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This article, Samuel Sterns (Earth-61615), is property of MarvelousMarty.
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Real Name
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Samuel Sterns
Current Alias
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Aliases
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Red Leader, Big Head Guy, Ultra Genius, Superior Intelligence, Mr. Blue, Hitman, Burt Kenyon

Identity
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Alignment
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Affiliation
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Hydra, Intelligencia (founder and former leader), Advanced Idea Mechanics (collaborators)

Relatives
Unnamed parents (estranged);
Philip Sterns (brother; deceased)

Universe
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Base Of Operations
Mobile; formerly imprisoned at the Raft

Characteristics
Gender
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Height
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Eyes
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Hair
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Unusual Features
Enlarged cranium

Status
Citizenship
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Marital Status
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Occupation
Would-be world conqueror; former laborer in a chemical research facility; Megalomaniac, Hydra agent and superior

Education
High school dropout, is self-taught to the equivalent of doctorate level in most sciences

Origin
Origin
Mutated by gamma radiation.

Place of Birth
Boise, Idaho

First appearance

Modern Comics: Hulk Vol 1 5


History

Quote1 I see my future unfolding. It is an illustrious future defined by power and influence. A future that begins this very instant... Quote2
The Leader

Early Years

Samuel Sterns (born 1973) is a cellular biologist and Grayburn College professor who was finding a cure for Bruce Banner, whose monstrous transformation as the Hulk was something Banner had perceived to be a detrimental condition at the time, albeit Samuel saw it as something incredible on the other hand since it rendered his friend into a nigh-invincible state beyond superhuman. When he was affected by Banner's blood on his head's open wound when he was caught in the battle against the Hulk and Abomination, Sterns' mind suffered a rapid mutation, greatly increasing his mental abilities yet losing his own sanity in the process, later turning him into the Gamma-powered professional criminal and supervillain known as the Leader.

The Leader

Sterns' mutation went wild, and his brain power incremented exponentially, increasing his mutation and enlarging his cranium even more, driving him more insane. 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 his former ally Bruce Banner, the Hulk, who clashed against him on numerous occasions. He was later captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. a few times after his defeats but was freed by Hydra and sent to work with their special unit division known as the Intelligencia to continue his research into creating gamma-powered soldiers and battle S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers, and many other superheroes and supervillains who would oppose their plans of world domination.

The Intelligencia

Eventually the Intelligencia became an independent but remained a secret criminal semi-organization several years after the Ultimate War has finally ended. At some point, the Leader begins to recruit other supervillains of genius intellect in order to combat their foes. In collaboration with the scientific terrorist organization Advanced Idea Mechanics, they planned to restore the information of the Library of Alexandria by stealing the info from various sources across the world in their lifelong mission to rebuild a better society from the shadows, something that the villanous society had enacted around 2020, when the surviving leaders of the Intelligencia had planned to establish their society in the United States, composed of great yet menacing scientific and technological minds.

Schemes amidst Decimation

At one point around the spring of 2020, the Leader was revealed to be one of the randomly determined survivors during Thanos' cosmic Decimation. It was during those time that the Leader was hunted down by the mercenary Taskmaster while he was inside a classified and abandoned A.I.M. laboratory under the orders of S.H.I.E.L.D. who caught the Leader's activities since his recent involvement with the Intelligencia seven months since they reformed amidst the chaos and confusion of the Decimation, collecting various information about the expanded history and tracing the whereabouts of the Intelligencia in hiding. He was attacked by the mercenary but failed after he was shot by the superweapon he had invented and was meant to use against the Intelligencia's target.

Breeding Perfect Soldiers

Taskmaster manages to escape the scene, leaving a trail of blood inside the area of the lab. Sterns collected the samples of his blood and examined it, coming up with the hypothesis that it might be usable into creating a new army of super-soldiers for the Intelligencia, capable of copying the fighting moves of their opponents. After revealing that Taskmaster was a former A.I.M. agent turned S.H.I.E.L.D., Samuel planned a tactic that would cause for A.I.M. to turn on S.H.I.E.L.D. once again. He decided to create a serum from Taskmaster's blood that he used for himself so he can gain his powers and abilities of combat mimicry as well.

