The Hulk’s most intelligent ally was brutally murdered by the Green Goblin in the Ultimate universe. Doctor Leonard Samson’s life changed forever when he became a superhero thanks to gamma radiation exposure from his patient, Dr. Bruce Banner. Although Samson’s life would always defer back to the Hulk, the Ultimate universe shows his life without any contact with Banner or the Hulk. Instead he is a simple psychiatrist working with SHIELD who unfortunately attempts to get through to Norman Osborn, an infamous businessman turned supervillain, who kills him with little regard or remorse in his escape from the Triskelion.
Created by Roy Thomas and Herb Trimpe in Incredible Hulk #141, Doctor Leonard Samson was a doctor and psychiatrist who gained super strength and other abilities such as his iconic green hair from the gamma radiation he absorbed. Although he proved himself a formidable superhero, Samson continued to work with Banner as well as other superheroes as a psychiatrist while having a significant role in Marvel events such as Civil War or World War Hulk. Recently, he has played a prominent role in Immortal Hulk where he learned his connection to gamma radiation enabled him engage in the cycle of death and resurrection via the Below Place. Due to the manipulations of the Green Door, Samson has currently switched bodies with Gamma Flight’s Sasquatch, adopting the name Doc Sasquatch for the time being. However none of this applies in the Ultimate universe, a parallel Marvel dimension created to introduce modernized and often reimagined characters unburdened from years of contradicting continuity.
In Ultimate Spider-Man’s “ The Death of Spider-Man” by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, Norman Osborn returns to life following his previous death at the hands of SHIELD Director Carol Danvers. While Norman’s return stumps SHIELD's experts, Director Danvers makes it clear Norman is to be a prisoner for the remainder of his life, having no trouble with killing him again should he attempt to transform. Believed to have no trace of the drug that helps him transform, Norman is approached by Dr. Leonard “Leo” Samson while in his cell. His attempt to talk to Osborn is rebuffed by Norman’s impermeable ego, demanding that anything extra besides his cooperation will cost Danvers special privileges and consideration. When she tells him to go to hell, Osborn pulls the biggest surprise, transforming without any assistance, and the Green Goblin begins his escape by killing Samson as well as the two guards accompanying him.
This is a surprising death considering how easily the Ultimate Samson was killed when his mainstream counterpart would have put up a much greater fight. The Ultimate Green Goblin’s size and appearance has him often mistaken for the Hulk, someone whom Leonard Samson has fought and lived to tell the stories even if he wasn’t victorious. This isn’t the case for his Ultimate counterpart whose specialty didn’t prepare him enough for his last, and final, assignment. It is unclear if he’s ever met or interacted with the Ultimate version of Bruce Banner and his infamous alter-ego but he has no gamma powers to back him up since the Ultimate version of the Hulk gained his powers from a failed super soldier serum instead of a gamma radiation accident.
Whether this was a SHIELD oversight or a mistake on Samson’s part, he appears genuinely shocked and afraid upon seeing the transformed Norman despite the fact that many people in SHIELD know that he is the Green Goblin. To Osborn, Leonard Samson is simply another person in his way, easily killed from the fires incurred by his pyrokinesis. As the Green Goblin works his way to his objective, one can only imagine how different his fight may have been if this long-time Hulk ally had the power to back up his brains.
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August 07, 2021 at 12:00AM
