THE LEADER (Samuel Sterns)
Created By: Stan Lee & Steve Ditko
First Appearance: Tales to Astonish #62 (Dec. 1964)
Role: The Hulk's Arch-Nemesis, Evil Scientist, Big-Headed Comic Book Villain
Group Affiliations: The Intelligencia, The Humanoids, The Freehold/New Freehold, Riot Squad
PL 10 (134)
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 10 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 1
Skills:
Deception 7 (+8)
Expertise (Science) 10 (+20)
Expertise (Current Events) 7 (+17)
Insight 2 (+5)
Investigation 2 (+5)
Perception 3 (+6)
Persuasion 2 (+3)
Stealth 2 (+4)
Technology 10 (+20)
Treatment 4 (+14)
Vehicles 3 (+7)
Advantages:
Eidetic Memory, Equipment 5 (Lab & Junk), Inventor, Ranged Attack 6, Skill Mastery 2 (Science, Technology), Ultimate Science & Technology Skills
Powers:
"Super-Genius"
Quickness 6 (Flaws: Limited to Mental Actions) [3]
Mind Control 8 (Flaws: Touch Range -2) (16) -- [17]
- AE: Telekinetic Blast 6 (12)
Unarmed +4 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Mind Control +4 (+8 Affliction, DC 18)
Telekinetic Blast +10 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +2
Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +2, Fortitude +5, Will +8
Complications:
Motivation (Power)- The Leader wishes to rule the world.
Enemy (The Hulk)- The Green Goliath is nearly always there to confound The Leader, whether as Banner or as The Hulk.
Prejudice (Obvious Superhuman)- The Leader has a giant head, and is bright green.
Power Loss (Mind Control)- The Leader's Mind Control Touch will not work against individuals that have been mutated by gamma radiation.
Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 52--26 / Advantages: 17 / Powers: 20 / Defenses: 17 (134)
-I've always found The Leader a pretty asinine character- easily my least-favorite of all of Marvel's bigger villains. I think it's because he reminds me too much of a goofy DC villain, with his green skin and giant head- he just looks like an idiot. The fact that he's a super-genius who keeps getting confounded by a guy so dumb he could get fooled by a "Your shoe's untied" joke- despite going around barefoot- just makes it worse. He was just some normal menial laborer until an accident with Gamma Radiation turned him into a super-genius (to contrast the same stuff turning Bruce Banner into a giant green idiot).
-A lot of plots in the Hulk book generally turn out to be stories involving The Leader- easily his most notable nemesis aside from "Thunderbolt" Ross. Hell, at one point, he ruins Banner's wedding to Betty by zapping him into becoming the Savage Hulk! He also loses his intelligence briefly, but convinces the Gray Hulk to help him regain it- paying him by making him the Hulk full-time. His previous "giant forehead" silly look was eventually replaced... by a "giant brain" silly look- this one oddly sticking around and becoming his "iconic" look. His mind got linked to that of Rick Jones, necessitating him resurrecting Marlo Chandler when she was killed- Rick's own pain was causing him terrible agony. He would create groups like the Riot Squad and Rock & Redeemer, sending them against the Hulk, and generally tried to take over the world a thousand times... somehow always being beaten by the stupidest superhero on Earth. Seriously, at least DOCTOR DOOM only jobs when it's Reed Richards fighting him.
-The Leader was briefly killed, but his disembodied consciousness had evolved "beyond the need for a body", and naturally Back-To-Basics Syndrome put him back in the same body type, after he died again trying to take over the Hulk's body. Later, in modern times, he was responsible for the death of Hiroim of The Warbound. Hell, he's actually died or gotten sick A LOT (sometimes in stories where he's resurrected at the end, which don't really "count"- if they do, he's like 5x Jean Grey at this point), and was recently depowered back to regular "Samuel Sterns" before returning as the Red Leader in Thunderbolts for a run, turning back to the green Leader only when "Doc Green" Hulk began depowering Gamma-powered beings all over the world- Sterns wrote a "redirect" into himself, allowing him to reform as the Leader after being de-powered.
-Honestly, though, his history is just one damn thing after the other, as writers seemingly try every gimmick possible with the dude- he's in that uncomfortable zone where he's supposedly a "Super-Genius", but is noticeably dumber than say, Doctor Doom. Honestly, the name is a hindrance as well- what kind of name is "The Leader"? So he's this dorkily-named, dorky-looking dork with a terrible gimmick and an ineffectual career- you think ARCADE suffered from credibility problems? How do you routinely fail to outsmart The Incredible Hulk? He may be the most "Stuck in the Silver Age" villain in all of Marvel, too- his entire thing is that he's a Deformed Evil Genius who constantly fails in his schemes.
-The Leader is generally just a really, really smart guy- a step behind Reed Richards or Victor Von Doom, but not by much. His general schtick is that you'll almost never fight him directly- just an army of robots once you uncover whatever secret scheme or conspiracy he's hatching now. He's PL 10 with his Skills, but will generally be higher with a Super-Science Weapon or something. Also he apparently has mental powers.