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 creatures 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.