Meet the Leader, the Hulk's Calculating Adversary

The Hulk was born in an explosion of gamma radiation that ripped through Bruce Banner and transformed the scientist into a rampaging giant. However, Samuel Sterns experienced a different transformation when exposed to gamma radiation.

Instead of altering his body, the gamma radiation mutated the janitor's brain, granting him superhuman intelligence and a massive head. With his new abilities, Sterns became the Leader, one of the Hulk's most enduring and calculating foes.

Through his endless plans, the Leader destroyed towns and outsmarted death numerous times. While the public might call the Hulk a monster, the Leader and his lethal cruelty have shown the Marvel Universe what a true monster looks like.

Let’s look at the Leader's exploits and his journey to earning a place as one of the Hulk's deadliest enemies. From their first encounters to battles that took them to the edge of existence, the Leader proved there are some threats that the Hulk can't smash his way through, despite his immense power.  

HOW THE LEADER GOT HIS POWERS

The Leader debuted in TALES TO ASTONISH (1959) #62 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. While working at a chemical plant, Samual Sterns turned into a gamma mutate when a radioactive canister exploded and doused him in radiation. After the incident, Sterns read every book he could find, his skin turned green, and his head and skull expanded dramatically.  
 
As he refashioned himself into the Leader, he set his sights on taking over the United States. The Leader tried to steal one of Bruce Banner's inventions, but he encountered the Hulk, who he fought and briefly recruited.

As one of the most intelligent people on Earth, the Leader created an army of robotic Humanoids to carry out his plans. However, his arrogance has led him to many defeats. Beyond his intellect, the Leader also possesses mental powers like telekinesis and mind-control abilities.

Through his multiple deaths and resurrections, the Leader also developed a deep connection to the Below Place, a hellish afterlife for Hulks controlled by the One-Below-All. Although that dark entity ultimately possessed him, the Leader developed the abilities to absorb knowledge, resurrect himself, and control which other gamma mutates could exit the realm through the Green Door, a portal from the Below Place back to life.

HULK VS THE LEADER

After his first encounter with the Hulk resulted in his death and resurrection, the Leader established himself as one of Bruce Banner’s primary enemies. The Leader attacked Banner’s wedding with Betty Ross, built a space station called Omnivac, and tried to turn everyone on Earth into a gamma mutate under his command on multiple occasions.

When his powers began fading, the Leader manipulated the Hulk into giving him another dose of gamma radiation in INCREDIBLE HULK (1962) #332 by Peter David and Todd McFarlane. With a grotesque new appearance and a brain that seemed ready to burst out of his skull, the Leader launched one of his most destructive attacks in INCREDIBLE HULK (1962) #345. The Leader set off a gamma bomb in a small Arizona town called Middletown, which killed thousands.

The Leader then formed a group called the Riot Squad with the town's handful of gamma-irradiated survivors and founded an underground city called Freehold. After the Hulk killed the Leader, Sterns’ spirit possessed Omnibus, a Riot Squad member. However, a polar bear ate his new host.

THE LEADER REBUILDS

Following his time in Freehold, the Leader went through one of his most extreme transformations in HULK (1999) #31. After taking over the body of a scorpion-like creature, the Leader transformed into a monstrous form that filled up a cavernous room.

Around the same time, Bruce Banner developed ALS, a degenerative disease. The Leader summoned Banner, offered him a cure for his condition, and made him witness his death as he went through a Green Door, a portal to the Below Place.

Fully committed to the One-Below-All, the Leader created an organization called Home Base to hunt the Hulk and steal his body. After the Leader returned to his traditional form, S.H.I.E.L.D. captured Sterns and put him on trial for various crimes. However, Sterns was found not guilty by reason of insanity in SHE-HULK (2005) #19.

After WORLD WAR HULK, the Leader faced the Warbound, Hulk's gladiatorial alien allies. The Leader also kidnapped Marlo Chandler, a longtime Hulk ally, and transformed her into the monstrous Harpy.   

