This article contains spoilers for Maestro #1.
Legendary Hulk writer Peter David has finally revealed how the Hulk survived World War III - and began the journey to becoming the Maestro. In 1992, writer Peter David and artist George Pérez created one of the most iconic versions of the Hulk of all time. The Maestro was a bitter and vindictive future Hulk who had lived through World War III, and had become a ruthless tyrant who ruled the world in his time.
This was "Future Imperfect," generally viewed as one of the best Hulk stories of all time. It saw the Bruce Banner of the present day - then in his Professor Hulk persona - transported to this dystopian future, where he was forced to confront his possible future self. What followed was the ultimate Hulk-on-Hulk showdown, with two iterations of the Jade Giant trading blows, and the fate of the past and present hanging in the balance. In the end, it was Bruce Banner's genius that won the day rather than the Hulk's brawn, as he outsmarted the Maestro and lured him into a temporal trap.
In this week's Maestro #1, Peter David revisits the character and reveals the Maestro's origin story. It opens with what appears to be an idyllic world, one in which the Hulk is a happily married man and a celebrated member of the Avengers. But it turns out this is just a virtual reality, concealing the apocalyptic truth. A terrorist group set off nuclear weapons in both the United States and Moscow simultaneously, and both the US and Russia assumed the other was responsible. Sixty percent of the human race died in the resulting nuclear war, with most of the survivors suffering from radiation sickness; in the wake of World War III, eco-terrorists decided humanity's time had come to an end, unleashing poison gas upon the world as well. But, fortunately for the Hulk, MODOK and AIM saw the apocalypse coming. When the first missiles began to drop, MODOK scooped up some key assets, including the Hulk, and hid them in an underground bunker.
MODOK seized a handful of individuals whose bodies actually seemed to benefit from the radiation, believing they would be the only ones who could survive the conflict. He avoided picking up any classic heroes, because he rightly deduced they would object to the morality of this enterprise. These metahumans were kept in suspension, subjected to virtual reality programs to keep them calm, while the world recovered and radiation levels began to drop.
That, it seems, is how the Hulk survived World War III; he had a little help. The Hulk only discovered the truth when the ageing technology keeping him sedated began to fail, and he broke free. Now, at the end of Maestro #1, he's been unleashed upon a wounded and dying world. The age of the Maestro is about to dawn.