We haven't seen Tim Blake Nelson's Samuel Sterns since his transformation into The Leader during the closing moments of 2008's The Incredible Hulk. However, he'll make his long-awaited return in next February's Captain America: Brave New World.
Talking to GamesRadar+ at last weekend's San Diego Comic-Con, the actor shared his excitement about joining the Captain America franchise before confirming The Leader "hasn't been sitting around" since we last saw him.
Despite plans for the iconic Hulk villain to be brought to life with practical effects, Nelson strongly hinted at a comic-accurate take on the villain.
"You can go and look in the comics for hints of what we're up to," he says. "I think that the expansion of that into film language is going to astonish."
The site also caught up with Giancarlo Esposito; during Marvel Studios' Hall H panel, we learned that he's playing Sidewinder, a character the Breaking Bad star sounds excited to delve into in the MCU over multiple projects.
"Well, you know, in the research I've done when I knew that I was going to be playing the head of the Serpent Society, someone who formed it and runs it, I wanted to know more," he explains. "I wanted to go back [and] figure out what are his colors, what do they look like, what do they do, what are his superpowers?"
"I don't believe that all of those things will be unveiled in this movie, so I believe there will be more time you'll get with Sidewinder...you're going to see a complicated, very interesting character who gets a chance to have legs over a period of time."
The actor also shared new insights into Captain America: Brave New World's plot and how the Serpent Society factors into that. "It's all about this Adamantium, it's all about this chemical," Esposito reveals. "It's all about what price we're going to put on that and who's going to have the most of it and who's going to sell it.
"So in a way I think many of the characters in this movie, inclusive of Sidewinder, are mercenaries and they're looking for the highest dollar and I think they're looking who to sell it to and I think they're looking for power."
After meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford in his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.
Captain America: Brave New World opens in U.S. theaters on February 14, 2025.