Few Marvel Comics villain’s live-action debuts have been teased as long as the Leader. The Hulk’s brilliant adversary was first introduced in his pre-villain form in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, played by Tim Blake Nelson. It’s only now in Captain America: Brave New World that the tease finally got a true a payoff. We got the Leader in all his big-brained glory, once again played by Tim Blake Nelson. (Although the film version never calls himself by the name “The Leader.”) As he has now made a proper MCU debut, let’s explore the villain’s gamma-irradiated past in comics and cartoons.
As expected, the Leader’s comic past is primarily as a Hulk villain and not as an enemy of Captain America. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the same iconic duo who gave the world Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, created The Leader, whose real name is Samuel Sterns, way back in 1964. They designed him to be the polar opposite of the Hulk, and therefore his ultimate nemesis. Bruce Banner famously went from a brilliant mind to a dimwitted monster when Hulking out. But Samuel Sterns went from a low IQ menial worker to one of the most brilliant brains on the planet, rivaling even Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. Together with the Abomination, the Leader has kept his status as one of the Hulk’s most notable adversaries for sixty years.
The Leader’s Comic Book Origins
The Leader first appeared in Tales to Astonish #62 in 1964. This was during the era when Hulk shared a title with Ant-Man. In that first appearance, we meet Samuel Sterns, a janitorial worker in a chemical plant which happened to employ his brilliant older brother. Always feeling trapped in the shadow of his accomplished and smarter sibling, Sterns hated his lot in life. One day, while transporting radioactive materials, a lab accident resulted in his bombardment with gamma radiation. Just like Bruce Banner, this turned his skin green. But instead of brute strength, this enlarged his brain, giving him a superhuman intellect. His brain now worked at a capacity greater than any ordinary human being. But he still carried his inferiority complex, along with some serious anger issues.
The Leader Becomes One of the Hulk’s Primary Villains
Now calling himself “The Leader,” Sterns attempts to overthrow the United States government and install himself as, well, leader. This led to the first of many battles with the Hulk. Although they say brain beats brawn, the Jade Giant spent the next several years finding ways to defeat the Leader with a child’s intellect. Although primarily a Hulk villain, the Leader nevertheless fought several other Marvel heroes over the years. The Leader seemed to die several times, but always managed to evade any final death. In the modern era, we learned that the Leader is one of the people who helped transform General Thunderbolt Ross into the Red Hulk. Later, General Thunderbolt Ross forced him to join a version of his team, the Thunderbolts.
The Powers and Abilities of the Marvel Comics Character The Leader
At first, the Leader’s abilities seemed to only indicate an extreme level of intelligence far beyond a regular human being. He has total recall over every memory and his ability to calculate probabilities makes him almost able to predict the future. Over the years, however, the Leader exhibited other mental powers like telekinesis and telepathy. He developed the power to control minds via simple touch, as well as erase memories and create mental projections. These powers made him far more dangerous than ever before. He can even resurrect himself, making him practically immortal. However, we’d say his primary weapon is always his vast intellect. Fortunately for the Hulk and other Marvel heroes, his own ego gets in the way of his power, leading to many failures over the years.
The Many Animated TV Appearances of The Leader
The Leader has appeared many times in other media. Interestingly enough, he never appeared on the The Incredible Hulk series (1978-1982), despite being a character that could work with a ‘70s/’80s TV budget. In animation, the Leader made several appearances since the 1966 Marvel Super Heroes cartoon series. He appeared on the ‘80s Incredible Hulk cartoon, and later, both the ‘90s Iron Man and Incredible Hulk animated shows (voiced by Max Headroom actor Matt Frewer). He then popped up Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers Assemble, Marvel Superhero Squad, and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., and several others. But it’s taken until 2025 for the Leader to truly finally debut in live-action.
The Leader’s MCU Past in The Incredible Hulk, and MCU Present in Captain America: Brave New World
In 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, the Leader’s origin story from the comics changed. Samuel Sterns is an accomplished scientist and not of average intellect. Stern believes he can help Dr. Banner in curing him of his problem with “The Other Guy.” He was also looking to mimic Banner’s DNA for his own profit. Unfortunately, Stern’s efforts came to a halt during a raid on his lab by the future Abomination, Emil Blonsky. In one scene, after a battle, some of his gamma-irradiated chemicals fall on his unconscious head, which has an open wound. Comic book readers instantly knew the film was teasing the arrival of the Leader. But alas, a sequel to The Incredible Hulk never came to be. But after 17 years, that little hint is paid off in Captain America: Brave New World.
In Brave New World, we learned that General Ross (Harrison Ford) blamed Samuel Sterns for turning Blonsky into the Abomination, and the destruction that followed. He threw him into a prison cell for years, exposing his irradiated brain to even more doses of gamma radiation. Ross used Stern’s supercharged mind to help him calculate different ways in which he might help him. First, in his climb to power in the government, and secondly, to save his life when his medical problems began.
Ross promised Sterns his freedom once he had accomplished these tasks, but Sterns eventually realized he would never let him out of prison. So he engineered a scheme to discredit Ross, turning him into the Red Hulk after becoming President. Captain America eventually caught Sterns, and he was incarcerated in the superhuman prison called The Raft. It was there he told Sam Wilson he had calculated a Multiversal war was coming, and he’d soon need to prepare. It remains to be seen what part Sterns will play, if any, in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars.