Contents 1 History 1.1 Reformation and efforts 1.2 Wheels Within Wheels 1.3 Hail H.A.M.M.E.R. 1.4 The "new" Hydra 2 Moments in HYDRA history: 3 Paraphernalia 4 Notes 5 Trivia 6 See Also 7 Links and References

History

Hail Hydra! Immortal Hydra! Cut off a limb and two more shall take its place!!

--Hydra Agent^[src]

During the earliest recorded days of human history, a group of Egyptians, led by a man named Imhotep, fought back a Brood invasion. Spurred by this, the survivors formed two secret organizations - the Brotherhood of the Shield and the Brotherhood of the Spear. The Brotherhood of the Spear spread out, ingraining itself into all facets of human society - science, magic, politics - like a multi-headed beast, aparently destroyed around the time of the French Revolution. And although it went by many names - the Cathari sect, the Thule Society and all its antecedents - it is under the name of the many-headed Hydra that it is most well-known.

Reformation and efforts

Formed during World War II, HYDRA originally had a State Shinto Imperialist as its Supreme Hydra. Baron Strucker slew and replaced this man, but Captain Savage and the Leatherneck Raiders thwarted Strucker's attempt to gain an A-Bomb. HYDRA then clashed with the Invaders. Earlier, Strucker had uncovered Gnobian advanced technology, while he also time travelled to the future from 1942.

Aries organized Strucker, the Fury brothers and others into a loose partnership known as the Great Wheel. The tasks he sent this group on led directly to the formation of S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA, and Leviathan. HYDRA's history is a long, tumultuous and convoluted one, spanning the decades from the end of the Second World War up to the present day, tied directly to surviving fugitive members of governments of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

Soon after the formation of S.H.I.E.L.D., one of its members and a former member of the Great Wheel known as the Professor secretly betrayed the organization to HYDRA and became a double agent. Strucker used this connection to make HYDRA the secret master of S.H.I.E.L.D. and thus Nick Fury. HYDRA used S.H.I.E.L.D. as part of a years-long, slow burning plan to subvert the entire world and bring it under their control.

Shortly upon joining the original HYDRA, Von Strucker seized control of the organization from its Japanese founders and slowly steered it towards the goal of conquering Earth. That campaign brought him into conflict with Charles Xavier and the future Magneto among others, and once HYDRA became more brazenly public in its operations, eventually led to the creation of the agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D. S.H.I.E.L.D. was formed by HYDRA proxies in the UN specifically to gain power and information in ways that HYDRA never could from its position then. After the apparent assassination of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s first executive director, Nick Fury was appointed as executive director. This decision, after several HYDRA campaigns including the creation of the Overkill Horn (designed to detonate all nuclear explosives worldwide), and the bio-engineered "Death-Spore" Bomb, led directly to von Strucker's first death at the hands of Fury and several deceived HYDRA operatives.

In the wake of von Strucker's first death, the surviving elements of HYDRA broke into factions that each adopted its own reorganized modus operandi. Several of these factions developed "super-agents" that would occasionally break away in turn to become freelance operatives, or, in some rarer cases, superheroes such as the first Spider-Woman. Von Strucker was eventually revived and reunited several of the HYDRA factions under his leadership to renew his campaign against S.H.I.E.L.D. and humanity for several more years.

Despite his reorganization of the group, various independent HYDRA factions continue to operate around the Marvel Universe, and a HYDRA Civil War would later result. While Baron Helmut Zemo had Strucker placed in stasis for his own ends, Gorgon and Strucker's second wife Elsbeth von Strucker mystically created a clone of Strucker who they set up to fail, allowing for a public execution of him, after which - as part of an alliance with The Hand, they utilized an army of brainwashed superheroes and supervillains, including Northstar and Elektra to launch a massive assault on SHIELD. The assault was ultimately repelled and Wolverine would kill Gorgon.

Recently, Hydra planned an all out attack on the United States by smuggling missiles into New York for use in a planned bio-weapon assault on the Ogallala Aquifer. They formed a distraction using clones of the Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hawkeye, who was dead at the time) but were foiled when Spider-Man joined the Avengers' new line-up.

