Everything about Hercules Marvel Comics totally explained
» Not to be confused with a trainee of The Order group in Marvel Comics who used the name Hercules
Hercules is a
fictional character that appears in
comic books published by
Marvel Comics. Based on the
demigod of the
same name from
Greek mythology, the character exists in Marvel's main
shared universe, known as the
Marvel Universe. He was created by writer-editor
Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter
Jack Kirby, and
first appeared in
Journey into Mystery Annual #1 (1965).
Fictional character biography
Modern era
Hercules is first seen when
Immortus pulls him from the ancient past to battle Thor. However this was subsequently ignored in his later appearances, such as in
Journey into Mystery Annual #1 (1965), where he battled
Thor in
Olympus. The mini-series
Avengers Forever (1998-2000) explained this by having the Hercules from
Avengers #10 be a
Space Phantom in disguise.
Hercules made several appearances in
The Mighty Thor, even defeating Thor in battle on Earth. He then unwittingly signed an "Olympian contract," making himself
Pluto's slave; Thor rescued Hercules from Pluto's underworld.
Hercules then appeared in the
Avengers during issue #38 as a thrall of the
Enchantress, but goes on to aid the team through issues #39-50 (officially joining in #45) against the likes of the
Mad Thinker; the
Sub-Mariner;
Diablo and
Dragon Man; the
Red Guardian;
Whirlwind and
Typhon. Hercules later appears in the Olympian arc (#98-100), where he's captured by Ares' minions, and is rescued by the Avengers on Olympus.
After that, he battles Thor again in Olympus, and contended with Pluto and Ares. With Thor, he battles the
Destroyer and then battles
Firelord. Hercules and Thor then journey to
Ego the Living Planet. Hercules is then menaced by the "Great Fear," who is actually the
Dweller-in-Darkness. After parting company with Thor, Hercules helps form the
Champions, who aid him in battle against Pluto,
Hippolyta, and the Huntsman.
He returns to the Avengers for the final issues of the "Korvac saga" (#173-177). Hercules makes a guest appearance in issue #211, and aided in the battle against
Surtur's legions in their invasion of New York City before rejoining the team on an ongoing basis as of issue #250.
In the "Avengers Under Siege" storyline in
Avengers #270-277,
Baron Helmut Zemo assembled a super-sized version of the
Masters of Evil and courtesy of a pawn drug Hercules at a bar. Returning to the Mansion during the siege, a drunken Hercules ignores the
Wasp and holds off the attacking
Masters of Evil until being surprised and viciously beaten by
Goliath,
Mister Hyde, and the
Wrecking Crew. Hercules falls into a coma as a result of his beating, and is eventually retrieved by
Hermes and taken back to Olympus, setting the stage for the "Assault on Olympus" storyline, which ran from #280-285. He was awakened from his coma by Prometheus, but was temporarily insane; he fought his fellow Avengers until he was restored to sanity by
Doctor Druid. Blamed by
Zeus for Hercules' condition, the Avengers battle the gods and finally
Zeus himself.
Hercules was later defeated by the
High Evolutionary, and mutated "beyond godhood." In time, he returned to his previous godly form. He then assumed the secret identity "Harry Cleese." He also had an encounter with one of his worshippers,
Magma.
Taylor Madison & exile from Olympus
Back on Earth, Hercules falls in love with a woman named Taylor Madison. As their relationship starts to get serious,
Hera shows up and attempts to kill her, for Hera and Ares had made a bet on who could hurt Hercules the most. However, Ares betrays Hera and alerts Zeus in an attempt to get back in his favor. Zeus defeats Hera, but then reveals that Taylor Madison isn't a real human being, but a construct created by Zeus himself to lure out Hera. Zeus then removes Taylor from existence, which causes Hercules to lash out to his father. Angered by what he calls "his son's lack of respect", Zeus strips Hercules of his immortality and a great deal of his power, then forbids him from ever returning to Olympus.
The traumatized Hercules draws support from the Avengers, especially
Deathcry, whom he helps to return to her Shi'ar home-world. Upon returning from space, Hercules discovers that the Avengers have apparently sacrificed themselves to stop the being known as
Onslaught. Distraught over the loss of his comrades, he takes to drinking, becoming an alcoholic.
Hercules travels in search of adventure, briefly serving with the
Heroes For Hire. When the Avengers and other heroes return from their exile, Hercules joins the reformed team, opting to be an inactive member rather than serve as an active member. Hercules also seeks out
Erik Josten, now known as Atlas of the
Thunderbolts, in order to exact revenge for the coma he'd put Hercules in while Josten was
Goliath of the
Masters of Evil.
Hawkeye, then leader of the Thunderbolts, convinces Hercules to stand down at the cost of their long friendship.
