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Leader (comics)
Encyclopedia
The Leader is a fiction
al character
that appears in comic book
s published by Marvel Comics
. The character first appeared in Tales to Astonish
#62, and was created by Stan Lee
and Steve Ditko
. In 2009, The Leader was ranked as IGN
's 63rd Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.
Actor Tim Blake Nelson
portrays Dr. Samuel Sterns in the 2008 superhero film, The Incredible Hulk
.
, he worked for a chemical plant
there in a menial capacity. While moving radioactive materials into an underground storage area, some of the radioactive materials exploded, bombarding Sterns with gamma radiation
. He recovered, and found that the radiation had changed him from an ordinary human into a green-skinned, super-intelligent entity with an oversized brain housed in a towering cranium. As was the case with most individuals mutated by Gamma radiation early-on, the particular set of characteristics Sterns acquired by exposure to it were said to result from a subconscious desire; in his case, the desire to be as smart as his brother Philip, who was a physicist in the employ of the same facility. Calling himself the Leader, Sterns embarked on various ambitious criminal schemes, with the Hulk
as his primary nemesis, consistently backed by a self-constructed army of super-strong, virtually invulnerable plastic Humanoids. These included an attempt to rewrite the Earth's history by infecting the primordial ooze
with gamma radiation in order to recreate society in his image, with himself as its ruler.
The Leader began his career as a would-be conqueror by creating a spy ring to overthrow the United States federal government. He dispatched his ally the Chameleon
to capture the Hulk for study by impersonating Bruce Banner. Although the Chameleon failed, the Leader succeeded in capturing the Hulk by sending a horde of Humanoids to subdue him. He also succeeded in stealing the Absorbatron, a device invented by Banner that could absorb the energy of a nuclear explosion, and thereby render any nation that possessed it immune to nuclear attack. The Hulk eventually escaped the Leader and destroyed most of his lab, along with the Absorbatron, but the Leader himself escaped. Eager to sell his Humanoids to hostile nations, the Leader gave a demonstration of his power by activating a 500 feet (152.4 m)-tall Humanoid and ordering it to attack a nearby missile base. The Hulk eventually encountered the Humanoid and managed to thwart the Leader's plans. Curious to learn more about the power of the Hulk, the Leader then rescued the Hulk from the Army, who had cornered the monster in a cave. After operating on the Hulk to save his life, the Leader reminded the Hulk that he was in his debt. Using this leverage, the Leader sent the Hulk to the homeworld of the Watcher to raid the Watcher
's "Ultimate Machine", a device containing all the knowledge in the universe. However, this huge amount of knowledge proved too much for the Leader. He collapsed to the ground, unmoving, and the Hulk assumed that he died of shock. General Ross soon discovered the Leader's abandoned base and accidentally activated the "Hulk Killer" a large Humanoid designed to defeat the Hulk.
Later, the Leader reappeared and offered General Ross
aid in neutralizing the Hulk. The Leader dispatched the Super-Humanoid to assist the General in seizing control of America's nuclear arsenal. The Leader then hijacked the U.S. Army's Murder Module vehicle, and used it against the Hulk. He freed the Rhino
from captivity and sent him against the Hulk. After briefly turning back into Samuel Sterns to question Banner about the Hulk's possible weaknesses, he resurrected the Glob to try to pit him against the Hulk. The Leader later sent mental projections of the Rhino, Xeron, Namor, the Missing Link
, and others against the Hulk, but then suffered a mental breakdown. The Leader then created android duplicates of the President, Vice President, and military personnel in an attempt to kidnap the real President and Vice President. He then superimposed his consciousness upon the Rhino in order to battle the Hulk. He later used the Hulk and the Thing
as pawns in a contest with Kurrgo.
Some time later, the Leader briefly took over Gamma Base. Some time after that, he gamma-irradiated Manhattan's water supply in an attempt to mutate humanity like himself. He later activated Arsenal
, and then dispatched the Avengers
through time.
After a period of time, the gamma radiation in his body began to wear off. At first, the Leader attributed his lapses in concentration to overworking his mind finding ways to defeat his greatest enemy (the Hulk). By the time the Leader realized what was happening, much of the intelligence that could have solved his plight was gone and texts that were once child's play to him were now hopelessly beyond him (he even forgot the access code of his secret base). In this period, he made cash however he could by means fair or foul, until he managed to convince the Gray Hulk to help him regain his intelligence by promising that he would help the latter to remain the Hulk full time (instead of only at night).
Rick Jones
had been afflicted with a Hulk-like condition and the Hulk (using Bruce Banner's memories of gamma transfer) devised a machine to transfer all of the gamma radiation from Rick Jones to the Leader. However, this time the mutagenic process was slightly different resulting in a cranium that resembled an over-sized brain, rather than a towering forehead. He was also a lighter shade of green. As a side note, this transfer also created a psychic link between the two.
Soon after this, the Leader would steal the seemingly lifeless body of General Thunderbolt Ross
from the back of an ambulance, simply because it was there, and later managed to revive it as a mindless vegetable, which he used as an armored enforcer.
Before long, the Leader's new form was revealed, and he dispatched Half-Life to battle the Hulk. The Leader dispatched an army of four-armed robots against the Hulk, and created Rock and Redeemer.
The Leader dispatched Rock and Redeemer against the Hulk. Following this the Leader engaged in a scheme to detonate a gamma-bomb in a small-town city, Middletown, Arizona, killing over 5,000 people, and the few, now enhanced, survivors provided him with valuable research subjects and superhuman enforcers. With their help, he built a self-sufficient society called Freehold in the Arctic, populated with civilians dying from radiation poisoning. Some time afterward he gave the Hulk information how to find his brother, Philip Sterns, the Madman
, since he thought it would be best to put the latter out of his suffering, due to his original personality being slowly and painfully eaten away by the Madman persona.
