Meeting of the Minds

Years ago, the Leader, Red Ghost, Wizard, Mad Thinker, and Egghead have formed together into a group called the Intelligencia. Working together they discovered Olympia, the home of the Eternals. Using cloaking technology, they are able to infiltrate this technological fortress, as not even the Eternals themselves are able to see them as they are out of synch with time. They manage to slip into a massive archive of ancient texts that have long since believed to have been destroyed. Their primary objective is the Library of Alexandria. As the other mad scientists look through this treasure trove of lost scientific knowledge, the Leader considers his uneasy allies. He recounts the origins of his unlikely allies and their motivations and questions if he can trust any of them. Meanwhile, the Intelligencia begin taking all of the artifacts they want, including a cosmically powered Hulk robot. For every item they take, they replace it with carbon duplicates. From here the Leader also discovers two more locations of Alexandrian texts in Wakanda and Atlantis. With their mission complete, they take their stolen treasure to the one place where they can be sure that they will remain safe: Castle Doom in Latveria. When they visit with Doom, he points out that the Alexandrian texts they took from Olympia only cover one discipline: atomic energy. They then reiterated that there are two more locations.

Over the next few years, the Intelligencia begin preparing for their next mission to Wakanda. During this time, they also engage in their own schemes and endeavors. Occasionally, they assist each other in cheating death to fool and confuse their foes. They also use their intelligence to do the same for other villains, particularly the Sandman, Absorbing Man, and Klaw. The next time they all work together is when they attempt to steal a Nth Projector from Project PEGASUS, only to discover they were too late to stop a woman named Thundra from stealing it. Shortly after this, Egghead dies in a battle against the Avengers when his gun is plugged by one of Hawkeye's arrows, causing it to explode in his face. This almost ruins the plans of the Intelligencia and during their next meeting at Castle Doom, they almost give up on their mission. However, the Leader had thought ahead of the game and convinced the group to induct MODOK into their ranks. With MODOK in their ranks, they manage to infiltrate Wakanda and steal the Alexandrian texts from there without issue. With the knowledge they obtain there, they construct a device that will pull Vibranium down from space to Earth and leave it running at Dr. Doom's castle. Not long after this, the Beyonder comes to Earth and while Earth's heroes were busy dealing with that threat, the Intelligencia recover the Venom symbiote and bring it back from the brink of death.

Some years later, the group meets again, this time traveling to Edwards Air Force Base. There they discover the dead body of Betty Ross, which has been kept in stasis since she died of radiation poisoning. MODOK recognizes her and how he once turned her into the Harpy and believes that with the information they have stolen they can bring her back to life. The Leader suggests that they come back and take her later to use her as leverage if they need to. Sometime after this, Dr. Doom contacts the Leader to inform him that the Illuminati succeeded in exiling the Hulk into space. This infuriates the Leader, as he had hoped to destroy his long-time foe once and for all. What followed was a series of tragedies to the superhero community: the Civil War and the death of Captain America. When the Intelligencia meets again to plan their next heist, the Leader has projected that the Hulk will eventually return. The Mad Thinker also suggests that they recruit the young genius named Amadeus Cho, but it is dismissed as an idea. Soon they mount their mission to Atlantis to recover the last of the Alexandrian texts. This is fortuitous to them, as Atlantis was destroyed shortly thereafter. When they return to Castle Doom with their latest haul, Dr. Doom turns on them, unleashing his guards and Doombots upon them. As the rest of the Intelligencia fights back, the Leader sees that this mission is lost and retreats.

Time passes again, the Hulk returns to Earth and wages war on the planet. The Leader, now nearing death, hides in solitude. That is when he is visited by MODOK who has come to convince him to come back into the fold. MODOK explains that during the final battle with the Hulk he hacked into the defense satellites and channeled cosmic energy through them which ultimately led to the Hulk's defeat. Through the information he gathered from this, he has come up with a means of transforming someone using gamma and cosmic radiation to create a powerful being. He then presents to the Leader his latest idea, a means of destroying the Hulk once and for all: The Red Hulk!

