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.