After Jones' suffered a great mental trauma due to the death of his girlfriend Marlo Chandler, his pain was enough to cause the Leader considerable discomfort, motivating him to work towards the revival of Marlo. At this time Freehold was targeted by a rogue branch of HYDRA
terrorists, employing the U-Foes
and his followers to invade the covert Pantheon
organization, of which Hulk was a member, to coerce them to help him in defending it. He employed something he ironically called the Deus Ex Machina in conjunction with his follower, the gamma-enhanced reverend nicknamed Soul Man, who falsely believed himself to have been blessed by God with spiritual power, rather than given nearly godlike abilities by the Leader, in an effort to revive Marlo and siphon off Soul Man's power for himself. Rick Jones became convinced to accept the help after seeing the mindless, but mobile, body of Thunderbolt Ross.
The Hulk, manipulated by the leader of the Pantheon, Agamemnon, attacked the facility. At the same time, HYDRA decided to storm the base, leading to a multi-sided battle. The Hulk eventually personally attacked the Leader, who, along with Soul Man, seemingly perished in the crossfire. The machine was likewise demolished, causing Marlo to enter a state similar to Ross, but both eventually fully recovered.
The death of the Leader left his follower Omnibus in control of Freehold. Omnibus used mind-control to manipulate several U.S. chiefs of staff, and engineered many high-profile terrorist strikes to incite global warfare, as he reasoned that it was inevitable, and hurrying it along offered him opportunity to enable his personal society to survive and inherit the Earth. Omnibus was eventually exposed by his fellow Freehold citizens, judged to die in the cold, and was eaten by a polar bear. Bruce Banner also saw the Leader in a supposed trip to Hell.
A while later, the Hulk, who in his Bruce Banner persona was suffering from a degenerative nervous condition (which would ultimately kill him) was confronted by the Leader once again. Apparently he really had perished when the Deus Ex Machina was destroyed, but his disembodied consciousness had evolved beyond the need for a body. Although he was in the process of building a new body out of random organic materials, in a secluded cave near Gamma Base, he was preparing to leave this level of reality behind altogether, transcending both beyond the physical and his old goals. Yet before he did so, he intended to cure Bruce Banner for reasons all his own. After he had done so, he abandoned his body. However, later still his consciousness once again contacted Banner, apparently shocked by what he had discovered "beyond the veil"; he was unable to return, however, and was not heard from again until much later.
During a time of great personal duress for the Hulk and Bruce Banner, who had begun to merge their personas, it became clear that Home Base, a secret organization who had relentlessly pursued the Hulk in order to obtain his genetic material, was secretly led by the Leader. In the end, after all his other agendas had failed, the Leader finally managed to mind-control the Hulk and guided him towards his secret base, with the intention of taking his indestructible body for himself. Because of intervention by Nadia Blonsky, Betty Ross, Doc Samson
, and Iron Man
, the plan failed and the Leader died again.
These events, bizarre and nebulous as they seem, may or may not have taken place in this form...they may be partly true, or entirely a construct by the extra-dimensional demon Nightmare
in a bid to avenge himself on the Hulk.
At present, the Leader has a body incorporating traits from both his previous incarnations; it is unknown exactly how he acquired it, but it may have been relatively easy, given his history.
The Leader is captured by S.H.I.E.L.D.
's Hulkbusters, and brought to trial for his crimes. He was represented by Attorney Mallory Book from She-Hulk
's firm Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway
. During the trial, Ms. Book argued that the Leader was not responsible for his actions since the Gamma exposure forcibly changed his personality. To prove her point, Book compared She-Hulk to Jennifer Walters, revealing that Jennifer was much more promiscuous
in her She-Hulk form. In the second day of the trial, Leader's humanoid droids arrived to rescue him. Instead of escaping, the Leader called off the attack, opting to see the trial to its conclusion, as he correctly predicted that his defense was going to win. He was found not guilty. It is as yet unclear whether this person is indeed the original leader, or the Samuel Sterns of "Earth-Alpha", the inhabitants of which had been swapping places with their 616 counterparts for a while prior to this trial.
Now a free man (whichever one he may be), the Leader teleported the Hulk's allies, the Warbound
, to Nevada. There, he used Hiroim
of the Warbound, harnessing his tectonic power to activate a gamma powered shield over a portion of the desert. It is revealed that the Leader is dying, and that he constructed the dome to cure him. Due to a miscalculation, the energy of the dome actually kills him faster. In battle with the Warbound, the Leader is stabbed through the chest with an iron pipe. The Leader then absorbed the power of the dome, turning himself into a gray-skinned giant. Hiroim also absorbed the power, and battled the Leader, draining both of their powers. In death, Hiroim channels his old power into Kate Waynseboro, who attacks the Leader, and forces him to teleport away.
The Leader, apparently healthy and in the form he originally had, appears once again, this time with designs on the Hulk's son Skaar. It is eventually revealed that he, along with a select group of genius super-villains, is part of a longtime collaboration he calls The Intelligencia
.
Leader was also responsible for mutating Marlo Chandler
into the new Harpy. During that time, he planned revenge on Kate Waynesboro.
