If there’s one thing the Marvel Cinematic Universe loves more than delivering crowd-pleasing superhero blockbusters to its army of fans in every corner of the globe, it’s an acronym.
Over the last thirteen years we’ve been introduced to organizations such as S.H.I.E.L.D. and successor S.W.O.R.D., along with Tony Stark’s B.A.R.F., while even Jarvis is Just a Rather Very Intelligent System in the comic books, even though the MCU tied it to James D’Arcy’s Edwin, who was a close confidant of Dominic Cooper’s Howard Stark, and Spider-Man: Far From Home‘s E.D.I.T.H. is classic Tony that stands for Even Dead, I’m The Hero.
One of the more common misconceptions, however, is that nefarious entity HYDRA is an acronym, because it actually isn’t, despite the letters regularly being capitalized both in MCU canon and Marvel Comics. And given that the outfit derives its name from the mythological beast capable of sprouting many heads, there’s always been a lingering feeling that they haven’t truly been weeded out of the timeline just yet.
In fact, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier appeared to hint that S.H.I.E.L.D. were still active, so it stands to reason that their archenemies could also be lurking in the shadows waiting to strike, and it seems that might be the case. According to sources close to WGTC – the same ones who told us the project was in development long before it was confirmed – HYDRA will make their presence felt once again when Sam Wilson suits up for duty and headlines Captain America 4.
Specifics remain unclear for now, but the evil entity left their fingerprints all over Chris Evans’ Cap trilogy, so it wouldn’t be a shock if they had the same effect on Anthony Mackie’s continuation of the star-spangled franchise after laying dormant for a decade.