

After seven decades on Vormir, Red Skull met Thanos and Gamora, as they sought the Soul Stone. Red Skull was teleported to Vormir, where he became trapped in a state of purgatory, becoming a Stonekeeper, a wraith advising whoever sought the Soul Stone. However, the fight ended when Red Skull touched the Tesseract with his bare hands, prompting it to create a wormhole and send him elsewhere. Once Red Skull had launched his offensive, intending to bring the United States down onto its knees, he was intercepted by Captain America. However, Red Skull's plans were challenged by the Allies' only super soldier, Captain America, who destroyed the HYDRA facilities. While he led HYDRA, Red Skull had found the Tesseract which he had believed could help him to control the world. Having become a confidant of Adolf Hitler during World War II, Schmidt gained ambitions to become the superior man, leading him to test the version of Abraham Erskine's Super Soldier Serum on himself, resulting with him becoming hideously disfigured as well as gaining the name of Red Skull. Johann Schmidt is the former head of HYDRA, the special weapons division of the Nazi Schutzstaffel and a modern-day incarnation of the ancient society. But it cast me out, banished me here, guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess." ―Red Skull to Thanos "A lifetime ago, I, too, sought the Stones.
