Fan-Made Leader Photo and Villain Breakout Idea

This is something that I know some people have done already (including CBM contributors) but I've wanted to try my hand at it for a while now. I've done a Photoshop mock-up of how The Leader could appear if Tim Blake Nelson was ever asked to reprise his role in a future MCU film. This can be seen below:

I really just took a screenshot from the last scene we saw him in TIH and reworked the image to continue the mutation and coloring that would result in an appearance that closely matches his portrayal from the comic book tie-in The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week. It may not be incredibly accurate to The Leader we all know and love from the comics but it's a route they could possibly take to stay true to the continuity that's already been established



Doing this project had me examining the Fury's Big Week comics a bit closer and made me start to imagine some things that could happen as a result of some of the information that's given to you from those pages. You're shown that Dr. Samuel Sterns is apprehended by S.H.I.E.L.D., that he's being studied by their scientists, that The Destroyer is in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s custody, that they used the harnessed power of The Destroyer to make the gun that Agent Coulson wields in The Avengers and that S.H.I.E.L.D. got their hands on the Whiplash harness that Vanko attacked Stark with in Monaco



With this information, my mind started to formulate a dream scenario that utilizes two of my favorite comic book plot devices: supervillain team-ups and prison break-outs. Perhaps a scenario of this sort could play out in a future MCU short or something similar. I’ll try not to get too fan-fictiony but I like to image a situation such as this:

Dr. Sterns is taken out of stasis by S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists for a series of tests and devises a plan for escape using his heightened intellect. He dispatches the scientists and guards to gain access to another area nearby where he discovers that Emil Blonsky has to been transferred to the facility in order to gather and compare research data collected from Sterns about the effects of Banner’s gamma-infused blood. Sterns applies a test or two of his own to the existing Abomination using the available lab equipment in order to further augment Blonsky’s appearance and abilities. After forming that alliance, Sterns come upon the holding chamber of what remains of The Destroyer armor that was partially dismantled to create The Destroyer gun. Sterns fiddles with the curious automaton until discovering that when it is recharged the armor begins to replicate its missing bands with a strong black alloy to rebuild itself. Finally Sterns happens upon a means to strengthen his own frail body and quickly deduces how to wield the Whiplash harness. The group then stands ready to fight their way out of S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters… with Sterns as their Leader



Of course everything I’ve described could be categorized under “longshot” but it’s fun to imagine where the fabulous creative minds at Marvel Studios could take the endless threads of possibilities they’ve presented us with. Hope y’all like these photo mock-ups – just having a bit of fun daydreaming about the future of MCU characters whose fates haven’t yet been revealed to us. Let me know what you think about what Marvel Studios or its tie-in media might bring us in the future below. Thanks guys!

(The image of the “augmented” Abomination is actually a beautiful rendering by prolific concept artist Aaron Sims that he did for The Incredible Hulk)