The Machinations of the Intelligencia!

 

Early 2010 saw the introduction of the Intelligencia, a group of villains who pooled their talents to make acquisitions of rarity and value and assist each other when needed, as well as stepping in to manipulate events with an eye on reaping benefits down the road. Comprised of the Leader, M.O.D.O.K., Dr. Doom, the Red Ghost, the Wizard, the Thinker, and Egghead, the group was not "a team," as such--"more an irregular collective, sharing information, and when necessary, taking it," as the Leader put it.

If their collective name sounds familiar, you may be remembering a previous Captain Marvel character from nearly a decade before these mental masters made their debut:

As opposed to the cover caption, the story adds a "t" to the Skrull entity's name. We can only wonder if some future incarnation of Not Brand Echh would have either the Intelligencia or Intelligentsia make a point of correcting the other and what such a meeting might entail. It doesn't seem likely that reaching an impasse on the subject would be an option acceptable to either camp.

The Intelligencia were used as a spearhead to launch the Fall Of The Hulks mega-crossover event, numbering 15+ issues published over a span of five months--a reading list not for the faint of heart.

As for their first foray into "taking" information when they deemed it necessary, we meet the Intelligencia as they scour the globe searching for repositories of the until-now lost contents of the library of Alexandria, assumed to be destroyed in the fires set by Julius Caesar's men in 48 BC. The narrative we find in the scene belongs to the Leader, who in hindsight informs us that this undertaking would eventually lead to the end of the Intelligencia.

Looking at the credits, that's a lot of people on the payroll for contributing to a single story--that is, "an Irene Y. Lee Production," mind you. And just look at that roll call of editors--from Editor In Chief, the list trickles down to Senior Editor, to Associate Editor, and finally to Assistant Editor, all apparently overseen by an Executive Producer. (To say nothing of a list of contributors as long as one of those scrolls.) I dare say Mark Gruenwald could have managed all of the plates being juggled here without even a tenth of the fanfare.

Unlike the various Hulks that we'll encounter in this series who will be throwing punch after punch after punch after punch after PUNCH (the sight of a Sue Richards Hulk getting ready to square off is flagrantly taking things too far), the allure of the Intelligencia is that, with the exception of perhaps Doom, there is no one in their lineup who will be trading blows.  In fact, there's little to none of that taking place in the "Alpha" issue, which consists mostly of various profiles of the individuals comprising the group, introduced by the Leader as they go about their business.

(I'm not really clear on what qualifies the Red Ghost to be a part of the Intelligencia, though perhaps it's due to his early work in aerospace technology.)

As intimated earlier, the Intelligencia have also kept an eye not only on various villains who might have perished without their timely assistance, but also on each other, extricating those of their number who fell victim to failed schemes (which applies to maybe all of this crew, at one time or another). Perhaps it was inevitable that one of them would depend on that sort of "safety net" and decide to take one risk too many, as was the case with Egghead.

Eventually, this story would have to deal in what specifically brought the Hulk to the attention of the Intelligencia--and to that end, we see how they have been aware of how he was ejected from Earth by members of the Illuminati, as well as the probability of his eventual return as a major threat. But addressing this further was tabled when they were forced to face the betrayal of one of their own, once their raids on the Alexandria caches were complete. As to their foe's identity... well, take a wild guess.

Their group splintered, the Leader retreats to a hidden base, where MODOK eventually follows in order to hatch a plan with him to strike back at their enemies through a powerful ally which they would create. (And leading to, it probably goes without saying, a whole new set of crossover issues.)

The Intelligencia's involvement with the man who would become this new Hulk is shown in the PPC's earlier profile of the Red Hulk. As for the Intelligencia, they would be appearing at various stages of the Fall Of The Hulks storyline, which may have become too convoluted for even these gentlemen to keep track of.