HYDRA

HYDRA is an authoritarian terrorist-criminal-paramilitary organisation bent on world domination. It was founded in ancient times, formerly as a cult centred around the fanatical worship of Hive, a powerful Inhuman that was exiled to the planet Maveth by ancient Inhumans. Ever since his banishment, the cult had been determined to bring him back to Earth to commence a planetary takeover. Over the centuries, the cult evolved, taking many forms, with its most recent incarnation coming into existence shortly after the rise of Nazism in Germany under the leadership of Johann Schmidt as the scientific branch of the Nazi Schutzstaffel. During this time, the cult took on the name HYDRA, which soon became the organisation's most colloquial label. During World War II, Schmidt separated HYDRA from Nazi Germany to start his own conquest of the world, and it was during or before this time when HYDRA seemingly abandoned the cult's original beliefs. Converting from occultism, to draconian anti-freedom principles, HYDRA became an organisation with a hell-bent nature that is dedicated to this newfound political doctrine.

After its defeat at the hands of Captain America in 1945 and the subsequent disappearance of Johann Schmidt, HYDRA was secretly rebuilt inside S.H.I.E.L.D. by Schmidt's top scientist Arnim Zola, who was recruited into the agency during Operation Paperclip. Though Zola's body died in the early 1970s, HYDRA was already well established, and Zola's mind continued to live in a computer. In the following decades, HYDRA orchestrated crises and planted roots worldwide; establishing a clandestine network of operatives engaged in political engineering and scientific research. HYDRA's endgame was the overthrow of world governments to establish a fascist, totalitarian global state; thus preemptively eliminating potential threats to their new world order. Members who still followed the original beliefs of HYDRA took part in this as a means of smoothly and immediately transferring control of a groomed Earth to their Inhuman idol.

By the beginning of the 21st century, operatives of HYDRA managed to spread outside of S.H.I.E.L.D., infiltrating many important organisations, including the United States Government and the World Security Council, eventually establishing many secret bases around the world. One of HYDRA's top agents in S.H.I.E.L.D., John Garrett, secretly led the Centipede Project with the goal to recreate the Super Soldier. In 2014, HYDRA's plans for world domination almost succeeded through their agent Alexander Pierce and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Project Insight. However, their plan to eliminate 20 million people who posed a threat to HYDRA failed because of the efforts of HYDRA's oldest enemy, Captain America, who publicly exposed their infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. and destroyed their main tool of destruction, three of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarriers, with Alexander Pierce being killed by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s former director Nick Fury in the process. However, HYDRA's leader Wolfgang von Strucker already had new plans for global domination, plans which included twins declared "miracles" and the Scepter.

With its existence publicly known, HYDRA started a war against the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D., taking over many S.H.I.E.L.D. bases. For many months, HYDRA's forces led by John Garrett fought a vicious fight against the small team of loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents led by Phil Coulson. Despite its attempt to infiltrate the U.S. Armed Forcesthrough Ian Quinn and the Deathlok Soldiers, Garrett's group was ultimately defeated through the combined efforts of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s former director Nick Fury, Coulson's team, and the U.S. Marines.

However, even that defeat was only a temporary setback for HYDRA. S.H.I.E.L.D. was destroyed and publicly declared a terrorist organisation, and many HYDRA agents continued with their work, including the high ranking member Daniel Whitehall who used the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. to start the campaign to recover the mysterious Obelisk. However, the campaign ended disastrously for HYDRA. Whitehall was killed before he could fully exploit the Obelisk, his second in command Sunil Bakshi was captured, and many other heads of HYDRA were killed by HYDRA itself when S.H.I.E.L.D. fooled them into thinking that there was a power struggle within HYDRA's ranks. Two of the remaining heads of HYDRA, Baron von Strucker and Doctor List, continued with their experiments on powered individuals. However, even their experiments came to an end when the Avengers attacked Strucker's fortress in Sokovia, killing List and capturing Baron von Strucker, who was later killed by the robot Ultron. Strucker's demise marked the end of HYDRA's militaristic and scientific faction, allowing for its more ancient roots to take control.

Two of the few remaining HYDRA leaders, Grant Ward and Gideon Malick, joined forces to rebuild HYDRA, destroy S.H.I.E.L.D., and bring Hive back to Earth. Despite Ward's death on Maveth by the hands of Coulson, Malick's plan succeeded because Hive took possession of Ward's body and returned to Earth in his reanimated corpse. Hive slowly began taking control of some Inhumans, and at the same time took over the leadership of Malick's cell, which ended with Malick's death caused by Daisy Johnson. Hive eventually left HYDRA to seemingly perish in the military campaign led by Brigadier General Glenn Talbot.

Foundation
Thousands of years ago, a rogue Kree faction created the Inhumans on prehistoric Earth. The ruling Kree hierarchy, deeming the creation of the Inhumans a mistake, conceived the Monolith as a means of wiping them out by transporting them across space to another planet. One day, an Inhuman was born so powerful, that others banished him to the other planet. However, the Inhuman's followers, believing him to be destined to rule the world, formed a secret society with the sole purpose to bring their leader back to Earth.

Over the centuries, the society grew and evolved, taking many different shapes, being called by many different names. Eventually, the society came in possession of the Monolith, and started sending men through the portal, hoping to save or at least serve their leader on the other side. But none of them ever came back. As its symbols changed, the society became known as HYDRA, with its final and best known symbol being inspired by the Inhuman's true form.

Centuries of Attempts
The story of HYDRA's attempts to bring their leader back to Earth was eventually spread through the world, influencing groups obsessed with death and ritualistic killings, becoming intertwined with the origin of pagan devil myths. Their initial symbol was one for a sacrificial ram.

In 1839 at Gloucestershire, England, a group of HYDRA members assembled in a castle to have a lottery. He who grabbed the white stone from the bag was to enter the room housing the Monolith. Lord Manzini grabbed the white stone and was sent into the room with a few weapons and some equipment. The portal opened and swallowed Manzini who was never seen again. Apparently, he was but one of many to be sent as a sacrifice. HYDRA's best minds were employed to understand how the Monolith functions, but they never gathered enough data to bring anyone back.

Eventually, HYDRA's scientists managed to construct a machine that could create powerful vibrations. In the late 1800s, they put the Monolith in a hole in the floor and activated the machine, turning the Monolith into its liquid form, creating a stable portal. For some reason, the castle and the machine were abandoned. Five smaller pieces were cut off from the Monolith and given for safekeeping to the most powerful leaders of HYDRA.

In Hitler's Shadow
When the Nazis came to power in Germany, a secret HYDRA member Johann Schmidt attempted to join the special weapons division of the Nazi Sturmabteilung (SA) led by Ernst Kaufmann so he could work on developing advanced weapons for the German Army. However, he was violently rejected and instead joined Heinrich Himmler's Schutzstaffel (SS). In June 1934, during the Night of the Long Knives, Kaufmann and his entire unit were eliminated by Schmidt's SS troops. Only one man was spared, Doctor Arnim Zola. Schmidt took over Kaufmann's weapons program and formed his own research division, naming it HYDRA. The new unit was formed with the official approval of the Nazi Führer, Adolf Hitler.

HYDRA-Abteilung was named after the mythological creature and used its original phrase: "cut off one head, two more will take its place". It was soon charged with science experiments and deep investigation of the occult. Due to contributions from Arnim Zola, HYDRA developed several extremely advanced weapons.

When the Spanish Civil War started in 1936, the leaders of the Third Reich decided to support the Nationalists led by Francisco Franco. HYDRA was among the German units sent by Adolf Hitler to assist the Nationalists on the battlefield.

In April 1937, HYDRA's tanks and soldiers equipped with powerful exo-skeleton battle suits destroyed the city of Guernica. At the time, it was believed the German air force, the Luftwaffe, was responsible for the destruction of the city. However, the footage of the slaughter was smuggled out of Germany by the British agent Margaret Carter and handed over to the US military in January 1940.

World War II Begins
In 1939, World War II broke out. HYDRA's leader Johann Schmidtactively participated in the Nazi conquest of Europe. Though the United States of America were not yet involved in the war, Schmidt knew that was only temporary. In 1940, HYDRA assassins attempted to kill the American industrialist Howard Stark, but with the help of Colonel Chester Phillips, Stark was able to defeat the attackers, and decided to join the Strategic Scientific Reserve.

That November, at Castle Kaufmann in the Alps, Schmidt injected himself with Abraham Erskine's Super Soldier Serum. He expected to become the superior man, but the unstable serum disfigured his face and turned him into a super strong megalomaniac villain. Erskine escaped with the help of Agent Peggy Carter, Colonel Phillips, and Stark.

Adolf Hitler gave Schmidt a military base in the Alps, which he turned into a headquarters of HYDRA. Over time, HYDRA members became more loyal to Schmidt than the Third Reich.

Immediately after the start of the war, HYDRA began building several factories across the Nazi-occupied Europe and the territories of Germany's allies. By 1942, they had factories in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. They used captured Allied soldiers to work in factories. They even had a U-boat base somewhere on the Mediterranean.

The Rise of HYDRA
In March 1942, HYDRA stormed a castle in Tønsberg, Norway where the mystical object known as the Tesseract was buried 531 years ago by Odin. Schmidt saw to it that the Tesseract would be used to its full potential by Arnim Zola. Zola's outlandish designs of robotic power armor, massive vehicles and energy weapons and armor could find a functional use thanks to the Tesseract's power, and with the most advanced technology in the world, HYDRA began their conquest that counted Berlin in its targets. By that time, HYDRA had millions of foot soldiers located all around the world-from small town to large cities.

In the meantime, a HYDRA officer, General Werner Reinhardt, was sent to search for other mysterious artifacts. Reinhardt's team was able to discover the blue-skinned extraterrestrial corpse in some unspecified location, possibly in the deserts of North Africa. The corpse was soon stored in HYDRA Research Facility Number 4 in Austria.

Soon, HYDRA's goals would be challenged by America's own super-soldier, Captain America. In November 1943, Rogers attacked the HYDRA factory in Austria, and managed to free all Allied soldiers who were imprisoned there. This was the first direct conflict between Rogers and Schmidt, who activated self destruct mode and escaped in the experimental plane. Aided by his best friend, Bucky Barnes and the Howling Commandos, Captain America began a massive assault on HYDRA forces across the Axis lines, destroying numerous bases.

During the first months of 1944, when the German air force launched the last "Blitz", Schmidt sent a group of HYDRA agents to London to steal some blueprints from the Strategic Scientific Reserve. The agents were successful, but they were soon discovered and chased by Captain America who managed to capture all of them.

In May 1944, the HYDRA submarine Leviathan destroyed an Allied merchant freighter in the Mediterranean with HYDRA's thunder lance torpedo, but Captain America, who was traveling on the sunken ship, boarded the submarine and captured it. Cap and Commandos infiltrated the HYDRA U-base where they discovered that the mysterious "Hydra serum" merged the entire base's staff into one octopus-like creature. Cap took the creature to Howard Stark to separate it back into individual men.

