Why would anyone want to look like the Red Skull?

Insanity would be my guess but then, I’m turned off by people whose facial modifications are more exotic than piercings or tattoos. Beyond the aesthetics of what this guy did to his face, who would want to look like the Red Skull, one of the biggest bastards in the Marvel Universe? Does he not know who the comic character was?

Here’s a quick recap. In the comics, the Red Skull was a German named Johann Schmidt. His mother died in childbirth and his father tried to kill him in a fit of grief before the obstetrician saved him. Schmidt was attracted to the darkness from an early age and murdered a woman who spurned his advances.

Schmidt ended up working as a bellboy at a hotel where Hitler was staying and wandered into a room where the Fuhrer was berating an officer. He pointed at Schmidt and said, “I could turn that bellboy into a better Nazi than you.” That’s exactly what happened and the Red Skull become a loyal officer of the Third Reich and opponent of Captain America, who went into suspended animation at the end of World War II, to be revived later. The old Captain America comic hints that Hitler knew the Red Skull’s evil might one day surpass his own.

Some of the Marvel villains wouldn’t even work with him. During the Acts of Vengeance crossover, Magneto formed a tentative alliance with the Red Skull and some other villains. Once they achieved their goals, Holocaust survivor Magneto locked the former Nazi in a room with a few jugs of water and basically told him to think about what he did during World War II. The skull got out somehow and later got shot to death. I believe now Charles Xavier’s brain is in the Red Skull’s skull (or something like that).

Of note is that the Red Skull groupie is actually altering his face. The comic character had the good sense to wear a mask.