I imagined the army of superhumans scouring the planet had they known of the mental titans of this world convening, however sporadic. And this unparalleled brainpower could only have been brought together by a man with true vision. A Leader.
Introduction
Leader's always been a awesome character to me, basically being the equivalent of Lex Luthor to Hulk: while Hulk was given near unlimited strength, Sterns was given near unlimited intellect from his exposure to Gamma radiation. This in turn made him obsessed with the green dude due to them sharing a backstory and underlining insecurity from Sterns himself.
Leader himself has been all over the place through the decades- from would be world conqueror to enlightened being seeking knowledge to depowered fodder, his character changes a lot, and never really stays the same. However, regardless of this, his feats are easily established always as being insanely intelligent, regardless of his low showings here and there. You'd be surprised at just how much he can do.
While there was a Reddit respect thread on him already, I found that lacking and outdated by multiple years. Considering his role in Immortal Hulk and his eventual feats there as well, making this was a no brainer. There's a ton of stuff here, so pull up a chair.
Enhanced Senses
Can tell that thugs are spying on him for a ambush (when the likes of Deadpool, Punisher, and Elektra, all highly skilled fighters and trackers, had no idea) (Thunderbolts #25)
Intellect
Bruce Banner (already a genius in his own right) has to use Leader's tech in order to build a teleportation device. (The Incredible Hulk #601)
Breaks in and uses one of Bruce Banner's old bases for a bit (She Hulk #18)
Comes to the same conclusion that Doctor Doom did about the collection of knowledge (Fall of the Hulks- Alpha)
Correctly predicts the events of World War Hulk. (Fall of the Hulks- Alpha)
Despite being dead as dirt, he uses his powers to recreate his body by creating drones to rebuild it (Incredible Hulk #31)
Figures out a dude has cancer by smelling it, thinks of sixteen+ ways of killing Red Hulk, Ghost Rider, Elektra, and Punisher and a whole bar of people while dominating playing cards (notice how much money Sterns has compared to everyone else) (Thunderbolts #24)
Figures out Deviant technology (Deviants are highly advanced individuals created by the Celestials and make Earth look like the Stone Age in comparison) (Thunderbolts #24)
Scan 1- Figures out how to cure Banner's ALS, something which the likes of Doc Samson or himself were incapable of solving (Incredible Hulk #31)
Scan 2- Even Reed finds it hard to believe and calls the theory "radical" in how it functioned. Still worked, through.
Figures out Watcher's most dangerous device despite his tech being so advanced that not even the likes of Bruce Banner or Reed Richards could understand it (Tales to Astonish #74)
Scan 1/2- Gets out of Adamantium cuffs casually, but then puts himself back in them like a boss because he predicts that She-Hulk would successfully defend him in his court case and allow him to go free (which guess what....she did) (She Hulk #19)
Gives himself back his powers using specific equipment despite not having access to his full intellect and being completely physically disabled (The Incredible Hulk #224)
Has a network of secret, high tech bases controlled automatically by his Humanoids (we'll get to them, don't worry) (Tales to Astonish #72)
Scan 1/2- His Gamma mutated brain gifted him with a perfect memory and endless hunger for knowledge (Tales of Astonish #63)
Is the only being capable of using the Brain-Wave Booster, a device which converts brain-waves into three dimensional objects (The Incredible Hulk #139)
Knows the Hulk well enough to predict his exact movements (Incredible Hulk #398)
Scan 1/2- Knows things so physically terrifying that upon hearing them, Madman's head blows up (Thunderbolts #6)
Leader understands advanced military tech (the Murder Module) instantly when he gets access to it (The Incredible Hulk #123)
Scan 1/2- Manages to remove a bullet rammed inside the Hulk's head, something Banner was incapable of doing (Tales to Astonish #73)
Scan 1/2/3/4- Manipulates Hiroim into creating Gammaworld by draining his Old Power. (World War Hulk Aftersmash- Warbound #1)
Scan 5/6- As well as this, Leader gained more power simply by people smashing things around by draining the Gamma radiation from them and transferring it to his own body.