In April 1944, HYDRA took possession of an old castle on an island in the Nazi-occupied Danish Straits. Schmidt was interested in that castle because of an ancient Viking runestone that was hidden there. The same month, Captain Rogers and the Howling Commandos invaded the castle. Schmidt attempted to destroy them through his "vita batteries" but they survived.

In the meantime, General Reinhardt managed to capture a group of people from China who had found the Obelisk, an object which could turn people into stone. When he showed the artifact to his leader, Schmidt said that the Obelisk may hold the answer to death itself. The Obelisk was soon stored in Reinhardt's fortress in Austria where he used it to experiment on his prisoners.

By the beginning of 1945, Arnim Zola had to be moved to another HYDRA facility. However, his train was attacked by the Howling Commandos and he was captured. He was later moved to London where he was interrogated by Colonel Chester Phillips.

Defeat
Despite the loss of Doctor Zola, in March 1945 Schmidt was ready to launch the offensive that would change the face of the planet. The same day on which Schmidt intended to launch the attack, the base was infiltrated by Captain America, who was captured and brought before Schmidt himself. However, before Schmidt could kill his nemesis, the base was attacked by the Howling Commandos and the U.S. Army detachment led by Colonel Chester Phillips. Outnumbered, Schmidt's men were eventually defeated, but not before Schmidt flew away in his Tesseract-powered bomber, the Valkyrie. He intended to nuke the United States.

Captain America managed to board the plane and came face to face with Schmidt. When it became clear that Rogers was gaining the upper hand in the fight, Schmidt attempted to use the power of the Tesseract with his bare hands. This only resulted in a beam of light, similar in design to the Bifrost Bridge, which caused Schmidt to disappear, and forcing Rogers to put the bomber plane down in the freezing waters below, freezing himself solid and causing the Tesseract to be lost to the seas.

Immediately after Schmidt's disappearance, Werner Reinhardt had the Obelisk moved from his Austrian fortress to a more secure location, a research facility. A month later, he and his lieutenant attempted to empty the facility so they could escape with the artifacts and continue HYDRA's work. At that moment, Reinhardt's unit was the last active HYDRA cell. However, despite their hurry, the base was discovered and attacked by the US Army detachment led by the Strategic Scientific Reserve team composed of Peggy Carter, Dum Dum Dugan and Jim Morita. After a short fight, the garrison of the base surrendered. All HYDRA soldiers were arrested and the artifacts, including the Obelisk, were confiscated. However, before he was taken away, Reinhardt promised to Agent Carter that HYDRA would rise again.

After The War
In the aftermath of World War II, the United States started Operation Paperclip, a program used to recruit the scientists of Nazi Germanyfor employment by the United States and deny their scientific expertise and knowledge to the Soviet Union. As part of the operation, Zola was recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D., the newly formed peacekeeping intelligence agency. Agent Carter then interrogated Reinhardt about his experiments with the Obelisk, and the girl he experimented on. Carter then had Reinhardt sent to the Rat to serve his life imprisonment.

Many other former Nazis and HYDRA scientists escaped to South America, hoping to hide from justice. Several of them were employed by the government of Peru to make the new Tesseract-powered weapon. The government wanted to use the weapon against the rebels, but due to the instability of the Tesseract energy, the weapon ended up stuck in the undiscovered Incan temple.

Various HYDRA operatives who escaped justice after World War II infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. shortly after the agency was formed, working secretly in their ranks. Over the next decades, led by Zola, HYDRA worked from the shadows, directing their agents to complete the tasks that were assigned.

Creating the Winter Soldier
Shortly after the war, Arnim Zola found Sergeant James Barnes, Captain America's war-time partner who was presumed deceased after falling to an icy death from Zola's train in 1945. Zola and other scientists took Barnes to HYDRA's secret base in the Soviet Union, where they replaced his lost left arm with the new cybernetic limb. They brainwashed him, and since he was already injected with another version of the Super Soldier Serum, they turned him into the new fist of HYDRA, the first subject of the Winter Soldier Program. Though he was wearing the communist red star on his new limb, Barnes never fought for the Soviet ideals, instead becoming HYDRA's best assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Over the next decades, he did much on creating chaos in the world, assassinating those who could pose a threat to HYDRA's goals, and spending time between missions in cryogenic sleep.

Toward the New World Order
HYDRA's power eventually grew so much that they were able to orchestrate many Cold War events during the 1960s and 1970, including the Cuban missile crisis, the rise to power of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and the early 1980s recession.

In 1970, after their father had passed away, Gideon and Nathaniel Malick visited Werner Reinhardt in the Rat. He suggested the two to neglect the old belief on the Inhuman leader and be focusing on science, but they refused, claiming that becoming the Traveler to Maveth was a great honor. Later in the evening, Nathaniel was chosen to be sent through the Monolith to Maveth, and never came back.

With S.H.I.E.L.D.'s resources, Arnim Zola managed to build an entire computer system which his mind was uploaded into as an artificially intelligent user interface. Though Zola's body died in 1972, his mind continued to live in cyberspace, from which he was able to provide easy passage into the agency for more HYDRA sleeper agents.

By the early 1980s, HYDRA managed to infiltrate the Soviet power structures, establishing a secret laboratory in East Berlin. They continued their memory suppression experiments from World War II with the goal to create an army of brainwashed soldiers who would follow every order. However, the laboratory was infiltrated by Hank Pym, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who used his size-changing Ant-Man Suitto ruin the laboratory, destroy the Memory Suppressing Machine, free the prisoner and knock down all the guards.

