skull has had was in Captain America: America’s Avenger #1, which was published a few months before the Red Skull miniseries. In that profile it gives the account given in Captain America #298, but makes a point to say that it is per an account given to the Red Skull himself, suggesting that the account is questionable.

I think it all boils down to the narrative. Red Skull frames the story from a historical context and from the third person. It differs from the Red Skull’s account because it pains him as a victim of abuse and how he was weak and powerless most of his life. It also paints him as being sympathetic to the victims of the Nazis up to a certain point. Eventually, all the beat downs and absue leads him to start looking out for himself and attempting to be strong in a world that constantly painted him as weak. It is the story of a confused, angry little boy who grew up in a very turbulent period in history. It’s not the sure minded, calculating, engine of hatred the Red Skull usually paints himself as.

I think the different story, as told by Schmidt himself is different for two reasons:

The Red Skull as we know him is a man who doesn’t see himself as having any weaknesses and one who completely bought into the Nazi ideal. One thing Nazis are good at is distorting facts to make themselves look better. The Red Skull cannot accept that he was ever weak or vulnerable and while he does touch on some of the same events as the Red Skull mini-series, he doesn’t dwell on these weaknesses in any great detail. That he admitted to a period where he was weak and vulnerable at all is quite impressive but I think part of his deep rooted pride in self and the Nazi ideal caused him to adjust his story to make himself come out as being — at least in his own perspective — a strong individual bereft of any human weakness.

The second thing I think we can infer is taking place here is the purpose for telling his life story. This story is being told moments before he and Captain America have their “final battle” and after he explains that his purpose was to convince Captain America that he was rotten to the core and always been a vile and evil person. He wanted Captain America to hate him enough to take his life rather than dying of old age. This backfires as Captain America — despite the stilted recounting of events — actually feels sorry for the Red Skull and everything he went through growing up.

There are certain things that don’t really make any sense. Like why would he lie about his date of birth, and how he could remember what happened moments after he was born. I think we could chalk this up to a few things: Schmidt was continuing to obfuscate his past to confuse anyone looking to verify his claims. Another possibility is that perhaps Schmidt wanted to present himself as being older during key events so he could appear to have some kind of power during a time when he had little, to make it seem like that he chose this life rather than being less in control. Another possibility could be that he was rapidly aging and his mind was becoming senile and so some of the facts in his head were distorted.