Avengers: Infinity War - 35 Easter Eggs & References Explained
9. Red Skull Returns
One of the most surprising revelations in Infinity War is the unexpected return of Red Skull, who vanished at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger when he touched the Tesseract. He appears on Vormir as the guardian of the secret of the Soul Stone as a sort of ethereal figure caught between life and death.
He reveals that he's been trapped on Vormir since the second world war and is obligated to instruct anyone seeking the Soul Stone of the cost they must pay - a soul of someone they love. Presumably, now that he no longer has a Stone to guard, he will either be free or entirely dead.
And on top of that, he seems to be presented in a sort of Death-like fashion, which fits in with the original role played by Death in the Infinity Gauntlet story.