Emails #31: The Arms Race of Its Time

RED SKULL: STURMBANNFÜHRER
Red Skull Origin

BEN: If we had time (which we probably won't, but we might include it in a comic book tie-in) I was thinking that Skull would start out as a young man who is brought on as Hitler's assistant or is a promising young Lt. who is brought to Hitler's attention by the head of the SS. The Lt. has shown to be very intelligent, resourceful and (of course) without a conscience. Hitler puts him in the super soldier program and he survives (or is the only survivor of his super soldier unit.) Hitler then gives him the rank of Sturmbannführer and puts him in command of an SS unit, "The Red Skulls," with the mission to kill Captain America. Skull takes it too far and ends up having a red skull face shield created for himself. Okay, this is probably too dark, but what if... a bunch of his team are killed and he's covered in a pile of bodies. Standing up from beneath the viscera, he licks his fingers and feels a jolt. Putting his hand in the chest wound of one of his comrades, he sucks the blood off his hand. Power pumps through his veins and he chuckles as he drops to his knees for more... If his whole unit isn't killed, he might kill them to increase his power (a Countess Bathory sort of thing.) In this his serum is weaker than America's, but with his physiology and the discovery of the blood connection, he's as, if not more, powerful than Cap.

RICK: I am really enjoying the Red Skull's insignia. Sexy. Hitler would have created dozens of these secret units with different responsibilities. Red Skull was in charge of The Master Race Formula. Not just a Master Race but soldiers capable of dealing with extreme combat conditions and able to deal the pain. The formula is stolen by Allied spies and it makes its way to the U.S. where it is transformed into the Super Soldier Serum. This is the arms race of its time. Whoever can create the super soldier first will win the war.

Interesting. I always thought they'd have stolen it from the Americans, but fact is they were experimenting on captive Jews with terrible impunity. It's more likely that they got it first-- something anyhow. I like the idea of America perfecting it. I guess the only thing holding me back is the thought that Cap could have been created with the blood of innocents. That would be a powerful (guilt) weapon against him and could muddy his creation.