Created by France Herron, Jack Kirby, and Joe Simon, the character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), in which his secret identity is revealed to be George Maxon, but would later be retroactively established as merely a decoy who was working for the real Red Skull, Johann Shmidt.

By chance, Shmidt was present by bringing refreshments when the Führer was furiously scolding an officer for letting a spy escape, during which Hitler declared that he could create a better National Socialist out of the bellhop.

The propaganda effect was so great that the United States government decided to counter it by creating their own equivalent using the one recipient of the lost Project Rebirth: Steve Rogers, as the superhero/counterintelligence agent, Captain America.

Hitler thus financed the construction of secret bases for the Red Skull in various locations throughout the world, many of which were equipped with highly advanced experimental weapons and devices developed by Nazi scientists.

In the closing days of the war in Europe, Allied intelligence received reports of a Nazi doomsday plan, code-named "Der Tag", to be implemented after Hitler's defeat.

The Red Skull assigned Baron Heinrich Zemo to go to England, and, under the cover of stealing an experimental Allied drone plane, to capture or kill Captain America and Bucky.

[33] The Red Skull then foments racial hatred in New York,[34] and is revealed as the true power behind a Las Vegas-based HYDRA fragment, and clashes with Kingpin.

Assuming the identity of "John Smith" (the English equivalent of his natural German name), the Red Skull decides to reinvent himself and his quest for absolute power as a means to celebrate his cheating death.

[44] The Red Skull also changes his mode of operations: rather than "living from one grand scheme to the next", he begins financing a score of evil organizations that report directly to him, such as the militia group the Watchdogs.

[47] He joins the "Acts of Vengeance" conspiracy, but is attacked by the mutant terrorist Magneto, a Holocaust survivor who wants to punish him for his involvement in Hitler's regime.

[50] The Red Skull's tenure in Washington comes to an end when he is captured by Hauptmann Deutschland, and taken to Germany to stand trial for crimes against humanity, stemming from his days as a Nazi agent.

[54] Trapped in a hellish nightmare dimension and forced to serve as a bellhop to a world of non-European immigrants, the Red Skull's will ultimately is so great that he is able to escape his prison.

Upon the discovery of his identity as Lukin, the Red Skull fakes his death, and initiates the second phase of his plan: using the Kronas Corporation's vast holdings to economically cripple the United States, before having S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Red Skull continues his assault by engineering a riot by placing Kronas security troops and drugged water in a protest on the Lincoln Memorial.

The Red Skull also plans to transfer his consciousness into Sharon's unborn child, apparently sired by Steve Rogers himself and potentially having inherited his Project: Rebirth enhancements.

[60] Both schemes fail because of the impatience and incompetence of the Red Skull's daughter—her near-fatal attack on Sharon causes her to lose the baby, and she intentionally botches her pseudo-assassination of Wright by attempting to kill him for real.

Norman Osborn decides to assist in completing his plan, as a figurehead of Captain America leading his team of Avengers would increase popularity with as the Iron Patriot.

To prevent him from escaping the immediate area, Sharon hits the Red Skull with a shot of Pym particles, making him a massive robot who cannot elude any pursuer's attention.

Maxon is an American businessman and Nazi agent who leads a ring of spies and saboteurs and serves as a stand-in of Johann Schmidt (the true Red Skull).

[76] This Red Skull is revealed to be a clone of the original created by Arnim Zola in 1942 and held in cryogenic stasis in the event that Germany lost the war.

[77] Using Professor X's telepathy, the Red Skull provokes ordinary citizens of New York into a mass assault against even potential mutants, even managing to take control of Thor.

However, his telepathy is still erratic, with the Red Skull being unable to completely control Captain America and an attack against him by Wolverine cutting off his right hand and disrupting his powers long enough for Rogue and the Scarlet Witch to break free.

[86] Doctor Doom is able to summon the spirit of Brother Voodoo to possess the Scarlet Witch and invert the spell, the Red Skull sacrificing his heroism and freedom to restore the heroes to normal.

As Patrick, the Red Skull secretly instigates an uprising of the facility's brainwashed inmates by manipulating Baron Helmut Zemo and the Fixer into restoring them to normal.

[95] During the Secret Empire storyline, the disheveled man in a torn World War II uniform that introduced himself as Steve Rogers, alongside people claiming to be "Bucky" and "Sam Wilson", encounters the Red Skull's clone who plans to taken them "home".

At one point, the Red Skull's mind inhabited a body cloned from Captain America's DNA, which possessed the mutagenic alterations induced by the Super-Soldier Formula.

[77] After being killed in a fight with Magneto, the Red Skull clone temporarily evolved into a psionic entity similar to Onslaught, vastly increasing his original powers while also giving him new ones,[83] ranging from material astral projection, total control over his psionic state producing tendrils, changing size and such, energy projection in the form of optic blasts, on top of greatly enhanced control over his psychic abilities being able to effect minds the world over to initiate worldwide hate.

[111] In an alternate reality depicted in the 1996 Heroes Reborn miniseries, the Red Skull is the banker of Master Man's World Party who is stopped by Nick Fury, Captain America, and the Falcon.

This version is the self-proclaimed President of the United States and ruled the Presidential Quarter part of Amerika wearing a copy of Bucky's Captain America outfit and collecting superhero items.

[127] After being saved from some Ozark cannibals, Old Man Logan learned of this power vacuum by Danielle Cage and Bruce Banner Jr.[128] An alternate universe variant of the Red Skull from Earth-1610 appears in Ultimate Marvel.