Even if that's who the character is in the comics, I think there were some changes that needed to be made. Weaving comes off as more cartoonish and James Bond-villain-like than the tone of the rest of the film. Red Skull felt much like every other Marvel villain, wasted. It's the only true period piece Marvel has done as more than 90 percent of the film takes place in the 1940's as Cap receives super soldier serum in an attempt to counter Red Skull and Hydra's attacks. With the Avengers coming out merely a half a year after, the film had the task of giving a proper origin story to a man with morals structured around a completely different time period. Granted, the film is uneven in tone at times and it has a certain amount of bombastic elements to its visuals, but The First Avenger is about as good of a job as you could do at introducing the man out of time. Probably because we have been spoiled with how Joe and Anthony Russo have portrayed Captain America, but Joe Johnston doesn't get a ton of credit for his directing job. It has its cartoonish moments and an unmemorable performance from Hugo Weaving as Red Skull, but Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell bring so much charisma to the film that it's enough to outweigh some of the mishaps. But every single time I have watched it since, I have enjoyed it more and more. Much like Iron Man 2, I wasn't a huge fan of The First Avenger the first time I watched this film years ago.