10 MCU Movie Teases That Went Absolutely Nowhere

4. The Leader

What Happened

Towards the climax of The Incredible Hulk, villain Emil Blonsky forces Dr Samuel Sterns to inject him with Bruce Banner's blood in the hope that he will be empowered like the Hulk. Predictably, the radioactive blood transforms him into the Abomination and drives him immediately insane. He attacks Sterns and some of the magic blood gets into a cut on Sterns' forehead, immediately mutating him.

What it Teased

In the comics, Sterns became supervillain The Leader who was transformed by contact with radioactive material and took to a life of crime with his army of near-invulnerable Humanoids. Clearly, that was set up for the Incredible Hulk sequel.

But Then...

The Incredible Hulk became a bit of a dead end when it didn't pull up many trees at the box office (even though it outperformed Ang Lee's Hulk) and the possible sequel was shelved and then killed entirely. Instead, Kevin Feige hired Mark Ruffalo and brought Hulk into the Avengers team, dropping the majority of the threads established in The Incredible Hulk, including Sterns' ominous future.