WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Maestro #4, by Peter David, German Peralta, Jesus Aburtov, Dale Keown, Jason Keith, and VC's Ariana Maher, on sale now.
As it chronicles the history of the Hulk's darkest future, the Maestro miniseries has been leading up to an inevitable showdown between its titular protagonist and Hercules. Within the context of the story, the Hulk has not yet fully developed into the tyrannical Maestro, and Marvel's Avengers demigod rued the future with that ominous title.
But in order to take that title for himself, the future Hulk and Hercules had to duke it out in Maestro #4, and their fight recreates one of the Hulk's most iconic Marvel Cinematic Universe fights with an embarrassing twist.
Since abandoning the moral principles that formerly made him a hero in the wake of a nuclear apocalypse, the Hulk set out to become the king of what little remains when he comes across Hercules already claiming the throne. The two heroes are both known as some of the strongest Avengers to ever throw a punch, but their heroic qualities dimmed in this amoral age. Having both abandoned any pretense of heroism, the two powerhouses fight in a no-holds-barred brawl.
And in that epic battle, Hercules uses the Hulk's signature MCU beatdown against him.
One of the most iconic scenes from 2o12's Avengers is when Loki faces down the Hulk, shouts that he is a god, and then gets grabbed around the ankles and bashed repeatedly on the ground before submitting. "Puny god," Hulk says as he walks away from Loki's crumpled form. The moment stands out as one of the Hulk's most memorable in the entire MCU.
In this issue, Hercules grabs Hulk's foot and bashes him around. Hercules unleashes an astonishing display of strength against the man that would one day be known as the Maestro. And to underscore the MCU parallels, Hercules finished the beatdown by referencing the Hulk's MCU quote and saying, "Puny Banner."
Even though the future Maestro bounces back from the beating in far better shape than Loki did, he gets put down shortly after. Hercules explains that Hulk is at his strongest when he's mindless, and an intelligent Hulk can never hope to match him in terms of raw strength.
The Hulk seems to agree, as he temporarily concedes before returning later with former villain Vapor to help him complete the task of defeating the Greek god. Although Maestro ends up eventually winning the war, the beatdown itself is memorable. It is one of the worst thrashings a Hulk has ever seen, and it's one that Maestro is not likely to forget.
The intelligent Hulk eventually wins out with sheer cunning and takes on the title of Maestro for himself. With his Dogs o' War in place and Rick Jones gearing up for a rebellion, this comic's timeline appears to be catching up to where the initial Future Imperfect story began. If that's the case, then this beatdown could be the last defeat the Maestro knows before his futuristic reign of terror begins.