At the conclusion of the Red Hulk storyline, a newly-rejuvenated Red Hulk approaches the Leader and gets close enough to him to completely drain the body-altering gamma radiation from the Leader's physiology. Red Hulk does this as a punishment for the Leader's altering of Ross's/Red Hulk's daughter into the Red She-Hulk. Red Hulk leaves Sterns alive to suffer, reminding him that as the person he has been reverted back to with his original, well below average intelligence, Sterns will never be able to duplicate a gamma-infusion and return his powers as The Leader....at least not on his own.
A powerless Leader is later seen in custody demanding "gamma" (the one thing no one is willing to give him) if he was to divulge any information on stopping the Intelligencia's failsafe doomsday plans.
acumen, as a result of his exposure to an explosion of gamma-irradiated waste. He possesses enhanced intuition, pattern solving, information storage and retrieval, and logical and philosophical structuring. His ability to predict probable outcomes of tactical and strategic scenarios is so advanced that it borders on clairvoyance
. The Leader has a perfect memory with the ability to recall every moment since the accident that gave him his powers. In addition to his superhuman intelligence, the Leader has limited but potent telekinetic and telepathic powers. He is able to mentally control non-gamma-mutated individuals upon touching them, and has toppled a very weakened Hulk with his telekinetic blasts.
The Leader possesses knowledge of genetics, physics, and robotics, and has designed a large number of sophisticated weapons, vehicles, computers, androids, and synthetic humanoids. He is particularly adept at genetic engineering and manipulating radiation for various nefarious purposes.
On occasion, the Leader showed the ability to turn himself back into Samuel Sterns, but this ability resulted in him losing all memory of his identity as the Leader as Sterns's mind was ill-equipped to cope with the Leader's intellect (although he always remembered everything when he turned back into the Leader again).
in the horde that overwhelms and infects the Punisher
. He has a giant hole blown through his cranium which does not stop him. He is also in Marvel Zombies 3
where he is looking over food and medical supplies that other zombies have found as an offering to a zombie Kingpin
. The Leader determines how long the others can feed on the human clones. The Leader is sent with other zombified superbeings to find and destroy the Machine Man
. The android gains the upper hand in the battle and destroys all his pursuers.
version of The Leader made his first appearance in Ultimate Human
#1, a miniseries starring Ultimate Iron Man and Ultimate Hulk. This Leader is also the Ultimate version of MI6
agent Pete Wisdom. In the Ultimate universe, Wisdom is an ex-British Intelligence agent thrown out of the organization after testing his "British Enhancile Program" on himself, transforming him into The Leader. Wisdom has psychic and mental abilities similar to the original Leader, but requires a wheelchair and a halo brace to support the weight of his enlarged cranium. The Leader attempts to steal Tony Stark's nanotechnology as Banner and Stark work together to try to incorporate it into Banner's physiology in the hopes that it will grant him control over his transformations into the Hulk. When Stark commands a decoy Iron-Tech robot into the base of the Leader, Banner transforms into the Hulk. The Hulk resists the Leader's influence, and pounds him into the ground. The Leader, almost dead, commands an C-17 down onto the Hulk, ultimately killing Wisdom/Leader.
In Ultimate Mystery an elderly Dr. Samuel Sterns, in a wheelchair, is amongst a group of younger versions of 616 villains and heroes, including Arnim Zola
III, Misty Knight
, Nathaniel Essex
, and Dr. Layla Miller
. They represent a brain trust
for Roxxon Industries. He is later transformed into a Hulk/Leader hybrid, attacking Spider Man, but is defeated.
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al character
Character (arts)
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
that appears in comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. The character first appeared in Tales to Astonish
Tales to Astonish
Tales to Astonish is the name of two American comic book series and a one-shot comic published by Marvel Comics.The primary title bearing that name was published from 1959-1968...
#62, and was created by Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
and Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko
Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
. In 2009, The Leader was ranked as IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's 63rd Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.
Actor Tim Blake Nelson
Tim Blake Nelson
Tim Blake Nelson is an American director, writer, singer, and actor.-Early life:Nelson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Ruth Kaiser Nelson, who is a noted social activist and philanthropist in Tulsa, and a geologist father...
portrays Dr. Samuel Sterns in the 2008 superhero film, The Incredible Hulk
The Incredible Hulk (film)
The Incredible Hulk is a 2008 superhero action film based on the Marvel Comics character the Hulk. It is directed by Louis Leterrier and stars Edward Norton as Dr. Bruce Banner. It is the second film to be released in the Marvel Cinematic Universe...
.
Fictional character biography
Born Samuel Sterns in Boise, IdahoBoise, Idaho
Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...
, he worked for a chemical plant
Chemical plant
A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures chemicals, usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transformation and or separation of materials. Chemical plants use special equipment,...
there in a menial capacity. While moving radioactive materials into an underground storage area, some of the radioactive materials exploded, bombarding Sterns with gamma radiation
Gamma ray
Gamma radiation, also known as gamma rays or hyphenated as gamma-rays and denoted as γ, is electromagnetic radiation of high frequency . Gamma rays are usually naturally produced on Earth by decay of high energy states in atomic nuclei...
. He recovered, and found that the radiation had changed him from an ordinary human into a green-skinned, super-intelligent entity with an oversized brain housed in a towering cranium. As was the case with most individuals mutated by Gamma radiation early-on, the particular set of characteristics Sterns acquired by exposure to it were said to result from a subconscious desire; in his case, the desire to be as smart as his brother Philip, who was a physicist in the employ of the same facility. Calling himself the Leader, Sterns embarked on various ambitious criminal schemes, with the Hulk
Hulk (comics)
The Hulk is a fictional character, a superhero in the . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 ....
as his primary nemesis, consistently backed by a self-constructed army of super-strong, virtually invulnerable plastic Humanoids. These included an attempt to rewrite the Earth's history by infecting the primordial ooze
Abiogenesis
Abiogenesis or biopoesis is the study of how biological life arises from inorganic matter through natural processes, and the method by which life on Earth arose...
with gamma radiation in order to recreate society in his image, with himself as its ruler.
