7 Marvel Villains Saved By The MCU
2. Red Skull
Prior to films like Blake, X-Men, and Spider-Man redefining what a Marvel movie could be, films based on the company's characters had a track record of being low-budget B-movies that were lucky to see a theatrical release.
A perfect example of this is 1990's Captain America, a film so bad that it made back less than 0.2% of its $10 million budget. Unsurprisingly, given the miniscule amount of money behind it, the titular hero looked absolutely ridiculous.
Even worse off, however, was its main antagonist Red Skull, who resembled a mass of melted red crayons that somehow gained sentience and decided to put on a rubber Nazi uniform. To add insult to injury, the character also acted as such.
Mercifully, Captain America's greatest enemy was given a shot at cinematic redemption in Marvel Studios' 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger. Played by Hugo Weaving, the character was infinitely more menacing and competent this time around, not to mention looking fantastic.
To this day, this interpretation of the Red Skull is considered to be one of the MCU's better villains, which is probably why the character received such a massive positive fan reaction for his surprise return in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War.
In other words, it's safe to say that the character has come a long way from looking like a wax museum reject.