Didja Know... The Secret History of Hydra

Didja Know digs into the fun facts, strange stories, and divine details that helped build the hallowed halls of the House of Ideas!

The Punisher versus Hydra! What could be better, True Believer? The answer’s nothing, natch, and you’ll be able to see for your ever-lovin’ self in the new PUNISHER #5...

But until then we thought we’d lovingly lay out some of ol’ Hydra’s hairiest hijinks for you from our detailed databanks—right now!

Didja Know… One of Hydra’s earliest leaders turned out to be a big nobody?

Way back in STRANGE TALES #135 when we all met the garrulous group of no-goodniks called Hydra, nobody—not even you—knew the secret identity of the hooded harbinger of hate known as the Supreme Hydra. Oh, we were teased and taunted with the secret, but writer Stan Lee kept the info close to his vest until just the right moment, owing to “The Man’s” succinct sense of daunting and drawn-out drama.

Things got weirder when, in STRANGE TALES #139, the new top-dog of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury met the Supreme Hydra’s daughter…and we still didn’t know who he was himself under his horrific hood! Stan kept up the sweet suspense until STRANGE TALES #140 and the revelation of bashful businessman Arnold Brown as the vile villain.

Who, you say? That’s what we said, too, pal, upon gazing at the nebbish nobody, but Stan still had one more card to play in the saga, and play it he did in STRANGE TALES #141 when a couple of kooky Hydra agents refused to believe Brown’s crazy yarn about being their leader and shot him dead!

Didja Know… Hydra made Spider-Woman think she started life as a real spider?

Oh, those nutty Hydra hooligans! We first saw Spider-Woman in MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #32, of course, but not as the swingin’ Super Hero we all now know and love. No, she hit the scene with a Hydra assignment to assassinate none other than Nick Fury, and while she thankfully flubbed that jaundiced job, she later learned that Hydra had grown her from a wee little spider into a full-size human…well, to be fair, super human!

Reeling from all the revelations, Spider-Woman sprang into her next Hydra hit: The Thing. MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #30 told the initial titanic tale of her eventual evolution from loyal Hydra agent to costumed champion for good, but her road there stretched out a few miles until she finally uncovered the truth of her origins—with no mutated spiders to be seen in them at all. And to give the story an even sweeter twist, our hero became quite the Hydra hater in the years to come.

Didja Know… Hydra created their own motorcycle gang?

Leave it to the luckless losers in hapless Hydra to start off the day with a plan to produce puppets for their crazy cause and end up with riotous ranks of riders ready to kick their collective behind! Phew.

Let us explain, True Believers…

Hydra introduced a mutagenic compound to a mob of expectant mothers-to-be in hallowed hopes of little weirdos for their world-wide war on goodness. When nothing seemed to happen, they abandoned the project little realizing that five of the women birthed babies with a very special connection. As adults, these kooky kiddies became mavens for motorcycles and “unlimited class” racing. They also discovered a marvelous mental link between their minds and the amazing ability to manifest a “marauder” that stood superior above each and every one of them individually.

Honcho, Wolf, Reddy, Wrench, and Cowboy called themselves Thunderiders and helped out the Sentinel of Liberty in CAPTAIN AMERICA #269, and then the Thing, all the while trashing Hydra agents—and the rest, as they say, is history!

Peruse these eye-poppin' publications with Marvel Unlimited right now! Then visit your local comic shop to read PUNISHER #5 next week!