The Leader began his career as a would-be conqueror by creating a spy ring to overthrow the United States federal government. He dispatched his ally the Chameleon
Chameleon (comics)
The Chameleon is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in The Amazing Spider-Man #1 , and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko; the Chameleon is the first member of Spider-Man's rogues' gallery, based on issue...
to capture the Hulk for study by impersonating Bruce Banner. Although the Chameleon failed, the Leader succeeded in capturing the Hulk by sending a horde of Humanoids to subdue him. He also succeeded in stealing the Absorbatron, a device invented by Banner that could absorb the energy of a nuclear explosion, and thereby render any nation that possessed it immune to nuclear attack. The Hulk eventually escaped the Leader and destroyed most of his lab, along with the Absorbatron, but the Leader himself escaped. Eager to sell his Humanoids to hostile nations, the Leader gave a demonstration of his power by activating a 500 feet (152.4 m)-tall Humanoid and ordering it to attack a nearby missile base. The Hulk eventually encountered the Humanoid and managed to thwart the Leader's plans. Curious to learn more about the power of the Hulk, the Leader then rescued the Hulk from the Army, who had cornered the monster in a cave. After operating on the Hulk to save his life, the Leader reminded the Hulk that he was in his debt. Using this leverage, the Leader sent the Hulk to the homeworld of the Watcher to raid the Watcher
Watcher (comics)
The Watchers are a fictional race of extraterrestrials that appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the first Watcher - named Uatu - appears in Fantastic Four #13 .-Fictional history:...
's "Ultimate Machine", a device containing all the knowledge in the universe. However, this huge amount of knowledge proved too much for the Leader. He collapsed to the ground, unmoving, and the Hulk assumed that he died of shock. General Ross soon discovered the Leader's abandoned base and accidentally activated the "Hulk Killer" a large Humanoid designed to defeat the Hulk.
Later, the Leader reappeared and offered General Ross
Thunderbolt Ross
General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross is a fictional character appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, usually as an adversary of the Hulk, sometimes as a supervillain. Ross is a United States military officer, the father of Betty Ross, ex-father in-law of Glenn Talbot and the father in-law...
aid in neutralizing the Hulk. The Leader dispatched the Super-Humanoid to assist the General in seizing control of America's nuclear arsenal. The Leader then hijacked the U.S. Army's Murder Module vehicle, and used it against the Hulk. He freed the Rhino
Rhino (comics)
The Rhino is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Romita, Sr., the character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #41 The Rhino (Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich) is a fictional character that appears in comic...
from captivity and sent him against the Hulk. After briefly turning back into Samuel Sterns to question Banner about the Hulk's possible weaknesses, he resurrected the Glob to try to pit him against the Hulk. The Leader later sent mental projections of the Rhino, Xeron, Namor, the Missing Link
Missing Link (comics)
-Publication history:The second Missing Link first appeared in Incredible Hulk #105-106 , and was created by Bill Everett, Roy Thomas, and Marie Severin. This story was later reprinted in Marvel Treasury Edition #5 . The character subsequently appears in The Incredible Hulk #179 , and ROM #29...
, and others against the Hulk, but then suffered a mental breakdown. The Leader then created android duplicates of the President, Vice President, and military personnel in an attempt to kidnap the real President and Vice President. He then superimposed his consciousness upon the Rhino in order to battle the Hulk. He later used the Hulk and the Thing
Thing (comics)
The Thing is a fictional character, a founding member of the superhero team known as the Fantastic Four in the Marvel Comics universe. He was created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee in The Fantastic Four #1...
as pawns in a contest with Kurrgo.
Some time later, the Leader briefly took over Gamma Base. Some time after that, he gamma-irradiated Manhattan's water supply in an attempt to mutate humanity like himself. He later activated Arsenal
Arsenal (Marvel Comics)
Arsenal is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Iron Man #114 and was created by Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen.-Publication history:...
, and then dispatched the Avengers
Avengers (comics)
The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...
through time.
After a period of time, the gamma radiation in his body began to wear off. At first, the Leader attributed his lapses in concentration to overworking his mind finding ways to defeat his greatest enemy (the Hulk). By the time the Leader realized what was happening, much of the intelligence that could have solved his plight was gone and texts that were once child's play to him were now hopelessly beyond him (he even forgot the access code of his secret base). In this period, he made cash however he could by means fair or foul, until he managed to convince the Gray Hulk to help him regain his intelligence by promising that he would help the latter to remain the Hulk full time (instead of only at night).
Rick Jones
Rick Jones (comics)
Richard Milhouse "Rick" Jones is a fictional comic book character in the .-Publication history:Rick Jones first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1, as a sidekick to the Incredible Hulk...
had been afflicted with a Hulk-like condition and the Hulk (using Bruce Banner's memories of gamma transfer) devised a machine to transfer all of the gamma radiation from Rick Jones to the Leader. However, this time the mutagenic process was slightly different resulting in a cranium that resembled an over-sized brain, rather than a towering forehead. He was also a lighter shade of green. As a side note, this transfer also created a psychic link between the two.
Soon after this, the Leader would steal the seemingly lifeless body of General Thunderbolt Ross
Thunderbolt Ross
General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross is a fictional character appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, usually as an adversary of the Hulk, sometimes as a supervillain. Ross is a United States military officer, the father of Betty Ross, ex-father in-law of Glenn Talbot and the father in-law...
from the back of an ambulance, simply because it was there, and later managed to revive it as a mindless vegetable, which he used as an armored enforcer.
