The Hulk is one of the most popular characters from the Marvel universe, because he is not only a shining hero, but also a tragic character. But what if all the fears come true?
The character of Hulk is almost always tragic. He has seemingly infinite strength, yet not always the control over it. He is a hero, but also a danger to humanity. Adding to this is the tragedy of his own psyche, as Bruce Banner also suffers from the Hulk.
The Marvel movies have not always handled the Hulk the best, but in the comics, there are many stories that build on tragedy. With the character Maestro, Marvel established a dystopian dictator who demonstrates how dangerous the Hulk can be.
A destroyed future and a nasty Hulk
Who is Maestro? Maestro is an alternate version of Bruce Banner from Earth-9200. His first appearance was in the comic Hulk: Future Imperfect No. 1 from 1992. In the future, there are 2 atomic wars that have eliminated almost all humans and superhumans on Earth. Bruce Banner was captured by A.I.M., an organization often led by the villain M.O.D.O.K.
Bruce escaped and traveled across the land until he reached Dystopia, the former New York. There he encountered Hercules, who ruled as Maestro. Bruce lost the first battle against Hercules, but he did not kill him. That was a mistake, as years later, the Hulk returned and through a trick defeated Hercules and became the dictator Maestro himself.
He created a large army of robots, expanded the territory of Dystopia, and tried to eliminate anyone who stood in the way of his rule.
Here you see the cover of Maestro No. 1 from 2020:
One of the strongest Hulk variants
How did Hulk become a tyrant? The Hulk’s rage towards humanity grew after he witnessed what they had done to the Earth. He concluded that humanity must be ruled with an iron fist and that only he can take on this role. He lost all empathy.
Maestro is not just another personality of the Hulk, he is a mix of both personalities created through hate. In this alternate future, the Hulk absorbed radiation for years, caused by the atomic wars. As a result, he is even more powerful than the normal Hulk.
He has retained basic intellect, even though the radiation has caused him to become the insane dictator. In his head, there is neither Bruce Banner nor Hulk, but only Maestro.
In a normal fight, the normal Hulk could not defeat Maestro. He could only stop him with a time machine.
How can you experience Maestro’s story? The story of how he became Maestro can be read in Maestro: The Gamma Tyrant of the Future. The collected edition includes issues 1 – 5 of Maestro. If you want a larger overview of Maestro’s appearances, you can also get the Hulk: Maestro Omnibus by Peter David with 960 pages. However, it is only available in English and is relatively expensive for an initial insight.
If you happen to own the game Marvel’s Avengers (it can no longer be purchased), then you can fight against him in the free DLC story Future Imperfect
in a new area. Maestro is not the only nasty Hulk variant. In Old Man Logan, Wolverine has to face an entire Hulk family: The inspiration for one of the best Marvel movies is so brutal and absurd that it could never be filmed
