Maestro (comics)

The Maestro
Inside art for The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect #1 by George Pérez.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #401 (January 1993)
Created by	Peter David (based upon the Hulk by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby)
In-story information
Alter ego	Dr. Robert Bruce Banner
Species	Human mutate
Place of origin	Earth
Abilities	Similar to the Hulk: unlimited strength, speed, stamina, and durability Regenerative healing factor Ability to see astral forms Radiation absorption Transformation Resistance to mind control Genius-level intellect in certain incarnations

The Maestro is a fictional comic book supervillain in Marvel Comics' The Incredible Hulk publications, combining Bruce Banner's intelligence with the Hulk's more malevolent aspects. The character was created by Peter David.

Publication History

The Maestro first appeared as a vision in The Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #401. He was the main antagonist in The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect #1-2 (Dec 1992 - Jan 1993).

Maestro's next appearance is in The Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #460-461 (Jan-Feb 1998).

The character also made appearances in Exiles and Captain Marvel vol 4 #27-30 (Mar-May 2002), which come before Future Imperfect chronologically.

The term maestro is an Italian/Spanish word meaning master, teacher, or professor.

Fictional character biography

Approximately a hundred years into the future, a nuclear war has killed almost all of Earth's superhumans and has taken the world to the brink of extinction. A future version of the Hulk, called Maestro, has seized control, driven insane by the nuclear radiation he has absorbed and the bitterness he feels towards the world at his continued treatment. The radiation also significantly enhances his strength. He also has the intelligence of Bruce Banner.

An elderly Rick Jones encounters the reality-hopping mutant Proteus, who has possessed the body of an alternate reality Hulk from the year 2099. Proteus intends to discard his current body and possess the Maestro. Jones, unaware of his plan, provides a weapon created by the X-Man Forge, which might be able to kill Maestro. However, the plan fails when the Maestro is warned by the Exiles, who are pursuing Proteus. Proteus possesses a new host and flees to another world, breaking the Maestro's neck during his escape.^{[citation needed]}

Years later, the Maestro, fully recovered from his injury, encounters a time-traveling Genis-Vell and Spider-Man. Manipulated by the supervillain Thanatos, the three battle. Genis-Vell and Spider-Man eventually return to their own time, with no consequence for the Maestro, when the elderly Rick uses his ability to wield Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, to defeat Thanatos.^[1]

Acquiring Doctor Doom's time machine, the rebels opposing the Maestro bring the Professor Hulk forward from the past, hoping that he can defeat the Maestro. The Maestro's superior strength and experience to allow him to easily dominate the Hulk and break his neck. Knowing it will soon heal, he shows Hulk around the city. The Maestro is defeated when Hulk uses of Doom's time machine to send the Maestro back to the time and place that the Hulk was created: ground zero during the testing of the atomic Gamma Bomb. Appearing next to the bomb itself, Maestro is killed in the same moment that creates the Hulk.^[2]

Hulk learns that the "homing sense" that has always allowed him to locate ground zero, his "birth" place, is actually attracted to the Maestro's spirit and remains. The Maestro has been absorbing gamma radiation from the Hulk each time he returns to the site, gradually restoring himself. He emerges, initially in a weakened and emaciated form.^[3] The exhausted Maestro attempts to use the Destroyer against the Hulk, but is last buried in a small rockslide.^[4]

Powers and abilities

The Maestro largely possesses the same powers as the Hulk, but to a greater degree than most incarnations due to the century's worth of radiation he has absorbed as a result of the nuclear wars that decimated his Earth. This includes certain mental powers, such as the Hulk's ability to see and interact with astral forms, as shown in The Defenders series.

In other media

• The Maestro appeared as an opponent in the PlayStation game The Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga, and as a playable character in the 2008 The Incredible Hulk video game, serving as a new 'skin' that can be unlocked when the player has collected all the Landmark tokens in the game.
• The Maestro was part of the Marvel Legends action figure series. His figure came with the left arm of Apocalypse.
• An alternate timeline version of the Maestro appears in Peter David's novel Hulk: What Savage Beast.

See also

• Alternative versions of the Hulk

References

1. ^ Captain Marvel vol. 3 #27-30 (March – May 2002)
2. ^ The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect #2
3. ^ The Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #460 (Jan 1998)
4. ^ The Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #461 (Feb 1998)

External links

• Maestro at the Comic Book DB