The Premium Format of Red Skull represents the ideal complement to the Premium Format of Captain America (since the character is no doubt the most formidable opponent of the American super-soldier) and competes against the most prestigious PFs for the overall sculptural top-quality and the outstandig attention paid to details. The statue was released in 2008 and was realized by a large team of artists (including Martin Canale, the author of other famous Sideshow collectibles). It has a size of 26 x 31 cm, is 51 cm tall and weighs approximately 4 Kg. The exclusive version has an edition size limited to only 500 pieces and differs from the regular (released in 750 samples) for the presence of an alternative hand holding (in place of the stick and the dagger, hidden in the handle of the stick itself and showing a beautiful golden skull) the powerful cosmic cube, a mysterious object well known to the Comics' readers, source of an inexhaustible power. The character wears a classic Nazi uniform decorated with ribbons and medals, as demonstration of the high degree attained in the military hierarchy of the Third Reich. The dress is also adorned with a belt, a diagonal leather buckle and the typical, high black boots of the German uniform. The pose is perfect to describe the cruel and petty nature of the character. The Red Skull, in fact, is haughtily erect in his polished uniform and looks smiling, while smoking a cigarette with his elegant cigarette holder: at the same time, however, he hides an automatic pistol behind his back, ready to strike treacherously the naive interlocutor of the moment! Probably more than in other cases, the charm of this piece arises from being a Premium Format, since a real military uniform (made of fabric) is more appropriate (compared to resin) to point out the main features of the suit. Not by chance, the Nazi dress lends itself perfectly, due to the presence of numerous details, and also in this case Sideshow did an excellent work: note the belt at waist, the diagonal buckle on the bust, the silvery buttons, the military decorations on shoulders, chest and wrists, the cross at the neck, the shiny and high boots. All these details represent the essence of the Nazi type, while the chromatic contrast between the background black color of the uniform and the bright red head of the character impressively magnifies the bloodthirsty appeal that oozes from this dreadful opponent of the American Dream. The burning cigarette and the skull-handle of the dagger are very well finished, as well as the many cartridge cases scattered on the base, representing the ruins of a wall and rather similar to the base of the Captain America PF (as to ideally constitute a huge diorama) or the hyper-realistic gloves, which really give the impression of being made of leather. Note, in particular, the right hand holding the gun, with the reinforced edges on fingers and the little button locking the glove at wrist: a really top-level sculptural quality! In my opinion, however, the real strength of this statue if the face of the Nazi criminal. The sculpt seems to arise from a textbook of Anatomy and the coloring is simply perfect. By combining the typical, skinny features of a human skull (characterized by hollow nose and white teeth in the foreground) with the chromatic contrast offered by the background red and the blue of the eyes, the authors were able to create a really breathtaking, mocking expression of a psychopath maniac, thus perfectly catching the essential feature of the character. In the huge set of supervillains animating the Marvel Universe, the brutality and the genius of the Red Skull can be only compared with Victor Von Doom, and probably it is not a case that Sideshow realized just for these characters two of the most beautiful statues of his catalogue.