THE LEADER AND THE RED HULK

General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross has hunted down Bruce Banner ever since he became the Hulk. But when the Illuminati exiled the Hulk to a distant planet, Ross needed a new mission. He received one from the Leader and M.O.D.O.K., two genius villains who teamed up with the Wizard, Mad Thinker, Red Ghost, and Egghead to form the Intelligencia in FALL OF THE HULKS ALPHA (2009) #1.

As part of their plans for world domination, the Leader and his allies infused Ross with gamma radiation and transformed him into the Red Hulk. While working with Ross, the Leader and his allies also revived a dead Betty Ross as the Red She-Hulk and turned Rick Jones into the Hulk-like A-Bomb.

With help from the Hulk's old ally Doc Samson, the Intelligencia transformed numerous heroes and civilians into Hulks with a Cathexis Ray as part of their continuing plans against Banner. When Ross realized that the Intellegencia turned his daughter into a Hulk, he tore through the villains and absorbed all of the Leader's gamma radiation, which made him Samuel Sterns again, in HULK (2008) #23. 

THE RED LEADER

When General Ross brought the Punisher, Elektra, Deadpool, and Agent Venom (Flash Thompson) together to form a new Thunderbolts team, he recruited the Leader to round out his team. 

After the Punisher shot and killed a depowered Sterns, General Ross used red gamma radiation to resurrect the villain and transform him into the Red Leader in THUNDERBOLTS (2012) #4 by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon.

While operating as a member of the lethal strike force that proactively dealt with threats, the Red Leader helped the group take down his criminal brother, Madman. The Red Leader served as the team's chief technical and intelligence officer and secretly plotted against his new team, going so far as to make a deal with Mephisto to increase his knowledge of the occult.

When the Punisher left the group, the Red Leader manipulated the vigilante into targeting the team. The Red Leader faked his death by using a robotic duplicate of himself and set up a criminal empire in Kata Jaya. The Punisher and the Thunderbolts left the Red Leader gazing into Ghost Rider's terrorizing Penance Stare, but he escaped thanks to his dealings with Mephisto.

THE LEADER AND THE NEW INTELLIGENCIA

After his time with the Thunderbolts, the Leader continued his endless quest for knowledge, bringing him face-to-face with the Hulk and his allies once more.

When the Hulk developed a ruthless new persona named Doc Green, he attacked the Leader and absorbed his red gamma radiation in HULK (2014) #13. However, the Leader regained his intelligence and green skin by merging his mind with Gammon, an A.I. created by Hulk's Doc Green persona.

With Mister Sinister, M.O.D.O.K., and the Mad Thinker, the Leader formed the New Intelligencia and targeted Kid Kaiju, a young Inhuman who could summon giant monsters, in MONSTERS UNLEASHED (2017) #1.  
 
The Leader also encountered Weapon H, a Hulk-like creation with Wolverine-esque claws. After briefly manipulating the Hulk and Wolverine through nano-technology, the Leader had a short-lived romance with a Weapon X scientist named Aliana Alba.

THE LEADER AND THE ONE BELOW ALL

After all his afterlife experiences in the Below Place, the Leader learned about the One-Below-All's plans to become the only being in existence and decided to help the dark entity.

As he recounted his unseen history with the One-Below-All, the Leader met the late Brian Banner, the Hulk's father, in the Below Place in IMMORTAL HULK (2018) #34 by Al Ewing and Butch Guice. Through the Green Door, the Leader took mental control over Rick Jones and Green Scar, one of the Hulk’s personas during his time as a gladiator on the planet Sakaar.

The Leader tormented the Hulk and his various personas by attacking his allies like Doc Samson. After the Leader transformed into a scorpion-like creature once more, the One-Below-All took possession of him and turned his body into a massive fortress in the Below Place.

Although he tried to channel their gamma energy into the One-Below-All, the Hulk and his personas separated the Leader from the One-Below-All. The Hulks forgave the fully depowered Sterns but took him into custody, where they left him to think about his numerous crimes and defeats. 

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