Recurring Characters

Intelligencia (Leader, MODOK, Red Ghost, Wizard, Mad Thinker, Egghead), Awesome Android, Super-Apes (Miklho, Peotor, Igor), Doctor Doom, Hulk robot, Eternals (Zuras, Thena, Ikaris, Makkari), Sandman, Absorbing Man, Klaw, Betty Ross, Sub-Mariner

Continuity Notes

This story takes place over the course of many years. Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, these moments take place during specific points of the Modern Age. They can be placed in approximately the following years:

Year One

• Egghead begins his obsession with destroying Henry Pym. (Tales to Astonish #38)

• Red Ghost exposes himself and his Super-Apes to cosmic rays. (Fantastic Four #13)

• The Mad Thinker's first clash with the Fantastic Four. (Fantastic Four #15)

• Samuel Sterns is transformed into the Leader. (Tales to Astonish #62)

• The Wizard forms the Frightful Four. (Fantastic Four #36)

Year Two

• MODOK is created by AIM (Prior to Tales of Suspense #93 as revealed in Captain America #120)

Year Three:

• MODOK creates the Harpy program (as seen in Incredible Hulk #168)

Year Four

• Sandman is dumped into a cement truck by Nova (Prior to this story in Nova #14)

• Absorbing Man smashed by the Hulk (Prior to this story in Incredible Hulk #209)

Year Five

• The opening scene of this story where the Inteligencia infiltrate Olympia happens here. It occurs sometime after Fantastic Four #200.

• Klaw is dissipated by the Black Panther (Prior to this story in Black Panther #15

• The Leader reforms Absorbing Man, Sandman, and Klaw.

• The Leader uses the Awesome Android to rescue the Mad Thinker after his defeat at the hands of Rom the Spaceknight. (Rom #14)

• The Intelligencia raid Project PEGASUS (immediately following the events of Marvel Two-In-One #67)

Year Six

• The Leader reforms the Red Ghost restoring his natural powers prior to his clash with Spider-Man. (Amazing Spider-Man #223)

• Egghead forms his Masters of Evil (Avengers #222-223)

• Egghead is killed when his gun explodes in his face (Avengers #229), although he will later be resurrected in Ant-Man Annual #1.

• MODOK joins the Intelligencia (prior to Doctor Doom's apparent demise in Fantastic Four #260. They travel to Wakanda.

Year Seven

• Spider-Man seemingly destroys the Venom symbiote (prior to this story in Web of Spider-Man #1)

• The Beyonder comes to Earth and is defeated by Earth's heroes (Secret Wars II #1-9)

• The Intelligencia recovers and revives the Venom symbiote and releases it.

Year Ten

• Betty Ross dies of radiation poisoning (prior to this story in Incredible Hulk #466)

Year Eleven

• The Intelligencia discover the body of Betty Ross (following the events of Incredible Hulk Vol 2 #75)

Year Twelve

• The Hulk is exiled into space, circa Incredible Hulk Vol 2 #91.

• The superhero Civil War (Civil War #1-7).

• The death of Captain America circa Captain America Vol 5 #25 (although he is later resurrected in Captain America: Reborn #1-6)

• The Intelligencia rob the archives of Atlantis (Prior to its destruction in Sub-Mariner Vol 2 #6)

• MODOK hacks into the orbital satellites during the defeat of the Hulk and utilizes it to begin his Red Hulk project (behind the scenes of World War Hulk #5)

• MODOK seeks out the Leader to join him in creating a Red Hulk (Following the events of World War Hulk Aftersmash: Warbound #1-5

Year Thirteen

• After this story, the Red Hulk is created and first seen in Hulk Vol 2 #1 (origins revealed in Hulk Vol 2 #23)