Profile
- Real Name: Dr. Philip “Phil” Sterns
- AKA: –
- Family: Robert Sterns (distant relative), Samuel Sterns I (distant relative), Anne Sterns (distant relative), Philip Sterns I (distant relative), Samuel Sterns (brother)
- Marital Status: Single
- Gender: Male
- Height: 5′10″ (1.78 m), 8′11″ (2.72 m) (upper limit as Madman)
- Weight: 182 lbs (82.55 kg), 622 lbs (282.13 kg) (upper limit as Madman)
- Eyes: Blue (Philip), Brown (as Madman)
- Hair: Blond (Philip), No Hair At All (as Madman)
- Unusual Feature: Red Skin as Madman, In his monstrous form, Madman has a misshapen head.
- Origin: Human mutate, willingly subjected to gamma Rays
- Universe: Marvel Prime Universe (Earth-616)
- Identity: Secret
- Citizenship: American
- Occupation: Scientist, Nuclear researcher
- Education: Doctorate in nuclear physics from Caltech
- Base of Operation: Mobile
You would think he would hate Banner for what he did to his brother. Nah, he is just jealous of him. Introduced in Incredible Hulk #362 (1989) by Peter David and Jeff Purves, Philip Sterns, the brother of Samuel Stern aka the Leader, was a classmate with Bruce Banner in college. He became jealous of Banner’s intelligence, which eventually became an obsession. When Banner became the Hulk, Philip began experimented on himself to copy Banner’s transformation. He succeed but his transformation made him into a grotesque monster and had him develop multiple personality disorder. The other personality began given him orders and they began trying to kill Banner. Now known as Madman, he hacked a plan to poison Hulk, working with many of Hulk’s villains especially Abomination.
Ironically, it was his brother that helped Hulk and tracked Madman down. Philips turned into Madman and in the ensuing battle, Madman rid himself of Philip’s personality. Hulk was eventually cured but he poisoned Madman, leaving him near death with the antidote out of reach. He of course survived by using his powers to grow larger to reach the antidote. He hid his identity and began working for Red Skull’s New World Order, using their funds and research to create Piecemeal, a former SHIELD agent that was loyal only to him. It escaped and fought against Hulk in Lock Ness. He would join the fight against Hulk, but when Perseus, a former Pantheon member, was killed my Madman, Hulk hit him away. After Piecemeal was defeated he tried to escape on a plan but Hulk caught up to him and destroyed the plane. Madman self destructed the plan and escaped. After holding Prince Charles hostage in London, he wasn’t seen in many years until he was hired to kill the leader of Kata Jaya. This brought him into clash with the Red Hulk’s Thunderbolts, which his brother was a member of. He would be killed by his brother when Leader revealed the secret of Gamma Radiation to him and his head exploded. He was later seen in the Leader’s lab as one of many Hell spawn that Mephisto set him.
Possible Figures
- Which has the best chance of being made? – Like many Hulk like characters, Madman has been drawn many ways over the years. But for the most part, he is basically a maroon colored Hulk, with a deformed head and a neck brace. So any of those version will work. I doubt the human form will even be released.
- How can it be made? – It’s a Hulk like character so this would obviously use any of the Hulk bases with a new head and neck brace. However, while we do now have a Hulk deluxe line, I can only see this character being a BAF due to his obscurity. Maybe an Avengers wave or random mixed wave.