CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER: Red Skull Entertainment Weekly Photo

A Red Skull photo from Captain America: The First Avenger has premiered in Entertainment Weekly. Hugo Weaving portrays Johann Schmidt / The Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger. Captain America: The First Avenger’s plot synopsis:

The year is 1942, and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is a scrawny lad who desperately wants to fight Nazis for his country but can’t because he’s been deemed physically unfit. His fate — and his physique — is radically transformed when he signs up for Project: Rebirth, a secret military operation that turns wimps into studs using drugs and assorted sci-fi hoo-ha.

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There’s a love interest (Major Peggy Carter, played by Hayley Atwell), there’s a sidekick (Bucky Barnes, played by Sebastian Stans), and there’s the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), Hitler’s treacherous head of advanced weaponry, whose own plan for world domination involves a magical object known as The Tesseract (comic fans know it better as The Cosmic Cube).

In case you do not know whom Red Skull is, he is:

Captain America’s nemesis and Adolf Hitler’s head of advanced weaponry, whose own plan for world domination involves a magical object known as the Tesseract. In the film, Red Skull is also the commander of the terrorist organization HYDRA. Weaving stated that he patterned Red Skull’s accent on those of Werner Herzog and Klaus Maria Brandauer.

Here is why Red Skull looks like Red Skull:

EW, which explains (possible spoilers for those who want to know nothing) that weapons developer Johann Schmidt (Weaving) was turned into the Red Skull by a Nazi experiment similar to the Super Soldier program that turns skinny Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) into Captian America. The site explains that both experiments bring out the inner qualities of each man. So the good Steve Rogers turns into a hero, while the evil Schmidt turns into a literal monster.

Director Joe Johnston explains that Steve Rogers’ history of being bullied as a weakling informs his approach to Nazi-busting:

For Steve Rogers it’s a very personal thing. At one point he says, “I don’t like bullies, I don’t care where they’re from.” He makes a complete physical transformation to a perfect human specimen. But inside he doesn’t change at all. It must be tempting to go back and say “I’m going to get that guy who beat me up in high school.” He does get revenge in the film, but on the Nazis — not on people who maybe picked on him.

Check out the Red Skull photo below and leave your thoughts on it. Click to enlarge. Captain America: The First Avenger will be released in theaters on July 22, 2011.

Hugo Weaving, Red Skull, Captain America: The First Avenger

Source: Slashfilm