History Characters / MarvelComicsHydra

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Though technically in-universe they pre-date Nazism they employ much of the same ideology and iconography, including their authoritarianism, suppression of diversity and the salutes and uniforms. Notably when they take over in Secret Invasion they persecute minorities, placing mutants and inhumans in camps, and attempt to rewrite school history books to portray themselves more favourably, all things real-life Nazis are famous for doing. Two of their most famous leaders (Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and the Red Skull) are also literal Nazis.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Though technically in-universe they pre-date Nazism they employ much of the same ideology and iconography, including their authoritarianism, suppression of diversity and the salutes and uniforms. Notably when they take over in Secret Invasion they persecute minorities, placing mutants and inhumans in camps, and attempt to rewrite school history books to portray themselves more favourably, all things real-life Nazis are famous for doing.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Though technically in-universe they pre-date Nazism they employ much of the same ideology and iconography, including their authoritarianism, suppression of diversity and the salutes and uniforms. Notably when they take over in Secret Invasion they persecute and place mutants and inhumans in camps and attempt to rewrite school history books to portray themselves more favourably, all things real-life Nazis are famous for doing.

** Revealed to be this in ''ComicBook/SecretWarriors''.

* BaldOfEvil: Baron Strucker.

* CloningBlues: The Red Skull and Baron Strucker's twin children have both cheated death this way.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Literally, with the (temporary) Corporate Hydra branch.
** Hydra is revealed to have still been involved in this with two major megacorporations under its control.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Hydra started off as an actual Nazi organisation during World War II which became independent when the actual Nazis, well, lost. When your founders are Nazis it's no stretch that your organisation end up Nazi-like. (As revealed in ''Captain America: Hail Hydra'' and ''Secret Warriors'', Hydra actually let the Nazis ''think'' that, but are actually older. Still, they saw the Nazis as having compatible goals, and still have evidence of that connection.)

* TakeOverTheWorld: As if anything less could satisfy them! ''Secret Empire'' is probably the closest they've come: North America and almost all of Europe (save for a small portion of France).

Hydra is a fictional subversive organization in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse. It first appeared in ''Strange Tales #135'' (August 1965), created by Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby. It served as the rival organization to ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}. The name is not an acronym but rather a reference to [[Myth/ClassicalMythology the mythical Lernaean Hydra]]. The organization's motto references the myth of the Hydra, stating that "if a head is cut off, two more will take its place" proclaiming their resilience and growing strength in the face of resistance. HYDRA agents often wear distinctive green garb featuring a serpent motif.

ComicBook/MadameHydra has her own subpage.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Hydra started off as an actual Nazi organisation during World War II which became independent when the actual Nazis, well, lost. When your founders are Nazis it's no stretch that your organisation end up Nazi-like. (As revealed in ''Captain America: Hail Hydra'' and ''Secret Warriors'', Hydra actually let the Nazis ''think'' that, but are actually older. Still, they saw the Nazis as having compatible goals, and still have evidence of that connection.)

* RenegadeSplinterFaction: Several other major Marvel Universe evil organisations began as sub-divisions or splinter-groups of Hydra, notably including AIM, the Hand, and the Secret Empire.
** The Hand consider themselves to be the original and Hydra the splinter group, however.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The organization's history as a mutual aid society for fugitive Nazis that evolved into an international terrorist group bears a distinct resemblance to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ODESSA ODESSA]] and Otto Skorzeny's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paladin_Group Paladin Group]].
** Similarly, their 2012 revamp as a grassroots group dedicated to fighting the depredations of global neoliberal capitalism probably has something to do with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Recession recent failings of same]].
* RunningBothSides: [[spoiler: Turns out that Hydra secretly owned S.H.I.E.L.D. Then it turned out that Nick Fury knew this all along and was using it to manipulate Hydra.]]

* SmugSnake: Andreas Strucker has always been considered to be the whipping boy of Hydra. He eventually stopped being smug when he became the Swordsman. Then he became the ButtMonkey.

* TheSyndicate: HYDRA is heavily involved in organized crime.
** Indeed, it is a full-blown NebulousCriminalConspiracy appropriately enough. All a crook needs is Hydra or Maggia ties to justify crazy-tech.

* ThoseWackyNazis: Their original incarnation. The modern organization has no racial agenda, accepting members from all nationalities. One snarky but likely explanation is: "You can't sell toys of Nazis."

* WhatMeasureIsAMook: A question never asked by superheroes as even die-hards capes like Captain America have no problem killing Hydra goons.

[[caption-width-right:303:Hail Hydra]]

* AncientConspiracy: Revealed to be this in ''ComicBook/SecretWarriors''.

