Captain America's Red Skull Unveils New Design as a Xenomorph

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Robert Wood is a writer and editor based out of Cheshire, England. He is the author of 'The False Elephant: and 99 Other Unreasonably Short Stories' - 100 stories, each told in exactly 100 words.

Rob got into comics via Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man and the UK anthology 'The Mighty World of Marvel,' which was running Frank Miller's Daredevil, Classic Hulk and Contest of Champions II.

Prior to journalism, he worked in copywriting and copyedited for Oxford University Press. He is on X as @PinchTwigs and Instagram as roobwoodjourno.

A major supervillain made famous by the MCU has a terrifying new codename and design, as Captain America’s nemesis is transformed like never before.

Captain America's Red Skull Is now the Red King of the Xenomorphs

captain america's red king as a xenomorph

In today’s Alien vs Captain America #3 - from Frank Tieri, Stefano Raffaele, Neeraj Menon and Clayton Cowles - Steve Rogers continues his WWII-era battle against the Xenomorph menace, as Baron Strucker carries out experiments to create an alien army.

Cap, the Howling Commandos and a battalion of Kree soldiers manage to win the day, only to discover that Strucker was always just a distraction. The real plan is the Red Skull’s, with the villain merging with a Xenomorph Queen to become the ‘Red King’ and lead an alien army.

captain america punches red skull xenomorph

The Red Skull’s new design is terrifying - a towering Xenomorph Queen body with the scarlet face of Johann Shmidt and razor-sharp teeth. However, despite his monstrous appearance, Red Skull has retained some of his human intellect, and is planning to lead an army of Xenomorphs to the beaches of Normandy, thwarting the D-Day invasion. If he's successful, he'll rule the world with an army of the greatest predators in the universe.

The series has also introduced Skrull/Xenomorph hybrids, with Marvel's iconic aliens giving the Xenos shapeshifting powers - hence the Kree coming to Earth to combat the alien menace.

Our Take on Red Skull's New Transformation

While Red Skull is technically a Super Soldier in the same mold as Captain America, he's rarely depicted as a legitimate physical threat to Steve Rogers. That makes it all the more impactful to see the villain transformed into one of the most iconic threats in sci-fi cinema, with acidic blood, a bladed tail and pheromonal control over a Xenomorph army.

Next issue will end this crossover miniseries with a battle for the ages, as Captain America leads his remaining warriors against an impossible foe. Captain America and Red Skull have been fighting since 1941, but Shmidt has never been this dangerous before.

Alien vs Captain America #3 is available now from Marvel Comics.