HYDRA

"Tomorrow, HYDRA will stand master of the world. Born to victory on the wings of the Valkyrie. Our enemies weapons will be powerless against us. If they shoot down one plane, hundreds more will rain fire upon them! If they cut off one head, two more shall take its place. Hail HYDRA!"

- Red Skull HYDRA is the branch of the Nazi-German Army of World War II under the command of the Red Skull. It was an SS sub-division that created advanced weaponary for the army.

Captain America: The First Avenger
"HYDRA is assembling an arsenal to destroy my enemies in one stroke, wherever they are, regardless of how many forces they possess, all in a matter of hours."

- Red Skull HYDRA was organized by Johann Schmidt after he became the Red Skull. It was the Nazi-German Military's deep science division. It was named after the mythological creature and had used its original phrase: "cut off one head, two more will take its place". Their main purpose was to create advanced weapons for the Nazis. They stormed a castle in Norway where the mystical object known as the Tesseract was buried for hundreds of years. They used its power to create advanced technology weapons and tanks (its power could create laser ammunitions). After discovering such power they separated from the Nazi-German army and created their own Super-Army to rule over the world. HYDRA had many bases around Europe but the US army sent the SSR team with Captain America and the Howling Commandos to destroy the HYDRA factories. Then, after the Red Skull died HYDRA was dissolved and its advanced technology was studied by Stark Industries.

The Avengers
Though HYDRA had long since been disbanded, their weapons and technology still existed. What was left was kept by S.H.I.E.L.D. for their program "Phase 2," which involved reactivating the HYDRA weapons with the Tesseract for use against super-powered or other-worldly forces. Steve Rogers discovered several cases of HYDRA weapons aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.

Rogers also mentioned during a meeting that Bruce Banner should study Loki's Staff while hunting for the Tesseract, as it functioned similarly to HYDRA's weapons.

Notable members

 * Red Skull
 * Arnim Zola
 * Baron Wolfgang von Strucker
 * Madame Hydra
 * Iron Cross
 * Heinz Kruger