The Marvel Universe is plagued by several different types of threats to the innocent that the heroes must risk everything to protect them from. From supervillains and common criminals to galactic threats and even heroes gone bad, there are several threats facing the Avengers and other heroes of the Marvel Universe.
Yet some of the most nefarious schemes and threats come from organizations dedicated to evil acts, and one of the toughest of them all is Hydra. A duplicitous organization bent on world domination, Hydra is a powerful threat in the Marvel Universe. Here are the ten most powerful members of Hydra, ranked.
10 The Kraken
The first member of Hydra worth noting is the one known as The Kraken. While many have taken this name over the years, the most noteworthy of them all is Daniel Whitehall, the original Kraken agent. A former member of the Great Wheel of the Zodiac with other spies and a former British Spy, Whitehall adopted the Kraken mantle, creating a major mystery to his identity.
He was responsible for many SHIELD agents losing their lives, and for training and giving power to villains like Viper and Gorgon. He even helped create the Inhuman Hydra Villain Hive, until he passed on in a hospital after Jake Fury took the mantle himself.
9 Baron Wolfgang von Strucker
The next member of Hydra worthy of being a recognized member of the organization is Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. One of Hydra’s most notorious leaders and often deeming himself Supreme Leader von Strucker, the villain is a 19th-century man who fought for Germany in WWI, joined the Nazi Party and fought in WWII as well.
He later joined the Red Skull and helped form the villain’s vision for an alternate power source to Adolf Hitler, joining the Hand and helping to create Hydra from the ground up. Many consider Strucker as the true head and founder of Hydra, alongside Red Skull of course.
8 Hive
One of Hydra’s more dangerous and terrifying foes is hands down Hive. A combination of Hydra’s villainous plans of world domination with the fearsome power of the Inhumans, Hive was an experiment done by Hydra on one of their own agents, who was fed to parasites that were conditioned to follow Hydra’s every command.
The creature shoots individual parasites out of the mass that has formed into a humanoid shape like a projectile, embedding into the victim and taking control. Its loyalty knows no bounds and it was made a figurehead by Strucker to have the same level of power as Viper or Kraken.
7 Viper
Some members of Hydra were made to be an agent or leader in the organization, while others chose. Some, however, were conditioned to be members of the evil terrorist group, and one of those was eventual leader Viper, aka Madame Hydra. A young girl named Ophelia was chosen and became Daniel Whitehall’s most promising student, conditioned to embody the ideals of Hydra.
While not superpowered herself, Viper is a skilled fighter, warrior and soldier, often coming into conflict with Captain America and SHIELD. She has also joined other organizations like The Hand, Madripoor, The Hellfire Club and even the Serpent Society.
6 Gorgon
One of the most ruthless members of the Hydra team, and one of the most dangerous, is Gorgon. Otherwise known as Tomi Shishido, Gorgon was a child prodigy, having extreme levels of intellect in his first year alone, which only grew as the years went on. He also developed the power to turn people to stone with a simple glance.
Nicknamed the Gorgon, he led a terrorist organization in Japan until he was 18 when he took the lives of his family and pledged himself to the Hand. Later he joined Hydra and formed a relationship with von Strucker’s wife Elizabeth, and solidified his ties to both organizations.
5 Silvermane
One of the more unique individuals of the organization is Silvermane, aka Silvio Manfredi. A powerful criminal mastermind and member of the Maggia, Silvio eventually gained Hydra’s attention after years of battling the likes of Spider-Man and even the Lizard. He joined Hydra and decided to dedicate himself to becoming the Supreme Leader of Hydra.
While already a skilled combatant and criminal as a normal human, his danger level increased when his brain and vital organs were transferred into the body of a robot, making him a cyborg level threat to the Marvel heroes and increasing his thirst for power overall.
4 Doctor Faustus
Some of the more dangerous criminals to join Hydra are not the ones with the most powers an individual can have, but rather the most dangerous ability to affect a person’s mind. One individual in Hydra who is notorious for this villainous ability is Doctor Faustus, an Austrian psychiatrist and well-known supervillain who works for Hydra.
One of his most dangerous feats came during the aftermath of Civil War. Having brainwashed Sharon Carter to supposedly end Captain America’s life before the hero’s trial, he worked alongside the Red Skull and Arnim Zola to take Captain America’s body and plot a Hydra takeover.
3 Arnim Zola
One of the more dangerous and well-known villains who was instrumental in the early days of Hydra’s founding was the madman Arnim Zola, a genius genetic bioengineer who learned and discovered equipment and paperwork from the Deviants to build scientific discoveries for the Nazi party during WWII. However he was later approached by Strucker to work with him and be financed by the Red Skull at Hydra, and Zola agreed.
Zola created a machine that allowed him to copy a person’s brainwaves onto a genetic copy of another brain and has worked on monstrous genetic experiments for Hydra for years.
2 Crossbones
One of Hydra’s most loyal mercenary hires and a constant thorn in the sides of the Avengers is Crossbones, aka Brock Rumlow. A former street gang member turned student at Taskmaster’s school for criminals, Rumlow impressed the Red Skull and Arnim Zola after he was the only survivor of the communist Red Skull’s plot to invade Zola’s compound.
The true Red Skull let him live, hiring him as a mercenary named Crossbones to look after various projects, including Helmut Zemo’s work with Hydra. In recent years Crossbones has continued serving Hydra, including Red Skull’s daughter Sin as she attempts to make a new version of Hydra.
1 Red Skull
The most powerful and dangerous villain to be a member of the Hydra organization is the terrorist group’s original founder and financier, Red Skull. Otherwise known as Johann Schmidt, the Red Skull was Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man, helping lead the Nazi party while subverting power from Hitler into building Hydra into an organization.
After his rivalry during WWII with Captain America ended with both of them in suspended animation, he was resurrected in modern times to continue his work by AIM. He has since had many resurrections, clones and has even run the Las Vegas branch of Hydra for a time.