Philip Sterns

Philip Sterns is the brother of Samuel Sterns (the Leader) and, obsessed with gamma-irradiated individuals, deliberately exposed himself to a mixture of gamma and cosmic radiation, transforming into the monstrous Flux — an unstable, gamma-powered villain who clashed with the Hulk.

Philip Sterns stepped onto the Marvel stage in 1989, a creation of the legendary Peter David during his celebrated run on The Incredible Hulk — one of the most acclaimed stretches in that title's long history. A Copper Age figure who has lingered in the catalog through 2020, Sterns carves out his niche in some genuinely heavy company, sharing pages with the Hulk himself, Bruce Banner, the Abomination, and Emil Blonsky. With only a dozen catalog appearances, he's a deep-cut character for the dedicated Hulk devotee — the kind of figure who rewards readers diving into the Peter David omnibus collections and discovering just how richly layered that era truly was.