Before long, the Leader's new form was revealed, and he dispatched Half-Life to battle the Hulk. The Leader dispatched an army of four-armed robots against the Hulk, and created Rock and Redeemer.
The Leader dispatched Rock and Redeemer against the Hulk. Following this the Leader engaged in a scheme to detonate a gamma-bomb in a small-town city, Middletown, Arizona, killing over 5,000 people, and the few, now enhanced, survivors provided him with valuable research subjects and superhuman enforcers. With their help, he built a self-sufficient society called Freehold in the Arctic, populated with civilians dying from radiation poisoning. Some time afterward he gave the Hulk information how to find his brother, Philip Sterns, the Madman
Madman (Marvel Comics)
Madman is a supervillain within the fictional Marvel Comics universe. The character is portrayed as one of the Hulk's enemies, and as the brother of Samuel Sterns, better known as The Leader...
, since he thought it would be best to put the latter out of his suffering, due to his original personality being slowly and painfully eaten away by the Madman persona.
After Jones' suffered a great mental trauma due to the death of his girlfriend Marlo Chandler, his pain was enough to cause the Leader considerable discomfort, motivating him to work towards the revival of Marlo. At this time Freehold was targeted by a rogue branch of HYDRA
HYDRA
HYDRA is a fictional terrorist organization in the Marvel Universe.Despite the name's capitalization per Marvel's official spelling, the name is not an acronym but rather a reference to the mythical Lernaean Hydra...
terrorists, employing the U-Foes
U-Foes
U-Foes are a fictional comic book supervillain team appearing in various series published by Marvel Comics. The group first appeared in Incredible Hulk #254...
and his followers to invade the covert Pantheon
Pantheon (Marvel Comics)
The Pantheon is a fictional organization appearing in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Peter David, the Pantheon first appeared in The Incredible Hulk The Pantheon is a fictional organization appearing in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer...
organization, of which Hulk was a member, to coerce them to help him in defending it. He employed something he ironically called the Deus Ex Machina in conjunction with his follower, the gamma-enhanced reverend nicknamed Soul Man, who falsely believed himself to have been blessed by God with spiritual power, rather than given nearly godlike abilities by the Leader, in an effort to revive Marlo and siphon off Soul Man's power for himself. Rick Jones became convinced to accept the help after seeing the mindless, but mobile, body of Thunderbolt Ross.
The Hulk, manipulated by the leader of the Pantheon, Agamemnon, attacked the facility. At the same time, HYDRA decided to storm the base, leading to a multi-sided battle. The Hulk eventually personally attacked the Leader, who, along with Soul Man, seemingly perished in the crossfire. The machine was likewise demolished, causing Marlo to enter a state similar to Ross, but both eventually fully recovered.
The death of the Leader left his follower Omnibus in control of Freehold. Omnibus used mind-control to manipulate several U.S. chiefs of staff, and engineered many high-profile terrorist strikes to incite global warfare, as he reasoned that it was inevitable, and hurrying it along offered him opportunity to enable his personal society to survive and inherit the Earth. Omnibus was eventually exposed by his fellow Freehold citizens, judged to die in the cold, and was eaten by a polar bear. Bruce Banner also saw the Leader in a supposed trip to Hell.
A while later, the Hulk, who in his Bruce Banner persona was suffering from a degenerative nervous condition (which would ultimately kill him) was confronted by the Leader once again. Apparently he really had perished when the Deus Ex Machina was destroyed, but his disembodied consciousness had evolved beyond the need for a body. Although he was in the process of building a new body out of random organic materials, in a secluded cave near Gamma Base, he was preparing to leave this level of reality behind altogether, transcending both beyond the physical and his old goals. Yet before he did so, he intended to cure Bruce Banner for reasons all his own. After he had done so, he abandoned his body. However, later still his consciousness once again contacted Banner, apparently shocked by what he had discovered "beyond the veil"; he was unable to return, however, and was not heard from again until much later.
During a time of great personal duress for the Hulk and Bruce Banner, who had begun to merge their personas, it became clear that Home Base, a secret organization who had relentlessly pursued the Hulk in order to obtain his genetic material, was secretly led by the Leader. In the end, after all his other agendas had failed, the Leader finally managed to mind-control the Hulk and guided him towards his secret base, with the intention of taking his indestructible body for himself. Because of intervention by Nadia Blonsky, Betty Ross, Doc Samson
Doc Samson
Doc Samson is a fictional character, a superhero and psychiatrist in the Marvel Comics universe, known as a supporting character in stories featuring the Hulk.-Publication history:...
, and Iron Man
Iron Man
Iron Man is a fictional character, a superhero in the . The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #39 .A billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer,...
, the plan failed and the Leader died again.
These events, bizarre and nebulous as they seem, may or may not have taken place in this form...they may be partly true, or entirely a construct by the extra-dimensional demon Nightmare
Nightmare (Marvel Comics)
Nightmare is a fictional character, a supernatural being who has appeared in many Marvel Comics stories, most commonly as one of Doctor Strange and Ghost Rider's major enemies.-Publication history:...
in a bid to avenge himself on the Hulk.
At present, the Leader has a body incorporating traits from both his previous incarnations; it is unknown exactly how he acquired it, but it may have been relatively easy, given his history.
The Leader is captured by S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D. is a fictional espionage and a secret military law-enforcement agency in the Marvel Comics Universe. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Strange Tales #135 , it often deals with superhuman threats....
