Adolf Hitler

For the fictionalized version of Hitler, see Adolf Hitler.

Adolf Hitler
Real Name	Adolf Hitler
Species	Human
Citizenship	Austrian Nazi German
Gender	Male
Title(s)	Führer of Germany (formerly) Reichskanzler of Germany (formerly)
Affiliation	Sturmabteilung Schutzstaffel Wehrmacht
Status	Deceased
Appearances
Movie	Iron Man (newspaper) Iron Man 2 (newspaper) Captain America: The First Avenger (mentioned) The Avengers (footage; deleted scene) Captain America: The Winter Soldier (footage)
TV Series	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. *The Inside Man (footage)
Comic	Captain America: First Vengeance Captain America: The First Avenger Adaptation (mentioned)

"Hitler speaks of a thousand year Reich, but he cannot feed his army for a month. His troops spill their blood across every field in Europe. But he is still no closer to achieving his goals."

―Johann Schmidt^[src]

Adolf Hitler was the Führer und Reichskanzler of Third Reich, before and during World War II. He started the war with the intention to create the German Empire that would dominate Europe. He was responsible for the Holocaust, a genocide in which about six million European Jews and other people were murdered.

Biography

Rise to Power

"You know, after the last war, they... My people struggled. They... they felt weak... they felt small. Then Hitler comes along with the marching, and the big show, and the flags, and the, and the..."

―Abraham Erskine^[src]

In the chaotic situation after the German defeat in World War I, Hitler formed the Nazi Party and began his slow rise to power, during which he was assisted by the Sturmabteilung. He gained popular support by promoting Pan-Germanism, antisemitism, and anticommunism. After his appointment as chancellor in 1933, he transformed Germany into a single-party state based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of Nazism.

Meeting Schmidt

"What if the old Norse tales Wagner adopts into his operas are more history that myth, mein Führer? And what the superstitious masses refer to as "magic" is simply the oldest science ever known. With further funding, I hope to confirm my theories."
"Intriguing. Kaufman, arrange a lunch between myself and the professor where there's an opening in my schedule."
"Ja, mein Führer!"

―Johann Schmidt, Adolf Hitler, and Ernst Kaufmann^[src]

Adolf Hitler at the Deutsches Opernhaus

In February 1934 Hitler was at the Deutsches Opernhaus in Berlin. With him was Ernst Kaufmann, head of the Sturmabteilung's Special Weapons Division. There, he met Johann Schmidt, the German physicist who revealed them his theory that Norse gods and their magic could be more than a myth. Hitler was intrigued by Schmidt's ideas, but Kaufmann was less impressed. Though Hitler ordered Kaufman to arrange a meeting between him and Schmidt, when Hitler left the scene, Kaufman threatened Schmidt that he would kill him if he approached Hitler again.

A few months later, to gain support from the Wehrmacht for his regime, Hitler ordered the assassinations of all higher officers of the Sturmabteilung, including Kaufmann, who was killed by Schmidt, who in the meantime became an officer of the Schutzstaffel. That purge later became known as the Night of the Long Knives. Hitler also approved the formation of HYDRA, the deep science division led by Schmidt.

Search for Erskine

"And he... he hears of me, and my work, and he finds me, and he says "You." He says "You will make us strong." Well, I am not interested. So he sends the head of HYDRA, his research division, a brilliant scientist by the name of Johann Schmidt."

―Abraham Erskine^[src]

When Hitler learned of Doctor Abraham Erskine's work on the Super Soldier Serum, he asked him to use the serum to turn the Germans into a race of superhumans, the superior men. Erskine rejected the offer and, knowing very well what Hitler intended to do with Jews, he attempted to escape from Germany. But Hitler sent Johann Schmidt to stop him. Schmidt captured Erskine on the Germany/Switzerland border, and sent his family to a concentration camp in Dachau.

World War II

Hitler salutes the passing German troops

"The Führer is not accustomed to being ignored, Herr Schmidt. He funds your research because you promised him weapons."
"You serve at his pleasure. He gave you this facility as a reward for your injuries."
"Reward? Call it what it is. Exile. I no longer reflect his image of Aryan perfection."

―Roeder, Schneider and Johann Schmidt^[src]

In 1939, Hitler started World War II, intending to conquer the whole Europe and create the German Empire that would last for a thousand years. When Johann Schmidt's face became disfigured after he injected himself with the unstable version of the Super Soldier Serum, Hitler gave him a military base in the Alps, and funded his research. Schmidt turned the base into the headquarters of HYDRA, where his scientists worked on developing new weapons for the Third Reich. However, Schmidt saw his new post more as an exile than the reward.

