Although Hugo Weaving has made it abundantly clear in the years since The First Avenger that he has no intention of returning to the role of Red Skull, the character is such an integral one that, should Marvel deem it so, he could just return.
Weaving might not be the actor to play him, but the Skull was the first person on Earth to wield the power of the Cosmic Cube back in World War II. His story is directly tied to the events of these next Avengers films, and while there's little chance he could appear as an ancillary antagonist, don't write off Marvel working him into a cameo, particularly if SLJ's Skull-themed slip of the tongue was anything to go by.
There's also the fact that Steve Rogers' death could soon be on the horizon, a plot that - in the comics - the Skull had an integral part in. It would be very surprising if the character isn't revisited in some way or another, and while Infinity War is already jam-packed with villains, setting up the next wave of Marvel movies has been the Avengers' forte for some time now.
Weaving or not, the Red Skull is definitely a villain you won't want to write off.
What cameos are you hoping for in Infinity War? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
