Red Skull (Johann Schmidt) was born from his parents Herman and Martha Schmidt in a small German village. The birth of Johann killed Martha, driven to madness from the death of his wife that he both loved and hated, he blamed his new born son on the death of Martha and tried to drown Johann for revenge. The doctor at the hospital who was there stopped Herman from killing his son. The next day Herman killed himself out of grief of his dead wife. Johann was then brought by the doctor that saved him to an orphanage, 7 years later Johann ran away from the orphanage. He lived in the streets of the German village as a beggar and thief. At about 15 he spent most of his time in prison for crimes like vagrancy and theft.