Marvel Reminds Fans Where HYDRA Gets Their Soldiers

Marvel Reminds Fans Where HYDRA Gets Their Soldiers

In Marvel’s Falcon and Winter Soldier, HYDRA targets the downtrodden for recruitment, using the vulnerable as a means to an end.

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Marvel Reminds Fans Where HYDRA Gets Their Soldiers

Warning! Spoilers for Falcon and Winter Soldier #5 below

Sometimes superhero comics remind us of painful truths beneath their soaring escapism. Such is the case in the latest issue of Falcon & Winter Soldier. The book includes a subtle reminder of where and how HYDRA acquires their soldiers, in a poignant and piercing way. While the majority of issue #5 of writer Derek Landy and artist Federico Vicentini’s new Bucky/Sam Wilson team-up book depicts a leadership stand-off and kinetic action sequences, five simple words near the end speak volumes: “They offered me a home.”

The story climaxes after it is revealed that a former member of Sam’s veteran support group and handler of the Winter Soldier – Veronica Eden – had been the mysterious entity vying for control of the HYDRA empire. Veronica is confronted by Baron Zemo, who challenges her for the mantle of Supreme Leader. After Falcon and Winter Soldier knock-out more HYDRA goons, things come to a head. Veronica manages to hold the lot of them at gunpoint, but she is suddenly shot by one of the previously defeated HYDRA henchmen. The HYDRA soldier turns out to be Sam’s missing friend Sally McKenzie. She sobs, apologizing to Sam, and explains how HYDRA promised things no one else could give her.

HYDRA preyed on McKenzie at her most vulnerable: disenfranchised, alone, and shrouded in self-doubt. For Sam Wilson, her story evoked empathy and compassion. He invited her into a space with like-minded peers, whom she could confide in and trust. For HYDRA, Sally served as merely an opportunity, another commodity to exploit. Promising her wealth and security, the terrorist organization duped her into violence, hate, and – above all else – purpose. Sally McKenzie’s story in the pages of Falcon & Winter Soldier is all too familiar, both in Marvel comics and our world.

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This is not the first time Marvel has depicted HYDRA specifically targeting the downtrodden to be used as cannon fodder for their ultimate goals. Deadpool’s on-again-off-again sidekick Bob, Agent of Hydra was lured into the organization as a shy, cowardly man who couldn’t hold a job and didn’t believe in much of anything. For Bob, Hydra was the answer. A decade later, overshadowed by those infamous two words uttered by Steve Rogers, HYDRA recruited disaffected youth in the lead-up to “Secret Empire.” Lure people in at their lowest, exploit their struggles, give them something to latch onto, and indoctrinate. This is the HYDRA recruitment model.

The strategy is all too reflective of domestic and global terror orgs, hate groups, and extremists in our world. When it comes to followers and foot soldiers, the well-to-do are never targeted. It’s always the lower class, the disenfranchised, the barely holding on. Sally was able to snap out of it via a dramatic standoff between supervillains and superheroes. In reality, of course, this isn’t an option.

A terrorist organization like HYDRA, with tentacles so embedded in society and so frequently losing battles, needs countless, faceless henchmen to continue to operate. They’re the lifeblood of the movement. Unfortunately, HYDRA’s recruitment methods in Falcon & Winter Soldier are eerily recognizable. And this comic, for a brief moment, reminds us that there is a human face under each one of those bright green facemasks.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/marvel-hydra-winter-soldier-falcon-recruit/

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