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Johann Shmidt, the Red Skull, was the son of a coarse, drunken German villager named Hermann Shmidt and his reportedly saintly, long-suffering wife Martha, who for years endured abuse and beatings from her husband. Martha died giving birth to Johann, their only child. Driven to madness by the death of the woman he both loved and hated, Hermann Shmidt tried to drown the newborn infant, accusing him of murdering Martha. The doctor who had just delivered the baby saved Johann from his father, and the next morning Hermann Shmidt committed suicide. He later went into becoming a Nazi during WWII. Years later, after the Nazis had come to power in Germany, Shmidt was working in a hotel where the dictator of Germany's Third Reich, Adolf Hitler, came one day to stay. That night Shmidt brought refreshments to Hitler's suite and found Hitler berating the chief of the Gestapo (the secret police of Nazi Germany) for letting a spy escape. On hearing Hitler's voice, Shmidt decided that Hitler was the master he had sought. When Hitler ranted to the Gestapo chief that "I could teach that bellboy to do a better job than you!" the dictator then looked closely at Shmidt and saw the bellboy's hatred, of all mankind, an emotion that Hitler asserted he himself shared. Shmidt saw in Hitler's eyes all of his own fears and frustrations, the embodiment of evil, and a model after which he could pattern himself. Inspired, Hitler declared that he would make the bellboy into a "perfect Nazi" who would serve as his right-hand man. Shmidt eagerly agreed to do what Hitler wished. Hitler gave Shmidt a lifelike red skull-like head mask and named him the Red Skull. The Skull was answerable only to Hitler himself. The United States government created the costumed persona of Captain America so that there would be a costumed counterpart to the Red Skull. It was in the United States, before America officially entered World War II, that the Red Skull had his first conflicts with Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, the man who became his principal and perennial nemesis. He was put into suspended animation and was dead for a very long time until a sci entice use a holograms combined with a robot to bring him back and is now the first enemy to the Uncanny Avengers. He is also the leader of the S-men.

Uncanny Avengers[]

A mental recording of the Red Skull from the end of World War Two was brought back in a new body by Arnim Zola. Seeing mutants nearly destroying the world convinced him that they were the threat and he forms a group of S-Men to combat them. He also stole the brain of Professor X in order to gain his powers. He used his new powers to influence the world to kill mutants through tv's around. He then uses again on the Scarlet Witch and she was was attacked by Rogue. They fell down to a lab where they found a dead corpse of Charles Xavier which broke his control over Wanda and Rouge swears vengeance upon him.

Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

His psionic mind transference grants the Red Skull immortality. The Red Skull's mind has survived his physical bodies' death several times by being transferred through differing means to new bodies. Presently his mind resides in a cloned body of himself.

He recently fused part of Professor X's brain with his own to gain Xavier's psychic abilities:

Telepathy: Able to read minds and project his own thoughts into the minds of others within a radius of 250 miles (on Earth). With extreme effort he can greatly extend that radius.

Telepathic Illusion: ability to create realistic telepathic illusions and cause people to experience events which are not actually occurring.

Telepathic Cloak: can mask his presence from being detected by others. His abilities can at times go undetected or be counteracted by other more powerful telepaths depending on their level of skill in using their own psi abilities. He can extend these defenses to others around him as well.

Psi Link: ability to develop a mental link with any person which remains as a connection to that individual.

Telepathic Camouflage: ability to mask himself, and other peoples' presence from those around him. Can telepathically disguise himself, making his appearance to those around him quite different (changing the appearance of clothing, as well as more involved disguising).

Mind Blast: ability to place large amounts of information in another's mind.

Mind Control: ability to control the minds of others upon mere concentration. This power can allow him to completely shut down several people's minds, making it appear as if time has stopped.

Mind Possession: ability to possess the mind of another, and use that being's body as his own.

Mind Alteration: ability to alter the minds of others by force of will.

Mental Amnesia: ability to cause loss of particular memories and amnesia in another person or even in a group of people.

Psionic Shield: ability to erect a psychic shield for protection of himself and of other minds.

Psionic Blasts: can project psionic force bolts which have no physical effects but which can affect a victim's mind so as to cause the victim pain or unconsciousness and can even kill an adversary.

Astral Projection: ability to Astral Travel and communicate with others astrally through his own will, or through contact with the thoughts and memories of others. In the astral realm, he can use his powers to create "ectoplasmic" objects. He cannot engage in long range astral projection on the earthly plane.

Mental Detection: can sense the presence of another superhuman mutant within a small but as yet undefined radius of himself by perceiving the distinctive mental radiations emitted by such a being.

Mind Transferral: able to transfer both his mind and powers into other host bodies if his own physical body could be somehow killed.

Absorb Information: ability to quickly process and store information, by mental transference.

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