Scan 1/2/3- The collected power from Gammaworld is enough to kill Hiroim later on, which is a showcase of how powerful Leader became. (World War Hulk Aftersmash Warbound #5)
Scan 1/2- Manipulates and outsmarts Red Hulk into recharging the Cosmic Hulk using misinfomation and bait (Fall of the Hulks-Red Hulk #1)
Rulk states that, in terms of raw brain power, Sterns is the smartest man on Earth (Thunderbolts #6)
Scan 1/2- Spies on the Watcher with his probe without him noticing (Watcher has amazing extrasensory powers and can see people from galaxies away, yet is incapable of spotting his probe) (Tales to Astonish #73)
Scan 1/2- Successfully designs and uses a time machine (a device that not even some of the smartest minds on Earth can create successfully) as well as using it as a weapon to BFR the Avengers and leave them stranded throughout time and space. (The Incredible Hulk #283)
Scan 3- Later on, Banner realises that this time travel is accomplished via a mathematical code using a piano, somehow. (The Incredible Hulk #284)
Scan 4- Even better, Leader is able to sabotage the time travel process so that the Avengers are brainwashed into believing themselves as apart of the timeline they are in (so Hawkeye becomes Robin Hood, etc)
Scan 1/2- Successfully goes lawyer mode on Mephisto, who's basically the master of bad deals and the devil incarnate. (Thunderbolts #21)
Scan 3- Leader even goes back on this deal and gets even better perks out of it, like a piece of Hell itself and a front row seat to watch his brother get tortured (Thunderbolts #32)
Supergiant finds Sterns's knowledge via her powers before any other genius on Earth (Thunderbolts #16)
Scan 1/2- Survives his own death by preparing for the eventuality using a machine to reverse the effects of his heart attack, thereby reversing death itself (Incredible Hulk #115)
Scan 1/2- Uses a piece of paper to kill two trained agents with ease (Hulkverines #1)
Merges his existing intellect with Gammon, a A.I. that shares Banner's smarts and mind (Immortal Hulk #34)
Magical Capabilities
Scan 1/2- Through Sterns is admittedly not a master of magic, he still manages to disable Ghost Rider's powers and get him killed with a incarnation. (Thunderbolts #25)
Omnivac: Fine Dining in Style
Scan 1/2- The Omnivac is invisible from electronic detection, and usually invisible to the naked eye itself, as well as being massive (The Incredible Hulk #281/3)
Scan 3- The Avengers need Spectrum's powers in order to find the ship in the first place: not even Tony Stark's tech could find it
Has a huge organ on board, because Leader's a fancy snob (The Incredible Hulk #282)
Has lovely fine dining on board, served by Humanoids (The Incredible Hulk #281)
Has hundreds of Humanoids on board ready for greeting (The Incredible Hulk #281)
The Omnivac is literally the size of a small city, it's mega huge (The Incredible Hulk #283)
Has lightspeed teleportation tech to get rid of any unwanted guests (The Incredible Hulk #281)
The material body of Omnivac is strong enough to one shot Hawkeye with a zap (The Incredible Hulk #283)
The Omnivac can scan the entire Earth for signs of the Hulk (The Incredible Hulk #157)
Scan 1/2- Uses robotic octopuses to shock the ship with a lethal dose of electricity, turning Banner into the Hulk (The Incredible Hulk #281)
Pink Humanoids
Durability
Due to the material of the robots, they can casually bounce off Hulk's blows and ignore him (Tales of Astonish #63)
Giant Humanoid tanks multiple missiles at once with ease (Tales to Astonish #70)
Scan 1/2- Hulk with Banner's intellect can't figure out a way to defeat the Humanoids, his best strikes and plans fall through and he fails over and over again (The Incredible Hulk #281)
Scan 3/4 Eventually Banner is so tired and defeated that he simply gives up and turns back to Banner in exhaustion, utterly embarrassed by the Leader.
It takes a nuclear missile to finally take out the Giant Humanoid (Tales to Astonish #71)
Scan 1/2/3- Savage Hulk enraged can't really hurt them and they swarm around him consistently (Tales to Astonish #64)
Tanks Savage Hulk charging into it (The Incredible Hulk #117)
Scan 1/2- Thor's hammer and Captain America's shield bounce harmlessly off them (The Incredible Hulk #283)
Energy Projection
Scan 1/2/3- Fires a laser that sends Hulk flying and dazes him. This happens multiple times. (The Incredible Hulk #116)
Strength
Scan 1/2- A few of them rip apart the Quinjet, which just a few panels before had tanked re entry (The Incredible Hulk #281)
A giant Humanoid casually steps through a mountain and tank gunfire and missiles. (Tales to Astonish #70)
Are strong enough to throw Hulk up with no trouble (Tales of Astonish #63)
His Humanoid can increase his pressure to the force of a mountain, which makes Savage Hulk struggle (The Incredible Hulk #117)
His robot army overpower all of the X-Men (tho it is off screen) (Savage Hulk #3)
Powerful enough to overpower multiple Avenger members, like Wonder Man and Vision (The Incredible Hulk Annual 1982)
Strong enough to make a unbreakable grip on Hulk (Tales of Astonish #63)
Speed
They catch Spectrum mid flight and drown her in bodies in seconds (The Incredible Hulk #283)
Technology
Are capable of teleporting (also Wolverine's claws do nothing to them) (Hulkverines #3)
Scan 1/2/3- Can be shrunk to the size of a cell and then regrown at will (Tales to Astonish #68)
Can be used in pill form as well, making them easy to store and spam out. (The Incredible Hulk #610)
Can work together like ants to solve problems (like a massive hole in a spaceship, for example) (The Incredible Hulk #283)
Knock out Savage Hulk using gas vapers (Tales to Astonish #68)
Scan 1/2- The Humanoids can also form together to create a big Humanoid, capable of overloading Hulk with Gamma energy (The Incredible Hulk #147)
Scan 3- This happens to Doc Samson, who becomes depowered from a single blast.
