THE RED SKULL- AWAKENED CLONE (Johann Schmidt)
Created By: Joe Simon & Jack Kirby
First Appearance: Captain America #7 (Oct. 1941)
Role: The Big Bad, The Nazi
Group Affiliations: The National Socialist Party of Germany, The Skeleton Crew, A.I.M., HYDRA, ULTIMATUM
PL 14 (255)
STRENGTH 2
STAMINA 4
AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 9
DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 4
AWARENESS 5
PRESENCE 5
Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+11)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 3 (+12)
Deception 8 (+13)
Expertise (Business) 2 (+6)
Expertise (Nazi Party Leader) 6 (+10)
Expertise (History) 4 (+8)
Expertise (Criminal) 7 (+11)
Expertise (Science) 2 (+6)
Insight 4 (+9)
Intimidation 8 (+13)
Invsetigation 2 (+7)
Perception 5 (+10)
Persuasion 5 (+10)
Vehicles 2 (+5)
Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Chokehold, Connected, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Disarm, Leadership, Ranged Attack 7, Taunt
Powers:
"The Brain of Charles Xavier: Omega-Level Telepathy"
"Mind Shield" Enhanced Will Check 4 (Flaws: Limited to Mental Attacks) [2]
Mind-Reading 14 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Effortless, Cumulative, Sensory Link) Linked to Mental Communication 4 (Feats: Subtle) (Extras: Area, Selective) (96) -- [110]
- Dynamic AE: "Focused Mind Control" Mind Control 14 (Feats: Dynamic) (57)
- Dynamic AE: "Group Mind Control" Mind Control 10 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2, Selective) (Flaws: Touch Range -2) (51)
- Dynamic AE: "Mental Stun" Affliction 14 (Will; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Perception Range +2, Cumulative) (57)
- Dynamic AE: "Astral Form" Remote Sensing 15 (Visuals & Hearing) (Feats: Dynamic, Dimensional) (Flaws: Physical Body is Defenseless) (32)
- Dynamic AE: "Focused Mental Blast" Damage 14 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Perception Range +2, Will Save) (57)
- Dynamic AE: "Mental Illusions" Illusion (All Senses) 10 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Selective) (Flaws: Resisted by Will) (50)
- AE: "Area Mental Blast" Damage 10 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2, Selective, Will Save) (50)
- AE: "Brainwashing" Affliction 14 (Will; Dazed/Compelled/Transformed Mentally) (Extras: Perception Range +2, Cumulative) (56)
"Mental Detection" Senses 7 (Mental Awareness- Ranged, Radius, Acute, Detect Mutants- Ranged & Radius) [7]
Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Mind-Reading +14 Perception (DC 24)
Mind Attacks +10-14 Perception (+10-14 Perception Affliction, DC 20-24)
Mental Blast +10-14 Perception (+10-14 Perception Damage, DC 25-29)
Initiative +4
Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +9
Complications:
Motivation (Power)- The Skull desires power over anything else- be it via Nazism, criminal empires or the Cosmic Cube. Or Professor Xavier's brain.
Enemy (Captain America)- For decades, the Skull's key nemesis has been Captain America- the symbol of freedom itself.
Total: Abilities: 72 / Skills: 62--31 / Advantages: 16 / Powers: 119 / Defenses: 17 (255)
The Uncanny Avengers:
-Rick Remender's
Uncanny Avengers was annoyingly hit-or-miss. It started with SUCH potential- a freakish assault on New York by the most horrifying thought imaginable: The RED SKULL with CHARLES XAVIER's POWERS! He leads a group of genetically-modified "S-Men" to attack, and Captain America forms a new team that combines X-Men & Avengers to stop him (thus becoming a symbol of a new era in Mutant/Human relations). In the meantime, we get a lot of characterization for Havok (often silent in the Scott-obsessed modern era of Summers Family Stuff), some great dialogue, an interesting debate about terms and labels (Havok does an interview talking about how he doesn't like the word/label "Mutant" and wants to just be called "Alex", while Kitty Pryde in ANOTHER X-book goes into detail about WHY she wants that label and what it represents for her), another debate between Rogue & The Scarlet Witch that effectively makes the "Mutants = Gay People" link even more obvious (in which both sides of their debate are fairly adequately explained), and some GREAT art by John Casaday, who does very detailed, very realistic (albeit for some GIANT eyes and long eyelashes) art and weird character designs.
