While the Marvel Cinematic Universe has proven to be an unprecedented success in terms of scope and continuity, things don't always work out. There was the letting go of actors like Terrence Howard (from the first Iron Man), and Edward Norton (from The Incredible Hulk), as well as the loss of writers and directors like Patty Jenkins (for Thor: The Dark World) and Edgar Wright (for Ant-Man). Now actor Hugo Weaving has revealed a new addition to the list.
Weaving, who portrayed Johann Schmidt/The Red Skull in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, spoke with TimeOut about why he never reprised his role in the MCU. "I loved playing that character Red Skull – it was a lot of fun," he said. "We were all obliged to sign up for three pictures: I was thinking [Red Skull] probably wouldn’t come back in Captain America but he may well come back as a villain in The Avengers. By then, they’d pushed back on the contracts that we agreed on and so the money they offered me for The Avengers was much less than I got for the very first one, and this was for two films. And the promise when we first signed the contracts was that the money would grow each time. They said: 'It’s just a voice job, it’s not a big deal'."
"I actually found negotiating with them through my agent impossible," Weaving added. "And I didn’t really wanna do it that much. But I would have done it."
Of course, the character did make a surprise return in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War (and then again in the following year's Avengers: Endgame), as the keeper of the Soul Stone on Vormir. However, he was portrayed in those films by Walking Dead actor and noted impressionist Ross Marquand, in an almost seamless transition.
It is unclear whether the character will return again, but if he does, it is safe to assume Weaving will not be behind the red mask.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Don Cheadle as War Machine, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Danai Gurira as Okoye and Bradley Cooper as Rocket, with Gwyneth Paltrow Pepper Potts, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Benedict Wong as Wong, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie and Josh Brolin as Thanos. The film is available on Digital HD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD.