Hugo Weaving Reveals The Real Reason He Didn't Return As Red Skull For AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

Hugo Weaving debuted as The Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avengers, but did not reprise the role for the character's brief appearances in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. Now, we know why...

By MarkCassidy - Jan 21, 2020 09:01 AM EST

Filed Under: Avengers: Endgame

Despite doing a great job as the Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger, Hugo Weaving did not reprise the role for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and the character was instead played and voiced by The Walking Dead's Ross Marquand.

When asked about this at the time, The Russo Brothers alluded to a scheduling conflict, but Weaving has now revealed the real reason he decided not to return as the iconic Marvel villain.

While speaking to Time Out, the Aussie actor said that he loved playing Johann Schmidt and was actually looking forward to suiting back up as the character after originally signing a three-picture deal, but when it came time to renegotiate, he found Marvel "impossible" to deal with.

“By then, they’d pushed back on the contracts that we agreed on and so the money they offered me for The Avengers was much less than I got for the very first one, and this was for two films. And the promise when we first signed the contracts was that the money would grow each time.

They said: 'It’s just a voice job, it’s not a big deal'. I actually found negotiating with them through my agent impossible. And I didn’t really wanna do it that much. But I would have done it.”

Weaving also confirmed that he wouldn't be back as Agent Smith for The Matrix 4, although it sounds like an actual scheduling conflict is to blame for that. “I was in touch with [director] Lana Wachowski, but in the end she decided that the dates weren’t going to work,” he added. “So we’d sorted the dates and then she sort of changed her mind. They’re pushing on ahead without me.”

What do you guys think? Were you disappointed that Weaving didn't return as Red Skull, or were you happy with what Marquand brought to the role? Let us know in the comments, and check out or spoiler breakdown for a recap of the character's scenes.

To view all of the moments at once, simply click on the VIEW LIST (ONE PAGE) button below!

We Lose loki And Heimdall In The Opening Scene

We expected to lose someone here, but both Loki and Heimdall are killed off.

The movie opens with Thanos and his forces having already decimated the Asagardian refugee ship (half of them manage to escape). When the Mad Titan makes short work of The Hulk, Heimdall uses the last of his power to send Banner to earth, which costs him his life.

Then, Loki pretends to side with Thanos only to attempt an assassination. The Titan is ready for the attack, though, and crushes The God of Mischief's throat in a particularly brutal scene.

The Hulk Gets Stage Fright

After Banner crashes to earth via Doctor Strange's Sanctum Santorum, The Hulk refuses to put in an appearance.

We see Banner try to summon the Green Goliath a couple of times during the early fight against Maw and Obsidian, and then again against the latter in the final battle - and Hulk always refuses.

So, we never get that scene of him smashing out of the Hulkbuster armor, and that slo-mo shot of him running towards Thanos' army along with Cap, Widow and the others is not in the movie.

Stark And Strange Really Don't Like Each Other

Image result for iron man doctor strange infinity war

Some tension was hinted at in the trailers and spots, but Tony Stark and Stephen Strange have a genuine dislike for one another in Infinity War that extends far beyond a bit of good-natured banter.

At one point, the good doctor actually tells Tony that he'd let him die in an instant to save the Time Stone - which is the right thing to do to protect the universe, but still pretty damn cold!

Of course, they do put their differences aside in the end, but it's hard to imagine these two ever becoming bosom buddies.

Thor Gets A New Eye

If you were wondering why Thor was shown with both eyes in some of the marketing material, it's because The God of Thunder picks up a new peeper in Infinity War.

Feeling sorry for his multiple losses, Rocket gives his new friend a mechanical eye that he stole during one of his many double-crosses.

Thor looked pretty awesome with the patch, so this seems like an odd decision. Perhaps the Russos simply weren't that keen?

Hawkeye Is Not In The Movie At All

After being absent from all marketing, fans have been been wondering what role Hawkeye would play in Infinity War, and the answer is very simile: He doesn't.

In fact, we only get a single mention of the archer when Black Widow informs Banner that he and Ant-Man took a deal to stay off the radar in order to protect their families.

We thought Jeremy Renner had filmed some scenes for this movie, but they were obviously for Avengers 4.

The Red Skull Returns

Image result for red skull captain america movie

In perhaps the biggest surprise of the movie, The Red Skull returns!

Fans have been wondering what happened to the villain since he vanished at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, and it turns out the Tesseract somehow banished him to a far-off planet to become the keeper of the Soul Stone.

When Thanos and Gamora arrive, Skull (not played by Hugo Weaving this time) appears in a hooded cloak and explains what The Mad Titan must do to retrieve the gem.

Thanos Kills Gamora

Image result for thanos and gamora infinity war

It turns out, Thanos must sacrifice what he loves to get the stone, and the only thing he truly cares about is his "daughter", Gamora.

In one of the most heartbreaking scenes of the movie, The Mad Titan reluctantly flings Gamora to her death before waking up with the Soul Stone.

The dreamlike quality of the sequence may lead to speculation that the GOTG member could return at some point, but that seems highly unlikely.

Peter Dinklage Does Indeed Play Eitri The Dwarf

Image result for peter dinklage;age eitri

There was a lot of speculation relating to Peter Dinklage's role in Infinity War, and it turns out the majority of you were on the money about him playing Eitri.

In order to forge a new weapon to defeat Thanos, Thor, Rocket and Groot travel to Nidavellir only to find all but one of the Dwarves there slain by The Mad Titan. Their King, Eitri, still lives, but Thanos has taken away the use of his hand, forcing Thor and his new friends to forge Stormbreaker themselves.

Star-Lord Screws Everything Up

If you or someone you know vanished in a swirl of ash leaves recently, blame Star-Munch.

Towards the end of the film, Stark, Spidey, Strange and the GOTG manage to subdue Thanos. They're just about to remove the gauntlet when The Mad Titan admits that he killed Gamora, sending Quill into a rage. He smashes the villain in the head, allowing him to get free and travel to earth for the final stone.

What. A. Moron.

Strange Looks Into The Future/Gives Thanos The Time Stone In Order To Save Iron Man

Image result for doctor strange avengers infinity war

At one point, Doctor Strange uses the time stone to take a glimpse forward to see if there are any scenarios in which they defeat Thanos. Out of millions, there is only one.

Later, when Thanos seriously wounds Stark, Strange offers him the stone in exchange for his fellow Avenger's life.

Though it's never explicitly stated, both of these things seem to be connected and will likely factor into Avengers 4.

Thor Joins The Battle Of Wakanda And Kicks All Of The Asses

Just as things are looking bleak for our Wakandan-based heroes, The God of Thunder shows up with Rocket and Groot and proceeds to wipe out Thanos' Outrider army with the help of his powerful new weapon.

This is one of the most fist-pumpingly brilliant sequences in the movie, and is sure to result in goosebumps.

As if taking out Thanos' forces wasn't enough, Thor also manages to (temporarily) defeat The Mad Titan. If only he'd "gone for the head."

Scarlet Witch Is Forced To Kill Vision... For Nothing

Image result for vision and scarlet witch

When Shuri's attempt to extract the Mind Stone from Vision fails, Wanda is forced to destroy it, and her lover, in one of the film's most powerful moments.

Unfortunately, it's all in vain, because Thanos uses the Time Stone to reverse what happened, before ripping out the stone himself and re-killing Vision in the process.

Ouch!

Thanos Snaps His Fingers And A LOT Of Heroes Die

Image result for thanos snaps his finger

Right at the end of the movie, Thor buries Stormbreaker in Thanos' chest - but the Mad Titan still has the wherewithal to snap his fingers, wiping out half of all life in the universe.

Of course, that also includes some of the main characters. It's actually easier to list off who survives! On earth: Cap, Rhodey, Widow, Banner, Rocket Thor, Okoye and M'Baku. On Titan: Stark and Nebula.

Of course, it's highly unlikely these heroes will stay dead, but it's still quite shocking to see them all simply cease to exist in this manner.

We End On A Major Downer

For the first time in the history of The MCU, a Marvel Studios movie ends on a downer with the bad guy winning.

Having made good on his mission to "balance" the universe, Thanos does just what he told Strange he would: sits and watches the sunrise with a smile on his face as we cut to credits.

Sure, we still have the second part of the story to come, but this is still a pretty risky move on The Russo's part, and will likely wind up being a divisive one.

Post-Credits Scene Teases Captain Marvel

There is only one post-credits scene, but it's a doozy.

We see Nick Fury and Maria Hill discussing the invasion of Wakanda when they narrowly avoid a crash. Then, Hill and some of the background extras begin to vanish. Fury races to grab his phone, before beginning to fade himself.

However, as he disappears we see who he was attempting to contact: Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel!

Continue on for our Avengers: Endgame breakdown!

Captain Marvel To The Rescue

We then cut to Tony Stark and Nebula aboard The Benatar, which they have managed to get into the air again but only temporarily. Now adrift, oxygen is running out and Stark is almost done.

Iron Man records his final message to Pepper, and lies down to prepare for the inevitable. Nebula then places him in the cockpit and bids a silent farewell, but all is not lost (obviously).

There was speculation that it'd be Pepper who would suit-up as Rescue to make the...um, rescue, but it's actually Captain Marvel, who carries the ship down to Earth where the surviving members of Earth's Mightiest Heroes are waiting.

Plan A

It's here that Stark and Steve Rogers have a somewhat low-key reunion (they do have a much better scene together later on), and it's clear that there's still some bad blood between them.

While Tony recovers, the others hatch a plan to track down Thanos and use the Infinity Stones to reverse The Decimation and return their friends - and half of all life in the universe - to the land of the living.

Danvers does a recon and finds no one on the garden planet aside from The Mad Titan, and the others move in.

Thor Goes For The Head

Image result for avengers endgame the garden

After the team subdue a now weakened Mad Titan, they discover that he only used the Infinity Stones to reduce them to atoms, destroying them forever. Rhodey doesn't believe him, but Nebula assures her hew friends that her father does not lie.

Then, just as the villain is about to admit that he may have been too hard on Nebula in the past, Thor takes the advice Thanos gave him in Infinity War and cuts his head clean off!

The end of Thanos? Not exactly.

Five. Years. Later

A bit of a time-jump? How about five years!

We skip forward half a decade, as the world attempts to move on and restore some sense of normalcy. Cap talks things out as part of a group, while Nat holds down the fort at HQ getting regular mission updates from Okoye, Rocket, Danvers and Rhodey. The latter reveals that Barton has been taking out criminals in particularly violent fashion, and a clearly upset Black Widow asks him to track her old partner down.

At this point Cap drops by for a chat, and the pair are interrupted by none other than Scott Lang at the front gate.

Scott's Plan

Scott returns from the Quantum Realm completely by accident (a rat is basically responsible for saving the universe), and soon realizes what's happened when he's reunited with his now teenage daughter.

Though five years have passed on Earth, Lang was only in the QR for five hours, and believes this might be the key to reversing The Decimation. Because his theories are mostly based on Back To The Future, the team decides to seek the advice of someone a bit more qualified.

Morgan

Image result for tony and pepper endgame

Tony Stark is now living an idyllic life with Pepper and their adorable daughter Morgan, who we first meet wearing the Rescue helmet her father his working on for his wife. Some foreshadowing, perhaps?

Tony basically dismisses Scott's plan when the others show up to try to convince him to help, but, of course, curiosity gets the better of him and he ultimately figures out a way to safely travel through time.

Hulk Out

In the meantime, the others have gone to see Bruce Banner, who has managed to combine his genius-level brain with the brawn of The Hulk after a few hours in the lab. "Professor Hulk" agrees to help, but warns them that quantum physics isn't really his area of expertise.

What follows is a hilarious test-run scene, with Scott returning from The QR as a teenager, an old man, and a baby. Fortunately, Stark shows up with a fix, and it's here we finally get to see him and Rogers make amends as Tony returns his old friend's shield.

Thor Has... Let Himself Go

Hulk and Rocket travel to New Asgard, where we're reintroduced to Valkyrie. She hints that Thor is not The God of Thunder he once was, and that's an understatement!

Thor has put on a few (okay, more than a few) pounds and has developed a slight drinking problem. He spends his days playing video games with Korg and Miek (yay), and is still wracked with guilt about how things went with Thanos.

He agrees to accompany his friends with the promise of beer, but it's abundantly clear that The King of Asgard is dealing with a lot of baggage.

The Time Heist

Banner points out that they can't simply go back and stop Thanos from using the stones because that will only alter that timeline, so they decide to travel back and acquire the stones themselves. This means we get to revisit scenes from several previous MCU movies, and see a few old friends.

Rocket and Thor travel to Asgard for The Ether, where the latter gets to see his mother again and reacquires Mjölnir. Cap, Stark and Lang go for The Tesseract but lose it to Loki, forcing them to alter the plan. Tony settles on a time and place where they can get the Tesseract back and lift some more Pym particles in the process.

