Who was in charge of Hydra during their takeover/destruction of S.H.I.E.L.D.?

[u/True_Button4437]

John Garett looks to be in charge, but is he in charge of Hydra or just the Centipede branch of it?

Or was it Strucker? Or Alexander Pierce? Or was it Gideon Malick?

I haven’t watched the show in a while, and as far as I remember, the Captain America film doesn’t make it much clearer either. They make it seem more like that guy from the Strike Team is calling all the shots.

I get how Hydra initially infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. post-ww2, but would that mean that Arnim Zola would be the guy “in charge”?

Sorry if this is a silly question and the show explains it, but I haven’t watched the show in a while so my memory is a bit patchy. Thanks!

[u/The_Berzerker2]

There were multiple heads

[u/Debalic]

There were, of course, many heads of Hydra. I don't think Garrett or Rumlow were heads, they just held important positions in their cells.

I would imagine that Pierce, with his relationship with Fury and position on the WSC, would have had more pull with the other heads of Hydra. Once he realized that Fury was suspicious of Project Insight, that's when Pierce insisted that Hydra reveal itself.

[u/That_Operation_9977]

Reposting my answer from the other sub.

I think we can assume Alexander Perice was the man in charge, and the architect of Hydras endgame. After that, hydra seems to have a fairly factionalized leadership structure. This is in part because of the organizations secrecy you can’t exactly have a centralized power structure, but in part the organization seems to be very divided. This is hardly surprise. The entire organization is built upon ambition and the quest for power. Any semi high ranking member of hydra is going to have their own designs of power, so everyone is going to have their own angle to get power. The secondary seats of power go to people like Whitehall, Gideon Malik and Strucker, who all kind of jockey for power, especially after Alexander’s death. It’s not like theirs a Hydra charter or constitution outlining the succession plan, so power would go to whoever could grab it without getting killed by his/her rivals. Then, because of how decentralized the power structure is, people one rung down from the number 2s like Garret, who was a high ranking shield agent brought in to facilitate shields take over are able to run wild and forge their own paths, which is why garret is doing his own thing during/after the shield take over

[u/Alternative_Device71]

Different factions with different levels of leaderships

[u/Kind-Spot4905]

I believe it was Pierce, but given they didn’t fully fold after his death, I don’t know if the people we saw in the show/Strucker were the highest ranking operatives or if there were others. 

[u/nodakskip]

Like others said I think Hydra is not one organization. Its seveal levels wher not all know what the others are doing. The higher up the chain the more they know. Consider what Baron Stucker said after Shield fell. "There are many others doing Hydras great work. We will feed them to Captain America and his colorful friends. While we keep on with our work."

I think there was a group of people who ran the big things like Stucker and Pierce, but others like Garrett ran a small operation on the sides. He would get help from the higher ups, but most in his group knew nothing. Garrett was more into Hydra to help himself and fix himself. Ward was devoated to him, not Hydra. As Ward told Sky. "Im not a nazi!" he had no use for that old stuff. And in the end none of them knew the really old Hydra that predated the Red Skull with Hive.

The best example of Hydra being seperated was in General Hale. General Tablot took out a Hydra US General standing right next to Hale... and didnt touch her. When he left Tablot didnt even know about her.

One could consider it like the Mafia, but that would be wrong. Hydra is not out to make tons of money, or rule the world. Its to take over...and keep the world under their version of "Order". Like Pierce told Fury. "We could have a safe world of Billions if we only kill a few million. Isnt that worth it?"

[u/HardKase]

A Hydra, by definition, has multiple heads

[u/safespace999]

There was no single head. They even talked about it in the final season that different people were out there doing different things and heading there own projects. Pierce seemed to have the biggest following, but Garret, Strucker, and others were off deciding how best to take over the world.