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. 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. 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. New members for the organization were acquired from disenfranchised members of S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as children born to already established members, which were indoctrinated from childhood in facilities ran by HYDRA and assigned into different roles by the leadership.īy the end the 20th century, operatives of HYDRA had managed to spread outside of S.H.I.E.L.D., infiltrating many important organizations, including the United States Government and the World Security Council, eventually establishing many secret bases around the world. 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. 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. In the following decades, HYDRA orchestrated crises and planted roots worldwide establishing a clandestine network of operatives engaged in political engineering and scientific research. Though Zola's body died in the early 1970s, HYDRA was already well established, and Zola's mind continued to live in a computer. by Schmidt's top scientist Arnim Zola, who was recruited into the agency during Operation Paperclip. Converting from occultism to draconian anti-freedom principles, HYDRA became an organization with a hell-bent nature that is dedicated to this newfound political doctrine.Īfter 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. 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. During this time, the cult took on the name HYDRA, which soon became the organization's most colloquial label. 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. Ever since his banishment, the cult had been determined to bring him back to Earth to commence a planetary takeover. It was founded in ancient times, formerly as a cult centered around the fanatical worship of Hive, a powerful Inhuman that was exiled to the planet Maveth by ancient Inhumans. HYDRA is an authoritarian paramilitary-subversive organization bent on world domination. Abraham Riesman, “That Time Captain America Said ‘Hail Hydra’ and Geekdom Imploded,” Vulture, last modified April, 28 2019. This paper provides a new lens to examine the history of white nationalism in the United States while building on the current body of scholarship arguing for the importance of comic books as a historical source. Through a comparative analysis of these two storylines, this paper examines the ways in which the Captain America comic books have reflected the shift in white nationalist movements from a largely condemned movement to a viable political force. While Hydra and the National Force are comparable villains, the lenses through which the writers of both storylines present them reveal how views of white nationalism have changed in the United States. In 1979, Captain America was briefly brainwashed into joining the National Force, an organization which acted as a clear allegory for the various white nationalist movements gaining power in the United States at the time. However, this moment was not the first time that Captain America had joined the other side. Many claimed that by aligning Captain America with Hydra author Nick Spencer disregarded the character’s origin as an anti-Nazi propaganda piece and later history as a defender of American values, and gave fuel to the growing Alt-Right movement in the United States. The moment incited a riot not only among comic book super fans, but casual onlookers as well. In 2016, Captain America brought comic books to the forefront of national discussion with a single phrase: “Hail Hydra.” These two words proclaimed Captain America’s allegiance to Hydra, one of Marvel Comics most recognizable villains which has historically been used as an allegory for the Nazi Party.
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