The Marvel movie news blog confirmed today that Hugo Weaving will be donning the red mask to play the villain The Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger opposite Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell.  The movie will be directed by Joe Johnston and was penned by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.  In the early comics, Johann Schmidt was drafted into loyal service of The Third Reich and renamed “The Red Skull.”  The character will be updated for the feature adaptation.

Captain America: The First Avenger will focus on the early days of the Marvel Universe when Steve Rogers volunteers to participate in an experimental program that turns him into the Super Soldier known as Captain America.

Weaving was last seen in The Wolfman and his voice is very recognizable as Megatron from Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as well as Noah the Elder from Happy Feet.  His other film credits include starring in V For Vendetta, The Matrix franchise and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The film will be released in the U.S. on July 22, 2011 and distributed by Paramount Pictures.