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Hercules (also known as Heracles and Herakles) is a fictional Olympian god in the DC Universe based on the Greek demi-god and hero of the same name. Hercules first appears in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941) as part of a Wonder Woman story, and was created by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter, in the first of several incarnations. Later versions appeared in Superman #28 (May 1944), created by Jerry Siegel and Ira Yarbrough, Wonder Woman #105 (April 1959) and Hercules Unbound #1 (October 1975) created by Gerry Conway and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.
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Fictional character biography
Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths
In the universe of DC Comics, Hercules was used on occasion before Crisis on Infinite Earths as a foil to Superman. In these Silver Age books, Hercules usually appears as a giant, and frequently tests his strength with the Bible character Samson and another giant named Zha-Vam, as well as with Superman. In 1975, DC produced a comic book series titled Hercules Unbound, featuring the adventures of Hercules in a post-apocalyptic future. This Hercules looked different from the other DC interpretations - he had long black hair and no beard. The series lasted 12 issues. It made use of characters and concepts, such as The Atomic Knights and the intelligent animals from Jack Kirby's Kamandi series as an attempt to tie in some of the future series. It was later hinted that this version of Hercules was actually part of a dream suffered by Gardner Grayle, but was later shown to have existed somewhere in the Multiverse and was eliminated during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Bill Everett did some of the art on the early issues of this series, as did Walt Simonson, and Wallace Wood inked some of them towards the end of his career.
Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths
Wonder Woman
After the reboot of the DC universe in Crisis, Heracles — the Greek spelling — appeared in the pages of Wonder Woman. George Pérez, putting Greek mythology at the center of Wonder Woman's world, relates the tale of Heracles' conquest of the Amazons and his rape of Queen Hippolyta, and their revenge upon him.
During Diana's Challenge of the Gods storyline, she discovered that Heracles was transformed into a colossal stone pilar within Doom's Doorway, and was supporting Themyscira's weight for several millennia. In this stone state he was tormented and scarred by various mythological creatures, feeling the pain inflicted by them but not being able to do anything about it. This was the punishment given to him by his Olympian family for his past transgressions. Gaining his original form back, he begged the Amazons for forgiveness. Though some of the Amazons still harbored hatred for their past rapes and humiliation, most of them were moved by Heracles' newfound humility, and Queen Hippolyta asked her people to search their hearts for the strength to forgive, which they eventually did. Doing so herself, Hippolyta not only forgave Heracles, but shared a brief romance with him before he left the mortal realm to return to his father in Olympus.
Later, John Byrne did an inconclusive storyline in which Heracles appeared in the contemporary world and schemed to take revenge on the Amazons by seducing Wonder Woman. He did this by making an agreement with the mortal superhero Harold Champion. In exchange for his identity, Heracles gave Champion admission into Olympus. Once this was agreed upon Heracles used the Mirror of Circe to alter his appearance into that of Champion and proceeded to befriend Wonder Woman as a "new" friend, helping her deal with such problems as a confrontation with a duplicate of the monstrous Doomsday. Heracles' identity was eventually revealed and he resumed his life on Olympus.
War of the Gods
In the post-Crisis DC Universe, the Roman Gods existed separatedly from the Greek ones after Darkseid tricked them into splitting up so they could be worshipped by two different cultures at the same time; only after the "War of the Gods" did the two versions merge again. So in effect, both Heracles and Hercules existed, and they merged into one being during John Byrne's run on the comic.
One Year Later
A revamped Hercules reappears during the events of One Year Later. Now shaven and bearing an updated version of the armour worn in the Hercules Unbound series, his place in the Wonder Woman comic has been renewed as a fellow agent of Olympus, who occasionally aids Diana and even replaces her in battle. He is referred to as "Wonder Man" by Cheetah and Nemesis. He temporarily set up his base in the Greek Embassy. In Wonder Woman v3 #4, Hercules is revealed to have lied about his reasons for returning to Earth. One of the occupants of Olympus that rejected Athena's decision to remove themselves from the mortal realm, Hercules journeyed to Tartarus in hopes of recruiting Ares to aid him in returning to the mortal realm. Instead he found Circe who, upon hearing the demi-god's story and not wanting to spend eternity in limbo with Athena, decided to partner with Hercules instead. However, this didn't last long, as Circe betrayed him. The two part as enemies once Circe magically binds him to a rock. A being claiming to be Hercules' father Zeus eventually frees Hercules from his prison and informs him that he must partner with his half sister Cassie Sandsmark. Together Hercules and Cassie try to discover who is attacking the remaining Olympian gods. Soon into their search they are attacked by the Female Furies.
Other Versions
- Hercules is one of the mythological figures who grant Captain Marvel his powers when Billy Batson speaks the word of power "Shazam."
- During the Marvel/DC crossover JLA/Avengers, Wonder Woman believed the Marvel Comics' Hercules to be a villain, assuming he had raped his dimension's 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 presents some continuity problems as Diana and her mother had already accepted his forgiveness, and Wonder Woman had not yet reverted to any previous incarnations. It is possible she was using the incident to fuel her rage, but she was still threatening approaching Asgardian gods that she would kill a subdued Hercules at the end of the fight.)
Other Media
- In 1982, several of the characters from the "Warlord" series received action figures in a line called "Lost World of the Warlord" from Remco. Despite his not being related to the Warlord series, Hercules (from the "Hercules Unbound" era) was one of the figures in the line.
