Doc Samson (Leonard Skivorski Jr.)

Leonard Skivorski Jr., raised in Tulsa in a Jewish household and nicknamed via a familial reference to his father's long hair, trained as a psychiatrist and academic. During a storyline in which Bruce Banner temporarily had radiation siphoned away, Skivorski exposed himself to some of the siphoned gamma radiation; the exposure produced lasting physical changes (including increased strength and long green hair) and launched his public persona as 'Doc Samson.' He was created by Roy Thomas and Herb Trimpe and first appeared in The Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #141 (July 1971).

After gamma exposure he is visually marked by long, green hair (a deliberate creator choice) and a muscular, superhuman physique. Creator and artist notes indicate a costume design incorporating a lightning-bolt motif and distinctive boots in early visual concepting; beyond his costumed appearances he is also depicted in professional attire when acting in his role as psychiatrist and professor. His hair is a prominent identifying feature tied to his alias.

Doc Samson possesses enhanced physical strength and durability resulting from concentrated gamma-ray exposure, sufficient in stories to contest other gamma-mutates such as the Hulk. He is a practicing psychiatrist and college professor who conducts psychotherapy, hypnosis, and personality-integration interventions (notably attempting psychoanalysis and hypnotic integration of Banner's multiple personalities to create 'Professor Hulk'). Narratively he alternates among roles as therapeutic healer, advisor/leader in institutional contexts (support groups, team recruitment), and active combatant; he has also been subject to brainwashing, implanted devices, capture by antagonists, sacrificial energy-absorption, temporary resurrection (Chaos War), and later permanent resurrection through storyline mechanisms (The Immortal Hulk's Green Door).