Becoming the Hitman

The Leader Armor 61615

The Leader posing as the notorious and dangerous Hitman

He injected the newly synthesized serum on himself and began training before he became a fully trained combatant. In the following weeks, the Leader used his new identity by the name of Burt Kenyon, taking the name of a hitman who was snapped out of existence, wherein he used advanced technology to craft his face using the Photostatic Veil, also known as a Nano Mask, in order to trick his allies and foes alike into thinking that this once retired mercenary and assassin has returned to claim his name in the criminal underworld.

Finally, he used his newly-gained skills to become the newest highly-skilled mercenary known as the Hitman and began his journey eliminating the most skilled mercenaries in the entire country that A.I.M. could have ever offer, so he can frame Taskmaster and S.H.I.E.L.D. for being responsible in the every assault that he'll plan to do as an act of revenge. As the Hitman, Samuel had neutralized most of the most elite mercenaries and several agents who were members of A.I.M., and as a result the organization became angry and searched and have concluded that the only person who can do this sort of ability is a former member of A.I.M., and the best one that they could match is Taskmaster, who is now a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

Facing the Taskmaster

Taskmaster 61615

Hitman faces the very man who was the source of his powers: Taskmaster

The Leader's plans was closest from working until Taskmaster gathered help from his currently-joined agency S.H.I.E.L.D., revealing that he wasn't really the one who were responsible for the killings and someone else was doing the assassinations and was framing him so A.I.M. can attack S.H.I.E.L.D. for the last time. During A.I.M.'s assault in the Playground, Hitman was watching in a vantage point in the area where no one can see him, so that he could watch the attack. He was entertained and was still watching when the area was infiltrated by the armed forces of the criminal organization, battling S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who were defending the facility, until he was ambushed by Taskmaster, leading into a fight between them.

With Sam's genius tactics plus Taskmaster's DNA inside his system, he outmatches Taskmaster at first until his powers fully unleashed, mimicking every move that Samuel had from earlier to now, successfully beating him to a pulp. Taskmaster approaches a weakened Hitman until he drops a smoke grenade, vanishing from the scene. Though he dropped a dog tag covered in blood (in actuality it was the blood of "Burt Kenyon," which had been artificially made by Sterns himself), causing for Taskmaster to think that he dropped it accidentally, but little did he know, it was all part of Stern's plan.

After knowing Hitman's "true identity," S.H.I.E.L.D. agents led by Phil Coulson's Team, momentarily led by Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie in his absence (Coulson was snapped), was sent to investigate the location in which they have tracked Kenyon in his apartment. The team searched and inspected the area in searching for Kenyon, but he wasn't found anywhere. They kept on searching until an agent found a phone beeping in the bedroom. Before picking it up, Quake — who realized that this was all a set-up — tried to stop him until it was too late when other agents picked it up, triggering the bomb contained inside the phone, blowing up the entire room, killing most of the agents. Only a few agents, notably the named ones, had survived the following destruction before they were approached by Burt Kenyon, who was just arriving at the apartment.

Quake chases a fleeing Kenyon, chasing him 'till they reach through the roof of the building before Phil manages to tackle Kenyon. They fought for a while until Mack grabbed his blaster and shoots Kenyon on the chest, seemingly killing him. Mackenzie approached the body but as he leaves, his leg was grappled by Kenyon, revealing his survival. Kenyon smashed Mackenzie to the ground, and when he was about to stab him, he was shot repeatedly by Mackenzie from behind with his rifle along with Daisy blew Kenyon into smithereens with her powers. After Kenyon's "death," Quake's destructive powers revealed that Kenyon isn't a human at all but it was a Life-Model Decoy built by someone else. Coulson's Team was suddenly ambushed by Intelligencia henchmen led by a fully-suited Hitman, shooting all of the members, except for Mack, May, and Phil leaving them outnumbered.

Real Identity Revealed

The Leader was about to exterminate Mackenzie and the remainder of the team, until several S.H.I.E.L.D. forces led by former director Nick Fury along with Agent 13 and Deathlok have arrived, saving them from Intelligencia. The Hitman tried to escape the battle between two organizations, but was stopped by Taskmaster. They battle it out once again and but unlike the last time, Hitman's skills was more improvised that Taskmaster couldn't even copy his moves until Taskmaster managed to counteract Hitman's advances, thanks to Deathlok's assistance, with his own and got the chance to get a plasma cannon and aimed it at his head shooting his helmet.

