• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

  • Reading Orders
    • Marvel
    • My Marvelous Year
    • DC Comics
    • All Comic Book Publishers
    • Most Recent
  • Beginner Guides
    • Beginner’s Guide To Comics In 2021
    • Marvel 2021: Where to Start?
    • DC 2021: Where to Start?
    • Best of Lists
    • Tablets for Comics
    • Guides for Digital Readers
  • Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
    • DC Comics
    • Comic Book Movies
    • Comic Book TV
    • Video Games
  • Podcasts & Video
    • My Marvelous Year
    • Best Comics Ever (CBH)
    • CBH on Youtube!
  • About Me
    • My Favorite Comics of All Time
    • Columns
    • CBH Email Newsletter
  • Support Comic Book Herald
    • Ways to support
You are here: Home / Comics Guides / Secret Wars Watch: Future Imperfect

Secret Wars Watch: Future Imperfect

December 16, 2014 by Thomas Bacon 1 Comment

It was arguably one of the most thrilling Hulk stories of all time – and in ‘Secret Wars’, ‘Future Imperfect’ is coming back!

What was ‘Future Imperfect’?

“A hundred years or so into the future, the main hub of activity is Dystopia – a city built upon the ruins of earlier, nuked-out generations.  Dystopia is ruled by the green-iron fist of the being called ‘the Maestro’.  The Maestro is, in fact, Robert Bruce Banner, apparently driven mad by ambient radiation and a century of watching everything he ever knew – everything he ever loved – fall to dust.”

‘Future Imperfect #2‘

In many ways, ‘Future Imperfect’ was to the Hulk what ‘Days of Future Past’ was to the X-Men; the ultimate glimpse of how badly the world could go wrong.  In this two-issue miniseries, published in 1992, legendary writer Peter David teamed up with George Perez once again to produce a haunting vision of a world gone mad by war.  And looming over this nuclear wasteland was the cruel visage of a future Hulk-gone-mad, the ruthless Maestro.  He was a figure of absolute power, with advanced technology policing his city.

Maestro is here
This, incidentally, was one of the stranger reappearances of the Maestro concept, in ‘A+X’.

A resistance movement – led by an aged Rick Jones – finally went to desperate lengths: they used Doctor Doom’s time-travel technology to bring the Hulk out of the past to fight his future self.  In doing so, they unwittingly cemented the Maestro’s timeline; still, using brains rather than brawn, they triumphed.

Marvel seem to be going to great lengths to bring the spectre of the Maestro back, though.  In the current ‘Hulk’ series, an injection of Extremis has enhanced the Hulk’s intelligence, but appears to have caused some damage.  There are ominous hints that he is now treading the path that will lead him to become the Maestro.

Support For Comic Book Herald:

Comic Book Herald is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a qualifying affiliate commission.

Comic Book Herald’s reading orders and guides are also made possible by reader support on Patreon, and generous reader donations.

Any size contribution will help keep CBH alive and full of new comics guides and content. Support CBH on Patreon for exclusive rewards, or Donate here! Thank you for reading!

Become a Patron!

Why not
In this dream, the Hulk has just proved his superiority over all – by killing them… And the Hulk’s response? He thinks he needs to grow a beard…

What does this brings to ‘Secret Wars’?

The Maestro is the Hulk gone seriously wrong; all the brains of Banner (and, if Extremis is involved in his timeline, even more), the Hulk’s strength, and an absolute lack of morality.  He is absolute ruler of his harsh world, which is policed by advanced technology – including Dogs o’ War, deadly creatures whose jaws can crush adamantium in 7.3 seconds.

Dog o War
I love the design of these things!

There is no doubt that the Maestro would seek to capitalise on Battleworld, to impose his rule over the last remaining fragments of reality.  Including ‘Future Imperfect’ in ‘Secret Wars’ gives Marvel a terrifically powerful villain.  It also gives them an enemy who can truly challenge the Hulk – when they battled, the Maestro broke the Hulk’s neck.

Neck broken
Do NOT mess with the Maestro!

Meanwhile, if the Hulk’s Doc Green persona is indeed on the road to ‘Future Imperfect‘, then a whole range of plotlines are opened – with the Maestro interacting with Doc Green, perhaps tempting him, perhaps transforming him into a very different kind of Hulk.  In fact, there is one other possible twist in this tale; what if this timeline is from after the Maestro’s defeat, and Doc Green winds up the ruler?  Just a shot in the dark, but anything can happen…

 

Filed Under: Comics Guides, Featured Tagged With: Future Imperfect, Hulk, Secret Wars

Heroically Support Comic Book Herald!