New Labors
With the dissolution of the Avengers during the "Disassembled" storyline and the destruction of Asgard, Hercules falls to old habits, frequenting bars and putting forth the image of a drunkard. With Hercules in a vulnerable position, Hera decides to strike with a new set of Labors. To this end, she utilizes
Eurystheus, now the head of a modern company, to film a reality television show of Hercules completing new Labors, updated for the modern age. During the course of his labors, Hercules finds forgiveness from Megara, and returns to defeat Eurystheus.
Hercules goes on to fight and seriously injure the
Constrictor, a supervillain who then sues Hercules, sending him into financial ruin. After helping Zeus and Ares unite the gods to defend Olympus against invaders, Hercules once again returns to Earth and rejoins
Damage Control, with whom he'd previously performed community service as a result of his drunken stupors. This time, however, he's an employee, working in construction and demolition. Hercules recovers, however, when he participates in a poker game organized by the
Thing and wins much of his fortune back from the Constrictor.
Civil War
In the 2006 Marvel Comics crossover event
Civil War, Hercules is shown as an early opponent of the Superhuman Registration Act, and calls the pro-registration heroes as "traitors". He takes the alias "Victor Tegler", an IT consultant, as cover to hide from pro-registration forces. In the final battle, he defeats the
cyborg clone of
Thor, smashing the clone's head with his own
Mjolnir hammer.
Issue 106 of
The Incredible Hulk ends with Hercules and
Archangel meeting with
Amadeus Cho, one of the Hulk's allies. They agree to help the Hulk, but, upon encountering him, the Hulk savagely charges them, and Hercules is forced to defend himself, but is severely beaten after he stops fighting the Hulk to prove that he isn't there to hurt him. Hercules' reason for aiding the Hulk is simple: both men, despite all of their strength, have lost their queen and family. In addition, Hercules wishes to make up for an altercation between the Hulk and the Champions years earlier. He and his team, the newly formed "Renegades", briefly appear in
World War Hulk issue 2. The group is comprised of Hercules, Amadeus Cho, Angel,
Namora, and the
female Scorpion. During the action, Herc and Namora shared a kiss. When the conflict ended, Hercules was the only renegade to stay with Amadeus.
The Incredible Hercules
Marvel has confirmed that the
Incredible Hulk series has changed its name to
Incredible Hercules from #113 onwards, and will feature Hercules and Amadeus as main characters. In the aftermath of the war, Hercules, against Amadeus' wishes, agrees to turn himself in. However, after learning that he'll be working under his brother
Ares, he escapes, taking Amadeus with him. After finding brief shelter in a refugee camp outside of New York, Hercules speaks with
Athena, whom is living in Vermont, to try and seek shelter. However, after being shot by Ares' "Hydra blood bullets", he's driven into a psychotic rage, and begins seeing Amadeus Cho as
Iolaus, his nephew and ally from Ancient Greek times. Cho decides to take advantage of the situation, by getting Hercules to attack a S.H.I.E.L.D. base. However both men were stopped by the Black Widow, who knocked out Cho, broke the back of Cho's puppy and cured Hercules of his rage. Out of respect for Hercules, Natasha lets Hercules go, with her claiming he knocked her out and let him reunite with Cho, who captured a S.H.I.E.L.D mobile base and was willing to destory all of S.H.I.E.L.D governmental facilties. Ares followed them, but with some heavy lifting and some tales of his greatest myths, Hercules was able to defeat Ares and convince Cho to halt S.H.I.E.L.D destruction. Together the two of them landed the S.H.I.E.L.D mobile base where Athena was hiding out, and she warns the two of them of the
Secret Invasion.
Secret Invasion
In the upcoming tie-in to the Secret Invasion, Hercules will gather a team of gods to battle the pantheon of Skrull gods. This "God Squad" will consist of
Snowbird,
Ajak,
Amatsu-Mikaboshi, and
Demogorge, and will oppose the Skrull gods led by Kly'bn and Sl'gur't.
Powers and abilities
Hercules possesses the typical powers of an
Olympian, including superhuman speed, durability, and reflexes. His primary power is his superhuman physical strength; Hercules is physically the strongest of all Olympians. His strength is sufficient to lift and hurl a giant
Sequoia tree, drag the island of
Manhattan back into place, and lift the Marvel Comics version of
Godzilla. While the limits of Hercules' strength have never been measured, he's been strong enough to stand toe to toe with
Thor and the
Hulk.
At times, Hercules has been punished by Zeus, a punishment marked by a "lightning bolt" tattoo on Hercules's shoulder. As a result, Hercules' powers, particularly his strength and immortality, were weakened considerably. However, in the recent
Ares limited series, Hercules is shown fighting on behalf of Olympus with Zeus' blessing, and it has been officially stated that his full strength and godly attributes are restored to their usual levels.
At his full power, Hercules is functionally immortal, as are all Olympians, being immune to all known diseases, and his godly life force renders him capable of recovering from any conventional injury that doesn't severely dismember or disintegrate his body, but this was reduced at the time of Zeus's punishment. Hercules is immensely resistant to physical injury and has withstood the impact of high caliber machine gun shells, falls from tremendous heights, exposure to temperature extremes and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury. It took two point-blank blasts from the god
Michael Korvac to bring Hercules to the point of death.