In 1989, undersecretary Alexander Pierce, a HYDRA sleeper agent, granted Werner Reinhardta medical parole and made sure there were no records of him after this. Reinhardt was then taken back to his fortress where a group village elders from the Hunan province, which included the woman he experimented on, were brought in. Seeing that she had not aged a day, Reinhardt then performed surgery on her to find out why the Obelisk did not kill her and why she did not age. Although he did not find the reason behind Obelisk's reason for sparing her, Reinhardt was able to use her DNA to regress his body back to a younger age. Reinhardt then took the name "Daniel Whitehall".

HYDRA also oversaw Project Deathlok in 1990, using the turncoat S.H.I.E.L.D. agent John Garrett as their first test subject. He was the first Deathlok. However, only the cybernetic components worked, and the organs were severely affected, leading Garrett to look for a solution to perfect Deathlok and to prevent his slow-coming death.

The Winter Soldier Program
In 1991, Colonel Vasily Karpov, HYDRA's mole in the Soviet Armed Forces, woke up James Barnes from suspended animation and sent him to retrieve the recreated Super Soldier Serum from Howard Stark. Barnes killed Howard and his wife Maria in an automobile "accident" on Long Island. HYDRA's scientists used the stolen Serum to expand the Winter Soldier Program, creating five more Winter Soldiers. However, the five soldiers started to attack and kill their superiors, who were forced to bring them back to the Cryostasis Chambers.

Facing the Other Worlds
In the meantime, Gideon Malick, a wealthy industrialist and one of HYDRA's heads, was working on Project Distant Star Return, hoping to bring HYDRA's ancient Inhuman leader back to Earth, as he was a firm believer in HYDRA's original beliefs. Using his connections, he orchestrated the passage of the Monolith to NASA, with the hope that their technicians could send people on the other side. In 2001, a four men team was sent through the portal, never to return. Eventually, Malick became a member of the World Security Council.

The HYDRA weapons and technology captured by the Strategic Scientific Reserve during the war were studied by S.H.I.E.L.D.. In 2011, S.H.I.E.L.D. started a program called "Phase 2", which involved reactivating the HYDRA weapons with the Tesseract for use against super-powered or other-worldly forces. Several cases of HYDRA weapons were stored aboard the Helicarrier. However, the weapons weren't needed, because when the Chitauri led by Loki invaded New York City, the aliens were defeated by the Avengers. During the battle, Malick ordered Nick Fury to nuke New York, which Fury refused, and later criticized Fury for allowing Thor to take the Tesseractand Loki to Asgard.

In the aftermath of the Battle of New York, HYDRA's leader Baron Wolfgang von Strucker approached Mark Smith, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who worked on the Scepter with the scientist Nicholas Cooper, and offered him to join HYDRA. Dissatisfied with the way S.H.I.E.L.D. was led, Smith accepted the Baron's offer, killed Cooper, and stole the Scepter for HYDRA. Thanks to Smith's betrayal, HYDRA's scientists also got their hands on dozens of Chitauri Guns. Later, HYDRA built a research facility in the Eastern European country of Sokovia. Over the next two years, a team of scientists led by Doctor List and Baron von Strucker managed to use the Scepter to power the Chitauri Guns and HYDRA's own technology. They also conducted experiments on human volunteers, including the twins Wanda and Pietro Maximoff.

The "Clairvoyant"
Following the Battle of New York, one of HYDRA's agents within S.H.I.E.L.D., John Garrett, going under the alias, the Clairvoyant, recruited and funded the Centipede Project to provide them with super-soldiers and to help keep himself from dying. Garrett also recruited the boxer Carl Creel, by faking his termination off S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Index. One of the first was Mike Peterson. In his Clairvoyant persona, Garrett made people like Ian Quinn and Raina believe that he could see everything such as what the President dreams about. Garrett also had another sleeper agent, Grant Ward, recruited by Phil Coulson for his team. Ward's mission was to find out about Coulson's revival. Garrett then had Coulson captured and interrogated for three days to find the secrets behind his revival in Tahiti. Garrett then ordered Quinn to shoot Skye. He then made sure that he would be the one to take Quinn in, and to have Coulson lead him to where he was revived. After getting inside, unbeknownst to Coulson and Leo Fitz, he took a few of the drugs and hid them in his vest before the place was destroyed. He then had Mike Peterson, going under the codename "Deathlok", turned into a cybernetic super soldier.

Project Insight
Two years after the Battle of New York, S.H.I.E.L.D. was much better armed than before, so it could easily repel any attack from other worlds. With new funds granted by the World Security Council, Nick Fury started Project Insight, an operation which involved three heavily armed Helicarriers that were designed to proactively strike out against potential threats before they actually happened.

However, HYDRA's agents used this opportunity to take control of the project. With Arnim Zola's special algorithm that could calculate who could be a threat to HYDRA in the future, the leader of HYDRA's S.H.I.E.L.D. branch, Alexander Pierce, intended to wipe out 20 million people from the face of the Earth.

The Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D.
In 2014, the HYDRA infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. was finally exposed when corrupted senior official Alexander Pierce attempted to activate Project Insight early. Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff learned about the infiltration when they entered the secret bunker hidden beneath Camp Lehigh, which was housing Arnim Zola's mind, still alive on dozens of old computers. Though the camp, along with the mainframe housing Zola's mind, was destroyed with a missile, Rogers and Romanoff survived the explosion. A day later, with the help of Sam Wilson they kidnapped Jasper Sitwell, but he was killed by HYDRA's best assassin, the Winter Soldier. The trio was captured by the STRIKE team, but they managed to escape with the help of Maria Hill.

