Supreme Hydra

The Supreme Hydra is a masked, identity-concealing leadership title within the terrorist organization HYDRA, used by whoever commands the group's operations against S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury during the Marvel Universe's Silver Age spy era.

A shadowy figure born from the fertile imagination of Stan Lee and Marie Severin, Supreme Hydra slithered onto the scene in Strange Tales #156 in 1967, right at the height of Marvel's Silver Age espionage craze. This enigmatic villain has haunted the pages of titles like Capt. Savage and His Leatherneck Raiders and Nick Fury and His Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., rubbing shoulders with heavy hitters like Colonel Nick Fury, Wolfgang von Strucker, and Dum Dum Dugan — as dangerous a roster as Marvel had to offer. With appearances stretching across an impressive four decades into 2009, Supreme Hydra may be a rare presence in the catalog, but that scarcity only adds to the mystique of a character who embodies the cloak-and-dagger thrills that made Marvel's Silver Age spy corner so irresistible to collectors.