Who is The Leader? Exploring origins and powers amidst announcement of being the villain in Captain America 4

14 years after The Incredible Hulk, the setup for The Leader/Samuel Stern is all set to pay off. Announced at Disney's D23 Expo this weekend, it was revealed that Tim Blake Nelson will return as Samuel Stern in Captain America: New World Order. Not only that, but he will be the main villain for the film as well.

The Leader's return in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is set to be an exciting one. While being a huge villain in the Marvel Comics, Stern has faced off against many superheroes and has even outmatched them on many occasions.

So, with his return being confirmed here, let's take a look at who he is and what his origins are.

Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, The Leader first appeared in Tales to Astonish #62 back in September 1964. Being one of Hulk's primary villains, there is a lot to the character of Samuel Sterns.

According to Fandom, Samuel Stern used to work at a chemical plant that would see him in a freak accident. When a chemical-containing Gamma radiation cracked open, he was exposed to a heavy dose of it. While this could have been fatal, somehow he survived it.

Originally, Sterns was a slow-witted child with not much intelligence to him. However, he would be surprised at the fact that after this accident he became extremely intelligent and consisted vast amounts of knowledge.

Obsessed with learning more, he would continue to gain information about anything and everything, but the side effects of the accident would start showing up.

With his skin turning green and the size of his brain expanding, he would abandon his human name. Sterns would later start referring to himself as The Leader, and this is how he starts a criminal organization and focuses on taking over the United States of Government.

This puts him on a path with Marvel's Green Goliath as well, where both trade blows from time-to-time.

Being the arch-nemesis of The Hulk, The Leader is quite strong too. Possessing supreme intellect, he can use telekinesis as well and has telepathy. He can self-resurrect too and has cheated death on many occasions while being able to shoot projectiles of gamma as well.

With the return of The Leader in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there is a huge gap since we last saw him. Tim Blake Nelson portrayed Samuel Stern in The Incredible Hulk which saw him help Banner with his condition and try to cure him.

However, when he would turn Emil Blonsky into the Abomination, he would smash his head and fall to the ground. This would see some of Banner's Gamma irradiated blood fall into his wound as the shape of his cranium would begin to change.

It will be quite interesting to see him take on Captain America instead of the Hulk as the two have hardly interacted in the comics.

Captain America: New World Order releases on May 3, 2024.