Hugo Weaving doesnt want to play Red Skull again

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Actor rules out returning as Marvel’s villain

Hugo Weaving has ruled out the possibility of reappearing as Red Skull, in Marvel’s Phase Two .

No stranger to big-budget, multi-installment mega-franchises, Weaving has previously starred in the Matrix , Transformers and Lord Of The Rings trilogies, and he’ll be reprising his role as Elrond in The Hobbit three-parter.

But, it seems like his days of blockbusting might be behind him, as he revealed that he was not keen to return to Marvel’s cinematic universe to play the Captain America bad guy.

When Collider asked him about a multi-picture deal with the comics giant, he explained. “I did that [ a multi-picture deal ] for Captain America . I think the tendency, with those films, would be to probably not bring a villain back.

“They might for The Avengers , but I didn’t think I’d be in Captain America 2 or 3 . I don’t think Red Skull will be there. And it’s not something I would want to do again. I’m glad I did it.

“I did sign up for a number of pictures and I suppose, contractually, I would be obliged to, if they forced me to, but they wouldn’t want to force someone to do it, if they didn’t want to. I think I’ve done my dash with that sort of film.

“It was good to do it and try it out, but to be honest, it’s not the sort of film I seek out and really am excited by. As an actor, to do all sorts of different films is great. It stretches you in different ways.

“But, I increasingly like to go back to what I used to always do, which is to get involved with projects that I really have a personal affiliation with.”

We’re reading between the lines here, but Weaving gives the impression that he’s not the biggest fan of Captain America , which is a bit of a shame considering his snarling, Herzog-accented bad guy was a real highlight.

We’re also a little disappointed to think that Weaving’s scarlet-bonced baddie probably won’t join forces with Thanos or Loki or Malekith to go head-to-head with The Avengers . Shame.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens in 2014, with The Avengers 2 following in 2015.

Matt Maytum
Matt Maytum
Former Editor of Total Film magazine

Matt Maytum is the former Editor of Total Film magazine. Over the past decade, Matt has worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.