If you like Comic Book Herald, and are able to donate, any small contribution will help keep CBH alive and full of new comics guides and content. Donate here! Or, support CBH on Patreon for exclusive rewards! Thank you for reading!

Become a Patron!

About Thomas Bacon

Tom Bacon is an old-school Marvel fan, a blogger on http://www.mahmusecomics.com and an admin on the popular X-Men Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/XMENFANS/). In Real Life, he's currently working in the field of Knowledge Management at The Co-operative Bank, and is happily married to wife Fiona.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dave says

    December 16, 2014 at 1:08 pm

    First off, I loved this book, and was completely astounded earlier this year when I realized I had never even heard of it. It’s either extremely underrated, or I was just oblivious for no explainable reason.

    The idea that Marvel might move present day Hulk towards his Maestro conclusion is pretty fascinating. That’s one of those fascinating elseworld dystopian futures that is always teased, but never seems like an actual conclusion. Like Old Man Logan or Days of Future Past, I never expect our characters to ever really commit to that story path. I’d be really interested in that direction for Hulk; hopefully Secret Wars delivers!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

CBH on Youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi7HnWapV-o

The Comic Book Herald Podcast!

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsRSS
My Marvelous Year Podcast and Reading Club 1

Recent Posts

  • Thunderbolts by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley Omnibus Review! April 12, 2021
  • 1990 Pt. 4: 90’s Ghost Rider, & Wolverine & Black Widow (W/ Sara Century)! April 12, 2021
  • Krakoa Stops The Juggernaut | Juggernaut (2020) Full Story Review! | Krakin’ Krakoa #170 April 11, 2021
  • The 10 Best European Comics! April 10, 2021
  • Thunderstrike Reading Order! April 8, 2021
  • When Captain America Quits: The History and Meaning of a Super Soldier’s Protest April 7, 2021
  • The Old 52: Playing God in Wonder Woman April 6, 2021
  • Creannotators #42: “Living Heroes” Interview With Writer Stephanie Williams! April 6, 2021
  • To Harm Or To Not Harm: The Doctor Aphra Omnibus Review! April 5, 2021
  • 1990 Pt. 3: Jim Starlin Returns! Thanos Quest! April 5, 2021
  • What’s Going On with Marvel’s Avengers Continuity? April 4, 2021
  • Bomber Jackets & Love Triangles, The Avengers: The Gathering Omnibus April 3, 2021
  • X-Men Epic Collection: The Sentinels Live Review! April 2, 2021
  • Doctor Doom by Christopher Cantwell & Salvador Larroca Review! April 1, 2021
  • MUY #11: Ultimate Nightmare & Friends! April 1, 2021

Popular Articles

DC Rebirth Guide

Batman Reading Order

DC New 52 Reading Order

Marvel Ultimate Universe Guide

Civil War Reading Order

Marvel Cosmic Reading Order

The Best Comics of All Time!

Deadpool Reading Order

Justice League Reading Order

Complete Thanos Reading Order

X-Men Reading Guide (Modern Era)

Age of Apocalypse Reading Order

Modern Marvel Universe in 25 Trades

Best Tablet For Digital Comics

Is Marvel Unlimited Worth It?

Footer

New to Comic Book Herald?

Hey there - my name's Dave and this is my comic book blog. It's my way of sharing my borderline obsessive addiction to the comic book medium, and I hope you like some of what's going on here.

Most people that come here are looking for my (WIP) Marvel reading order guide. You can probably also get a sense if CBH is for you by taking a look at some of my columns.

If you like what you see, let's connect on Facebook or Twitter. Or, leave a comment on the blog here, I'm always looking for new awesome people in the comic book community.

More on Comic Book Herald

  • Home
  • About
  • Support CBH
  • My Marvelous Year
  • Join!
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

Recent Posts

  • Thunderbolts by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley Omnibus Review!
  • 1990 Pt. 4: 90’s Ghost Rider, & Wolverine & Black Widow (W/ Sara Century)!
  • Krakoa Stops The Juggernaut | Juggernaut (2020) Full Story Review! | Krakin’ Krakoa #170
  • The 10 Best European Comics!
  • Thunderstrike Reading Order!

Copyright © 2021 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in