Hercules is an accomplished boxer and
Greco-Roman wrestler. He is highly skilled with all forms of weaponry used in ancient Greece as well as the unarmed art of
Pankration, which he's reputed to have created. His weapon of choice is his enchanted Adamantine "Golden Mace," forged by Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods. The mace is known to be as durable as Thor's mystical Uru hammer,
Mjolnir, and to strike with equivalent force. He is an extraordinarily gifted archer, as well as an extraordinary hand-to-hand combatant. He was educated by tutors employed by his foster father, Amphitryon.
Before attaining godhood, Hercules employed arrows dipped in the lethal blood of the Lernaean Hydra, and wore the virtually indestructible hide of the Nemean Lion. Hercules sometimes rides about on chariot built by Hephaestus, which is drawn by enchanted Olympian horses which can fly through space and into other dimensions.
Relationships with other mythical characters
The Mighty Thor
Thor and Hercules are close rivals, but neither has hesitated to help the other if needed. The second meeting between the two gods was recently chronicled in the six-part series
Thor: Blood Oath (2005). The third meeting takes place in
Journey Into Mystery #125 and
Thor #126-130, when Thor battles the minions of Pluto to save Hercules from being trapped in the underworld forever. Hercules has returned the favor and assisted Thor on several occasions, a notable example being the final battle against the Dark Gods in
Thor (vol. 2) #10-12. He also mentions that he's a friend of Thor and destroys the Thor clone in his name in
Civil War #7. The two characters seem to regard each other as equals and have a deep amount of respect for each other.
Other gods
For all Zeus' gruffness,
Hercules volume 2 #4 shows that he regards Hercules as his favorite, much to chagrin of the other Olympians — with the exception of Hercules' half-brother
Apollo. Both Ares and Pluto are Hercules' mortal enemies.
Wonder Woman
During the Marvel/DC crossover
JLA/Avengers,
Wonder Woman believed Hercules to be a villain, assuming he'd raped his dimension's version of her mother,
Hippolyta; however, Marvel Comics' Hercules had simply seduced Marvel Comics'
Hippolyta with her consent. Ironically, the Marvel Universe version of Hercules is a hero while Hippolyta is a villainess. However, this presented some continuity problems as Diana and her mother had already accepted their incarnation of Hercules' forgiveness, and Wonder Woman hadn't yet reverted to any previous incarnations.
Other versions
Hercules 2300
Hercules also stars in two miniseries set in the 24th century. In a bid to teach his son humility, an offended Zeus banishes Hercules. Loaned Apollo's chariot and steeds as a means of transportation, Hercules explores the cosmos. He encounters and befriends a Skrull named Skyppi and the
Rigellian Recorder #417, woos various ladies (one of whom would give birth to a son who would become emperor of a planet and bitter towards his absentee father), fights assorted aliens, and, hopelessly outmatched against the World Devourer
Galactus, only succeeds in amusing him. This, however, proves to be enough, as Galactus forgets his hunger and spares the planet Hercules is defending. After numerous encounters with a variety of other beings, Hercules returns to Olympus to confront Zeus.
Once at Olympus he finds that Zeus has apparently slain all the other gods and now waits for Hercules in order to battle him as well. Zeus orders Hercules to fight, only to have him refuse. Zeus then strips Hercules of his immortality and forms it into a pearl, which he places in an altar fire. He states that now Hercules has something worth fighting for, and attacks him with a war ax. Greatly wounded, Hercules manages to use all his strength to defeat Zeus in single combat. At the end, Hercules has the ax and yet refuses to slay his father. At that point Zeus reveals that it had all been a sham designed to test Hercules strength of character, and that he'd been exiled in order to learn humility. Zeus had known that the time of the gods was nearing an end and that Hercules was destined to find a new race of gods for another world if he so chose, but Zeus had to assure himself that Hercules was actually worthy of the honor. Zeus assures Hercules that the Olympian gods are not truly dead, but instead have gone on to another level of existence. Hercules reclaims the pearl of his immortality and journeys to the heavens to find his dynasty.
Marvel Zombies
- He is one of the zombies who attempt to eat the Silver Surfer, but his head is crushed by Hulk, who was eating the Surfer's head. He loses an eye and his jaw is seen hanging loose from his mouth. In Ultimate Fantastic Four: Crossover, Mr. Fantastic travels to this alternate timeline and is attacked by She-Hulk and him. He is presumably killed by the cosmic zombies.
Other media
Television
He was a regular character on the Mighty Thor segment of Marvel Super Heroes.
He also made cameos in the Fantastic Four episodes "To Battle the Living Planet" and "Doomsday" along with the other Avengers.
Toys
Hercules was featured in Hasbro's premiere series of Marvel Legends action figures. He came with the left wing of Annihilus.
Trading cards
There is a trading card of Hercules in the Marvel Trading Card Game.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Hercules Marvel Comics'.
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