The Maestro is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Peter David and artist George Pérez, the character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect #1 (Dec. 1992). Depicted as an evil version of the Hulk from an alternate future (designated by Marvel Comics as Earth-9200), the Maestro possesses Bruce Banner's intelligence and the Hulk's strength and more malevolent personality traits.
The Maestro has appeared in video games, and made his animation debut in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., voiced by Fred Tatasciore.
Contents
Publication history
The Maestro first appeared as the main antagonist in The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect #1-2 (Dec. 1992–Jan. 1993). The character was created by Peter David and George Pérez.
The term maestro is an Italian/Spanish/Portuguese word meaning teacher, master or a musical conductor.
Fictional character biography
After a nuclear war destroys most of the human race, A.I.M. and MODOK capture the Hulk and other radiation-empowered heroes to recreate their immunity to radiation. About one hundred years later, the Hulk (now in a state where he retains Bruce Banner's intelligence) escapes and decides to rebuild the world himself. Traveling to America, he becomes disheartened with the state of the country, until he finds people still alive under Washington. The entrance is guarded by the Machine Man, who leads the Hulk to the ruler of the survivors, the 'Maestro', who the Hulk recognizes as Hercules. Afterwards, Hulk meets with Rick Jones, who explains that Hercules is only interested in ruling humans, having sparring matches, and sex. Although the Hulk expresses little interest in helping people after they caused the apocalypse, when Rick reminds him that most of the people close to Hulk were just normal humans, he infiltrates the remains of Alchemax to create the Dogs of War to oppose Hercules's forces. Hercules enters the fray and fights off the Dogs of War. He then goads Hulk into a fight and easily bests him, and Hercules spares his life to make him a part of his entourage. Hulk instead vanishes for a number of years before returning with U-Foes member Vapor, who fatally poisons Hercules. Hulk then betrays Vapor, freezes her body, shatters her into pieces, and has the pieces buried over a vast area so she can never regenerate. As Hulk tries to publicly cremate Hercules' corpse, he springs back to life, sent by Hades to enact his revenge. Hercules proves too powerful a physical threat and even the Dogs of War are no challenge for him. When a former member of Rick's rebels unleashes a weapon designed by Forge years previously to kill Hulk, the evil Hulk manages to use it to kill Hercules once and for all. Hulk confronts Rick about his friends' failed attempt to kill him, but finds him gone. Rick contacts Hulk remotely, comparing him to his father Brian Banner, before trying to kill him with a bomb. Hulk survives the explosion.
Maestro develops a new movement he calls Post-Apocalyptic Existence, or PAX, which will destroy the remaining divisions in humanity and replace it with a single overlord: himself. Maestro implements this movement by expanding his domain beyond Dystopia to surrounding areas like Connecticut and the underground community living beneath Washington, D.C., though the community escaped and destroyed their home to spite Maestro. Maestro also joins forces with Doctor Doom to destroy both A.I.M. and Maestro's former team the Pantheon as they threaten their plans to rule the world. When A.I.M. and the Pantheon are vanquished, Maestro and Doom turn on each other, leading to a fight between the two and Doom retreating.
Variations
In the continuation of the Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow continuity featured in Avengers (vol. 4), Bruce Banner has become the Maestro, leading the resistance against the returned Ultron along with Iron Man and Spider-Girl (Felicity Hardy, the daughter of Spider-Man and the Black Cat, across the split timelines Earth-10943 and Earth-10071.
At some point, the Maestro (or an alternate universe version of him) is sent back in time alongside the "Days of Future Past" version of Wolverine as part of a secret assignment. The two end up battling their present-day Earth-616 counterparts before being forced to flee. They are sent back to an alternate future where Red Hulk is the President of the United States of America, where it is revealed that he sent the two to kill the Earth-616 version of Red Hulk to save the world.
When Spider-Man 2099 attempts to return to his own time after the events of Spider-Verse, he ends up in a world accidentally devastated by Alchemax and ruled by the Maestro who mistakes Miguel for the original Spider-Man. The Maestro beats Miguel into submission and places him in a cell with Strange 2099. The Maestro travels back to present day by having the demon possessing Strange manipulate Miguel into repairing Doctor Doom's Time Platform. The Maestro timeline is described by Miguel O'Hara as having overwritten his original 2099 timeline. Miguel seemingly slays the Maestro with a weapon from the villain's trophy room, but it is later shown that the Maestro feigned defeat to follow Miguel back to the present day.
