HYDRA chose to hide Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker's top-secret base in Sokovia in Avengers: Age Of Ultron for very specific reasons that go beyond mere isolation. Typically of an organization capable of embedding at the very highest level of SHIELD, the base was the culmination of meticulous planning that chose the location because of a strange suitability factor for HYDRA's so-called Miracles project.
The base, in which Strucker led his team of HYDRA scientists in experimenting on test subjects to empower them using the Mind Stone (then seemingly unknowingly housed inside Loki's Scepter) was first introduced in the post-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That first tease of HYDRA's Miracles experiments and the reveal of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch - then still struggling to control their superpowers - was then followed up by the opening to Age Of Ultron that saw HYDRA's apparent final fall and the defeat of Strucker by the Avengers. That sequence confirmed that the base was a heavily fortified prison augmented by Chitauri technology and surrounded by manned outposts and a shield generated by the Mind Stone.
That location in Sokovia was not merely chosen for the strength of its natural fortifications and remoteness. According to new Marvel book The Wakanda Files, HYDRA actually chose the country because of three key criteria that actually reveal something intriguing about the test subjects and Wanda and Pietro Maximoff specifically. Not only was the geography important, but so too was the anthropology of the region.
The book reveals that HYDRA and Strucker chose the base for their research facility because it was remote and thus unlikely to be noticed, which stands to reason. The country appears to be akin to an old Eastern Bloc country within the MCU and it's "insignificant" enough that it was ravaged by a war aided by Stark weaponry without Stark himself being aware. The HYDRA notes on the country - provided by Strucker in a memo to his sidekick Dr List, also suggest the country is perfect because it is less high-profile, and so if other HYDRA facilities could remain active, they would draw attention away from it. Most interestingly, Strucker suggests that HYDRA identified that the local residents possessed "the appropriate genetic markers" for their Miracle experiments to work. Clearly, given the number of dead "volunteers" that was not entirely accurate.
Aside from the implication that superpowers were linked to latent genetics - and thus that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are mutants - that also suggests HYDRA were experimenting on potential subjects in multiple locations to track genetics for markers suggesting susceptibility to changes through outside augmentation. Could that have been a result of their work with Bucky and his fellow Soviet super-soldiers?
Additionally, there's an intriguing note in the memo on the Scepter itself and the perception of its value within HYDRA. Strucker says it has "untold potential" and that Red Skull was aware of its existence, referring to it as "that which Schmidt speculated was left for us by the Gods". That obviously speaks to Red Skull's superiority complex, which fit his affiliation with the Nazi party, but crucially it also suggests that the HYDRA figurehead passed on some form of teachings to Strucker's generation involving the mythology of the Infinity Stones and not just the Tesseract. Sadly, in Avengers: Age Of Ultron, that mythology is pushed aside as a loose end before the action settles on Ultron, but this additional piece of HYDRA's jigsaw adds a new element to Red Skull's legacy.
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