History
Johann Schmidt's early life and rise to power are presumably the same as those of his Earth-616 counterpart. On Earth-597, however, World War 2 ended with Germany triumphant, and the Red Skull remained Hitler's loyal right hand man, even as his master grew old and weak. The Skull himself remained young and healthy as the result of an experimental rejuvenation procedure.
Assigned by Hitler to investigate Charles Xavier's experiments with mutants, the Red Skull became concerned that Xavier was becoming too powerful and needed to be stopped lest he usurp Hitler's position as leader. While Hitler was undergoing the same rejuvenation that the Skull himself had experienced, the Skull used a mind-controlling nullatron to allow the Reich's Lighting Squad to overcome Xavier's psychic powers. Unknown to the Skull, the Lightning Squad were actually Earth-616's Excalibur team in disguise.
During the battle against Xavier, Rachel Summer's connection to the Phoenix allowed her to unleash the combined psychic energy of Xavier's victims against him, wiping his mind. As he was mentally connected to Summer through the Nullatron, the Skull also fell victim to the psychic assault and was obliterated.[1]