Alexander Pierce demanded a mission report from the Winter Soldier after the failed assassination attempt on Captain America. However he had become erratic and aggressive due to flashbacks to his past. As Pierce believed that he could become a threat if left like this, he ordered that the Winter Soldier's mind be wiped. The procedure caused the Winter Soldier great physical pain.

A day later, Rogers, Romanoff, Wilson, and Hill infiltrated the Triskelion, publicly revealing HYDRA's continued existence. Alexander Pierce and his men then captured all the members of the World Security Council, but they were freed by Romanoff. When HYDRA's agent Brock Rumlow launched the Insight Helicarriers, Romanoff, Rogers, Hill, and S.H.I.E.L.D.Director Nick Fury managed to reprogram the Helicarriers to target each other. The battle left the Triskelion in shambles and resulted in the deaths of many HYDRA agents, including Pierce. Rumlow survived the battle, but he was badly burned, and the Winter Soldier abandoned HYDRA.

The Age of Miracles
Despite the failure of Project Insight, HYDRA continued with its operations. At the same time when S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, at the research facility in Sokovia, HYDRA's scientists were still conducting experiments on the Scepter, eventually learning that its power was much greater than they originally thought. Many civilian volunteers exposed to the power of the Scepter died in horrifying deaths. However, the twin brother and sister Wanda and Pietro Maximoff survived the experiments, gaining super powers.

Shortly after the Battle at the Triskelion, Dr. List came to Wolfgang von Strucker, afraid that the authorities would find their location, but von Strucker assured him that wasn't the case. As they walked toward the cells of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, von Strucker told the doctor that the age of miracles was upon them.

New Battles
In order to finish off S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA sent out an activation signal to all sleeper agents to target Level 8 S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and seize power. During the Battle at the Hub, John Garrett broke his cover and attempted to eliminate Agent Phil Coulson and several members of his team, but he was stopped and later arrested by Agent Victoria Hand. Garrett and the remaining HYDRA moles in the Hub were taken into prison.

Meanwhile, HYDRA's sleeper agents in other S.H.I.E.L.D. bases were also activated. Several facilities fell into HYDRA's hands, including the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, the Treehouse, and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s East African Headquarters. HYDRA's operatives also attempted to take control of the Cube, but they were outnumbered by the loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who managed to repel the attack. A fierce battle was fought for the control of the aircraft carrier Iliad, but HYDRA's moles were ultimately defeated.

John Garrett, after escaping Agent Victoria Hand's custody with the aid of fellow HYDRA agent Grant Ward, continued to work on the Centipede Project at the HYDRA base in Havana, Cuba.

Garrett then raided the Fridge, stealing many items such as the Peruvian 0-8-4, the Berserker Staff, and the Gravitonium. They also freed a number of prisoners. Ultimately, his branch of HYDRA was defeated by the combined efforts of Phil Coulson, his team, and Nick Fury, with their prisoners also freed and most of the stolen items recovered.

The Winter Hunt
Despite Colonel Glenn Talbot's massive manhunt for S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA agents and bases, HYDRA continued its plans for world domination by retreating to the shadows. Despite its existence being publicly known, HYDRA was still determined as ever to conquer the world by any means necessary. Their plans could go much easier as they now heavily outnumbered S.H.I.E.L.D. in men, bases, and resources.

The New Threat
A new threat to HYDRA's plans soon arose. The Avengers were officially reassembled, and they started tracking down HYDRA's operations. When Dr. Jensen in her secret lab in Port Sudan, Sudan managed to reverse engineer the obtained Chitauri tech, she informed her colleagues in Khartoum to come help her. The call was intercepted by Black Widow, and the Avengers quickly flew in their Quinjet to the location of Jensen's lab. Though HYDRA managed to shoot down the Quinjet, the Avengers fiercely attacked HYDRA's soldiers. Despite their tanks, guns, and numerical superiority, HYDRA soldiers decided to retreat. However, Dr. Jensen took the power gauntlets from one fallen soldier and attacked the Avengers with heavy energy blasts. Unfortunately for her, Hawkeye sneaked up behind her and destroyed her weapon with one of his explosive arrows.

Disaster in Sokovia
Unfortunately for HYDRA, S.H.I.E.L.D. learned about the exact location of their Sokovian base from their facility in the Arctic and passed that information to Maria Hill, who gave it to the Avengers. The Sokovian base was attacked, and though HYDRA soldiers managed to slow down the Avengers, their tanks, armors and advanced weaponry were no match for the strength of the attackers. The base was ultimately captured, Dr. List was killed by Iron Man, and Baron von Strucker was captured by Captain America. The twins Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, though they briefly fought the Avengers, eventually abandoned the site of the battle.

The main laboratory inside the base was discovered by Iron Man who took the Scepter and had it transported to the Avengers Tower. Baron von Strucker and the remaining HYDRA soldiers were handed over to NATO. Baron von Strucker was later killed in his prison cell by the insane robot Ultron.

Raising the Inhuman Army
Despite the fall of most of HYDRA's cells and the abrupt end of many of HYDRA's operations, Gideon Malick remained in his public position undetected, still incredibly powerful. Eventually he became an advisor to President Matthew Ellis and used his connections to continue with Project Distant Star Return. He even expanded the project, manipulating the US Government to authorize the creation of the Advanced Threat Containment Unit, an agency that would replace S.H.I.E.L.D. and collect and study the newly transformed Inhumans. Overseeing the ATCU's science division, Malick aimed to create an Inhuman Army for HYDRA's first leader to command when he returns from his exile on Maveth. Malick's men in the ATCU gave the fish oil pills contaminated by the impure Terrigen Crystals to many people so they could create as many Inhumans as they could.

