Some Marvel fans likely expected The Leader to return in Captain America: New World Order. His comic book past actually hints at his surprising screen future.
Marvel Comics fans know The Leader challenges the Hulk in comics and other media, but his long history, going back to the Silver Age, also includes other characters. His comic book journey includes many surprises for casual fans that may help unlock what the MCU has in store for this iconic supervillain.
Tales To Astonish
The Leader first appears in Tales To Astonish #64 in 1964, making him among the earliest Marvel Comics villains. Co-created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Samuel Sterns gains superhuman intelligence thanks to exposure to gamma-irradiated waste. His experience also physically altered him, giving him green skin and an enlarged head.
The Leader establishes himself among the coolest Hulk villains in comics right away, contrasting the Hulk's mindless strength with arguably the most powerful intellect in the Marvel Universe.
Expanding Mind
The Leader proves a major threat to the Hulk and other heroes thanks to his nearly infinite genius. He generally applies his knowledge and potential to inventions, especially technology that leverages gamma power. This included the OmniVac, a space station he constructed as his headquarters.
His superhuman powers expanded to include telepathy and telekinesis, though neither work very well on the Hulk. They do work on most other people, and he's able to control minds as well as erase memories.
The Humanoids
The Leader only got started in 2008's The Incredible Hulk so the MCU has yet to really explore his potential. Captain America: New World Order may capitalize on his promise as a villain by introducing the Humanoids. He invented these androids specifically to combat the Hulk, and in large numbers, they proved successful.
The Leader manufactured them with a spongy outer shell that absorbed blunt force, effectively diluting the Hulk's strength, as well as armed them with numerous weapons including nerve agents that could knock out the Hulk.
He Crashed Hulk's Wedding
Bruce Banner's love life in the MCU seems on the back burner, but in the comics, he almost got married to Betty Ross. The Leader crashed the wedding literally by mentally manipulating the Rhino into attacking the ceremony, causing Bruce Banner to transform into the Hulk.
The Rhino, among the most powerful Spider-Man villains in the comics, broke free of The Leader's control and sought to fight Hulk for his own purposes. The Rhino and Hulk both count among the few individuals in the comics that The Leader struggles to control.
Half-Life
In The Incredible Hulk #342, among the best Hulk comics from the 1980s, The Leader augmented a villain called Half-Life in order to fight the Hulk. Half-Life emerged from a broader plan on The Leader's part to resurrect the dead and use them for his own purposes, something that may play a role in the MCU.
At this time, The Leader possessed General Thunderbolt Ross' corpse. Zzzax had killed Ross but The Leader brought him back as an automaton with technology he developed to maintain his gamma powers. This unsettling development may play a role in the MCU depending on the fate of Ross in live-action. Ross turned into the Red Hulk in later comics and also led the Thunderbolts.
Omnibus
An obscure storyline from the 1990s may play a role in The Leader's MCU return. The Leader appeared to die but his consciousness inhabited the body of another villain, Omnibus. Omnibus then launched a devastating wave of terrorist attacks across the world, something that could happen in New World Order.
He did this from Freehold, a city he built beneath the ice in the Arctic Circle. The Leader may use this base in live-action, or it may belong to the New World Order, which in the comics was founded by the Red Skull. They originally operated out of the Amazon in the comics.
Intelligencia
Comic book fans know The Illuminati includes the most brilliant superhero minds in the Marvel Universe. The Intelligencia combines the insidious supervillains. The Leader helped found the organization, which includes many other highly-intelligent villains, including M.O.D.O.K. and in more recent iterations, Mr. Sinister.
The Intelligencia formed long before anyone knew, similar to The Illuminati, and likely forms in the MCU as well. They actually triggered the original 1985 Secret Wars event by experimenting with a tachyon ray that attracted The Beyonder's attention.
Red Leader
The Intelligencia directly led to Thunderbolt Ross becoming the Red Hulk, as they may in the MCU. They also eventually led to The Leader becoming Red Leader. When the Intelligencia tried to brainwash several gamma-mutates into helping them take over the world, Red Hulk drained The Leader of all his powers, leaving him a normal man again.
The Red Hulk later applied the same experimental treatment that transformed him on Sterns, causing him to transform into an even more powerful Leader than he had been before.
ing The Thunderbolts
Red Leader ed Red Hulk's powerful Thunderbolts squad and comic book fans know this connection more than any other may signal The Leader's MCU future. Red Leader ed a team including The Punisher, Elektra, Ghost Rider, and Deadpool, though he sought to undermine it from the start.
The Leader's MCU storyline possibly folds into The Thunderbolts movie. With both that movie and New World Order appearing in 2024, they may share connective tissue that leverages The Leader's comic book lore.
The Immortal Leader
Marvel Comics fans know The Leader became even more powerful in recent comics. The Leader discovered The Green Door during his death and resurrections in past comics, a cosmic entrance to The Below Place, the realm of the One Below All, and the source of all gamma-powered beings in existence.
ing through The Green Door made The Leader functionally immortal, as it did Hulk. The Leader attempted to usurp The One Below All but ultimately became possessed by him, leading to an epic confrontation with the ultimate fate of the multiverse at stake.
