BRAVE NEW WORLD Actor Tim Blake Nelson Says the Leader Will Return “In a Big Way” — GeekTyrant

Tim Blake Nelson made his debut as Samuel Sterns / The Leader in the MCU in The Incredible Hulk way back in 2008, and all these years later, he will be making his return in Captain America: Brave New World. In that movie, The Leader will face off with Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson / Captain America.

During a recent interview with CB, Nelson once again confirmed that he’s in the move and teased that The Leader is going to have big role in the story. He said:

“You’re gonna see me in a big way. What they’ve come up with is great.”

Director Julius Onah previously talked about The Leader being the main villain of the movie and said this villain is was drew him to the film project:

“Let’s just say one of the things that really drew me to this project is The Leader is a man who operates from intellect, and so it’s great to have an adversary who is working with this incredible intellect to really, you know, put Sam through the wringer in this story. And again, as a paranoid thriller, is this grounded adventure where I think that everything that happens in this film feels so real and intense, because of who this adversary is. So, back to that other question of yours, what he’s going to have to go through in this film is because he’s got an adversary who is so terrifyingly intelligent.”

The filmmaker went on to say:

“There’s a lot we’re going to bring to the table. And this is a new set of challenges and a new set of adversaries. I love classic paranoid thrillers and that’s a big part of the inspiration of this film. We want to find an action that is grounded and tactile and give him new things to do that we haven’t seen in those other films, and I don’t want to spoil too much, but let’s just say we are planning some really, really exciting things.

The Leader was originally supposed to return in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, but those plans obviously got ditched. Showrunner Jessica Gao previously said:

“In my original pitch, I did have The Leader in there. Just as an option, as a suggestion, you know? But really, I can’t remember why [it was scrapped]. I don’t remember if it was organically taken out, because we just came up with other stuff, or if we were told no. I honestly don’t remember. But there was thought about either bringing him back or doing some version of a new version of Leader, or some relation to him. But, I mean truly, this was three years ago, and the show has evolved so much that I don’t remember what actually happened.” 

I’m excited to see Tim Blake Nelson back in the MCU, and I love that he is going to have a big meaty role in Captain America: Brave New World!

The movie will hit theaters on February 14th, 2025.