In the mighty Marvel universe, there are many heavy hitters in the supervillain sphere. We saw how tough Thanos was in The Fantastic Four a run for their money. Besides the solo players, there are also a bunch of evil organizations causing havoc for our favorite heroes and the world at large. Groups such as A.I.M. have plagued just about every superhero team and lone wolf metahuman at one time or another.
None have been as dangerous as Hydra, the seemingly unending group who first saw film time in Captain America: The First Avenger. In the comics, however, they’ve been around a lot longer. There has been a plethora of Hydra threats depicted in virtually every Marvel title ever published. After almost 60 years’ worth of these stories, there’s been a tremendous amount of confusing retconning which had really complicated who Hydra is and what they’re about. This is pretty crazy since they were already a really weird supervillain institution!
All the writers imagining and reimagining this evil cult’s origins, inner workings, and key players has made for a very odd fictional history which often contradicts itself. So – what exactly is Hydra? What exactly have they been up to? How long have they been around? The answers to those questions and more just don’t add up half the time! But, hey, we can at least figure out what the most confounding elements of this mess are!
Here are 20 Things That Make No Sense About Hydra.
Founded by Reptoids, Run by Humans
From the beginning of Marvel’s publication history with Hydra, the organization’s origins have been murky at best. that was always by design. After all, what can be more terrifying than an unstoppable criminal empire that can’t even be traced to a single leader?
When they first hit the scene in 1965, they were evil humans bent on world domination. But in 2005, a Wolverine story revealed them to actually reptoids wanting to conquer the human race! And yet, it’s almost always regular people running the show.
Are these cold-blooded lizard beings handing the keys to their kingdom to us unworthy mammals?
That seems to be the case, because we don’t really see much of these supposedly snake-like bosses!
Founders Are Immortal – So Where Are They?
There is no shortage of immortal beings in the Marvel Universe. First of all, of course, is Thor and all the Asgardians, who are, after all, gods. Then there are the Elders of the Universe, the Celestials, Galactus, and all the other supposedly everlasting deity-like entities floating around the cosmos.
While it’s debatable that these and others don’t ultimately exit the mortal coil, the very fact that we keep seeing them pop up over and over throughout history points to their unending existences.
Where are the supposedly immortal reptoids who founded Hydra? They are seen so infrequently, one may wonder if they still share the mortal plane with us. If you’re out there, guys, send us an email to tell us you’re okay!
They Run “The Hand” and Serve The Beast
It’s always been the case that Hydra’s motives and operative functions have been hidden on purpose by a secret cabal furthering an unknown agenda. Over the decades of writing and rewriting, those unanswered questions have run into some very odd answers.
At one point, it was revealed that the Red Skull had folded in a faction of The Hand, the Japanese ninja cult, into Hydra.
Well, The Hand officially serves The Beast, a demonic figure that wishes to destroy the world so that it may finally end the noise that life makes.Are Hydra just working for the Devil? And yet they’re also reptoids and human dictators?
Nobody Seems to Know Who the Leader Is
It’s very famous in Marvel lore to hear one of Hydra’s main creeds. Just as with the mythological beast for which it was named, the group claims that if you take down one of their number, two more will sprout up in their place. That seems to be true for their leadership as well.
For years, it was either Baron Von Strucker or the Red Skull who seemed to be in charge. These days, Viper is supposedly the head of that particular snake. Then there are the secret reptoids, of The Hand, and all the rest.
There’s always a hint that whoever the leader claims to be, there’s another one waiting in the wings. These folks need their HR department to figure out the company’s organizational chart!
Baron Strucker Changed Their Mission (Not Really)
With all these entities and throne-claimers in the Marvel universe treating Hydra like their own personal pet project, it's no wonder readers have a hard time pegging down just what the heck these evil folks are all about. In the beginning, supposedly, the reptoids wanted to herd us mammals up into some kind of pen and take over the planet. Then Baron Strucker comes around and “changes” their mission into something totally different – or is it?
Strucker’s goals are to use crime to topple world governments and establish an evil order.
It seems to us that is pretty much the same idea, right. Taking over the world is still taking over the world, last we checked. So all this “change” sounds like more of the same.
There are Many Hydras and None May Be Legit
As if it’s not confusing enough to understand what Hydra is really all about and who runs what, things get even more complicated when you get different factions claiming that they are the “real” Hydra and the rest are imposters.
Red Skull made this claim when he stole the crown from Strucker. Madame Viper similarly dismissed her predecessors as pretenders to the serpentine throne. On top of all that, there’s been many instances where other groups may have been pretending to be Hydra, calling into question when Hydra has done what.
Confused? the club, which probably includes the dozens of writers over the years trying keep this convoluted history straight!
Consider this possibility: maybe none of the Hydras are real. Maybe there is no Hydra.
They Disappeared Back When World Domination Was Easy
In another major piece of retconning most famously explored in the "Brotherhood of the Shield" story arc, Hydra was around way, way back in the day when the original S.H.I.E.L.D and its counterpart S.P.E.A.R. were protecting the world in the days before modern weaponry and warfare.
Even back then, Hydra was already very far advanced. In theory, they should have been able to take over the world right then and there, hundreds of years before our modern S.H.I.E.L.D. hit the scene. But they didn’t.
In fact, Hydra seemed to disappear until just around WWII, when we not only had modern war machines, but a whole lot of metahumans to protect us.
Where did they go? Why didn’t they act when world conquest would have been relatively easy? Were these reptoids too busy eating flies?
Spider-Woman Came from Hydra
Speaking of retcons and alternate versions, Marvel’s resident female web-spinner Spider-Woman has had quite the character history herself.
In her first incarnation as Jessica Drew, she was born in the shadow of the magical Mount Wundagore, where she got sick from radiation poisoning. Her dad shot her up with a spider-based serum which gave her he powers. Then Hydra kidnapped her, brainwashed her, and turned her into an agent.
Yes – she was a Hydra-made superhero long before anybody dreamed up the Secret Empire storyline. Then, after one mission, she finally “gets” that Hydra are totally evil and she quits.
But She Keeps Switching Sides
As mentioned, Spider-Woman eventually quits Hydra to become the superheroine we all know and love. She kicks major supervillain butt, becomes an Avenger, and works for S.H.I.E.L.D.
Then, after the events of Civil War and Secret Wars, it not only turns out that she still works for Hydra, but has been a double agent the whole time.
To make matters worse, she was ordered by none other than Nick Fury to Hydra, supposedly as a hedge against other heroes who may be fighting for the wrong side. Then she decides to betray Hydra and blow up their secret base, until it’s revealed that she was actually a secret Skrull queen the whole time under the Secret Invasion storyline.
They Were Defeated by a Team of Bikers
Let us please review certain information at this point. Hydra is a super advanced group of inhuman criminals who have fought everybody from Iron Man and Captain America to S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Hulk to a standstill many times. But guess what? They can totally be defeated by a bunch of dudes on motorcycles!
Back in the 1980s, Marvel published a book called Team America, later to be known as Thunderiders.
To be fair, they were mutants, but not very powerful ones.
Not only that – Hydra actually created them!
That's right: this bunch of Harley enthusiasts with minimal powers that Hydra created totally creamed them.