Hitler's luck on the battlefield ran out when the United States of America entered World War II in 1941. Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan, one of the Axis powers, Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that the United States of America would be building fifty thousand planes to fight not only Hirohito's army, but also Hitler's. This led to Howard Stark to mass-produce all the ordered planes and allow the United States to proceed with the war, striking fiercely the Third Reich.

By 1943, Hitler's armies were beginning to retreat on all fronts in Europe, with supply shortages being common. Hitler then sent three SS officers Schneider, Hutter and Roeder to Schmidt's base to question him about HYDRA's failure to deliver promised weapons to the German Army. Hitler, via Schneider, also made clear his decreasing patience towards Schmidt's seeming delays in HYDRA's weapons research by telling the latter that he has been indulged long enough while also referring to him by Schmidt's hated nickname of "Red Skull". Schmidt in response showed them his Tesseract-powered laser cannon, but when they discovered that Schmidt intended to attack Berlin and overthrow Hitler as HYDRA couldn't grow any further in Hitler's shadow, Schmidt vaporized them.

The burning of Hitler's photos in Germany

At the beginning of 1945, Hitler's Reich finally crumbled under the joint offensives of the Allied armies. On April 30, 1945, in Berlin, Hitler appointed Karl Dönitz as his successor. Hitler then committed suicide in order to evade capture after Nazi Germany's defeat. The Nazi propaganda attempted to present his death as a heroic fall in the struggle against Bolshevism. However, most people in the world, feeling relief for Hitler's death, disregarded this propaganda, which went to be eventually discarded or burn.

Legacy

"In the end, you will always kneel."
"Not to men like you."
"There are no men like me."
"There are always men like you."

―Loki and German Old Man^[src]

In large part because of Hitler's brutal reign in Germany, and especially his attempted genocide of the Jewish people, he ultimately went down in history as one of the worst dictators and war criminals to ever live. It also led to Germany becoming suspicious of charisma within anyone. By the 21st Century, several documentaries about Hitler and his role in the Second World War had been released.

Personality

Adolf Hitler applauding at an opera

"Now Schmidt is a member of the inner circle and he is ambitious. He and Hitler share a passion for occult power and Teutonic myth. Hitler uses his fantasies to inspire his followers, but for Schmidt, it is not fantasy. For him, it is real."

―Abraham Erskine^[src]

Adolf Hitler was a megalomaniacal politician who firmly believed in the Nazis' misinterpretation of Frederick Nietzsche's Übermensch (over-man) concept where a race of superhuman beings are destined to rule the normal ones. Believing the Germans were such a race, he wanted to bring almost all European countries under German rule. Being an anti-Semite, he despised Jews and considered them inferior to the Germans.

A military leader, Hitler was willing to reward all those who followed his orders. When Johann Schmidt became horribly disfigured upon testing an unstable version of the Super Soldier Serum, Hitler relocated him to a new post on the Alps and funded his weapons research. However, when Schmidt started to present delays, Hitler had to send Schneider, Hutter and Roeder to check Schmidt's situation, demonstrating that he wasn't accustomed of being ignored. However, as the time passed, Schmidt came to see Hitler as a beachcomber because while he spoke about a thousand-year Reich, he couldn't feed his army for a month, believing that while his troops spilled their blood across every field in Europe, Hitler was still no closer to achieving his goals.

He was also interested in Norse mythology and the occult power. As stated by Johann Schmidt, Hitler sent several expeditions to search for occult relics in the deserts, which Schmidt dismissed as "trinkets". Ironically, both of them shared a passion for the occult and the Teutonic myth as noted by Abraham Erskine, but while Schmidt believed them to be quite real, Hitler only used them as fantasies to inspire his followers.

Relationships

Allies Sturmabteilung - Subordinates Ernst Kaufmann † Schutzstaffel - Subordinates Heinrich Himmler † Roeder † Schneider † Hutter † Wehrmacht - Subordinates Karl Dönitz † - Successor Italian Armed Forces Benito Mussolini † Empire of Japan Hirohito †

Enemies United States Armed Forces Franklin D. Roosevelt † Steve Rogers/Captain America British Armed Forces Winston Churchill † Soviet Armed Forces Joseph Stalin † Strategic Scientific Reserve Howard Stark † HYDRA Johann Schmidt/Red Skull - Former Subordinate

Trivia

• In the comics, Hitler was killed in 1945 by Human Torch. His mind was transferred to a cloned body by Arnim Zola which eventually became known as the Hate-Monger.

Behind the Scenes

• One of the concept artworks for Captain America: The First Avenger shows Captain America standing near the unconscious Hitler.

External Links

• Adolf Hitler on Wikipedia
• Adolf Hitler on Marvel Database