WARNING: This article contains massive spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War, in theaters now.
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Red Skull has a new role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In Avengers: Infinity War, the former head of Hydra reappeared for the first time since his debut in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger. However, Infinity War's Red Skull is very different from the one we met in the first Captain America film. As turns out, Red Skull became the keeper of the Soul Stone after he was blasted into space by the Tesseract. In doing so, he may have picked up a secondary role familiar to fans of the comics: the Unseen.
The Unseen, as we refer to him here, debuted in Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato's Original Sin event series from 2014, but he wore a different -- but familiar -- face. A whodunit, Original Sin followed in the wake of Uatu the Watcher's murder. Ultimately, Nick Fury was outed as the murderer; he had killed Uatu to take his eye and act on a crime that the Watcher had witnessed, but took no action against. To punish him, Uatu's fellow Watchers transformed Fury into the Unseen, a being who observes Earth but can never interfere. As the Unseen, he became the very thing he hated.
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According to Original Sin #8's description of the Unseen, "There will always be someone watching. Someone who sees all things. All the beauty and horror. All the secrets and sins. Someone whose sacred duty it is to record the life of our world. To observe us from afar. To watch... But never interfere. To remain forevermore Unseen. He is the Unseen, and this is his burden now. This is his curse."
Like Fury's Unseen, the Red Skull of Infinity War is cursed, albeit in a different way. Red Skull once desired the power of the Infinity Stones above all else. However, due to the sacrifices demanded by the Soul Stone, he would never be able to possess it; he can only stand by and warn others about its "terrible price." As he tells Thanos, "A lifetime ago, I too sought the stones. I even held one in my hand, but it cast me out, banished me here, guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess. What you seek lies in front of you, as does what you fear."
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Further, Red Skull also described himself as cursed. When Thanos and Gamora arrived on the planet Vormir, he greeted them both by name. The Mad Titan seemed surprised at that, so Red Skull explained, "It is my curse to know all who journey here."
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Because of his role as the Soul Stone's keeper, Red Skull has developed some supernatural attributes. As mentioned earlier, he is "cursed" with knowledge, in much the same way that the Unseen sees "all things" of life on Earth. Red Skull's life has been extended, in that he has existed on Vormir for around 70 years without visibly aging. It would also seem that he no longer requires food and drink to sustain him, since the planet appears to be largely uninhabited.
In Saladin Ahmed and Javier Rodriguez's Exiles #1, the Unseen is shown to have similar such attributes: "I have watched [Earth] for a thousand days and nights without rest. I am no longer human. I no longer need rest. I am the Unseen, chained to this spot for my crimes by angry would-be gods called the Watchers, doomed to observe lives on Earth come and go, unable to raise a hand to help, cursed to be only an eye glowing in the darkness."
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Perhaps most damning of all, though, is Red Skull's new look. In Infinity War, he no longer sports his military uniform with all its Hydra regalia. Instead, he wears a flowing black cape that almost looks to be in tatters. Likewise, the most prominent feature of Fury's Unseen is his cape and hood, which obscures his face. The parallels between their costumes is particularly striking.
In pursuit of what they so desperately wanted, both Red Skull and Nick Fury got more they bargained for. Fury's desire to prevent crimes using Utatu's eye led him to become that which he hated the most: a shadow of a Watcher. Similarly, Red Skull's obsession with the Infinity Stones transformed him into the keeper of the Soul Stone, unable to possess the Stone himself and damned to tell others how to get it. Further, Red Skull seems to have borrowed a page right from Fury's Unseen in the wardrobe department. As such, it seems likely that Red Skull's role as the keeper of the Soul Stone was directly inspired by Fury's Unseen.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Infinity War stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Bettany, Anthony Mackie, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Tom Hiddleston and Josh Brolin, among others. The film is now in theaters worldwide.