From the Devil Hulk to Savage Hulk, Marvel has given Bruce Banner some truly terrifying forms. However, his most frightening personality is the Maestro. Emerging in the wake of a nuclear World War III, Maestro took control of a city that housed the surviving humans of the apocalypse and ruled humanity’s remains with an iron fist until he gets a blast from the past.
Peter David and George Perez’s Hulk: Future Imperfect depicts Bruce Banner traveling to this alternate future to take on Maestro. Using Doctor Doom’s rebuilt time machine, this world’s Rick Jones sent his granddaughter Janis to the present-day Marvel Universe to convince Banner to help their war-torn future. The rebels were able to rebuild Doctor Doom’s time machine to bring Hulk to their time. The Hulk is confused as he walks through the dystopian city because everyone is looking at him with a sense of respect. The Hulk is brought to the rebels’ secret base, which includes a room full of artifacts belonging to other superheroes that died in the nuclear war.
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Maestro is alerted of Hulk’s presence and tracks the Avenger to the rebels’ base with a crew of his soldiers. His soldiers are killed by a series of traps, but these have no effect on the colossal Maestro. Maestro comes face-to-face with the Hulk. The two begin to trade blows but Maestro appears to have an advantage as he is far more ruthless than his counterpart. The Maestro comes out victorious in the end and even breaks the Hulk’s neck. He does not kill the Hulk but elects to bring him to his castle and tries to get him to rule by his side.
Maestro sends his harem of women to the Hulk’s bed to try to persuade him. This includes one woman that is a spitting image of Bruce’s wife Betty. Maestro also provides a hoverchair that can carry the Hulk around while he recovers from his broken neck. The Hulk is shown around the city and its wastelands by Maestro and is told that the fallout from the nuclear warfare actually made him much stronger and more intelligent.
The Hulk recovers much more quickly than Maestro expects and puts an ulterior plan in motion. Maestro expected this and is able to blast the Hulk with an overpowered gun, which forces the Hulk to flee. Maestro tracks the Hulk to the rebels’ base where the elderly Rick Jones is present. Rick throws Captain America’s shield at Maestro, but it is deflected back at Rick, who is impaled on the remains of Wolverine’s adamantium claws.
The Hulk and Maestro get into yet another battle that leads to Hulk’s defeat. Before Maestro can land a finishing blow, he is baited onto Doctor Doom’s time machine and is sent back to the past. He arrives at the site where the gamma bomb first created the Hulk and is obliterated in the ensuing explosion.
The Maestro’s Dystopia would eventually go on ruled by the Abomination and She-Hulk in Ivan Velez Jr. and Angel Medina’s Abominations miniseries. It’s interesting to note that none of the galactic superheroes arrived to help the dystopian city. Nova’s helmet, Silver Surfer’s surfboard, and even Mjolnir are all present in the rebels’ relic room, but it’s somewhat unclear why these heroes would have perished in a nuclear war on Earth since they’ve survived much worse elsewhere in the Marvel Universe.
Marvel’s ongoing series of Maestro miniseries has explained the events that lead to the creation of the Maestro personality. While it’s said that he became stronger and more intelligent from the nuclear blasts, those comics have revealed that he spent much of that time in stasis, under M.O.D.O.K.’s watchful eye. Hulk has already been seen rallying the people of Dystopia and even took down their leader Hercules, who also goes by the name Maestro. While it appears that this Maestro still has some care for the people of Dystopia, the full story of how he became so ruthless and so selfish is still being told.
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