WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Maestro #1, by Peter David, German Peralta, Jesus Aburtov, Dale Keown, Jason Keith and VC's Ariana Maher, on sale now.
You don't earn a name like "Maestro" without some orchestrating, and the villain's latest mini tells the tale of how he earned the title. Maestro has always been one of the most memorable villains from Peter David's storied run on the Hulk, and the writer's return to the character that thrust him into the spotlight may just build the mastermind up to be one of Marvel's greatest threats yet.
Originally debuting in David and Perez's Future Imperfect during a time when the Hulk's alternate personalities were fused into a hyper-intelligent but nevertheless physically powerful form, Maestro was a look into where the Hulk's future could lead were he to continue down that path. After traveling to a dystopian future, Hulk quickly discovered that the ruined world was in complete servitude to the Maestro. Stronger, smarter, and more conniving than the Hulk, the Maestro posed a nearly insurmountable threat to the jade-eyed giant.
Over the years the Maestro reappeared in several other Marvel titles, at one point popping up in Exiles where the reality-spanning super team declared him the most "powerful, intelligent, and corrupt" version of the Hulk to exist in the multiverse. The multiverse itself seemed to present a variety of Maestros and it could be hard to keep track of which ones were the same. One in Old Man Logan could be different from one in Spider-Man 2099, and it was not until the recent return of Peter David to the character that fans could find out the character's "true" origins.
The debut issue of the mini shows a more sympathetic side to Maestro than has ever been seen before, one where he survives a nuclear holocaust of the planet only to break out of a mental simulation. Maestro's imagined life showed him as a successful member of the Avengers, a father and a loving husband. The mini will no doubt be a chance to explore what turned the heroic Hulk into a villain who killed without mercy and horded an armory of Marvel's most powerful artifacts for his own use.
Despite his power, the Hulk most often has some weakness that can be exploited. Either there is a way to revert him back to his human form or, more often, he has moral restrictions demanding that he protect others even at the cost of his own safety. But Maestro suffers none of those restrictions -- living his life as a perfect fusion of Banner's alternate personalities may well have purged him of the ability to transform, while his descent into madness puts his own power and safety as the primary purpose behind all his actions.
This is a Hulk unleashed, and it's one that has always been waiting to rock the Marvel Universe. Delving into the villain's backstory is interesting enough on its own, but with the pages of Immortal Hulk delving further into Hulk lore than ever before it would not be surprising to see Maestro's story continue into the modern day. If he does make the time jump, Earth's Mightiest Heroes may want to take note of what happens when a Hulk stops pulling his punches.