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  • Long ago, the Humans of Earth were visited by an aggressive, warlike civilization known

  • as the Kree of Hala.

  • Many of humanities tribal ancestors named these beings Blue Angels in the stories they

  • passed down through the generations.

  • Although Earth was too primitive to be of much consideration to advanced galactic powers,

  • this particular Kree faction found value in using humans for their scientific experiments,

  • in the hopes of developing a powerful biological weapon they might use against their enemies.

  • Their efforts to manipulate human DNA resulted in the creation of a sub race with unique

  • abilities, who came to be known as Inhumans.

  • These genes would remain dormant inside host bodies until exposed to Terrigen mist, which

  • emanated from Terrigen Crystals also created by the Kree and stored inside devices known

  • as Diviners.

  • The Kree then captured a Mayan hunter gatherer and transformed him into the inhuman Alveus,

  • also known as the Hive, a powerful creature able to manipulate the minds of other inhumans

  • and possess the bodies of dead humans.

  • Originally, the aliens intended for Alveus to lead their inhuman army, but their plans

  • were scrapped when the Kree government learned of their illegal experiments and shut the

  • project down.

  • Alveus then betrayed his masters and led an inhuman rebellion against them, ultimately

  • banishing their creators from Earth.

  • However Alveus had become so powerful that his own followers came to fear him, seeing

  • a human-inhuman alliance turn against their former leader, sending him through a device

  • known as the Monolith.

  • A teleporter created by the Kree which exiled Alveus to the planet Maveth.

  • Yet not all were prepared to abandon the man who freed Earth from the Kree, and so a cult

  • formed with the intention of bringing Alveus back to rule the world.

  • This secret society would go by many names and were represented by various symbols over

  • the centuries, but were revealed to the world as Hydra, with a symbol modeled after the

  • appearance of their exiled leader.

  • Though their initial efforts did not succeed in returning Alveus to Earth, Hydra cultists

  • would pass down their beliefs through the generations, with the leadership of the organization

  • meeting together every few years to hold a lottery, where one of them one be selected

  • as a sacrifice to be sent through the monolith to serve their leader on the other side.

  • Although many faithful Hydra worshippers were transported away, none had ever returned.

  • In the early 20th century, an ambitious member of the ancient cult named Johann Schmidt joined

  • the Nazi government of Adolf Hitler and rose to prominence eventually taking over the Special

  • Weapons Division, and creating his own research program he named Hydra.

  • The success and unrelenting grand ambition of Hydra's new leader caused the ancient

  • secret society to pivot from their original purpose of returning the Hive to Earth, towards

  • a more authoritarian and militaristic organization, using global politics and advanced technologies

  • to eliminate their enemies and conquer the world.

  • Although this led to less emphasis on the worship of their deity, the more religious

  • members of the Hydra leadership went along with the new direction, in the hopes of presenting

  • the Hive with a united and subjugated world to lead upon his eventual return.

  • Johann Schmidt went on to experiment with a super soldier serum created by Abraham Erskine,

  • but his impatience led him to ingest the liquid before it was ready, giving him the desired

  • super human strength and speed, but also disfiguring his face and turning his skin red.

  • Abraham Erskine, who was being held against his will, was then rescued by the Allies and

  • began working for them, later perfecting the serum and using it to turn Steve Rogers into

  • Captain America.

  • Red Skull as he became known, continued with his ambitions for global domination, focusing

  • his attention on finding an ancient artifact known as the Tesseract, locating it in Norway

  • and attempting to weaponize the technology with the help of the Hydra Scientist Arnim

  • Zola.

  • But his work was disrupted and destroyed by Captain America and the Howling Commandos

  • as they eliminated Hydra facilities across Europe.

  • Arnim Zola would be arrested for his illegal medical experiments, while Red Skull would

  • disappear during the final confrontation with Captain America aboard the Valkyrie, when

  • he attempted to hold the powerful Tesseract in his hand, which unknowingly activated a

  • portal, transporting him across the galaxy.

  • Realizing that the Valkyrie was on its way to launch a devastating attack against the

  • United States, Captain America chose to sacrifice himself, crashing the plane off the coast

  • of Greenland and was presumed dead.

  • Yet even with Red Skull and Hydra's main facilities gone, the ancient society continued

  • to operate in the shadows, once again rising to prominence under the Arnim Zola, former

  • ally of Red Skull, who was freed from prison during Operation Paperclip, when former Nazi

  • Scientists were brought in to work for the American Government.

  • Under the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division or SHIELD,

  • Arnim Zola and other former Hydra operatives rebuilt the organization, staying true to

  • the goals of Red Skull, by seeking global domination through political and military

  • manipulation, yet altering the mission slightly by remaining a secret organization within

  • SHIELD.

  • Using their resources and government connections to slowly destabilize the world so they might

  • rise to power in the chaos created.

  • For years Hydra thrived, covertly ordering assassinations, revolutions and the fomentation

  • of war throughout the world.

  • They also continued to focus of the study of advanced and alien technologies, able to

  • find Captain America's best friend Bucky Barnes, who was believed to have perished

  • during a mission in Europe years earlier, and treated his injuries while also brainwashing

  • him so he might serve their cause as an expert assassin.

  • They also then kept him cryogenically frozen when he was not on active duty, so he could

  • be utilized many times throughout the decades without aging to any significant degree.

  • Among the many crimes committed by the Winter Soldier, was the Assassination of American

  • president John F. Kennedy as well as the murder of Howard Stark and his wife.

  • In 1972 Arnim Zola, the man who restored Hydra was diagnosed with a terminal illness and

  • died but his consciousness survived, transferred into an advanced supercomputer where he would

  • continue to serve Hydra for decades more.

