With Captain America: Civil War just arriving in theaters, as well as with the shocking, and somewhat surreal, news that Comic Book Steve Rodgers (not Movie Steve Rodgers) was secretly a Hydra agent all along (because comics never tire of the whole "villain all along" twist). I think we should talk about Hydra in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, its connections to other portrayals of Nazi villains in fiction, and why Hydra in comparison to other Nazi villains is (in my opinion) highly limited. (As a disclaimer, I have only seen clips of these movies but have had extensive discussions with those who have seen them. Also, this article contains massive plot spoilers for the first two Captain America movies.)
Hydra first appears in Captain America:The First Avenger:
Hydra emerges as the private army of Johann Schmidt, a ruthless and ambitious Nazi general on the hunt for an all powerful artifact. Unlike other high ranking Nazis, Schmidt feels no personal loyalty to the Nazi cause, only joining them to gain power and the position to use it. As such, he has his army swear loyalty to him alone. With the sole aim of taking over the world, the army of men stays loyal to his cause, even after his transformation into Red Skull, followed by his eventual death.
Fun fact: In the 1990 Captain America movie, Red Skull is from Italy, which makes this an occurrence that is both rare in comic books and in film when taking into account Italian Fascism.
Johann Schmidt is an example of a common character in World War II fiction - the hyper, competent Nazi. Yet in real life, many of the Nazi elite were incompetent drug addicts with little talent other than public speaking and propaganda, including Hitler. On the other hand, Nazi villains, such as Schmidt, are brilliant strategists, expert fighters, and are considered the best at what they do. This makes Hydra, essentially, an independent army governed by Schmidt, who continues to represent a Nazi figure in present day Marvel cinema. Ultimately, this allows for the writers to continue to use Nazis as the default enemy within the franchise.
Hydra returns in Captain America: Winter Soldier:
Hydra is now headed by Armin Zola, a master scientist. Recruited to the US Government through Operation Paperclip, Zola uses his position to further Hydra’s research and give Hydra sleeper agents a means of corrupting the government from within. When near death, he uploads his brain into a super computer in order to continue his plans.
It is fitting that Zola uploads his brain in the 1970s. This was the decade when stories of Nazi super science and conspiracy literature was extremely popular. Zola is not the only one in a long line of fictional Nazi scientists who managed to escape Germany and covertly continue their experiments until someone eventually discovered who they are.
However, it is also fitting that Zola ends up as a mechanical ghost from the 1970s. Nazi power died with the original Nazis, which can be seen as represented by Zola's ghost. While their are Neo Nazi groups today, they remain largely on the fringe. An organization such as Hydra, while perhaps not being a Nazi group itself, certainly draws its power from Nazis and their supporters; realistically, Hydra would find it difficult to recruit enough talented, organized men in the present day for the size that it would need to fulfill its task.
Therefore, I would like to see Hydra move away from its Nazi roots in the next installments of the Captain America franchise . After all, there are only so many "immortal Nazis" one can create before it becomes stale.
