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Marvel Studios Concept Artist Shares Early Red Skull Design

He looked far more menacing.

Red Skull made one hell of a surprising appearance in Avengers: Infinity War, reminding us that he was actually a main villain once in the MCU. We saw Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) in Captain America: The First Avenger way back in 2011 and although he was a serviceable villain at the time, he was one of the reasons that the villains in the early MCU days weren’t held in such high regard. Maybe he didn’t look menacing enough although his plans were pretty f–ked up.

However, it seems that Red Skull was supposed to look a lot more menacing and perhaps even alien. Marvel Studios concept artist Charlie Wen shared an early Red Skull design on Instagram with the caption:

“Early eccentric Red Skull! Like Wacky Loki, I usually pushed in early versions to explore character before we settled on the story. He’s grandiose, and his mission is out of this world, which is why he even looks a bit alien here!”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BnUU-RWgk5J/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_loading_state_control

Yep, he looked a lot more messed up here and as noted by Wen, a bit alien. This does seem like a much cooler design for Red Skull and it’s a shame that we didn’t see this on screen. Ross Marquand replaced Weaving for Infinity War and although, he was more or less the same as before, for some reason.. he felt a bit more ominous that time around. Maybe, it had a lot to do with the location.

 

Source: Charlie Wen