EW has debuted the first official image of Hugo Weaving as Red Skull in the upcoming Captain America: The First Avenger. He’s not a pretty boy, and with a face like that doesn’t have much choice but to be the villain. Red Skull was originally Nazi weapons developer Johann Schmidt, but gets turned into Red Skull by a German experiment into creating a super-soldier which they launched in response to the creation of Captain America. Each experiment brings out the inner qualities of the man, turning Steve Rogers into a hero, while Schmidt is pure evil.
EW also spoke to Joe Johnston about the movie. He says, “What I like is he’s [Captain America] not a superhero in the true sense of the word. He becomes a superhero but doesn’t have any super powers. He is just the best possible, human specimen. Imagine the fastest, strongest Olympian athlete. Add 30 percent. That’s Steve Rogers. The thing that appeals to me is he is everyman. He’s a 98-pound weakling. All he really wants to do is the right thing and serve his country and [at first] nobody wants him because he’s too weak. He’s been picked on all his life. But he’s a guy who never gives up. That’s his trademark.”
Johnston also revealed why it is important for the Cap to stop the villainous Red Skull. “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. Before he gets the injection, the doctor tells him: “Whatever happens, stay who you are.” He was created as propaganda tool, but he soon became much more than that. There are all these incarnations over the decades, but the film is not a flag waver. It’s about a guy who wants to do the right thing, and that transcends all nationalities and borders. He’s going to do the right thing no matter what flag is on his chest.”
On thing many have wondered about is how they’re tying Captain Americ into the upcoming The Avengers movie, something that many people felt was handled badly in Iron Man 2. Johnston had this to say, “Because this was a period film, because this was the origin story, I didn’t have to worry about The Avengers, which was a present day story. We have present-day bookends and bring Cap back at the end and then I basically hand him off. And The Avengers is its own thing. The fact that they are all so different is what will make it exciting. You bring these elements together and they all have different outlooks and come from different worlds. I think there is an opportunity for conflict within the group. There’s gotta be. It’s not the Boy Scouts. [Laughs] There’s going to be rivalry and certain amount of infighting and conflict. Like I say I’m going to be there as an audience member like anybody else.”
Captain America: The First Avenger hits cinemas on July 29th.