The 'Avengers: Infinity War' Surprise Few Saw Coming

'Limitlessness War' dives deep into comic book legend in a way that is extraordinary, notwithstanding for Marvel.

[This story contains spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War]

it's conceivable that Avengers: Infinity War has driven you down a lot of Internet rabbit gaps as you attempt to revive yourself on ten years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Maybe you've rewatched every one of the films, you've gone through all the think pieces, you've outlined where all the Infinity Stones are; you know which characters are on which groups. In any case, regardless of how hard you set yourself up, Marvel still figured out how to sneak in one last, absolutely out-of-left field amaze — and it's one that no one saw coming.

Amid Infinity War's definitive uncover of the Soul Stone, the remainder of six Infinity Stones to be presented in the real life universe, one startling character made an amazement (and shockingly grandiose) cameo. The Red Skull, the scalawag played by Hugo Weaving in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, appeared as a type of intergalactic soul harvester, caught on the planet Vormir as the stone's attendant. He goes up against Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Thanos (Josh Brolin), clarifying both the custom important to achieve the stone and the way that his existance on Vormir is his "revile." The Walking Dead's Ross Marquand plays the character this time around.

Back in The First Avenger, we watched Red Skull (genuine name: Johann Schmidt) was broken down by the crude energy of the Tesseract, which we later learned was really the Space Stone. In Infinity War, he says that "a lifetime prior" he came into contact with that crude power and was "judged unworthy," consequently he was sent to Vormir to experience a type of Sisyphean discipline — he can control others to the energy of the stone, yet can never achieve it himself. Fundamentally, this means the Red Skull has been existing as an astronomical apparition for over 70 years, and no one in the MCU had even the smallest thought.