I’m Convinced The MCU Needs To Bring Back 1 Major Villain Team After Missing The Perfect Chance In Captain America: Brave New World

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After Captain America: Brave New World reinvented a wild villain in the MCU, I really hope Marvel Studios brings back one wasted villainous organization from Phase 4 to give them a comic-accurate makeover. 17 years after he made his first appearance in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, Tim Blake Nelson reprised the role of Samuel Sterns in Brave New World. Breaking out of the shadows after transforming Thaddeus Ross into the Red Hulk, Samuel Sterns’ Leader was a real threat in Brave New World, and I’d love him to continue to be a danger in the MCU’s future.

Tim Blake Nelson’s Leader is quite different from his Marvel Comics counterpart, though they share many of the same gifts, including an enhanced intellect due to exposure to gamma radiation. Even though Captain America: Brave New World ended with Samuel Sterns incarcerated in the Raft, alongside the likes of Thaddeus Ross, Baron Zemo, Trish Walker and Willis Stryker, I would still love to see the Leader return in the MCU’s future. I reckon this could complete his transformation into a bona fide villain – not just someone seeking vengeance – which could benefit one villainous organization from the MCU’s past.

Captain America: Brave New World Could Have Made Intelligencia More Comic-Accurate

Samuel Sterns Was The Leader Of Intelligencia In Marvel Comics

When bringing the Leader back to the MCU 17 years after his debut in The Incredible Hulk, I wanted Marvel Studios to establish a connection between Samuel Sterns and the Intelligencia from 2022’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. In Phase 4, we saw the Intelligencia introduced as a group comprising misogynists and criminals, founded by Todd Phelps. The group schemed to kill She-Hulk and steal Jennifer Walters’ gamma-irradiated blood, hoping to enhance Phelps himself into a new Hulk, HulkKing, believing him to be more worthy of powers than a female hero.

This was a very different origin story for the Intelligencia to that of their Marvel Comics inspiration, as the Intelligencia from the comics comprised actual villains who pulled off many evil feats under the leadership of Samuel Sterns’ Leader. I would have loved for Marvel Studios to at least mention a connection between Intelligencia and the Leader in Captain America: Brave New World, and I was quite surprised this didn’t happen. This could have opened the door for a much more comic-accurate version of Intelligencia to appear in the MCU.

Marvel Comics’ Intelligencia debuted in 2009’s Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1, which brought together six iconic supervillains to form the powerful team. A number of these villains have already appeared in the MCU, but Marvel has still neglected to connect them as a comic-accurate Intelligencia. Instead, the formidable villain group has been made a joke in the MCU, but I think there’s still a chance that, after Captain America: Brave New World, the Intelligencia can be redeemed. This could change the shape of the MCU forever and make some of the weirdest villains much more significant.

I Want The Leader & Other MCU Villains To Form A New Intelligencia

Marvel Has Already Introduced Several Possible Intelligencia Members To The MCU

Whether it be connecting these villains to the pre-existing version of Intelligencia from She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, or bringing them together to form a new iteration of the villainous group, I’d love to see a comic-accurate Intelligencia debut in the MCU. We’ve already seen two of the original members of Marvel Comics Intelligencia in live-action: the Leader and Darren Cross’ MODOK from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Founding member Red Ghost has also been speculated to appear in 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which could strengthen the case for Intelligencia to form.

Wizard and Mad Thinker were also featured as founding members of Marvel Comics’ Intelligencia, but they haven’t yet appeared in the MCU. However, the comics’ Intelligencia team did, at times, include Klaw, Doctor Doom, Egghead and Wizard, all of whom have been introduced in some form in the MCU. This makes me think an Intelligencia team comprised of some of the MCU’s weirdest and most dangerous villains could still appear in live-action, and I think this could have a serious, world-changing impact on the franchise.

Why The Real Intelligencia’s Debut Would Be Great For The MCU

She-Hulk: Attorney At Law’s Intelligencia Was A Disappointment

While I found that She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’s version of Intelligencia was an embarrassment, I think it would be fantastic to see an honest-to-goodness, comic-accurate iteration of Intelligencia debut in the MCU. The Intelligencia is seriously powerful and terrifying in the comics, and has a hand in devising some of the most threatening schemes in Marvel’s history. The group was behind Thaddeus Ross’ transformation into the Red Hulk, which we have already seen take place in the MCU, while the group also transformed many other Hulk allies into Hulk-like villains, including Betty Ross, Richard Jones and Amadeus Cho.

More recently, the Intelligencia built the Zero Cannon, which led to the demise of the Winter Guard, and the New Intelligencia also formed to try and harness Kid Kaiju’s monster-summoning powers. Introducing these storylines to the MCU would contribute to the franchise’s most cinematic and visually-spectacular moments, which I would love to see, and would help the real Intelligencia to prove itself a serious threat. While I think it’s a shame that Captain America: Brave New World neglected to connect the Leader and the Intelligencia, the former’s survival means this evolution could still take place, which I’m very excited about.

Upcoming MCU Movies

“}]] Captain America could redeem a wasted MCU group.  Read More