's Hulkbusters, and brought to trial for his crimes. He was represented by Attorney Mallory Book from She-Hulk
She-Hulk
She-Hulk is a Marvel Comics superheroine. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she first appeared in Savage She-Hulk #1 ....
's firm Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway
Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway
Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway is a fictional law firm featured in the pages of the She-Hulk comic books - named after Marvel Founders Martin Goodman, Stan Lee, under his birth name Stanley Lieber, and Jack Kirby, using his birth name Jacob Kurtzberg - published by Marvel Comics...
. During the trial, Ms. Book argued that the Leader was not responsible for his actions since the Gamma exposure forcibly changed his personality. To prove her point, Book compared She-Hulk to Jennifer Walters, revealing that Jennifer was much more promiscuous
Promiscuity
In humans, promiscuity refers to less discriminating casual sex with many sexual partners. The term carries a moral or religious judgement and is viewed in the context of the mainstream social ideal for sexual activity to take place within exclusive committed relationships...
in her She-Hulk form. In the second day of the trial, Leader's humanoid droids arrived to rescue him. Instead of escaping, the Leader called off the attack, opting to see the trial to its conclusion, as he correctly predicted that his defense was going to win. He was found not guilty. It is as yet unclear whether this person is indeed the original leader, or the Samuel Sterns of "Earth-Alpha", the inhabitants of which had been swapping places with their 616 counterparts for a while prior to this trial.
Now a free man (whichever one he may be), the Leader teleported the Hulk's allies, the Warbound
Warbound
The Warbound is a group of fictional characters in the Marvel Comics. They first joined forces in The Incredible Hulk vol. 3, #94 as a combination of new and existing characters, the former created by Greg Pak and Carlo Pagulayan.-Planet Hulk:...
, to Nevada. There, he used Hiroim
Hiroim
Hiroim is a fictional, comic-book character who appears in books published by Marvel Comics, usually as a supporting character in Hulk books. He first appeared in Incredible Hulk vol. 3, #92.-Fictional character biography:...
of the Warbound, harnessing his tectonic power to activate a gamma powered shield over a portion of the desert. It is revealed that the Leader is dying, and that he constructed the dome to cure him. Due to a miscalculation, the energy of the dome actually kills him faster. In battle with the Warbound, the Leader is stabbed through the chest with an iron pipe. The Leader then absorbed the power of the dome, turning himself into a gray-skinned giant. Hiroim also absorbed the power, and battled the Leader, draining both of their powers. In death, Hiroim channels his old power into Kate Waynseboro, who attacks the Leader, and forces him to teleport away.
The Leader, apparently healthy and in the form he originally had, appears once again, this time with designs on the Hulk's son Skaar. It is eventually revealed that he, along with a select group of genius super-villains, is part of a longtime collaboration he calls The Intelligencia
Intelligencia (comics)
The Intelligencia is a name of a fictional supervillain team that appears as an antagonist in the Hulk comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team first appeared in Fall of the Hulks: Alpha ....
.
Leader was also responsible for mutating Marlo Chandler
Marlo Chandler
Marlo Chandler is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by writer Peter David, she first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #347 , and became an ongoing supporting character, first in that book, and later in the Captain Marvel series published between 1999–2004...
into the new Harpy. During that time, he planned revenge on Kate Waynesboro.
At the conclusion of the Red Hulk storyline, a newly-rejuvenated Red Hulk approaches the Leader and gets close enough to him to completely drain the body-altering gamma radiation from the Leader's physiology. Red Hulk does this as a punishment for the Leader's altering of Ross's/Red Hulk's daughter into the Red She-Hulk. Red Hulk leaves Sterns alive to suffer, reminding him that as the person he has been reverted back to with his original, well below average intelligence, Sterns will never be able to duplicate a gamma-infusion and return his powers as The Leader....at least not on his own.
A powerless Leader is later seen in custody demanding "gamma" (the one thing no one is willing to give him) if he was to divulge any information on stopping the Intelligencia's failsafe doomsday plans.
Powers and abilities
The Leader has superhuman mentalMind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
acumen, as a result of his exposure to an explosion of gamma-irradiated waste. He possesses enhanced intuition, pattern solving, information storage and retrieval, and logical and philosophical structuring. His ability to predict probable outcomes of tactical and strategic scenarios is so advanced that it borders on clairvoyance
Clairvoyance
The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...
. The Leader has a perfect memory with the ability to recall every moment since the accident that gave him his powers. In addition to his superhuman intelligence, the Leader has limited but potent telekinetic and telepathic powers. He is able to mentally control non-gamma-mutated individuals upon touching them, and has toppled a very weakened Hulk with his telekinetic blasts.
The Leader possesses knowledge of genetics, physics, and robotics, and has designed a large number of sophisticated weapons, vehicles, computers, androids, and synthetic humanoids. He is particularly adept at genetic engineering and manipulating radiation for various nefarious purposes.
On occasion, the Leader showed the ability to turn himself back into Samuel Sterns, but this ability resulted in him losing all memory of his identity as the Leader as Sterns's mind was ill-equipped to cope with the Leader's intellect (although he always remembered everything when he turned back into the Leader again).
Marvel Zombies
The Leader makes an appearance as a zombie in Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of DarknessMarvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness
Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness is a five-issue 2007 comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics in association with Dynamite Entertainment, an intercompany crossover in which Ash Williams, hero of the popular Evil Dead film and comic book, finds himself in the Marvel Zombies...
in the horde that overwhelms and infects the Punisher
Punisher
The Punisher is a fictional character, an anti-hero appearing in comic books based in the . Created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr., and Ross Andru, the character made its first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 .The Punisher is a vigilante who employs murder,...