Hitman survived but was weakened and his helmet was severely destroyed creating a disfigured opening that shows his face, due to the blast caused by the powerful weapon, revealing his true identity to Taskmaster and the rest of his foes. Leader, who is now revealed as the Hitman all along, pulls out the most powerful weapon he built, a prototype duplicate of the Asgardian Destroyer and unleashed it on the ground, releasing a powerful shockwave of energy that killed several agents from both sides and injured a few civilians in the town that they were battling out each other.

As a result of his megalomania, he injected more of the enhanced serum, at the cost of enlarging his cranium even further, increasing his insanity towards power and destruction. May, Deathlok, and Taskmaster faced Sterns, while Fury, Mackenzie, and Quake fought the Destroyer. They managed to deactivate the automaton while Sterns injected the last remaining sample of the serum on himself, enlarging his cranium in which to the point where his head could unconditionally erupt in any moment due to it's unstable condition.

Dumbfounding Defeat

With all the efforts of May, Deathlok, and Taskmaster, they finally delivered a final blow, defeating an unstable Sterns who was already weakened due to the overdose of his serum. In the end, Sterns somehow woke up and dropped his last smoke grenade, attempting to escape until he was shot at his leg by Agent 13 with a stun gun previously used by an Intelligencia agent, preventing Sterns from ever running away. In his weakened and almost dying state, Sterns was finally apprehended by Jeffrey Mace and held him imprisoned in the Raft.

A Prophetic Warning

Before his imprisonment around the early 2020s, he went through surgical operations in order to stabilize his cranium to prevent it from ever enlarging. After waking up from a coma in his containment cell days later, he was confronted by Mace and had a conversation, telling him that he would suffer for his criminal actions for the rest of his life unless he tells about his group's plans, in a nicely and calmly but aggressive way. Sterns remained silent, looking at Mace, proving to stay loyal on Hydra, most especially the Intelligencia which he seemed to have valued more than anything. Due to his quiet response, Mace just welcomed Sterns for saving his life in the end, before leaving the Raft. The Leader then sarcastically thanks Mace as a response before he could leave then grins, telling that a new sense of impending doom is coming soon, and Mace will be one of those to perish. While he was gone, he let his fellow Intelligencia co-leader, the Wizard, lead the team in command instead, long before he was expected to be defeated by his enemies in the process.


Powers and Abilities

Powers

Super-Genius Intelligence: After his head was affected by Banner's blood, the Leader has gained superhuman mental acumen and a few superhuman abilities. He possesses enhanced intuition, pattern solving, information storage and retrieval, and logical and philosophical structuring. The potential of his intelligence is nearly unlimited.

  • Telepathy
  • Telekinesis
  • Gamma Radiation Projection
  • Superhuman Strength
  • Superhuman Durability
  • Combat Mimicry (Due to Taskmaster's DNA) (formerly)
    • Photographic Reflexes (formerly)
    • Near-Superhuman Mimicry (formerly)
    • Physical Movement Prediction (formerly)
Power Grid [1]
Intelligence*
Strength*
 2
Speed*
 2
Durability*
 2
Energy Projection*
Fighting Skills
* Can be increased due to continuous Gamma exposure


Abilities

  • Master Scientist
    • Knowledge of Genetics
    • Knowledge of Physics
    • Knowledge of Robotics
  • Multilingual
  • Master Tactician and Strategist
  • Expert Marksman
  • Weapons Proficiency
  • Trained Combatant

Strength level

Class 10+

Weaknesses

  • Megalomania


Paraphernalia

Equipment:

  • Vibranium-Titanium-laced Armor
    • The Hitman's Armor
  • Devices with a variety of functions

Transportation:

  • Highly advanced vehicles
  • Various death machines

Weapons:

  • An army of robotic Humanoids
  • A unique assortment of weaponry


Notes

  • No special notes.
  1. Modern Comics: Hulk Vol 1 27


Trivia

  • No trivia.



See Also


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Links and References

  • None.



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