Wheels Within Wheels

In the closing days of the foiled Skrull invasion, Strucker destroys his undersea base Ichor, which was crawling with Skrull infiltrators. He then changed his plans from subverting the world to conquering it. Fury then finds out that HYDRA was controlling SHIELD since its foundation after discovering a database in a base in Chicago. He gathers allies around America to battle the overwhelming threat of HYDRA. This included various Caterpillar teams and the HC PMC.

Strucker learns about this and comments "We've been dancing to the melody for so long, and finally you hear it too." In turn, Strucker gathers his new ruling council of Hydra: Viper, Kraken, the Hive and Madame Hydra. To complete this council, they had the Hand resurrect Gorgon.

This new direction began by stealing technology from secret SHIELD facilities around the US, as well as kidnapping psi-agents from the cryo-storage facility known as "Red Worm". Fury's Secret Warriors attempted to foil HYDRA but failed, unprepared for the resurrected Gorgon. Struker made an alliance with Norman Osborn, hoping for Osborn to kill Fury. However, he proved unsuccessful.

Madame Hydra and Viper negotiated with the Clan Yashida to gain possession of the Box, a mysterious artifact. Leviathan forces assaulted HYDRA, kidnapping Viper. Madame Hydra brought them the Box, passing it off to HYDRA as a negotiation to rescue their companion. In truth, she had been working for Leviathan the entire time. Using the Heart contained within the Box, Magadan revived countless Leviathan agents from Overwinter cryostatis, including Orion, their leader.

This led to an all-out war between Leviathan and HYDRA. An discussion between the groups dissolved merely into fighting. However, Strucker was able to get a mole in the Secret Warrior; Hellfire. An assault on a HYDRA base in China by the HC PMC ended disastrously for Fury's side. Fury's Secret Warriors were able to destroy HYDRA's main base at Gehenna, with Phobos and Hellfire dying in the process.

Kraken turned on Baron Strucker, taking him captive. After Fury's son died fighting HYDRA, Nick surrendered to them. Kraken put him in a room with Strucker. He then revealed his true identity; Jake Fury. The Fury brothers then revealed the truth to Strucker. During the era of the Great Wheel, they had convinced a paranoid LMD decoy of the Professor to subvert Strucker's organization. Strucker had been working for Fury the whole time. Fury then killed Strucker with a shot to the head.

Hail H.A.M.M.E.R.

Now with Madame Hydra and the Gorgon as their sole leaders, HYDRA formed an alliance with Norman Osborn and his H.A.M.M.E.R.. Gorgon joined Osborn's Avengers team as Wolverine.

After Osborn failed to destroy the Avengers, Madame Hydra uses the remains of H.A.M.M.E.R. to reinforce her Hydra.

The "new" Hydra

A "new" Hydra was created by Hydra Queen along Baron Zemo, soldiers who where trapped in Land of Nowhere, soldiers form the "old" Hydra and new members, under the concept that the "old" Hydra failed at their commitment.^[1]

Moments in HYDRA history:

• the Fixer working with HYDRA to kidnap the amnesiac Namor
• clashing with Interpol agents Cassidy and Lipton
• facing Logan with the Parkers

  

• clashing with Mystique
• a young Remy LeBeau destroying a Hydra ship
• Silver Fox targeting Logan
• Hydra also administered Project: New Genesis.
• Trefkov, the murderer of Silver Sable's father, formed an alliance with HYDRA at some point.
• Jake Fury became a mole for HYDRA, conferring with Strucker at least once.
• Arnim Zola also aided Strucker, meeting with him in Japan.
  

Paraphernalia

Equipment:

Transportation:

• Hydra Terror-Carrier
• Hydra Flying Island ("New" Hydra)
  

Weapons: None known.

Notes

• No special notes.
  

Trivia

• For a time, the legal face of Hydra under Imperial Hydra Arnold Brown was Imperial Industries, Inc.
• Currently, HYDRA's corporate faces are The Typhon Group and Echidna Capital Management.
• The agents of the "new" Hydra uses both new Hydra suits as well as the classic outfit.

See Also

• 31 Hydra (Earth-616) Members
  
• 287 Appearances of Hydra (Earth-616)
• 21 Images that include Hydra (Earth-616)
• Team Gallery: Hydra (Earth-616)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Hydra (Earth-616)

Links and References

• None.