By Nermeen Nabil Khear 
Few Marvel Comics villains 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 is finally getting a payoff. We’re getting the Leader in all his big-brained glory, once again played by Tim Blake Nelson. But before he makes his 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 Future 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.” 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 about to pay off in Captain America: Brave New World.
We’ve known for some time that The Incredible Hulk’s Tim Blake Nelson would return as Samuel Sterns for the fourth Captain America film. Now, it’s finally happening. We’ve only glimpsed the back of his head in the trailer for the film, but recently Marvel Studios gave us a shadowy image of what the Leader looks like from the front. Although his cranium is enlarged, it’s not anything as big as the comics or cartoons. We can’t see his green skin either, but we’re assuming he’s keeping his comic book color scheme. Although he’s fighting Cap in this film, we hope its not long before the Leader and the Hulk throw down properly. Marvel comics fans have waited a long time to see it, and we hope our patience is rewarded.
The post The Marvel Comics History of CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD Villain The Leader, Explained appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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