Dealings with Darren Cross
A team led by Mitchell Carson, one of HYDRA's top sleeper agents in the original S.H.I.E.L.D., made a deal with the corrupt businessman Darren Cross, the leader of Cross Technologies. Cross offered to sell HYDRA Hank Pym's Pym particle technology, the same technology that Carson failed to get his hands on in 1989 when Pym abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. With the Yellowjacket Suit, Cross intended to reassert HYDRA's dominance, but his efforts were squashed by Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man. However, during the chaos, Carson did escape with a vial of Cross' modified Pym Particles.

Project Ultimo
With many destroyed Ultron Sentries from the Battle of Sokovia, HYDRA collected many of the parts and took them to an undisclosed location in Eastern Europe, where they used the parts to create a giant robot called Ultimo. HYDRA then used the Ultimo to attack a small village. The Avengers reacted to the attack and destroyed Ultimo.

New Members
Devoid of leadership, HYDRA operatives were reluctant when Grant Ward decided that he would take the reins of leadership. Ward was forced to physically engage Kebo to show his control.

For months, the bank accounts and financial transactions of HYDRA known by S.H.I.E.L.D. had no activity. Lance Hunter did research to find any activity but found nothing.

Meanwhile, Ward recruited new members for his own HYDRA cell, continuing his private war against Phil Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. Ward made it known that he was to be addressed as Director, mirroring Coulson's position with S.H.I.E.L.D. He also decided to clean HYDRA from weak and corrupt members who cared only about the money. He kidnapped and eventually convinced Werner von Strucker, the son of the late Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, to join HYDRA so they could rebuild the organization and make it stronger than ever. To ensure that HYDRA's ranks were filled only with the strongest and the toughest men and women, Ward and Kebo began organizing fights for the new volunteers, accepting as new members only the winners.

Attack on the Director
One of the winners in the fight club was Richy who killed Spud during his fight. Richy worked under Kebo's orders and brought to HYDRA a large weapons cache and even agreed to join a mission with Kebo. When he was brought to Ward's base, he opened fire on Ward and his men, revealing himself as Lance Hunter, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent on a revenge mission to kill Ward. A firefight started between Ward's men and Hunter and another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Melinda May soon appeared on the scene. Ward ordered Kebo to call Werner von Strucker and order him to get closer to May's ex-husband Andrew Garner so he could kill him and threaten May. Despite the video, Hunter continued advancing on Ward and Kebo. The pair managed to escape by jumping through the window and running onto a truck, but not before Hunter managed to fire a shot which wounded Ward in the shoulder. When Ward did not cancel his order, von Strucker attempted to continue with his mission, but failed due to unexpected circumstances.

Tensions between the Heads
While Ward, Kebo, and their men moved to another base, Werner von Strucker went to Gideon Malick, the head of another HYDRA cell and the only modern HYDRA leader that all other heads feared. Von Strucker informed Malick about Ward's actions and he was not pleased with the news. To make the situation clear, Malick called Ward and offered him redemption for his mistakes, such as making von Strucker a pawn on the chessboard before schedule, but Ward arrogantly replied that he did not need redemption. However, knowing that von Strucker was now a damaged good that couldn't be left to run around knowing HYDRA's secrets, Malick gave his location to Ward to prevent internal fights within HYDRA's ranks and ensure Ward's cooperation in HYDRA's resurgence.

Sent by Ward, Kebo and two of his men caught up with von Strucker in Lisbon and captured him. However, the torture session was interrupted by the arrival of two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Melinda May and Bobbi Morse, who were also looking for von Strucker. In the ensuing fight, Kebo was electrocuted to death in a swimming pool and his men were beaten by the intruders. Before he went into a coma, von Strucker told May that he saw Andrew Garner transforming into "that thing". Though Grant Ward's cell lost three men, the mission was a partial success. Shortly after, Ward and Malick organized a meeting to discuss joint operations against S.H.I.E.L.D. Ward revealed to Malick that he was planning the assassination of Phil Coulson, both for revenge and the destruction of S.H.I.E.L.D..

The Secret Origins of HYDRA
As Grant Ward and Gideon Malick had a dinner, Malick revealed to him that he knew he was looking for the von Strucker family vault, which by the rumors contained HYDRA's greatest power. Ward suggested they would find and use it together, but Malick refused and ordered his men to kill Ward. However, Ward managed to defeat all of them and questioned the survivors about the location of the vault. They told him that the vault was in Zepkow, Germany. Ward came to the vault a few minutes after Malick.

Ward threatened to kill Malick, but instead he listened as Malick explained the whole history of HYDRA, including its true origin. Malick offered Ward a leadership next him when they finally accomplish what HYDRA started, to bring the Inhuman back to Earth and create for him an Inhuman army so he could rule the world as he was meant to. Ward agreed and Malick asked him to find out who S.H.I.E.L.D.managed to bring back from Maveth. After that, Ward visited Andrew Garner in the Containment Module and tried to transform him into Lash.

Bringing the Inhuman back
Gideon Malick suspected that Rosalind Price might know that he was HYDRA, so he sent Grant Ward to kill her. He sniped her when she was in her apartment and then he called Phil Coulson, who was also in there, and told him that was a revenge on the death of Kara Palamas. He ordered his men to kill Coulson, but he escaped. Ward returned to the HYDRA Castle, where Malick greeted him, but also warned him that his actions could jeopardize the return of Hive. Yet, Ward promised him that the plan would succeed, because he knew Coulson better than himself.

