8 Great Characters Marvel Movies Have Completely Screwed Up

3. The Leader

Like many of the comic book movies which came out before Marvel Studios started perfecting the formula, The Incredible Hulk (in many ways the black sheep of the MCU) had a very annoying habit of introducing characters with familiar names and doing jack sh*t with them. I've already covered Doc Samson, but The Leader is even worse for the sole reason that Marvel attempted to cram an origin story in for the villain. After introducing Samuel Sterns as an ally to Bruce Banner, a cut to the head and some of the Green Goliath's bloody coincidentally hitting the wound started his transformation into iconic Hulk villain The Leader. While it's understandable that he hasn't shown up since due to the lack of another movie for the Jade Giant, how Marvel could have ever had him go from being a friend of Bruce's with a slightly lumpy head and greater intelligence to that classic bad guy is hard to say, especially as a comic book sequel later revealed that Black Widow shot him and took the scientist into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. While this may have happened when the MCU was in its infancy, it points to a lack of serious planning on the studio's part and is a waste of a character who could have very easily been an Avengers level threat. It's depressing to think about what might have been, but the casting of Tim Blake Nelson certainly helped to soften the blow as the thought of him being the lead baddie in any comic book movie is far from exciting.