In Maestro’s palace in the year 2099, the ruler of the Dystopia returns to his throne room. There his minister expresses his concerns over Maestro locking up Spider-Man with their other prisoner, the Sorcerer Supreme known as Strange. Maestro, however, has no concerns and assures his minister that he knows what he is doing. Maestro wants to gain access to alternate realities so he can expand the empire he already has. With that, he dismisses his minister so he can spend time alone with his harem of women.

In the dungeon, Spider-Man is still reeling in pain after the beating he took from Maestro and thinks he might be dying. Shackled to the wall is Strange, who cannot use her magic due to a mystical pentagram etched into the floor under her. She tells Spider-Man to get into the circle so she can try to heal him. He tries, but it is a painful endeavor. He still can’t believe that this world is a nuclear wasteland and can’t believe it exists. Strange understands what Spider-Man is talking about, telling him that she still remembers the world they both remember, explaining that her sorcery protected her from the change in reality.

When Spider-Man isn’t able to move any further, Strange orders him to fire a web-line at her. She uses this to mystically drag him closer to her with the help of the demon that possesses her body. Miguel isn’t sure what he’s seeing but eventually, he is dragged close enough for his finger to touch one of Strange’s. Suddenly, he is mystically healed, but the process is so painful that Spider-Man screams in agony. When a guard comes in to see what all the commotion is about, Spider-Man discovers that he is back to normal and kicks the guard into a wall. The guard doesn’t have any keys, but Spider-Man is more concerned about getting back to the past and preventing this nightmare future from happening. Strange informs him that Maestro has a time machine but he doesn’t know how it works and offers to help him find it if he’ll free her from her shackles. Agreeing, Spider-Man uses his finger talons to free Strange from his shackles.

Strange then starts leading Spider-Man to Maestro’s trophy room. Unfortunately, they end up running into some of the palace guards and quickly takes them out. As they make their way to the trophy room they are unaware that the Maestro’s minister has spotted them and gone to warn their master. In the trophy room, Spider-Man is shocked by all of the relics from the heroic age that are stored here. In one of the corners, they find Doctor Doom’s Time Machine. Strange then hands him the control device, but it is broken. Quick thinking, Spider-Man begins cannibalizing parts from the suits of Iron Man armor on display to repair the device. As he works, he promises to bring Strange back into the past with him. Tragically, just as Miguel finishes repairing the control device, Maestro manages to sneak up on Strange using the Hood’s cloak and fatally stabs her in the back with a Soul Dagger.

Spider-Man tries to attack Maestro and is knocked into the side of some Hulk-Buster Armor. He grabs on the suit’s gauntlets and attacks Maestro again, blasting a hole in his chest. Maestro then strikes Spider-Man again, this time knocking him on the time platform as the wall-crawler had planned. Maestro then watches in sinking horror as Spider-Man uses the device to escape his grasp. The last thing Spider-Man sees is Maestro collapse to the ground.

He then arrives back in the modern age of Earth-616 and discovers that the control device did not travel with him. He worries about if Maestro was dead or not but decides that there is nothing he can do by pray that he hasn’t created things worse.

Back in the Dystopia, the Maestro gets up when the demon that possesses Strange tells him it is safe to get back up. After assuring its master that Strange is still a prisoner in her own body, Maestro then uses the Time Platform to go back in time. Somewhere in the past, he appears in the New Mexico desert. He grabs the front page of a newspaper blowing in the wind and sees that it is December 25. Leaping off into the desert, Maestro wishes a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to nobody in particular.[1]

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man 2099, Maestro, Strange 2099, Gravity Police

Continuity Notes

1. It’s unclear when Maestro ended up or if he went to the Earth-616 universe or some other alternate reality. At the time of this writing (December 2020), this version of Maestro has not been seen since.

Topical References

• Spider-Man says he needs to get back to the year 2015 to fix the past and prevent this future from happening. The year he references should be considered a topical reference.