After Doctor Doom incorporates the "Future Imperfect" timeline into his new Battleworld in "Secret Wars", the Maestro resurfaces as the ruler of the domain called Dystopia. He poses as a depowered Odin to gain the trust of the resistance movement, and confronts the resistance's leader Thunderbolt Ross (this reality's version of the Thing). After a brutal fight, the Maestro offers to release Dystopia from his tyrannical rule if Ross can help him kill God Emperor Doom. To this end, the Maestro sets out to find the Destroyer in another zone of Battleworld. Although he tracks it to a region of Asgardia where it is guarded by Ulik, he is shocked to learn that its final line of defense is the 'Ancient One', an elderly Rick Jones. After merging with the Destroyer, the Maestro kills God Emperor Doom and conquers Battleworld. It is revealed that the entire battle was an illusion that has ensnared Maestro. Believing himself to be victorious, Maestro reverts to his human form, with Rick stating that he'll remain trapped in the illusion until he dies.
Powers and abilities
The Maestro largely shares the same powers as the Hulk, but a greater degree due to the century's worth of radiation he has absorbed resulting from the nuclear wars that decimated his Earth. This includes his ability to see and interact with astral forms as well as breathe underwater. Although he possesses Banner's intellect, the Maestro has rarely demonstrated his technical expertise and implies to have built Dystopia himself. At one point, he manipulated Miguel O'Hara into repairing a time machine for him, rather than doing it himself.
Reception
In 2022, Comic Book Resources (CBR) ranked the Maestro's introduction in Future Imperfect fourth in their "10 Ways Marvel Made The Hulk Better Over The Years" list and ninth in their "10 Great George Pérez Comics Every Fan Should Read" list.
In other media
Television
The Maestro appears in the Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. episode "Enter the Maestro", voiced by Fred Tatasciore. This version is the result of the Hulk being exposed to excess radiation from a gamma meteor, which increased his power, but drove him insane and eventually turned him into the Maestro. Going by the nickname "Old Man Hulk", he travels back in time ostensibly to help his past self and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. stop a gamma meteor from hitting Earth while secretly working to preserve his existence and future. However, A-Bomb's future self also travels back in time to warn the Agents of the Maestro's plot. With the Agents' help, the future A-Bomb cures the Hulk of the excess radiation, changing the future and erasing himself and the Maestro from existence.
An alternate universe variant of the Maestro who possesses powers akin to a Master of the Mystic Arts makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the What If...? episode "What If... What If...?".
Video games
The Maestro appears as an unlockable alternate skin for the Hulk in The Incredible Hulk, Avengers Initiative, Marvel Heroes, Marvel's Midnight Suns, and Marvel Rivals.
The Maestro appears in The Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga.
Two incarnations of the Maestro appear in Marvel Contest of Champions. One version is a boss character who utilizes his own "Iron Hulk" armor equipped with Magik's Soulsword and Ronan the Accuser's Universal Weapon while a younger version called the Overseer is a playable character who utilizes the Silver Surfer's board and the Cosmic Cube.
The Maestro appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2. This version is a member of the World Breakers.
The Maestro appears in Marvel Realm of Champions. This version created and ruled over Battleworld until he was mysteriously killed, causing the Barons to rise up and take control of their lands.
The Maestro appears in the Marvel's Avengers DLC "Operation: Hawkeye - Future Imperfect", voiced by Darin De Paul. This version is from a future in which the Kree invaded the Earth. Following a nuclear war in the following years, he absorbed excess radiation from the nuclear fallout, making him more powerful while his mental health deteriorated. Eventually driven mad with power, he set out to conquer much of the former United States as the "Supreme Leader". At some point during his reign, the Maestro killed most of the Avengers and came to control a large army of A.I.M. robots to wage war on surviving S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. The Maestro tries to stop past versions of the Avengers who traveled to the future to learn what led to the end of humanity and try to prevent it. However, the Maestro is ultimately defeated by the Avengers with the help of a future version of Hawkeye.
The Maestro appears in Marvel Future Revolution, voiced again by Fred Tatasciore.
Merchandise
The Maestro received a figure in the Marvel Legends line.
Miscellaneous
An alternate timeline incarnation of the Maestro appears in Hulk: What Savage Beast, by Peter David.