  • The organization soon became so powerful they infiltrated foreign governments and international

  • corporations and institutions, even attempting another super soldiers program called the

  • Centipede Project which saw Hydra agent John Garrett experimenting with this technology

  • as a means of building an army and restoring his own deteriorating health.

  • In 2012 during the Battle of New York, which saw the Avengers defend Earth from an alien

  • invasion, SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson was killed.

  • However only a short time later he returned to active duty, seemingly alive and well.

  • John Garrett then took a special interest in Coulson and this new SHIELD technology

  • believing it was a means to perfect his own super soldier serum.*

  • However HYDRA's long-term plans are interrupted in April of 2014, when Captain America and

  • Black Widow discover the Supercomputer which housed the consciousness of Arnim Zola and

  • learned that Hydra had continued to exist after the fall of Red Skull, infiltrating

  • SHIELD.

  • Having been discovered, Alexander Pierce, one of Hydra's highest ranking infiltrators,

  • attempted to hurry along their plans for Project Insight, by launching 3 satellite linked SHIELD

  • Helicarriers into the air, programmed to eliminate Hydra's enemies, by killing 20 million people

  • around the world.

  • However Captain America and those still loyal to SHIELD were able to stop their plans from

  • being realized killing Alexander Pierce and destroying the Helicarriers.

  • And while mass devastation was avoided, the war between HYDRA and SHIELD continued on,

  • with HYDRA agents all over the world now activated and told to kill their former SHIELD colleagues

  • and secure their locations in what came to be known as the HYDRA Uprising.

  • Meanwhile, as Phil Coulson and the remnants of SHIELD fought a civil war within their

  • organization, Wolfgang Von Strucker, Hydra leader in Europe continued his own work behind

  • the scenes, unconcerned with the failure of past plans as he continued to study the power

  • of Loki's Sceptor, using it to experiment on humans.

  • And while most died, twins Pietro and Wanda Maximoff survived and were left with unique

  • and powerful abilities.

  • Such as super speed and telekinesis.

  • In America, Daniel Whitehall, long time HYDRA agent having served under Red Skull during

  • the second world war, had been released from prison by Alexander Pierce before his death,

  • citing a medical dispensation due to Whitehall's old age, but in truth, HYDRA wished him returned

  • to continue his research into a device of alien origin known as the Obelisk and its

  • connection to inhumans.

  • Whitehall led the American branch of the organization for a time but was eventually killed by Phil

  • Coulson, who had also defeated John Garrett and the HYDRA faction within SHIELD.

  • However Whitehall and later Shield's investigation into the Obelisk led to the discovery that

  • it was actually a Diviner, built by the Kree thousands of years earlier and left behind

  • after their experiments were shut down.

  • Inside the Diviner were Terrigen crystals, which emit a mist that can activate inhuman

  • genes.

  • This then led to the discovery that Inhumans with incredible powers had existed in the

  • world for many years, hidden away to ensure they could live their lives in peace without

  • fear of persecution.

  • With the fall of Whitehall and his organization, Hydra suffered a major setback made worse

  • when Wolfgang Von Strucker was captured by the Avengers, defeating the last Red Skull

  • style leader of the organization.

  • With the militaristic and more science based faction of HYDRA gone, the old leadership

  • re-emerged, with the religiously motivated families of the Ancient Cult returning to

  • prominence.

  • One such leader was Gideon Malic, a man descended from a long line of Hydra cultists, who even

  • participated in the centuries old sacrificial lottery to determine who would enter the Monolith

  • and join the Hive on the other side.

  • Malic then joined forces with HYDRA agent Grant Ward, who led a team through the Monolith

  • with the intention of at long last bringing the Hive back to Earth.

  • Yet Phil Coulson and his team learned of their plans and followed them through the portal.

  • Coulson then managed to kill Grant Ward but in doing so, allowed for the Hive to enter

  • Grant's body and use it to travel through the portal, finally returning to home.

  • And while the remnants of HYDRA were eager to join their Savior who had at last returned

  • to them, they soon learned that the Hive was only interested in making the world better

  • for inhumans, and so began to ignore HYDRA operations in favor of developing technology

  • to create more inhumans as quickly as possible.

  • As a result SHIELD in conjunction with the US Military were able to track down and eliminate

  • the last of Hydra's global facilities and arrest or kill its members.

  • Only 3 of HYDRA's leadership managed to escape the attack, joining the Hive as he

  • finalized his plans for world domination.

  • As a reward for their faith in him, and the role their families played in keeping the

  • cult of Hydra alive for so many years, the Hive presented them with a serum he promised

  • would make them inhuman, so they might join his revolution and live as gods in his new

  • world order.

  • However the formula had not been perfected, and killed all three participants almost instantly.

  • SHIELD then closed in on the Hive, and used their own inhuman allies to defeat him, with

  • an inhuman by the name of Lincoln Campbell trapping him aboard a quinjet and piloting

  • the ship into space, sacrificing himself to ensure the creature's death.

  • Although HYDRA was now utterly defeated, with even the families that founded and carried

  • on its legacy destroyed, the threat they once posed faded and new enemies emerged for SHIELD

  • and the Avengers to confront.

  • But the influence and significance of HYDRA continued to be felt throughout the world

  • and many of its former agents remaining faithful to the fallen organization, such as Vasily

  • Karpov, a retired former HYDRA scientists who was captured and tortured by Helmut Zemo,

  • but refused to cooperate, instead reaffirming his loyalty with his final words Hail Hydra.

Long ago, the Humans of Earth were visited by an aggressive, warlike civilization known

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