The Maestro is a villain from Marvel Comics, specifically an evil alternate-future version of the Hulk, but would later become his own independent entity. He is one of many depictions of the darkest qualities of the Hulk, who has long been shown to have multiple personalities that often transform into living beings, similar to his literary inspiration, Edward Hyde.
History[]
The Maestro is born of a dystopia in which Earth is devastated by nuclear war, causing a vast number of its native heroes to die off as well as reducing humanity to a state of near-medieval existence. While most life struggled to survive in the harsh wastelands left behind, the Hulk would grow stronger than ever and gave into his misanthropic nature, completely abandoning his humanity and renaming himself the Maestro.
He would rule as a brutal dictator for many years before being confronted by a time-tossed version of himself, who he would gain infamy for snapping the neck of. Despite this, Maestro was ultimately defeated by his younger self - though due to numerous events since Maestro managed to somehow revive and separated himself from Hulk, becoming a completely independent entity.
Notes[]
Other evil versions of the Hulk include:
- Hulk (Old Man Logan) - another dystopian future-version of Hulk, the main antagonist of the infamous Old Man Logan series.
- Devil Hulk - one of the Hulk's darkest incarnations, depicting his broken ideal of a protector as well as his misanthropic side (currently the villainous protagonist of Immortal Hulk)
- Guilt Hulk - a manifestation of Banner's guilt.
- Kluh - a brief Hulk variant, described as "Hulk's Hulk".