Leader

Gamma radiation released Bruce Banner’s subconscious rage, giving it physical form as the Hulk, an embodiment of strength. So perhaps it was high school dropout Sam Sterns’ desire to be more like his scientist brother Phillip that caused him to transform into the hyper-intelligent Leader when he too was exposed to gamma radiation. Working as a laborer in a government-owned chemical research facility in the Nevada desert, Sam was caught in an explosion when a cylinder of radioactive waste he was moving unexpectedly blew up. Recovering in the hospital, he discovered he had an insatiable thirst for knowledge and rapidly read through every book he could lay his hands on.

Weeks later, Sam underwent a physical transformation as well, when his skin turned green and his skull expanded upwards. Calling himself the Leader, he organized a spy ring to steal scientific secrets, only to find the Hulk an impediment to his plans. Desiring to study his foe, he sent first the Chameleon and then synthetic Humanoids to capture the green behemoth, starting what would become a long-standing feud between them. Time and again, the Leader would use others to battle his foe, employing the Rhino, the Glob, Jackdaw and Arsenal, and even working with General Thunderbolt Ross on one occasion. One time he forced the Hulk to raid the Watcher’s home in the Blue Area of the Moon for the advanced technology within. The Hulk successfully retrieved the Ultimate Machine (a.k.a. the Globe of Ultimate Knowledge), but when the Leader accessed the millions of years’ worth of information within the Machine, even his advanced mind was overwhelmed and he collapsed to the ground, seemingly dead. Another plan saw him impersonate Glenn Talbot and take over Gamma Base using robot doubles, planning to similarly replace the President and Vice-President when they inspected the facility the following day.

A lab accident later left the Leader paralyzed for a prolonged period. During this time he initially used a mind-controlled Rhino to do his bidding. Later he entered into a wager with Kurrgo, the “Master of Planet X,” where they pitted the Thing and the Hulk in battle against one another, with the winner gaining the right to use both “champions” in their future machinations. Instead the champions destroyed Kurrgo’s ship. The Leader finally regained the use of his limbs by deliberately reverting back to the form of Sterns, whose amnesiac form then followed subconscious orders to infiltrate Gamma Base where he exposed himself to radiation to transform back into the Leader. This usurping of the Base, like the previous time, was brought to an end by the combined forces of the Hulk and Doc Samson.

Many of the Leader’s schemes have involved plots to transform others into gamma-mutates under his control. One time, on the pretext of seeking a cure for the Hulk, he duped Dr. Rikki Keegan, a school friend of Banner’s, into obtaining blood samples from his foe. He used these to contaminate Manhattan’s water supply, causing a “Green Flu” which would mutate those it didn’t kill. However, Keegan mutated into a Leader-like being more powerful than her creator, and in order to prevent her from telekinetically wrecking all his equipment, the Leader was forced to administer the antidote, which was then used to cure the rest of the victims. Subsequently he traveled back in time to Earth’s primeval past to alter mankind’s evolution so that all humanity would become gamma people. This latter plan brought him into conflict with the Avengers as well as his old adversary, and he apparently plunged to his death into a prehistoric volcano. However thanks to a hidden teleportation device, he managed to survive.