‘Captain America: Brave New World’ star Tim Blake Nelson teases Leader transformation

Sixteen years after the release of Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk, actor Tim Blake Nelson is readying for his return as Samuel Sterns in the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World. And it looks like that character will be fulfilling his destiny to transform into the villain known as the Leader from the comics.

“I had only one request, which was that we realize the character practically and they were willing to do that,” Nelson tells Entertainment Weekly out of our Comic-Con video suite in San Diego over the weekend. “Of course, if they’d said no, I still would have done it. But I wanted to really have the look and the weight of the character and look in the mirror and see the deformation of the character and have the other actors experience that.”

In The Incredible Hulk, Nelson’s Dr. Samuel Sterns is a cellular biologist working as a professor at Grayburn College. He works on a cure for Bruce Banner’s Hulk-ing condition, but when an open wound in his head is exposed to Banner’s blood, he begins mutating. His temple enlarges abnormally and his mental capabilities drastically evolve.

The Leader, which is the name for Sterns’ transformation, is much more green in Marvel comics. Gamma radiation gives him green skin, an engorged skull, and off-the-charts brainpower. With this newfound intelligence, he creates an international spy ring dedicated to stealing scientific secrets.

Now in Captain America: Brave New World, opening in theaters Feb. 14, 2015 from director Julius Onah, Sterns rejoins the Marvel Cinematic Universe at a tumultuous time. Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross went from Secretary of State to president of the country, and he’s now played by Harrison Ford, after the death of original actor William Hurt. Ross invites Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), the new Captain America, to the White House to thank him for a mission involving adamantium, the precious cosmic metal that’s famously grafted to the skeleton of Wolverine. He now wants Sam to reconstitute the Avengers team, but first, there’s a bigger problem.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Someone activates the long-dormant brainwashing in super-soldier Isaiah Bradley (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier star Carl Lumbly), who then attacks the president, revealing Ross’ inner circle has been compromised and there’s an international incident on their hands.

With the help of his righthand man, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), who now suits up to hit the skies as the new Falcon, Sam has to contend with Sidewinder, the character from the comics realized on screen by Giancarlo Esposito. On top of that, Ford confirmed at Comic-Con that Ross will become the Red Hulk, which is, you guessed it, an out-of-control Hulk that is red instead of green.

Nelson says he “was convinced” Sterns “would never come back” to these Marvel movies, observing how so much time had passed. “And the character has a lot of pathos and rage, and I had to grow up a little bit to meet those challenges as an actor,” he adds.

Now Sam has three villains to contend with — that we know of. We also have Shira Haas playing Ruth Bat-Seraph, an Israeli former Black Widow who’s now a U.S. government official; Xosha Roquemore as a member of Ross’ security team; and Liv Tyler, another face from The Incredible Hulk returning as Ross’ daughter Betty. Any one of them could also theoretically become another problem on Cap’s to-do list.

Watch the full video interview with the cast of Captain America: Brave New World, above.