In an abandoned Project Distant Star Return, Giyera ambushed Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons and Luther Banks, who searched for the Monolith there. Giyera killed Banks and kidnapped Fitz and Simmons. They were brought to the castle and Malick asked them to help them bringing the Inhuman back from Maveth, but after the two refused, the were separated and Giyera tortured Simmons to get from her the information they needed. Fitz could not hear the screams of Simmons, so he volunteered to assist the HYDRA delegation to Maveth.

As Ward prepared for Coulson, who had informed him that he come for him to kill him, Malick convinced him to lead the delegation in Maveth and accomplish the goal of HYDRA. Ward agreed and he, Fitz and the team jumped through the portal to Maveth. However, a Quinjet flew above the castle, so HYDRA tried to shoot them out of the sky. As Malick ordered to close the portal, he saw Coulson jumping from the Quinjet directly to the portal. The team on Maveth dealt with a sandstorm.

After a few hours, Fitz tried to take Ward's gun, but Ward prevented him from to do it and threatened that if he would not come back, Simmons would die. Then, one of the soldiers called Ward and they saw a structure shaped as the HYDRA symbol. Later, Fitz found a hole in the ground and escaped through it. Ward ran after him and found him along with what was supposedly Will Daniels, who had been on the planet for years. Fitz promised that "Daniels" would show them the way to the portal and begged Ward not to kill him. Ward agreed and Fitz helped "Daniels" walk.

On Earth, HYDRA brought dozen Inhumans inside Suspension Gel, so they would serve the leader as his army. Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D.infiltrated the castle, freed Simmons and barricaded themselves inside the portal chamber. Malick also discovered that Lash had escaped from the Containment Module and killed all the Inhumans. He ordered his soldiers to break in the chamber. They tried to do so, but the doors were reinforced. At the same time, "Daniels" led the team to the location of the next portal.

He told Ward that the leader had used to live in the structure they saw. However, another sandstorm occurred and they had to hide. "Daniels" killed some of the soldiers and he and Fitz escaped. After the sandstorm was over, Ward saw the soldiers' bodies, when suddenly the rest of his men were killed by Phil Coulson. Coulson pointed his gun at Ward and forced him to lead the way to the portal. Fitz and "Daniels" were close to the portal's location, when Fitz discovered that "Daniels" was actually the dark Inhuman, Hive, possessing Daniels' corpse. The two then fought each other.

Coulson saw Hive ready to kill Fitz and he shot him. Ward used the distraction and attacked Coulson. The portal was reopened and Hive tried to reach for it. When a standard firearm proved completely useless on Hive, Fitz shot the dark Inhuman with a flare gun, burning Daniels' body to a crisp. Coulson managed to defeat Ward and stood over him and thought about all the lives he had taken, including Victoria Hand, Eric Koenig and the Assassination of Rosalind Price for which Coulson was seeking revenge for. Coulson, using his robotic hand, he crushed Ward's chest, causing his death.

However, Hive survived the destruction of Daniels' body and made use of Ward's body as his new host. The dark Inhuman followed Coulson and Fitz, escaping back to Earth through the portal moments before the HYDRA Castle was destroyed by Zephyr One. When Gideon Malick was being driven to the airport, he encountered Hive on the road, still holding Phil Coulson's Prosthetic Hand. Malick looked on in amazement, knowing that he had finally accomplished the ultimate goal of HYDRA.

Hive's Recovery
or three months, Hive recovered in Gideon Malick's base, struggling to speak and stand. However, Hive eventually spoke and ask from Malick food. At the same time, HYDRA received reports on a new Inhuman in Bogotá, so Giyera sent a team to recover him. Later, Malick received a phone call. At first he thought it was Werner von Strucker, but it was actually Phil Coulson, who trucked everywhere the line was connected. Malick insured him that although he would have to close some of his offices, he could not be defeated so easily. An HYDRA QuadCopter then flew over a station of the National Police of Colombia and captured Lucio in its cargo bay and returned to Malick's base. There, Hive demonstrated his powers by turning Grant Ward's skin to sand and sending it towards Malick and Giyera.

Lucio was brought to Hive's room, where the latter infected the former with his parasites. He later asked Giyera to find for him five living humans. He brought then into his room. Using his power, Hive healed Ward's body by consuming the five humans' skins and flesh, leaving only their scorched skeletons.

Building an Army
Gideon Malick learned that Glenn Talbot had been appointed as the new head of the Advanced Threat Containment Unit; he kidnapped Talbot' son and extorted him to cooperate with him. As a symposium about the Inhumans was convened, Malick ordered Talbot to betray Phil Coulson during it. After Talbot did it, Malick entered the room and to gain the delegates' trust by accusing Coulson for being the Director of HYDRA. He took Coulson and Talbot to the basement and revealed to Coulson that he was building an army of Inhumans. He ordered his men to kill him, but Carl Creel freed them. Together they freed Talbot's son from the Suspension Gel. Malick exploited his connection with a symposium delegate, Anton Petrov, and flew with him to Russia.

Malick and Anton Petrov eventually arrived at a decommissioned facility in Siberia where Petrov introduced Malick to several other Russian leaders and they discussed the plans to build a sanctuary state for Inhumans. Petrov revealed to Malick that Russian Prime Minister Dimitri Olshenko was against the idea as his opposition was in support. When Malick learned that the captured General Androvich, an Inhuman, was also in support of the sanctuary, Malick suggested that they free Androvich and allow him to assassinate Olshenko, as way to get control of Inhumans for Hive. With this in place, Malick left Russia, but shortly after he departed, S.H.I.E.L.D. intervened, saving Prime Minister Olshenko and killing General Androvich.

