The Hand and Hydra

How are they different? Have they fought each other? Have they collaborated? Who wins?

About the only thing that the Hand and Hydra have in common is that their respective countries of origin were both part of the Axis in WWII; Hydra (usually...) has its origins as a Nazi offshoot leftover after WWII, founded by the Red Skull (again, usually- Baron von Strucker and Baron Nemo both have been given a certain amount of credit). The Hand, meanwhile, is a ninja death-cult that was sorta-kinda founded by the Mandarin (the Iron Man villain, that is), but got shifted back in time and over to Japan in a retcon, as far as I remember.

Hydra is all about the weird super-science, whilst the Hand is mostly mystical with some science sprinkled in. They have nothing in common, no overlap in their goals- Hydra is going for world domination, while the Hand is mostly focused on being powerbrokers, with assassinations for both riches and power, in order to safeguard the clan. Sort of. When they get that much characterization >.O

As far as I can remember, they've almost never encountered one another; the Hand have mostly fought Daredevil/Elektra and Wolverine, and Hydra have mostly been up against Captain America, Spider-Woman, and working as disposable-mook-providers for any team that happens to need to fight hordes.

It's just that I've just read a huge storyline about Hydra attempting to blow up Kun Lun with a Rand maglev train. Which struck me as weird, because the TV shows make the Hand be Kun Lun's sworn enemies. Also, does Madam Gao exist in the comics?

No, but for a while there was speculation that she was supposed to be a comic character called the Crane Mother.

Isn't the Order of Kun Lun named after her?

I was surprised to see her in the comics running another city altogether, and sponsoring Davos of all people.

How are they different?

Well ones a Cobra like terrorist organization made to fuck with SHIELD, Captain America, Wolverine and Spider-Woman. And the other are ninjas who fuck with Daredevil.

Have they fought each other?

To my knowledge, nope.

Have they collaborated?

I don't think so, but chances are Hydra may have hired Hand members to do their dirty work.

Who wins?

On one hand Hydra are a terrorist organization who rely on tech to get shit done and have been a major threat to the Marvel Universe. On the other hand, the Hand are trained assassins who can take out their targets without even being notice and have used mysticism to aid them in their goals. I have to go with the Hand as a combination of their combat ability and knowledge of the mystic arts actually make them more of a threat.

Where comics are concerned, just about everyone in a given universe has fought everyone else at some point. Thus, while Hydra are not generally Iron Fist enemies, they are perfectly able to show up for an arc as such.

Basically, they're just different Marvel organizations that provide endless mooks. Hydra was originally a Nazi offshoot, and Marvel's recently consolidated all of their Nazi and white supremacist villains under the organization. The Hand mostly exist because ninjas are cool and using manga influence was a novelty in the 80's (when they rose to prominence in Miller's Daredevil run).

It does seem like Hydra and the Hand would have to either become allies or enemies. They're both vast secret societies operating around the globe, with the goal of controlling the world (whether openly or through behind-the-scenes influence). It seems inevitable that their various schemes would come into conflict.

But that division of Hydra was led by a Chinese guy!

Notably, their Iron Fist escapades were prior to the consolidation (although after the Nazi roots were re-emphasized - might have been a lack of coordination on editorial for their depiction).