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Red Skull
Personal Info:
Real Name: Johann Shmidt
Also Known As: Dell Rusk, Bettman P. Lyles, the Agent of a Thousand Faces, The Man, Cyrus Fenton, Teacher, Tod March, John Smith, Aleksander Lukin
Place Of Birth: Unidentified village in Germany
First Appearance: Captain America Comics #7 (1941) Golden Age Villain
Known Associates: Arnim Zola, Crossbones, Doctor Faustus, Hitler, Sin
Group Affiliation: Former second-in-command in Nazi-Germany, former leader of Hydra, THEM and the People's Militia
Base Of Operations: Mobile
Grudges: Captain America
Creators: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
Gallery: Click

Powers:

The Red Skull has no super human powers however, he is at the peak of physical fitness and extremely intelligent. He is a skilled military, political and subversive strategist. The Red Skull is also a trained marksman and martial artist.

Dust Of Death: The Red Skull’s most infamous weapon is his ‘Dust Of Death’ which shrivels and discolours the head of it’s victim to resemble the ghastly visage of the Red Skull. The dust can be fired from a handgun or a cigarette holder.

Origins:

The Red Skull was born Johann Schmidt in a southern German village, the son of an illiterate, drunken peasant named Hermann, and his long-suffering wife Martha. Martha died in childbirth, and Hermann tried to drown the newborn Johann, blaming him for the death of his mother, and committed suicide the next morning. The infant was rescued by a local doctor, who delivered the infant to an orphanage.

Schmidt ran away at age seven, and grew up in and out of prison for petty crimes ranging from vagrancy to theft, constantly beaten and victimized by other thugs. His smouldering anger was given an outlet when he first encountered Hitler; Schmidt was working as a bellboy in a hotel in which Hitler was staying. Hitler was in the middle of berating his general staff, and boasted that he could make "this bell-boy" into a more effective Nazi.

Schmidt was given military training, and made into the perfect S.S. soldier. Upon his presentation to Hitler, however, Hitler grew enraged, screaming, "Anyone can make a soldier!” Hitler took Schmidt in hand for personal training as a special operative, giving him the identity and mask of the "Red Skull".

Notes:

Red Skull at Marvel.Com

Red Skull at Marvel Database

Red Skull at Comic Vine