Leader (character)

The Leader (Samuel Sterns) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Tales to Astonish #62 (December 1964), created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko as the archenemy of the Hulk.

He was a simple American worker in a chemical plant in a menial capacity until an accident working with radioactive material bombarded him with gamma radiation, turning his skin green and making his head grow. The radiation increased his intelligence to genius-level along with his ego and ambition to match. This led him into conflict with the Hulk becoming his self-proclaimed arch-enemy. Having died and being revived several times, the Leader became obsessed with the afterlife, having experimented with the Green Doors and learned of the existence of the One Below All and the Below-Place, though all of this would culminate in him being possessed and then ripped out of the entity, powerless and reduced to a normal human. In spite everything he had done, the Hulk forgave Sam and returned him to the Earthly Plane.

Adaptations

The character has been adapted from the comics into various forms of media, including television series and video games. Samuel Sterns made his cinematic debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie The Incredible Hulk (2008), portrayed by Tim Blake Nelson, and will return in Captain America: Brave New World (2024). In 2009, the Leader was ranked as IGN's 63rd Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.