Meanwhile, Banner goes to see Doctor Strange but has to deal with The Ancient One instead. She eventually agrees to hand over The Time Stone when Bruce explains that Strange willingly gave it to Thanos in the first place, but only if he agrees to return each stone to its respective timeline once The Decimation is reversed.

Thanos Returns

Image result for avengers endgame thanos

Rhodey and Nebula are tasked with retrieving The Power Stone on Morag, but they jump to a time when Thanos, Gamora and a very different version of Nebula are also in the vicinity.

Rhodey escapes with the stone, but Nebula is captured and bad Nebula takes her place. With past Thanos now aware of what happens in the future, he is able to plan an attack that The Avengers will never see coming.

Black Widow Does Whatever It Takes

Image result for avengers endgame black widow

Nat and Clint travel to Vormir, where they encounter The Red Skull and must give up the same thing Thanos did in order to earn The Soul Stone. Both former S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents want to be the one to do whatever it takes and it looks like Hawkeye "wins" the right to leap from the mountain, but Widow manages to pin him to the side.

Clint is determined not to let her go, but Nat tells her friend that it's okay, before pulling from his grasp and plummeting to her death in a sequence that plays out a lot (too much?) like the Gamora scene from Infinity War.

Hulk Snap

Back in the present, the devastated heroes realize that they can't get Widow back and swear that her sacrifice won't be in vain.

Thor wants to be the one to use the new Gauntlet and reverse The Decimation, but Bruce knows he's the only one strong enough to achieve this. The effort almost kills him and leaves him with a severely injured arm, but Banner manages to snap his fingers and restore the 50% of life in the universe that Thanos erased.

Unfortunately, it's then that The Mad Titans launches his attack, and Avengers HQ is reduced to rubble.

Cap Is Worthy

Image result for captain america mjolnir

Iron Man, Captain America and Thor regroup and attack Thanos with everything they have, but even without the Infinity Gauntlet The Mad Titan proves to be too much for them to handle.

Just as the villain is about to drive Stormbreaker into Thor's chest, he's hit in the back by Mjölnir, which then flies back into the hand of... Steve Rogers! Yes, Cap is worthy to wild the mighty hammer of Thor, and uses it to put a serious beat-down on Thanos before he too is taken down.

Then, Thanos' entire armada arrives on the scene, and Rogers faces down an army.

Avengers, Assemble

Just as all hope seems lost, we hear Falcon in Cap's earpiece, and all of the "dusted" heroes are transported to the battle by Doctor Strange, Wong and their fellow sorcerers. They also bring hundreds of Wakandans, Asgardians and various others as backup.

As Giant Man emerges from the rubble with Hulk, Rhodey and Rocket in hand, the scene is set for one of the most jaw-dropping battles in cinema history. "Avengers," shouts Captain America as he calls Mjölnir to him; "Assemble."

"You Can Rest Now, Tony"

Captain Marvel shows up to take out Thanos' warship, but The Mad Titan still manages to get his hands on the new gauntlet. After a tussle with Stark, he snaps his fingers and... nothing. Tony managed to get all of the stones away from him and fashions a new gauntlet from his own armor to house them.

Responding to Thanos' "I am inevitable" with "I am Iron Man," Stark snaps his fingers and wills The Mad Titan and his forces out of existence.

This proves to be Tony Stark's last heroic act, as he succumbs to his catastrophic injuries after an emotional goodbye to Rhodey, Spidey and Pepper.

The Funeral

That scene we heard about that was said to feature pretty much every main character in The MCU? It's Tony's funeral, and it's an incredibly emotional sequence for a variety of reasons.

After watching a holographic recording of a message Tony left in the event of his death, Pepper places the "Proof that Tony Stark has a Heart" keepsake she gave him in the lake, and the camera pans back over the assembled heroes and their families before stopping on Nick Fury.

Asgardians of The Galaxy

After the funeral, Thor decides to take Frigga's advice and focus on being the man he is and not the man he's meant to be. He leaves Valkyrie as Queen of New Asgard, and joins the Guardians of The Galaxy for some new adventure.

On The Milano, we're treated to another terrific scene between Thor and Star-Lord as they argue about who's in command.

Please let Thor be part of the team in GOTG Vol. 3!

Old Cap/New Cap

Cap decides to return The Infinity Stones to their rightful timelines, but when Bruce can't bring him back they assume something must have gone wrong. It's then that Bucky spots an old man sitting nearby on a bench, and Sam goes to investigate.