* BigBad: Baron Strucker was the founder and leader of Hydra but currently Madame Hydra is the leader after Strucker's death.
** However, now there is a power play for leadership between two factions of Hydra: one led by the Red Skull and one led by Baron Zemo.

* TheDragon: Gorgon.

* EqualOpportunityEvil: Japanese Ninja, German Nazis, Arab terrorists, and more.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Strucker has done some genuinely appalling stuff but has surprisingly done a few PetTheDog moments as well.

* EvilerThanThou: The Kingpin once went against Hydra. For once, it didn't go his way.

* NaziGold: How the original Hydra was funded.

* TheStarscream: Gorgon.

* TakeOverTheWorld: As if anything less could satisfy them!

In the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, HYDRA was originally a top-secret Nazi weapons research unit led by the ComicBook/RedSkull, but quickly split away from the Third Reich altogether. However, it was [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS3E8ManyHeadsOneTale later]] {{retcon}}ned into being an AncientConspiracy.

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!!The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse faction provides examples of:

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Again, they started out as a Nazi science division so the similarities are abundant. The modern version has dropped the racial purity angle though. [[spoiler: And it's later revealed that HYDRA has existed for centuries, way before the Red Skull was the leader.]]
** This is given a big fat Lampshade Hanging in [[spoiler: ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', where Skye calls Ward a Nazi. Though he denies it.]]
* AncientConspiracy: [[spoiler: Is revealed to be this in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'']]
* ArcWelding: [[spoiler: Senator Stern from ''Film/IronMan2'', Agent Sitwell, and the Clairvoyant in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' are all Hydra agents.]]
* BigBad: The Red Skull, [[spoiler: Armin Zola, Baron Strucker, Agent Ward, Gideon Mallick, and Hive]] have at various times been the "main head" of HYDRA.
** ArcVillain[=/=]MookLieutenant: [[spoiler:Alexander Pierce, Garrett]], and Daniel Whitehall meanwhile have been the heads of various cells and had story arcs devoted to them, but were never the main leader of HYDRA.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Similar to their comic book counterpart as noted above. When they were first introduced, they were a Nazi agency that was going rogue. ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' reinvents them as an AncientConspiracy, [[spoiler:which has worshiped an Inhuman since the dawn of time and is trying to bring about his return]].
* EliteMooks: Deathlok [[spoiler: (until being freed from Hydra's control in "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS1E22BeginningOfTheEnd Beginning of the End]]"), Agent Ward]], Crossbones, the Winter Soldier [[spoiler:(a.k.a. Bucky Barnes, through being brainwashed)]].
* EnemyCivilWar: [[spoiler: There are 2 major ideologies within HYDRA who aren't very fond of each other: the scientific branch and the {{Cult}}, worhsipping and aiming to bring back Hive to Earth. And even then, despite minor tensions they still remain unified, EvilIsOneHappyFamily after all!]]
* EqualOpportunityEvil: [[spoiler:The modern version has women and people from all races as members, which is kind of funny seeing as how the Nazis were its roots.]]
** This {{Justified}} in the comic book prequel to ''The First Avenger.'' The Red Skull, in a JustBetweenYouAndMe moment, tells Doctor Erskine he thinks the Aryan supremacy thing is "racist junk science" which he knows because he's an actual genius. It's useful for gaining him political power, though, and he's willing to protect Erskine's Jewish wife (or NOT protect her) if he works for him. Erskine actually thinks this makes him ''worse'' than Hitler.
** Further {{Justified}} when we find out [[spoiler: Hydra is an AncientConspiracy devoted to the worship of a primordial Inhuman.]]
* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: [[spoiler: Modern Hydra's thing]].
* EvilerThanThou: To the ''Nazis''.
* EvilIsPetty: In addition to all the atrocities mentioned on this page, HYDRA has also... [[BreakingTheFourthWall leaked the]] ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' [[http://www.hitfix.com/news/marvel-blames-hydra-for-leaked-avengers-age-of-ultron-trailer trailer]].
* ForScience: Armin Zola's motivation [[spoiler:even after his "retirement" in America.]]
** Raina and other ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' villains have this motivation. Notable because, at least Raina, finds the idea of working for Hydra otherwise discomforting.
** Doctor Whitehall has this as his motivation.
* GeniusBruiser: [[spoiler: Garrett. He looks like Bill Paxton and acts like a frat boy but manages an ultra-secret scientific conspiracy for Hydra.]]
* GovernmentConspiracy: One in the Nazi government's at the start. [[spoiler: Then one in America]].
* {{Ghostapo}}: They were the Nazi science division before going rogue.
* HidingInPlainSight: [[spoiler:As S.H.I.E.L.D.'s sleeper cell]].