Speed
Scan 1/2/3/4/5- Calculates how to kill each of his Thunderbolt teammates in a few seconds it takes for him to stare at a lighter (Thunderbolts #19)
Scan 6- He only doesn't do this due to his intellect being mostly missing and being incapable of solidifying his own knowledge
Teleports before a laser can tag him (Hulkverines #2)
Technology
Amps Rhino with Gamma energy, which amps him enough to fight the Hulk. (The Incredible Hulk #124)
BFR's Wolverine via invisible UFO (Wolverine #144)
Cho later steals Stern's Nanobots to become the Totally Awesome Hulk. (Incredible Hulk #717)
Scan 1- City wide forcefields casually destroy multiple Helicarrier's easily (World War Hulk Aftersmash- Warbound #1)
Scan 2- These forcefields also destroy any machine that enters said forcefields, and organic creatures can't get in as well
Scan 1/2- Creates a Dumb Ray within the energy sources of the Cosmic Hulk, turning Doctor Doom mindbogglingly stupid. (The Incredible Hulk #606)
Scan 3- Doom is given brain damage and is chained up and incapable of doing anything but try horrible spells that don't even work (The Incredible Hulk #607)
Scan 1/2/3- Creates a Hulk-Spider hybrid which is as strong as Hulk, with the only difference being a lack of rage enhancements (The Incredible Hulk #69)
Creates gas that can depower Gamma mutated individuals and turn them human (this same gas when breathed in can cause extreme illusions) (Thunderbolts #32)
Designs a gun capable of killing the Hulk with the force of a trillion concentrated molecules (even when most of it missed, it still wounds Hulk badly) (Tales to Astonish #69)
Scan 1/2- Designs a MFTL teleporting device that converts people into thoughts and can travel people through galaxies in seconds (Tales to Astonish #73)
Scan 1/2/3/4- Designs a unbreakable prison for the Hulk (The Incredible Hulk #115)
Scan 5- In order to free the Hulk from it, it had to be broken from the outside using the same ray that created it
Designs tech that, apparently, was capable of cutting through the Hulk (Thunderbolts #32)
Hacks into SHIELD tech easily and uses it for his own gain after seemingly being hacked himself (World War Hulk Aftersmash Warbound #5)
Has a tractor beam that can carry objects around the earth (Tales to Astonish #69)
Scan 1/2- Has Adamantium bombs capable of damaging and drawing blood from Weapon H, stopping him in his tracks (Hulkverines #1)
Has his own personal teleportation device. (The Incredible Hulk #610)
Messes around with random pieces of tech cuz he's a troll (The Incredible Hulk #345)
One shots Red She Hulk using a laser gun (World War Hulks)
Scan 1/2- The "Dumb Ray" from before can also be converted into a energy beam that ignores existing technological defences from the likes of Hank Pym and also turns him stupid. (The Incredible Hulk #607)
Traps Hulk inside a unbreakable prison by transmuting it outside of his body (Hulk broke out of this tho after a bit) (The Incredible Hulk #116)
Uses a odorless sleep gas to drop the Hulk almost instantly (Tales to Astonish #72)
Scan 1/2- Uses Gamma radiation to create the Horde, a Gamma mutated abomination powerful enough to clear the Warbound with ease. (World War Hulk Aftersmash- Warbound #1)
Scan 1/2- Uses Kinetron Mitts to successfully bounce back Savage Hulk's enraged blows for three minutes straight, which is pretty damn impressive considering his strength (The Incredible Hulk #225)
Was capable of designing a weapon capable of killing the Hulk for good, never got the chance to use it through (Fall of the Hulks- Alpha)
Scan 1- Figures out how to hijack the Green Door using dimensional technology, allowing him to control any Gamma subject post death if he wishes and manipulate their actions (Immortal Hulk #37)
Scan 2- Leader even uses something known as a "Red Door" to keep Samson from returning from the Below-Place, effectively overpowering the usual resurrection process.
Scan 1/2/3- Overloads Savage Hulk with Gamma energy, causing him to explode. Leader also did this a few issues back in a more subtle manner to turn Savage Hulk into Green Scar, showing that he has a pretty impressive range of ways to use such a power. (Immortal Hulk #35)
Telekinesis
Holds a human in place using his powers (The Incredible Hulk #139)
Is capable of frying the synapses of the Hulk, chooses not to do so (Incredible Hulk #31)
Knocks down Doc Samson with a mind blast (The Incredible Hulk #223)
One shots some soldiers with a force field (The Incredible Hulk #116
Powers a spaceship throughout space using his mental powers, travelling from the Sun to beyond (The Incredible Hulk #158)
Sends a weakened Grey Hulk flying. (The Incredible Hulk #366)
Scan 1/2- Survives a lethal explosion in the sky using mental powers (The Incredible Hulk #124)
Conclusion
Whew, that was a lot, lol.
Anyway, Leader is easily one of the smartest men in Marvel: countless examples of other geniuses using his tech, his own tech being pretty damn impressive to boot, his mind being basically a powerhouse in raw brainpower, and everything else here clearly puts him on that level. Having solid mental powers and a mind capable of processing tons of information in near seconds only makes him levels better.
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