Captain America: Brave New World: Samuel Sterns, The Leader, Explained

Note: Spoilers follow for Captain America: Brave New World in regards to the plot of the movie and The Leader.

I might be one of the few, but I actually didn’t mind Captain America: Brave New World. As I mentioned in my review, it’s far from perfect, but it’s at least a lot of fun. I knew going in that the movie had undergone a lot of rewrites, reshoots, additions, and cuts. However, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t all that bad. There are definitely some cool moments—and yes, some cringe-worthy and not-so-cool ones, too.

One of those pleasantly surprising moments for me was The Leader. I thought Harrison Ford and the Red Hulk were going to be the villains, and I expected to be lectured about “Trump.” The good news is there was no message in regards to Trump at all. Maybe the reshoots took care of that.

The Leader is the true villain

So it’s actually revealed that The Leader is the true villain of the movie who has been pulling Ross and the Red Hulk’s strings all along. Captain America: Brave New World is really more a sequel to the 2008 The Incredible Hulk movie. I like that. After the movie, I found myself thinking they should dump Mark Ruffalo and bring back Edward Norton. That would f’n rock.

Back to The Leader—it’s revealed that Ross sought out Samuel Sterns because he was dying from a bad heart. Since Sterns is one of the smartest people alive, Ross figured he could save him. Ever since The Incredible Hulk, Ross had been using Sterns to develop advanced weapons and technology, furthering his own career all the way to the White House while keeping Sterns locked away in a secret location. In exchange for his freedom, Sterns agreed to save Ross’s life. He created three pills that Ross had to take daily. Doing the math, it wasn’t hard to figure out that Sterns was feeding Ross gamma radiation—leading to the origin of Red Hulk in the MCU.

Samuel Sterns’ real plan is revealed—he wants to trigger Ross’s transformation into Red Hulk and start a massive war. However, there’s a wrench in the gears: Sam Wilson as Captain America. While Sterns can calculate probabilities and seemingly plan for anything, he can’t quite predict Wilson, who manages to stop him at every turn. Or does he?

In response to the biggest online complaint

The biggest complaint online I’ve seen about The Leader (they don’t call him that in the movie) is that Sterns “simply” gives up and turns himself in at the end. Well, that’s part of his plan, right? At least that’s what I thought. Doesn’t he tell Sam that at the end?

So, where does Sterns end up? He’s sent to The Raft, a special prison built for people with abilities. That means one of the smartest people on the planet is now surrounded by the best—and worst—superpowered villains. Oh, and Ross, along with the Red Hulk, just happens to be among them.

Sterns’ plan all along

I was actually surprised by the reactions online and figured it was a given that Sterns meant to end up in The Raft. Yeah, true, Captain America: Brave New World doesn’t nearly give Sterns enough character development but I didn’t think it was a stretch for Sterns to intentionally put himself among the world’s worst supervillains. I recommend checking out the episodes of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Season 1 Episodes 6 and 7, for an indication of what they could do — that’s assuming there are more plans for The Leader in the MCU.

Mr. Blue explained

Captain America: Brave New World also gives a nice nod to the The Incredible Hulk movie by using the song “Mr. Blue” by The Fleetwoods, which is used by Sterns to mind control people. In The Incredible Hulk, when Banner is trying to find a cure, he’s working with an anonymous internet user who goes by the name Mr. Blue who is revealed to be Sterns.

The look of The Leader

What about The Leader’s look in Captain America: Brave New World? You know what? I didn’t mind it at all. I’m a big fan of Hulk comics, but I never really liked The Leader’s design. He’s got that goofy “Dick Dastardly” mustache and a cone-shaped head with a massive receding hairline.

Probably the best version of The Leader is Dale Keown’s, but even then, he looks like he has two testicles on his head (and both versions are really a take on which “head” is smarter, right? LOL). Of course, if Sterns appears again in the MCU, they could easily make his look more comic-accurate by explaining that he’s mutated further.

Captain America: Brave New World: Yeah, not perfect. But not a total disaster.