In Maestro’s future, the Hulk finds himself in a battle that recreates an iconic Marvel Cinematic Universe moment with a new twist.
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.”