Hydra (Earth-199999)

Hydra is an international terrorist organization devoted to "relieving" humanity of their freedoms. Originally a research division of the Nazi administration, the ambition of their leader Johann Schmidt led to Hydra becoming a formidable and dangerous entity in their own right. Hydra were thought defeated following Schmidt's defeat at the hands of Captain America in 1945, but its legacy lived on in Schmidt's right hand, Arnim Zola. For the sake of self-preservation, Zola lent his services to S.H.I.E.L.D. after the war, and began to sew the seeds of Hydra's resurgence from within. Over the next several decades, Hydra's influence spread throughout S.H.I.E.L.D. until it quietly pervaded a significant portion of the organization, ultimately including S.H.I.E.L.D.'s World Security Council representative, Alexander Pierce. In 2013, the efforts of Captain America, Black Widow, and their allies exposed the Hydra conspiracy, effectively causing Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. to collapse, but smaller Hydra cells continue to persist throughout the world. The team of former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents led by Phil Coulson have devoted themselves to quelling any remaining Hydra influence, if such a thing is possible. Taking inspiration from the mythological monster of the same name, Hydra pride themselves on their omnipresence and resilience, declaring that for each head cut off, two more take its place.

History

World War II

Hydra was originally conceived as a "deep-science division" of the Nazi regime in the 1930s. Johann Schmidt, a maniacally ambitious graduate student in physics, rose through the ranks of the Nazi regime in his quest for power. Schmidt did not believe in the Nazis' racist philosophy per se, preferring the idea of individual exceptionalism to that of a "master race." He formed an alliance with Heinrich Himmler and the Schutzstaffel (S.S.), leading to a violent dismantling of the Sturmabteilung (S.A.). Schmidt further allied himself with former S.A. scientist Arnim Zola, who was studying military exoskeleton technology. Schmidt easily convinced (that is, threatened) him to join his cause and begin working on making men themselves into weapons instead. In September 1935, Schmidt found scientist Abraham Erskine and his family attempting to leave Germany for Switzerland, and took Erskine into custody. Erskine had been researching increases in muscular density through the application of synthetic proteins: in other words, making someone stronger. Schmidt threatened Erskine's family to get him to apply this research to his cause. In November 1940, Erskine did just that, developing what would become known as the super-soldier serum. The formula wasn't actually finished, but Schmidt was eager to use it nonetheless. According to Erskine, it worked exactly as intended, "[enhancing] what is already within," and thereby making Schmidt more malicious than ever, as well as horribly disfiguring his face in a way that earned him the nickname, Red Skull. Schmidt would often wear a high-quality mask replica of his original face thereafter to cover up his scars.

By 1942, Schmidt had become the head of Hydra, the Nazis' research division. In March of that year, Hydra forces stormed Tønsberg, Norway, where Schmidt recovered the powerful Tesseract, an object of untold energetic power. The Tesseract had a significant reputation, but few knew that the truth of its energy was due to the Space Stone that lay within it. With a source for the power he desired in his grasp, Schmidt tasked Zola with investigating its potential and fully broke off from the Nazi party at large. Hydra began to outfit their soldiers and arms with the energy of the Tesseract. With Hydra's allegiance with the Nazis severed, Red Skull sought nothing but pure, megalomaniacal power, aiming to utterly destroy and conquer the world with his coming arsenal.

Dr. Erskine was able to escape Hydra's thrall and sought refuge in the United States. There, he allied with Army colonel Chester Phillips and British agent Peggy Carter to use a more fully developed version of the super-soldier serum on a single viable subject. The result was Captain America, a young man who was uncommonly valorous by nature but gained superior might and agility through the serum. Captain America proved to be the crucial factor in Hydra's defeat—he and the Howling Commandos, including his childhood friend James "Bucky" Barnes, spent several years fighting back Hydra forces across Europe. By February 1945, Red Skull had retreated to the main Hydra base in the Swiss alps, where Captain America led a final assault. Schmidt planned to bomb several key cities across the world in the ultimate display of his power and global conquest. Cap pursued Schmidt onto his Valkyrie aircraft, where Schmidt attempted to defeat his enemy with the Tesseract. Instead, the power of the Tesseract sent Schmidt through a portal into space and to a fate that few would ever learn of. Captain America himself was forced to plunge the Valkyrie into the ice below to prevent it from attacking New York City. He was presumed dead, but in truth would be preserved alive in the ice for decades to come.

The Hydra conspiracy

Hydra effectively crumbled after Schmidt's defeat, but Arnim Zola was determined to keep its mission alive. Zola was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D., the peacekeeping organization borne out of the Strategic Scientific Reserve, where he immediately began secretly planting the seeds for Hydra's resurgence. He quietly spread Hydra propaganda among sympathetic parties within S.H.I.E.L.D., spreading an ideological infection that would secretly torment S.H.I.E.L.D. and world affairs for decades to come. Hydra's ultimate goal was to relieve humanity of its freedom, and sought to do so by causing ample chaos and destruction in the world to make them give it more readily. Zola and his growing cohort of Hydra sympathizers also worked to brainwash Bucky Barnes, who had been captured by Hydra forces during the war. Barnes would have his memories prior to his capture suppressed, and became an elite agent and assassin for Hydra called the Winter Soldier. In 1972, Zola was diagnosed with a terminal illness and had his mind "backed up" in a large computer database deep beneath Camp Lehigh.

Hydra's influence continued to spread within S.H.I.E.L.D. to the highest levels, including head of the organization Alexander Pierce. There remained those within S.H.I.E.L.D. who were unaware of Hydra's existence and continued business as normal—Hydra agents kept their true allegiance concealed with extreme deftness and at any cost. With Pierce and others in positions of significant power, Hydra were able to use S.H.I.E.L.D. resources to influence countless catastrophes across the world for several decades.

See also

• Hydra of Earth-616