Captain America: Brave New World director hints at why and when The Leader's divisive look was changed

So it wasn't just us, then? There was something slightly off about how Tim Blake Nelson's Samuel Sterns looked in Captain America: Brave New World. We're not referring to his excessively veiny crown and gamma-infused glowing green eyes, either. As revealed through some merchandise that surfaced before the film's release, the version of The Leader we expected to see and the one we ended up with were quite different. Now, director Julius Onah has explained the reasons for the changes.

In the comics, Sterns resembled an excessively green Vincent Price, sporting a wafer-thin mustache on a foe with an overly large forehead. For fans, that appearance was already anticipated due to concept designs and Funko Pop figures that had surfaced online, but that didn't come to fruition. Speaking to Variety about the film, which pulled in an impressive $192.4 million during its opening weekend, Onah outlined the efforts made to bring the legendary villain from The Incredible Hulk's history to life, albeit not in the way audiences expected.

"You’re making a movie that is more grounded in terms of its visual aesthetic and style, so you want to make sure that even with these heightened characters, it fits into the world of the film," Onah explained. "When you think about the arc of his character and the humanity that’s been taken away from him, there’s a monstrosity to him, and I really wanted to lean into that, so the moment you see him, you understand what’s propelling him as a character and his desire for retribution."

The final design is certainly more monstrous. Sterns, who looks more like Angstrom Levy from season 2 of Invincible, is here cursed with a sizeable crinkled cranium, which stores the now gamma-radiated brain and its lethal intelligence.

"We started off with an entirely practical version of it. You still see a lot of that practical work, in terms of prosthetics and paint stuff of that sort. It was great for Tim, because he’s very immersive in terms of what he likes to do as a performer. I remember one day on set, somebody jumped when they saw him," the Brave New World director recalled. "And then when we put it together in the movie, I wanted to push it even further, to make sure that that jump could come [over] on screen. So we did enhance with visual effects, just to push it to that edge of something that hopefully wasn’t too off-putting, but again, helped you understand emotionally what was driving him."

While Sterns may well have gone through some changes this time around, there's no doubt that Nelson's performance kept The Leader intact. Whether we'll see him back in action in the future of the MCU is unconfirmed, but for now, find out who will be by checking out our guide to every Marvel movie and TV show headed your way in 2025.