* HydraProblem: Actually a bigger issue than in the mainstream version where Baron Strucker is usually in charge. Hydra has had numerous leaders and when one dies, they just get another one. [[spoiler:Coulson takes down HYDRA by basically cutting off as many heads as possible and, when he gathers enough intel, he calls in the Avengers to deal the final blow. Hydra is now scattered and Kelbo says that "heads ain't growin' back". Then Ward decides to revive HYDRA in his own image and recruits Baron Von Strucker's son as his apprentice; two more heads have grown. All known heads are again cut by the end of the third season, including Hive, the original head. In Season 4 of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', HYDRA does not appear at all (in the real world anyway), and may in fact be gone. Only to return ''again'' in Season 5, with General Hale and her daughter Ruby who escaped the take-down in Season 3. Hale specifically states that she and Ruby are the last two heads (they have other people working with them, but apparently they aren't HYDRA), and eventually they team up with Strucker's son, who while comatose had also survived. All three are dead by the end of the season, which was Hydra's last chronological appearance, meaning they are finally gone for good. Maybe. Probably.]]
* TheInfiltration: It's revealed that HYDRA had infiltrated [[spoiler:SHIELD shortly after the latter had been formed]].
* KillEmAll: Hydra's plan for world domination [[spoiler: through SHIELD]] requires 20,000,000 deaths.
* NotQuiteDead: Armin Zola is alive at the end of ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''. [[spoiler: This was a massive mistake.]]
* OldShame: InUniverse example. The group's Nazi past and variant on the Sieg Heil salute becomes this in modern days according to [[spoiler:Garrett and Ward]]. Daniel Whitehall, who becomes leader after them, averts this as he's clearly unrepentant about his Nazi past and makes numerous invocations to it left and right.
* LawyerFriendlyCameo: Outside of the MCU - Bob, Agent Of HYDRA has a [[TheCameo cameo]] in ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'' as a {{mook}}, though any ties to HYDRA are ExiledFromContinuity due to Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox not having the rights to the organization. Similarly, Viper from ''Film/TheWolverine'' is never referred to as Madame Hydra, but is exclusively referred to as Viper.
** ''Series/TheGifted'' also has Baron Von Strucker's Siblings and their descendants be the focus of the show, with their ties to Hydra only hinted at via the Nazis.
* TheManBehindTheMan: To Centipede Group.
* ReligionOfEvil: The [[spoiler: Ancient]] Hydra were one of these.
* RenegadeSplinterFaction: The movieverse Hydra are a splinter-group of the Third Reich who outlived their predecessors.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Hydra's [[spoiler:infiltration of SHIELD]] is specifically said to have begun with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip Operation Paperclip]].
* StrangeSalute: They stick both arms, with clenched fists, in the air and scream "Hail HYDRA!" It looks a lot like the Nazi salute. [[spoiler:The salute is mocked in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', where Garrett says it makes the person doing it look like a "West Texas cheerleader at a Pep Rally"]].
* StupidJetpackHitler: The movieverse Hydra grew out of a top-secret Third Reich weapons-research unit.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Post-Red Skull]] their new leadership seems to sincerely believe they are bringing law and order to a chaotic world. [[spoiler: the factions of HYDRA only differ on how it will be accomplished: the ancient Hive-worshipping cult, who believe their deity is working for the Greater Good and will create a perfect world free of war, poverty and want, and the post- ideological schism militaristic and scientific faction, who want to make the world peaceful, orderly, and unified at any cost though more conventional mass subtle manipulation and socio-political engineering. Even then, EvilIsOneBigHappyFamily and they remain unified nonetheless.]]
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler: Baron Strucker]] considers the [[spoiler: SHIELD infiltration]] to be this in TheStinger.
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->''[[TheStinger Hail Hydra.]]''

* BigBad: The Red Skull, [[spoiler: Armin Zola, Baron Strucker, [[spoiler: Agent Ward, Gideon Mallick, and Hive]] have at various times been the "main head" of HYDRA.

* BigBad: The Red Skull, [[spoiler: Armin Zola, Alexander Pierce, Garrett]], Daniel Whitehall, [[spoiler: Agent Ward, Gideon Mallick and Hive]].

* HydraProblem: Actually a bigger issue than in the mainstream version where Baron Strucker is usually in charge. Hydra has had numerous leaders and when one dies, they just get another one. [[spoiler:Coulson takes down HYDRA by basically cutting off as many heads as possible and, when he gathers enough intel, he calls in the Avengers to deal the final blow. Hydra is now scattered and Kelbo says that "heads ain't growin' back". Then Ward decides to revive HYDRA in his own image and recruits Baron Von Strucker's son as his apprentice; two more heads have grown. All known heads are again cut by the end of the third season, including Hive, the original head. In Season 4 of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', HYDRA does not appear at all (in the real world anyway), and may in fact be gone.]]

YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler: Baron Strucker]] considers the [[spoiler: SHIELD infiltration]] to be this in TheStinger.

* {{Ghostapo}}[=/=]StupidJetpackHitler: They were the Nazi science division before going rogue.
* TheHeavy: [[spoiler: Agent Ward serves as this to Hydra and eventually becomes TheDragon before moving to DragonAscendant.]]

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* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Post-Red Skull]] their new leadership seems to sincerely believe they are bringing law and order to a chaotic world. [[spoiler: the factions of HYDRA only differ on how it will be accomplished: the ancient Hive-worshipping cult, who believe their deity is working for the Greater Good and will create a perfect world free of war, poverty and want, and the post- ideological schism militaristic and scientific faction, who want to make the world peaceful, orderly, and unified at any cost though more conventional mass subtle manipulation and socio-political engineering. Even then, EvilIsOneBigHappyFamily.]]

* EnemyCivilWar: [[spoiler: There are 2 major ideologies within HYDRA who aren't very fond of each other: the scientific branch and the {{Cult}}, worhsipping and aiming to bring back Hive to Earth.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Post-Red Skull]] their new leadership seems to sincerely believe they are bringing law and order to a chaotic world. [[spoiler: the factions of HYDRA only diverge on how it will be accomplished: the ancient Hive-worshipping cult, who believe their deity is working for the Greater Good and will create a perfect world free of war, poverty and want, and the post- ideological schism militaristic and scientific faction, who want to make the world peaceful, orderly, and unified at any cost though more conventional mass subtle manipulation and socio-political engineering.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Post-Red Skull]] their new leadership seems to sincerely believe they are bringing law and order to a chaotic world. [[spoiler:Both the Hive-worshipping ancient cult, who believe Hive is working for the Greater Good and will create a perfect world free of war, poverty and want, and the post- ideological schism militaristic and scientific faction who want to make the world peaceful, orderly, and unified at any cost.]]

Hydra is a fictional terrorist organization in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse. It first appeared in ''Strange Tales #135'' (August 1965), created by Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby. It served as the rival organization to ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}. The name is not an acronym but rather a reference to [[Myth/ClassicalMythology the mythical Lernaean Hydra]]. The organization's motto references the myth of the Hydra, stating that "if a head is cut off, two more will take its place" proclaiming their resilience and growing strength in the face of resistance. HYDRA agents often wear distinctive green garb featuring a serpent motif.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Post-Red Skull]] their new leadership seems to sincerely believe they are bringing law and order to a chaotic world. [[spoiler:Both the Hive-worshipping ancient cult, who believe Hive is working for the Greater Good and will create a perfect world free of war, poverty and want, and the post- ideological schism fascist science based faction who want to make the world safe, secure and unified at any cost.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Post-Red Skull]] their new leadership seems to sincerely believe they are bringing law and order to a chaotic world. [[spoiler:Both the Hive-worshipping ancient cult, who believe Hive is working for the Greater Good and will create a perfect world free of war, poverty and want, and that all humans and Inhumans will be better off once it had taken over the world, and the post- ideological schism fascist science based faction who want to make the world safe, secure and unified at any cost.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Post-Red Skull]] their new leadership seems to sincerely believe they are bringing law and order to a chaotic world. [[spoiler:Both the Hive-worshipping ancient cult, who believe Hive is working for the Greater Good and will create a perfect world free of war, poverty and want, and that all humans and Inhumans will be better off once it had taken over the world, and the post- ideological schism fascist science based faction who want to keep the world safe, secure and unified at any cost.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Post-Red Skull]] their new leadership seems to sincerely believe they are bringing law and order to a chaotic world. [[spoiler:Both the Hive-worshipping ancient cult, who believe Hive is working for the Greater Good and will create a perfect world free of war, poverty and want, and that all humans and Inhumans will be better off once it had taken over the world, and the post- ideological schism fascist science based faction who want to bring law and order to the chaotic world at any cost.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Post-Red Skull]] their new leadership seems to sincerely believe they are bringing law and order to a chaotic world. [[spoiler:Both the Hive-worshipping ancient cult, who believe Hive is working for the Greater Good and will create a perfect world free of war, poverty and want, and that all humans and Inhumans will be better off once it had taken over the world, and the post- ideological schism fascist science based faction who want to unite the world and keep people safe and secure at any cost.]]