Spoilers for Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War follow…
All of the various fan theories about the Soul Stone proved to be wide of the mark when Avengers: Infinity War revealed that it was located on the planet of Vormir, where it was guarded by a very familiar-looking Stonekeeper – the Red Skull, who was last seen being disintegrated by the Tesseract / Space Stone at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger.
Speaking to Uproxx, Infinity War co-director Joe Russo spoke about the decision to utilise the Red Skull as the guardian of the Soul Stone, stating that:
“Somebody had to be the gatekeeper to the Soul Stone and somebody had to distribute the rules to Thanos and Gamora in a way that was credible and believable. A character who has been trapped – the Red Skull has been turned into this wraith who now guards the Soul Stone and distributes the rules to whoever shows up their trying to obtain it. It felt like there was more credibility than just a random character.”
The Red Skull was portrayed by The Walking Dead’s Ross Marquand in Infinity War, and Russo also expected why they never approached Hugo Weaving to reprise his First Avenger role:
“You know, he made a statement a couple of years back that he was done with Marvel. Ross Marquand did an incredible job of capturing not only the essence of his voice, but the essence of the performance – a haunted figure who is now this imprisoned spirit.”
SEE ALSO: Here’s how much screen time each character had in Avengers: Infinity War
An unprecedented cinematic journey ten years in the making and spanning the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War” brings to the screen the ultimate, deadliest showdown of all time. The Avengers and their Super Hero allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.
Avengers: Infinity War stars Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Tom Holland (Spider-Man), Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Paul Bettany (Vision), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Benedict Wong (Wong), Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), Sean Gunn (Rocket), Vin Diesel (Groot), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Benicio Del Toro (The Collector), Danai Gurira (Okoye), Letitia Wright (Shuri), Winston Duke (M’Baku), Terry Notary (Cull Obsidian), Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Ebony Maw), Carrie Coon (Proxima Midnight), Michael James Shaw (Corvus Glaive) and Peter Dinklage (Eitri).
