WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Immortal Hulk #25 from Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy Jose, German Garcia, Chris O'Halloran, Paul Mounts and VC's Cory Petit, on sale now.

When it comes to the Hulk's rogues, villains such as the Red Hulk/Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, as well as the various Abominations pop to mind. However, the one that stands out as his fiercest and most sadistic foe -- as he relies on mind games and brain over brute strength and brawn -- is none other than Samuel Sterns, aka the Leader.

Created in the 1964 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, The Leader has repeatedly been a thorn in the Green Goliath's side, either trying to kill Hulk, experiment on and dissect him, or absorb his power. After a gamma radiation turned him into a twisted mad genius, the Leader became obsessed with reducing the Jade Giant to an empty shell. Now, after the events of The Immortal Hulk #25, Sterns may finally have gotten the tool to do just that. What's even more interesting is it could actually provide salvation for the entire Marvel Universe.

RELATED: Mr. Fixit: The Most Dangerous Hulk Isn't Savage or a Devil - It's JOE

With Devil Hulk revealed to be the entity at the end of time, surviving and plotting the creation of the "Ninth Iteration" of the Marvel Universe, fans are wondering what could stop this wicked behemoth. He devoured the entity that created Galactus, and killed Franklin Richards in the future, becoming the Breaker of Worlds. But as this issue reveals, it's actually the One Below All who's possessed Hulk, ready to remake the Marvel Universe in a more twisted manner.

As Al Ewing jumps to the future where we see the Marvel Universe all but destroyed, two alien species are working steadfastly to stop Hulk in the past. The amoeba-like cosmic entities, Par%l and Farys, risk death to transmit a message to present-day Marvel to stop the Hulk before he becomes this Breaker-Apart, who loves crushing realities and worlds with his bare fists. They know anything is better than the barren era he's left them in and these aliens, who lost their colleague, D%nel, to Hulk's rage, firmly believe he's a problem that needs to be addressed eons before he destroys everything they know.

RELATED: Immortal Hulk Just Had Its Own Game of Thrones, With Deadly Consequences

They birth a "Tiding Fly" --  a living vessel that can jump through time -- and store key data in it to send back to the present, unhappy how the future panned out with Hulk ruling their bleak cosmos. The Fly has to avoid the Hulk, though, as it traverses through space and time. With 10 billion years elapsing, it finally ends up in the present in a lab where the Leader's surprisingly experimenting to ascertain the connection of the Fly to Hulk. After cutting the Fly open, he pulls out a purple-glowing crystal as a message seemingly begins to play.

Fans, of course, think this crystal could be a code or a message on how to kill the gamma monster directly while other theorists believe it's a weapon in disguise. That said, we have no idea why the Leader was chosen as recipient of this, or even if he was and it was just intercepted by him, but all signs point to him being, ironically, the universe's last chance for survival.

RELATED: Immortal Hulk: The Avenger's Origin Ties to Classic Marvel Icons

Leader was last seen in Hulkverines, infecting Bruce Banner with a virus to slow him down, but after losing that battle, he's clearly bounced back -- if this is indeed chronologically linear, which it should be mentioned, remains to be seen. It's worth noting too that the sinister Dr. Aliana Alba and Sterns ended up sharing an epic lip lock in that event, leaving us wondering if she'll appear with the Leader here.

Either way, Sterns finally has the knowledge he needs to stop Hulk in the palm of his hands and possibly save the Marvel Universe from total annihilation; but as we know, with great power comes great responsibility. It's anyone's guess if he'll now proceed to do the right thing for everyone's benefit and overall survival, or simply revert back to villainous type by taking control of the situation for himself.

The Immortal Hulk #26 goes on sale Nov. 6.