. He has a giant hole blown through his cranium which does not stop him. He is also in Marvel Zombies 3
Marvel Zombies 3
Marvel Zombies 3 is a four-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics beginning in October 2008. It is part of the Marvel Zombies series. The series is written by Fred Van Lente, penciled by Kev Walker, with covers by Greg Land.-Plot:...
where he is looking over food and medical supplies that other zombies have found as an offering to a zombie Kingpin
Kingpin (comics)
The Kingpin is a fictional character, a supervillain in the . Kingpin is one of the most feared and powerful crime lords in the Marvel Universe. The character is a major adversary of Daredevil, the Punisher, and Spider-Man...
. The Leader determines how long the others can feed on the human clones. The Leader is sent with other zombified superbeings to find and destroy the Machine Man
Machine Man
Machine Man is a fictional character, an android superhero in the Marvel Comics Universe. The character was created by Jack Kirby for 2001: A Space Odyssey #8 , a comic written and drawn by Kirby featuring concepts based on the eponymous Stanley Kubrick film and Arthur C. Clarke novel...
. The android gains the upper hand in the battle and destroys all his pursuers.
Ultimate Leader
The UltimateUltimate Marvel
Ultimate Marvel is an imprint of comic books published by Marvel Comics, featuring reimagined and updated versions of the company's superhero characters, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four. The imprint was launched in 2000 with the publication of the series...
version of The Leader made his first appearance in Ultimate Human
Ultimate Human
Ultimate Human is an American comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics...
#1, a miniseries starring Ultimate Iron Man and Ultimate Hulk. This Leader is also the Ultimate version of MI6
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
agent Pete Wisdom. In the Ultimate universe, Wisdom is an ex-British Intelligence agent thrown out of the organization after testing his "British Enhancile Program" on himself, transforming him into The Leader. Wisdom has psychic and mental abilities similar to the original Leader, but requires a wheelchair and a halo brace to support the weight of his enlarged cranium. The Leader attempts to steal Tony Stark's nanotechnology as Banner and Stark work together to try to incorporate it into Banner's physiology in the hopes that it will grant him control over his transformations into the Hulk. When Stark commands a decoy Iron-Tech robot into the base of the Leader, Banner transforms into the Hulk. The Hulk resists the Leader's influence, and pounds him into the ground. The Leader, almost dead, commands an C-17 down onto the Hulk, ultimately killing Wisdom/Leader.
In Ultimate Mystery an elderly Dr. Samuel Sterns, in a wheelchair, is amongst a group of younger versions of 616 villains and heroes, including Arnim Zola
Arnim Zola
Arnim Zola is a fictional character a supervillain appearing in the Marvel Comics universe. He is a master of biochemistry, and frequent foe of Captain America and the Avengers.-Publication history:...
III, Misty Knight
Misty Knight
Misty Knight is a fictional character in Marvel Comics' Marvel Universe. She was first mentioned in Marvel Premiere #20 and appeared in the next issue. She normally appears with Colleen Wing.-Publication history:...
, Nathaniel Essex
Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #221 and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri....
, and Dr. Layla Miller
Layla Miller
Layla Rose Miller, also known as Butterfly, is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. She first appeared in House of M #4, and was created by Brian Michael Bendis and Oliver Coipel...
. They represent a brain trust
Brain Trust
Brain trust began as a term for a group of close advisors to a political candidate or incumbent, prized for their expertise in particular fields. The term is most associated with the group of advisors to Franklin Roosevelt during his presidential administration...
for Roxxon Industries. He is later transformed into a Hulk/Leader hybrid, attacking Spider Man, but is defeated.
Television
- The Leader appeared in The Incredible Hulk portion of Marvel Superheroes, voiced by Gillie Fenwick.
- The Leader appeared in the 1980s The Incredible HulkThe Incredible Hulk (1982 animated TV series)The Incredible Hulk is an animated television series based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. The series ran for 13 episodes on NBC in 1982, part of a combined hour with Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends...
episode "Punks on Wheels", voiced by Stan JonesStan Jones (actor)Gordon Stan Jones , sometimes credited as G. Stanley Jones, Staley Jones or Stanley Jones, was a Canadian film and television actor.-Career:...
. - The Leader appeared as a villain in the Iron ManIron Man (TV series)Iron Man, also known as Iron Man: The Animated Series, is an American animated television series based on Marvel Comics' superhero Iron Man...
episode "Hulkbuster", voiced by Matt FrewerMatt FrewerMatthew "Matt" Frewer is a Canadian American stage, TV and film actor. Acting since 1983, he is known for portraying the 1980s icon Max Headroom and the retired villain Moloch in the film adaptation of Watchmen.-Life and career:...
, where he attempted to use two of the rings of the MandarinMandarin (comics)The Mandarin is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics supervillain and the archenemy of Iron Man.In 2009, Mandarin was ranked as IGN's 81st Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.-Publication history:...
to travel back in time and prevent the accident that created the Hulk. - The Leader appeared as a recurring villain in the 1990s UPNUPNUnited Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
Incredible Hulk series with Matt Frewer reprising his role. This version of him is very much like the comic books. Unlike the comics though, he is served by GargoyleGargoyle (comics)Gargoyle is a name shared by two fictional characters appearing in the Marvel Comics universe.-Gargoyle :-Publication history:The Gargoyle appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 , and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby....
, AbominationAbomination (comics)The Abomination is a fictional character, a supervillain that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics...
