Samuel Sterns (Earth-616)

Sam Sterns was once little more than a slow-witted laborer who had never even completed high school. As an adult, Sterns found employment working the night shift at a chemical research plant. One evening, he was moving canisters of waste material when one of the containers cracked open bathing him in gamma radiation. Sterns survived what would normally be a lethal dose of radiation, but not without cost. Initially however, the side-effects seemed completely beneficial. Sterns discovered that his intellect had increased a thousand-fold, and he retained information with the accuracy of a computer. He began reading voraciously, accumulating as much knowledge as he possibly could. Before long however, his gamma-irradiated body continued to mutate. His skin turned permanently green, and his cranium increased in size. ^[1]

Abandoning his true human name, Sterns instead began to refer to himself as the Leader. Over the course of a year, he used his heightened intellect to become a criminal mastermind, and he developed an extensive spy ring with plans of taking control of the United States government. His efforts soon earned him the attention of another gamma-spawned mutation, physicist Dr. Bruce Banner, also known as the Incredible Hulk.

Eventually, Sterns' increased mental capabilities began to lessen. It was not until too late that he noticed this, too late to find a way to cure himself before he was a normal baseline human again. Resigning himself to his fate, he got a job as a coroner's assistant in New Mexico. Much to his surprise, he was asked to help on a job at Gamma Base, to retrieve the body of General Thaddeus Ross after his death at the hands of Zzzax. Sterns killed his co-worker and took the ambulance that had Ross' corpse within, following Bruce Banner, who was on his way to one of his old hidden laboratories. Though he arrived too late to save the gamma-ray equipment that the Hulk destroyed after manipulating Banner into using on himself. He told the now-gray Hulk that he could permanently get rid of Banner if he helped get Rick Jones' version of Hulk's gamma radiation into Sterns' body. Hulk managed to use the knowledge in the Banner part of his brain to construct a new gamma-ray machine before knocking out the Jones-Hulk and strapping him into it. The resulting experiment successfully infused the gamma radiation into Sterns' body but also destroyed the lab, causing Hulk and Jones to believe The Leader had perished. He escaped and stole Ross' body, making his way to one of his own labs.

With his regained intelligence, Sterns also had a larger, bald cranium which was more mutated than his former look. He contacted a being called Half-Life and gave him work to stall the Hulk lest he stop Leader's plotting. After Half-Life's defeat, Leader gathered up his parts and returned him to his base, outfitting him with a suit of armor and a camera, then sending him out again. He knew that Hulk would ultimately win, and so recorded a message to him which he would later leave. He developed technology around this time that was capable of returning life to dead bodies. He used it on General Ross, though the procedure resulted in a waking-coma, life without a mind.

Two former Hulkbusters were convinced to join his ranks and outfitted as Rock and Redeemer. He sent the two to steal a gamma bomb from a US government facility, then had them plant it in Middletown, Arizona. Taunting Hulk with the fact there was a bomb that would go off in mere hours, Leader waited for him to find it before setting Rock and Redeemer on him. In the resulting battle, Hulk was weakened but triumphant, reaching the bomb with minutes remaining. Leader, being a sore loser, had teleported himself, Rock and Redeemer away before manually exploding the bomb. The Leader had shield generators installed around the town, keeping the blast contained, and decimating what would become known as Gammatown. There were only five survivors, who were rounded up by the military. Leader hijacked the vehicle containing them, and took them to his under-ice town of Freehold.

Sterns had been populating Freehold with radiation victims, both great and simple-minded alike, knowing that some form of total-annihilation was due to happen on Earth, by the various world governments sometime in the future. Freehold would survive and they would repopulate. Because of his generosity and kindness, the people loved him.

When Leader next surfaced, he had sent the U-Foes to break into the Pantheon headquarters at The Mount, seeking an audience with Agamemnon. They arranged an agreement that Pantheon would render aid to Freehold if and when it came under attack. He then approached Rick Jones with an offer to revive his dead girlfriend. The transfer of gamma radiation seemed to have bestowed an empathic link between the two, meaning Sterns also felt Rick's loss. He already had the body, all that was left was his consent. It was eventually given and Jones joined Leader, albeit reluctantly. When at Freehold, Jones found that Leader had restored General Ross to life and installed him as the new Redeemer. He began to doubt his decision to bring Marlo back to life if she would only be a vegetable like Ross was, but was placated by Leader who ensured him that he had perfected the process. One of those who did not die in the Gammatown incident, Jason McCall a priest, had the ability to bind the soul back with the resurrected body.

Come under attack Freehold did, when AIM raided the facility seeking to take control of it. Hulk was sent by Agamemnon, both keeping his promise of aid and allowing Hulk to think he was breaking it by simply handing over the position of Freehold for Hulk to take revenge on Leader for the 5,000 killed in Gammatown. The experiment to bring Marlo back to life had been begun and Leader dispatched Jones to stop Hulk from destroying the process before it was completed. Leader had instruments logging everything Soul Man (Father McCall) did, believing that the man's powers could be duplicated to give himself immortality. However, Hulk burst in and destroyed the machine by throwing Leader into Soul Man and it. The Leader did not come out of the resultant explosion.

Sterns resurfaced months later when the Hulk's Warbound escaped from S.H.I.E.L.D. in New York after World War Hulk, he erected a shield around another town and flooded it with gamma radiation. His head was larger and more misshapen, him needing a device on his shoulders simply to stop his neck from being broken by its weight. The device emitting the shield was powered by Hiroim's Oldpower so could only be destroyed by his death. The SHIELD agent with the Warbound discovered that the humans inside the dome would die if it was opened as the gamma radiation was the only thing keeping them alive. The Leader had set it all in motion to bring his body back to full strength after the stress of all of the transformations he's been through since his irradiation.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Intelligence: The Leader has superhuman mental acumen. As a result of the mutagenic process he has undergone he is (in theory) capable of knowledge and comprehension beyond the human ability to understand. He is potentially capable of mastering every worldly subject and capable of adopting concepts completely foreign to his environment. His ability to predict probable outcomes of tactical and strategic scenarios is so advanced that it borders on clairvoyance. His intuition is heightened to the degree that his hunches are almost always correct. The leader has a perfect memory with the ability to recall every moment since the accident that gave him his powers.
Telepathy: In addition to his extraordinary intelligence, the Leader has some psionic powers that enable him to mentally control certain individuals (provided they are weak minded).
Telekinesis: Psychokinesis, among other telekinetic abilities.

Abilities

None known.

Strength level

Normal human male with minimal regular exercise.

Weaknesses

None known.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: The Leader has created devices with a variety of functions. He has developed a means to telepathically control the Hulk and the Rhino.
Transportation: The Leader always has access to various highly advanced vehicles and death machines. One such conveyance, the Murder Module, was used to combat the Hulk during the Leader's brief command of Gamma Base.
Weapons: An army of robotic "humanoids" have been developed by the Leader, able to perform a variety of tasks. The Leader also utilizes a unique assortment of weaponry including laser pistols, pulse weapons, kinetic gauntlets, etc.

Notes

Early appearances of the Leader portrayed him with black hair, but later versions of the character revealed that his hair (before going bald) was actually a very dark green.

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Samuel Sterns (Earth-616)

From Marvel Database

Contents

History

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Abilities

Strength level

Weaknesses

Paraphernalia

Notes

Trivia

See Also

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Links and References

Recommended Readings