Saturday, September 5, 2015

Johann Schmidt—Red Skull

Widely lauded as one of Marvel's best villains behind Loki, we finally dip into some of the good pile, and... he's just a Street Fighter. Not even Legendary.

Yes, for all of the Red Skull's popularity, he's one of the lower-powered villains we see in the MCU. Of course, he also has an army behind him, so what does it really matter, right?


Name: Johann Schmidt
Race: Human
Experience: 60 (Heroic)
Power Level: Street Fighter with Super Karma (35 PP)
Agility d10; Smarts d10; Spirit d10; Strength d12+2; Vigor d12
Pace 6; Parry 7; Charisma –6; Toughness 10
Hindrances: Arrogant, Bloodthirsty, Ruthless (m), Ugly
Edges: Arcane Background (Super Powers), Charismatic, Brawler, Command, Counterattack, Inspire, Frenzy
Skills: Fighting d10, Intimidation d6, Knowledge (Battle) d6, Knowledge (Occult) d8, Knowledge (Physics) d8, Notice d6, Persuasion d6, Piloting d6, Shooting d6, Throwing d6
Inventory: Luger (2d6–1, 10/20/40, Semi-Auto), Pulse Pistol (2d6, AP 2, 10/20/40, Semi-Auto)
Powers:
  • Regeneration (5): Level 2, Recovery. Rolls to heal every hour.
  • Speed (4): Pace 24, –1 to hit.
  • Super Attribute (22): Agility +2, Smarts +1, Spirit +1, Strength +4, Vigor +3. 
  • Super Edge (2): Brawler.
  • Toughness +2: Dense muscle fibers.
Johann Schmidt was professor of physics at one of the German universities, but was always fascinated with the occult, specifically Norse mythology, and built his research around the assumption that they held more truth than legend. He brought these theories to Adolf Hitler, as was later picked up by Himmler after Hitler's SA agents threw him out (unbeknownst to the Führer).

Promoted to the SS, and later the head of Hitler's advanced research division—HYDRA—Schmidt was a brilliant strategist and an extremely capable leader. He took keen interest in Doctor Abraham Erskine's research in a super soldier serum, and strong-armed Erskine into continuing his research for the purposes of HYDRA. Schmidt, obsessed with finding power, took the serum himself, but this had the unintended side-effect of making him look like a monster.

Erskine escaped with the help of Agent 13, and Schmidt refocused his efforts on Norse mythos, leading him in search of the Tesseract: an ancient artifact of nearly infinite power.

This device was able to power HYDRA's entire arsenal, and Schmidt used this to break away from the Third Reich and begin his own campaign for world conquest. Very soon, he ran into Captain Steve Rogers, and immediately formed an odd arch-rivalry with the soldier: jealous, vitriolic, and confused as to why the Captain wouldn't want to join him as a god.

This came to a head in 1944, when the US assaulted HYDRA's base. Schmidt was... transported, or disintegrated, or something, after picking up the Tesseract. He is not confirmed dead, but he's unlikely to show up for quite some time.
—DoctorBoson

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