, Ogress, and the Gamma Warriors (whom were created from Hulk's DNA). In the Season 1 finale, Bruce Banner and the Hulk are separated from each other and kidnaps the mindless Hulk where he attempts to absorb his strength, but his mind is instead placed in the creature. He has his new body wear an outfit similar to his old one, but the Hulk's personality takes over Leader who tries to destroy a military base, but the memory of Betty Ross frees Leader from the Hulk. He leaves the Hulk's body and returns to his own fearing his strength. At the beginning of Season 2, the Leader turned back in Samuel Sterns and is degraded by Gargoyle in the same way as before. He is able to restore himself as the Leader by absorbing the Gamma Energy from Rick Jones. - The Leader appears in The Super Hero Squad ShowThe Super Hero Squad ShowThe Super Hero Squad Show is an American cartoon series by Marvel Animation. It is based on the Marvel Super Hero Squad action figure line from Hasbro, which portray the characters of the Marvel Universe in a cartoonish super-deformed-style...
episode "Tremble at the Might of MODOK". He is shown at a convention of evil geniuses. - The Leader appeared The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest HeroesThe Avengers: Earth's Mightiest HeroesThe Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is an American animated television series by Marvel Animation in cooperation with Film Roman based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. The show debuted on Disney XD in Fall 2010 starting with a 20 part micro-series. A second season has been...
voiced by Jeffrey CombsJeffrey CombsJeffrey Alan Combs is an American actor known for his horror film roles and his appearances playing a number of characters in the Star Trek franchise.-Early life:...
. In the episode "Hulk Verses the World", Leader is shown as an inmate of the CubeCube (comics)-History:The Cube was built as a prison for irradiated supervillains. The location the Cube is unknown as only high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents know of its existence. Its "villain rehabilitation program" brainwashes the inmates to serve S.H.I.E.L.D...
. In the episode "The Breakout" Pt. 1, Leader is among the inmates that escape from the Cube. He manages to take it over after Hulk leaves with Doc Samson. In the two-part episode "Gamma World," Leader plans to blanket the Earth in Gamma Energy causing anyone exposed to it to become Gamma-based monsters. Unfortunately, it couldn't affect Thor or Doc Samson (who had already been exposed to it). Though the generator at the Cube was destroyed, Leader had another one in a nearby city. When Thor and Doc Samson had been taken prisoner, Leader found out from Thor that Gamma Energy doesn't affect Asgardians and unleashes Abomination on him. When Thor does regain Mjolnir, Leader summoned Absorbing Man who ended up absorbing the properties of Mjolnir. When Hulk and Hawkeye arrived, Leader had Abomination fight Hulk while he and the Gamma-powered Avengers attacked Hawkeye. Hawkeye launched special arrows that cured the infected Avengers before fighting Leader. After Hulk had defeated Abomination by sending him flying and Thor had defeated Absorbing Man, Leader's battle-suit was taken down as his head expanded a little bit while Hulk threw the Gamma Generator into space. The next day, Leader and Absorbing Man were taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody with the other Gamma-based villains.
Film
- Dr. Samuel Sterns appears in the 2008 film2008 in filmThis is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...
, The Incredible HulkThe Incredible Hulk (film)The Incredible Hulk is a 2008 superhero action film based on the Marvel Comics character the Hulk. It is directed by Louis Leterrier and stars Edward Norton as Dr. Bruce Banner. It is the second film to be released in the Marvel Cinematic Universe...
portrayed by Tim Blake NelsonTim Blake NelsonTim Blake Nelson is an American director, writer, singer, and actor.-Early life:Nelson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Ruth Kaiser Nelson, who is a noted social activist and philanthropist in Tulsa, and a geologist father...
. In this film, he is a university professor trying to help Bruce Banner find a cure for his transformations while operating under the alias of "Mr. Blue." Emil BlonskyAbomination (comics)The Abomination is a fictional character, a supervillain that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics...
forces Sterns to give him an injection of Banner's blood. Samuel Sterns states that he does not know what other stuff was put into Blonsky and a mixture of the chemicals and Banner's blood would result in "an abomination." During Blonsky's transformation, Sterns is knocked across the room and some of Banner's blood drips into a cut on his head, which then begins to pulsate and grow, much to his delight. Nelson is signed on to reprise the role in a future film where he would become the Leader.
Video games
- The Leader appears in the HulkHulk (video game)Hulk is a video game based on the 2003 movie of the same name. It was developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Vivendi Games. A signature feature has Eric Bana reprises his role of Bruce Banner...
video game voiced by Michael Dobson. He is working to create New Freehold, a place for Gamma-irradiated mutants. He has teleportation powers along with his usual powers. - Dr. Sterns appears in The Incredible HulkThe Incredible Hulk (2008 video game)The Incredible Hulk is a video game based on the Marvel superhero Hulk and the 2008 film. The console versions were released on June 5, 2008 and the PC version was released on June 10, 2008...
video game voiced by Tim Blake NelsonTim Blake NelsonTim Blake Nelson is an American director, writer, singer, and actor.-Early life:Nelson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Ruth Kaiser Nelson, who is a noted social activist and philanthropist in Tulsa, and a geologist father...
. He helps out Hulk when it came to using a device to clean up the chemical bombs set off by the Enclave and use the prototype cure on a building infected by Enclave. When General Thunderbolt Ross has Bruce Banner and Betty Ross taken into military custody, Emil Blonsky coerces Sterns to give him an injection of Banner's blood. Samuel Sterns states that he doesn't know what other stuff was put into him and a mixture of the chemicals and Banner's blood would result in an "Abomination."