Supporting the Watchdogs
Through Giyera, HYDRA came in contact with Felix Blake, a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who founded a hate group called the Watchdogs to fight the recently transformed Inhumans. Not knowing that he was becoming HYDRA's pawn, Blake and his men raided an ATCU facility, stealing a nuclear warhead. Blake later gave the warhead to Giyera, expecting improved weapons in exchange to deal with the Inhuman Outbreak and kill them, although Giyera did not inform him of his own Inhuman powers.

Transia
Gideon Malick's men managed to kidnap the Inhuman Charles Hinton. Meanwhile, Malick and Hive had a dinner, in which the latter was able to tell that Malick was after true power. Hive informed Malick that he planned to take over Transia Corporation in order to achieve his desire. As men brought in Hinton, Hive told Malick it was time to reveal themselves, setting Phil Coulson's Prosthetic Hand on the table and informing Malick that he planned to take over Transia Corporation to achieve his desire.

Hive and Malick met with Transia's managers at the Transia headquarters to buy the company. At first they refused, but with Hinton's power, they saw their death. They eventually agreed to hand it over to Malick and Hive killed all of them, leaving only the CEO. By Hive's command, Malick wore the Transia Corporation Exoskeleton which increased his strength. With Hive's encouraging, Malick killed the CEO with his bare hands. As S.H.I.E.L.D. attacked the building, Malick dueled with Daisy Johnson who came to save Hinton. Malick, using the Exoskeleton, killed him and almost Johnson, but she destroyed the suit with her power.

Once safe in Malick's Headquarters, Hive ordered Giyera to find another piece of Transia technology. Malick called Giyera sacred, remanding him he was working with him. Giyera answered that he was meant to be with Hive now.

Change of Loyalties
Hive invited the inner circle members of HYDRA to the Malick Mansion, without informing Gideon Malick. He also ordered Giyera and team of HYDRA agents to raid the GT Agrochemical Facility, to destroy the research take out equipment and papers. As the inner circle members arrived, Hive reveled his actual appearance to the HYDRA members. Later, Hive, with Malick's brother's memories, reminded him of his betrayal on his brother years ago. He accused Malick for not knowing what a true sacrifice was, so he killed his daughter in front of his eyes.

Meanwhile, Giyera was kidnapped by S.H.I.E.L.D. and was brought to Zephyr One. However, he managed to take control on the plane with his power and brought it to Malick's base.

Attack on Malick's Base
As Gideon Malick's men tried to kill every S.H.I.E.L.D. agent on Zephyr One, the Secret Warriors attacked the base to rescue their friends. With Malick as a captive and Lucio's death, S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to retake the plane and escaped the base. Nevertheless,Hive had infected Daisy Johnson during the battle; he gave Johnson orders that included assassinating Malick to prevent him from giving up secrets. However, despite Johnson's success, her opportunity to kill Malick came too late; disillusioned with Hive and HYDRA, Malick had given up the locations of HYDRA bases that he knew to Phil Coulson.

Talbot's Offensive
With the information Gideon Malick had given to Phil Coulson before his death, the latter passed them to General Glenn Talbot. Using the full power of the Advanced Threat Containment Unit and the United States Armed Forces, Talbot led a full-scale assault on all known HYDRA bases, capturing the operatives working at these bases. Hive's cell escaped the decimation of HYDRA, but the dark Inhuman was too focused on creating a better world for Inhumans and raising an Inhuman army to care about reforming HYDRA. Without a head that cared about reforming it, the majority of HYDRA was in shambles; its original purpose having turned out to be a dangerous mistake.

Loss of the Heads
Kirk Vogel and the other two remaining members of the HYDRA faction that worshipped Hive assembled in Union City, the town in Wyoming bought by Hive with Gideon Malick's money. Hive promised to turn them into Inhumans as a reward for their loyalty. However, when Doctor Holden Radcliffe injected them with Hive's DNA, all three of them melted down. The former HYDRA operatives stationed at the Schoonebeek Oil Field were moved to Union City to serve as security personnel, and many of them were slaughtered by the Kree Reapers.

End of the Winter Soldier Program
Colonel Vasily Karpov, the last remaining leader of the Winter Soldier Program, went into hiding after the destruction of the majority of HYDRA's operations. Karpov remained in the USA, living peacefully, but he was attacked and tortured by Helmut Zemo, a former officer of the Sokovian military who wanted HYDRA's files on the Winter Soldier. Karpov refused to give Zemo anything and died with his final words "Hail HYDRA". After pitting the Avengers against one another, Zemo travelled to the HYDRA Siberian Facility where he killed the remaining five Winter Soldiers.

Plan B
To Be Added

Masters of Evil
As Zemo watched the Empire he was raised in fall to S.H.I.E.L.D, he vowed revenge. But until that day, The Masters of Evil shall live on.

Resurgence
After the US military and S.H.I.E.L.D. destroyed almost all of HYDRA's cells, a few cells remained. One of these cells was code named Resurgence after the final assault on HYDRA. It had been known before in HYDRA circles as the white sheep. This cell insisted on developing scientific developments under the belief that when HYDRA took over the world, they would need enhanced non-militaristic resources. After HYDRA's fall in early 2016, Resurgence went into hiding. When the main divisions of HYDRA fell in late 2016, Resurgence could re-enter the game without pressure from other cells. Their current mission remains unknown, because of their total secrecy. It is possible this cell was erased from existence after Thanos' invasion.

Former Glory
In the wake of Thanos' invasion, the Red Skull, after being imprisoned on Vormir since World War II, was freed from his living hell and made his way back to Earth. Upon discovering HYDRA had been completely eliminated, Schmidt began attempting to establish a new HYDRA cell with the goal of restoring the organisation to its former glory.