-However, there are some flaws. The GREAT first arc just goes nowhere as we start focusing on the never-ending story of the boring Apocalypse Twins, a pair of forgettable, generic Omnicidal Maniacs who want to kill everyone. Casaday, the slowest artist in history, is gone within a few issues. Guys like Sunfire are added to the team, adding nothing (seriously, Sunfire is a boring character). Rogue just comes off as generally unpleasant and annoying. Wanda is just... bleh. There's still SOME good stuff, but it kind of became a mess. And in the "this is totally getting undone because Time Travel is involved" death of CAPTAIN AMERICA to THE GRIM FREAKING REAPER is ridiculous- The Grim Reaper is a Jobber's Jobber. I don't care what kind of power upgrade he has. If he can kill Captain America, then Piledriver should be one-shotting The Silver Surfer.
Xavier-Powered Red Skull- The Ultimate Nightmare:
-ANYWAYS, the Red Skull in this book is a clone of the WWII original, and has the same overall mindset and body (ie. no Cap Stats). The Skull had become a bit tired in Ed Brubaker's
Captain America run, largely thanks to being in like 100 issues straight, so I was a bit perturbed to see a NEW one show up the second Remender got his hands on Cap, but the whole "no, he's just a Nazi- oh yeah, and he has THE BRAIN OF CHARLES XAVIER!" thing just adds to the terror of what is one of comics' greatest villains. I mean, there's none of that "The Villain Has Justification For His Actions" touchy-feely crap here- The Skull is Evil Incarnate in human form, and the most terrifying guy in Marvel Comics. I mean, NAZIS WERE REAL. THIS is why they have this effective aura of fear surrounding them. And this guy is KING NAZI. This is an enemy that isn't worth keeping alive- no rational human being could ever justify allowing someone this evil AND powerful to live.
The Skull's Defeat:
-The entire comic is set up around finding this Uber-Skull and removing Xavier's brain-bits from him, as the Skull has cannibalized Xavier's brain in order to give himself psionic might. However, this gets forgotten for some Time Travel/Apocalypse Twin stuff, Remender eventually leaves the book, and finally... it's a team of Deadpool, Cable, Rogue, a token Inhuman, JOHNNY STORM and a handful of other weirdos who are finally able to haul down the Red Skull and de-psionic him. Truth be told, Gerry Duggan was a much more capable writer than Remender at many things, and the book was actually quite good- it was just a BIZARRE use of the "Avengers" name. I liked to call it "The best book that has no reason to exist", because the "Unity" concept was eventually totally ignored; main characters Cap, Havok & Thor all vanished from the series; Remender's changes failed to stick (Havok/Wasp was his "big thing", and later writers dropped it completely), and the villains barely mattered.
-The funny thing was, the "Red Skull" aspect felt like it'd been dropped completely for a while, until Duggan popped up with it a handful of times. Ultimately, it's friggin' DEADPOOL who saves the day, after a Skull-controlled Rogue beats the ever-loving piss out of him- in a genius move, he pops Magneto's helmet onto himself, thus making him immune to Xavier's psionic powers, and he defeats the Skull, who is then partially lobotomized. However, this segues directly into
Secret Empire, in which the Skull meets his "ally" Steve Rogers (now always a double agent working for HYDRA), who betrays him and knocks him off a cliff.
The Skull's Power:
-This build is actually pretty simple- you take the Red Skull, De-Captain America his statline (ie. make him a normal guy), then give him Charles Xavier's PL 14 Psionic Powers. Which is pretty goddamn terrifying- Rogue has a good bit in an early issue where she thinks about how glad she always was that Charles Xavier, for all his power, was a good and noble man- a monster like the Skull could cause limitless harm with such power.