After he returned the stones, Steve decided to live the life he never got to before going into the ice. He presents Falcon with his shield, passing on the mantle of Captain America.

The Dance

Turns out Steve didn't spend his time in the past alone! Sam notices a wedding ring and asks his friend if he'll talk about "her," but Rogers declines.

The final shot of the film pans into a house where music is playing, and we see Steve and Peggy Carter finally having that dance. Rogers kisses the love of his life, and we fade to black.

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123 Comments

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MikeyL - 1/21/2020, 9:03 AM

It feels natural that only a voice job would be less money. Hell, even if it wasn’t just voice work, the amount of screen time the character got would not justify paying the actor more than what he got for an entire film.

HeraldNumber7 - 1/21/2020, 9:11 AM

@MikeyL -

whatever the work is, if they signed a contract then the studio should have honored it.

MikeyL - 1/21/2020, 9:18 AM

@HeraldNumber7 - morally? They should absolutely honour it. But they tried to come to a compromise because logistically it makes no sense to pay him more for a tiny role that’s only a voice. His attitude being “I didn’t really wanna do it that much” doesn’t seem great to begin with, so (just purely speculating here) it seems likely that he was the more impossible party of the two when it comes to negotiating. I get corporations should honour a contract, and I’d be pissed if one didn’t honour one with me, but you also have to be reasonable with *why* they are trying to compromise with a lesser amount

Matador - 1/21/2020, 9:22 AM

@HeraldNumber7 - More than likely it must have been those evil turds that were behind the curtains of power after they got disassembled and all power to Feige.

HeraldNumber7 - 1/21/2020, 9:32 AM

@Matador -

exactly my thinking too.

Origame - 1/21/2020, 9:37 AM

@MikeyL - how do you know they didnt change it to a voice job just so they didnt have to pay him?

Also, lets say that you get hired for a job at one pay, then they change it to a part time position and pay you less. Are you going to accept that or are you going to find work elsewhere?

HeraldNumber7 - 1/21/2020, 9:38 AM

@MikeyL -

i get where you're coming from but reading his statement it sounds as though he was willing to play ball and negotiate but the studio wouldn't agree to a fair number.

he conceded once in letting them break their agreement, so i don't see why he should be obligated to bend further. if he was willing to settle for less money at all, they should have paid him what he asked for. they're already saving money at that point.

MikeyL - 1/21/2020, 9:49 AM

@Origame - they very well may have done that, which would be shady as hell on their half. But they may have also seen that he didn’t seem to want to return to the role that much and therefore tried to reduce how little he was involved as to keep him happy because at the end of the day who wants to force someone into a sizeable role that they don’t really want to do anymore?

I don’t feel that analogy applies because from my understanding (and I could be completely wrong and missed something, so please correct me if I am) he don’t CA:FA and said he didn’t want to do anymore films after that. They didn’t make it part-time, but they wanted the character back for fan service/pay-off and it really does seem like to me that reducing his participation to voice work only was an attempt to find a middle ground. Maybe I’m just trying to look with a more optimistic perspective about it, but it doesn’t seem malicious on Disney’s half

rabid - 1/21/2020, 9:04 AM

It's ok, Hugo. I hate going to work too.

L0RDbuckethead - 1/21/2020, 12:05 PM

@rabid -

SuperCat - 1/21/2020, 9:05 AM

Tasmaniac - 1/21/2020, 12:59 PM

@SuperCat - So wrong 😂

Timerider84 - 1/21/2020, 9:09 AM

When you don't bring a villain that everyone wants to see in the Matrix 4 film, that could affect the box office numbers. There's already no Laurence Fishburne, now no Agent Smith. Is that really a good idea? He should at least cameo for one shot.

Origame - 1/21/2020, 9:41 AM

@Timerider84 - well i mean, this is a sequel. And the whole point of the ending of revelations was that agent smith no longer exists.

Besides, wouldnt it be more interesting to have a new villain? We dont need another palpatine situation.

DTor91 - 1/21/2020, 10:35 AM

@Origame - I agree, but I feel bringing back Neo and Trinity undermines that anyway.

Himura - 1/21/2020, 12:12 PM

@Timerider84 - the only box office draw is Keanu Reeves and I’m totally okay with that.

Origame - 1/21/2020, 12:26 PM

@DTor91 - well yeah, but we dont know exactly how thats gonna happen anyway. Not to mention neos death was confusing enough you could argue he survived.

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