Wolfgang von Strucker (Earth-11584)

History
Baron Wolfgang von Strucker was born in West Germany, near the Austrian border. Descended from a royal bloodline (though not a direct descendant of Kaiser Wilhelm II), Strucker grew up in a privileged lifestyle, very much aware of his family's history and believing in their divine right of rule. This made him a perfect recruit for HYDRA, the terrorist organization originally founded by the Red Skull in the early days of the Third Reich. However, despite his loyalty being to HYDRA (and its industrial arm, AIM), Strucker maintained a public persona of a person dedicated to law and order, and was recruited by SHIELD sometime in the 1970s, rising to eventually become its director after the retirement of Peggy Carter in 1993.

Strucker served in this capacity for 6 years, but secretly was working to continue HYDRA's agenda at destabilizing the world in the process. He entered into a partnership with the criminal known only as Taskmaster, trying to destabilize the fragile new democracy in Russia by seizing biological weapons. When he learned that the Black Widow, Taskmaster's personal assassin, had incriminating evidence on him, he conspired with Taskmaster to have her killed by SHIELD agents Clint Barton and Barbara Morse. The plan went south though, as Romanoff was captured alive by Barton and interrogated by Nick Fury. Eventually Strucker was exposed, but managed to escape SHIELD custody.

Over the next decade or so, Strucker continued to fuel world crisis after crisis, until the eventual return of the Red Skull from outer space. Working with the Red Skull, they replaced World Security Council member Alexander Pierce with a Life Model Decoy and proceeded with Project Insight, which was designed to kill anyone who would be a threat to the new world order HYDRA was willing to put in place. Despite using the Winter Soldier in their plans as well, Project Insight was foiled by Captain America and the Black Widow, and most of HYDRA's agents within SHIELD were exposed by the captured Jasper Sitwell. Despite this, Strucker continued to work with the Red Skull, using the scepter provided to him by Thanos to mutate the DNA of Pietro and Wanda Maximoff and beginning to research an artificial intelligence program called Ultron.

The Avengers used the information garnered from Sitwell to launch an attack on Strucker's base in Sokovia. Despite trying to rally HYDRA's forces to win the day, Strucker immediately recognized the futility of their situation and surrendered in order to throw them off the scent of their work, also to no avail. Strucker was imprisoned, awaiting trial, however he was killed by Ultron and the Maximoffs in his jail cell before any other information he possessed could be shared with the world.

Powers & Abilities

 * Master Spy: Having risen to the head of SHIELD following the retirement of Peggy Carter, it is safe to assume that Strucker possessed the same skills as most SHIELD agents, but to a greater degree.
 * Scientific Discipline: Strucker's knowledge of genetics and artificial intelligence were enhanced by the Red Skull's technology and, in particular, the staff which carried the Mind Stone within it.

Weaknesses
Strucker was good at long term planning, but often failed to have a backup when his long term schemes failed, as evidenced by Barton's sudden decision to spare the Black Widow's life or in The Avengers relentless pursuit of HYDRA bases. Despite his best planning, Strucker was considered a rank amateur by the true leader of HYDRA, the Red Skull, and ultimately considered expendable as well.

Film Details
Baron Strucker appears within the following films within the Earth-11584 continuity of the MCU. In all cases he is portrayed by actor Thomas Kretschmann.
 * Black Widow (2010)
 * Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
 * Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)