Hercules (Marvel Comics)

Not to be confused with a trainee of The Order group in Marvel comics who used the name Hercules

Hercules
Cover art for Hercules #1. Art by Mark Texeira.
Publisher Marvel Comics First appearance Journey into Mystery Annual #1 (1965) Created by Stan Lee Jack Kirby
Characteristics Alter ego Heracles Species Olympian, from Olympus Team affiliations Secret Avengers Avengers Renegades Champions Defenders Heroes for Hire Damage Control Olympian Pantheon Notable aliases The Prince of Power, Harry Cleese, Victor Tegler Abilities Superhuman strength, stamina and durability Immortality Skilled hand-to-hand warrior.

Hercules is a fictional character, an Olympian demigod and superhero in the Marvel Comics Universe

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Contents 1 Use 2 Fictional character biography 2.1 Modern era 2.2 Taylor Madison & exile from Olympus 2.3 New Labors 2.4 Civil War 2.5 World War Hulk 3 Powers and abilities 4 Relationships with other mythical characters 4.1 The Mighty Thor 4.2 Other gods 4.3 Wonder Woman 5 Other versions 5.1 Hercules 2300 5.2 Marvel Zombies 6 In other media 6.1 Trading cards 6.2 Television 6.3 Toys 7 References 8 External links

Use

This template is for use as a shortcut when editing Marvel Comics-related articles. It provides links to both the Marvel Comics and Marvel Universe articles. </noinclude>, based on the mythological demigod and hero called Herakles by the Greeks and Hercules by the Romans. The character was adapted and introduced by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby in Journey into Mystery Annual #1 (1965), in which he was first used as a foil for Thor. Hercules was born to Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, and Alcmene, a mortal woman. Blessed with extraordinary strength imparted by his father, his history is similar to that of the mythical Hercules. The Marvel version of Hercules deviates from myth in that Hercules did not die courtesy of a poisoned robe, but rather remained in Olympus until the dawn of the Silver Age and the rise of the superhero.

Fictional character biography

Modern era

Hercules was first introduced to readers in Avengers #10 when Immortus pulls him from the ancient past to battle Thor.^[1] However this was subsequently ignored in his later appearances, such as in Thor Annual #1 (1965).^[2] A retcon in the mini-series Avengers Forever (1998-2000) explained this by having the Hercules from Avengers #10 be a Space Phantom in disguise.^[3] Hercules made several appearances in The Mighty Thor^[4] before appearing in the Avengers during issue #38 as a thrall of the Enchantress,^[5] 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 the Dragon Man; the Red Guardian; Whirlwind and Typhon.^[6] Hercules later appears in the Olympian arc (#98-100);^[7] and returns for the final issues of the "Korvac saga" (#173-177).^[8] Hercules makes a guest appearance in issue #211,^[9] before rejoining the team on an ongoing basis as of issue #250.^[10] In the "Avengers Under Siege" storyline in Avengers #270-277,^[11] 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 the 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.^[12] Blamed by Zeus for Hercules' condition, the Avengers battle the gods and finally Zeus himself.

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. But Ares betrays Hera , alerting Zeus in an attempt to get back in his favor. Zeus defeats Hera, but then reveals that Taylor Madison is not 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.^[13] The traumatized Hercules draws support from the Avengers, especially Deathcry, whom he helps to return to her Shi'ar homeworld. 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 Goliath, now known as Atlas, in order to exact revenge for his coma. Hawkeye 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.^[14] 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 had previously performed community service as a result of his drunken stupors. This time, however, he is 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 ^[15], he defeats the cyborg clone of Thor, smashing the clone's head with his own Mjolnir hammer.

World War Hulk

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 is not there to hurt him. Hercules' reason for aiding the Hulk is simple, for both men despite all of their strength, have lost their queen and family. As well, he 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. Marvel has confirmed that the Incredible Hulk series will be changing it's name to Incredible Hercules from #113 onwards, and will feature Hercules and Amadeus as main characters.^[16] In the aftermath of the war, Hercules, against Amadeus' wishes, agrees to turn himself in. However, after learning that he will be working under his brother Ares, he escapes, taking Amadeus with him.

Powers and abilities

Hercules' 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,^[17] and lift the Marvel Comics version of Godzilla. While the limits of Hercules' strength have never been measured, he has been strong enough to stand toe to toe with Thor and the Hulk.^[2][18] 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.^[19] 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 does not severely dismember or disintegrate his body, but this was reduced at the time of Zeus's punishment.^[20] 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.^[21] 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 is reputed to have created. His weapon of choice is an Adamantine mace, forged by Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods. The mace is known to be as durable as Thor's mystical Uru hammer, Mjolnir,^[2] and to strike with equivalent force.^[22]

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).^[23] 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.^[24][25] 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.^[26] He also mentions that he is a friend of Thor and destroys the Thor clone in his name in Civil War #7. The two character 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,^[27] much to chagrin of the other Olympians - with the exception of Hercules' half-brother Apollo. Both Ares and Pluto are Hercules' mortal enemies.^[28]

Wonder Woman

During the Marvel/DC crossover JLA/Avengers, Wonder Woman believed Hercules to be a villain, assuming he had 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 had not yet reverted to any previous incarnations.

Other versions

Hercules 2300

Hercules also stars in two miniseries set in the 24th century.^[29][30] 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 had 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 found his dynasty.

Marvel Zombies

• He is one of the zombies who attempts 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. He was presumably killed later by the cosmic zombies.

In other media

Trading cards

There is a trading card of Hercules in the Marvel Trading Card Game.

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.

•  • e Thor
Creators:	Stan Lee • Larry Lieber • Jack Kirby
Characters:	Balder • Beta Ray Bill • Jane Foster • Hemdall • Odin • Sif • Thunderstrike • Warriors Three
Villians:	Absorbing Man • Destroyer • Ego the Living Planet • Enchantress • Executioner • Fafnir • Fenris Wolf • Kurse • Loki • Radioactive Man • Surtur • Ulik • Wrecker • Ymir • Zarrko
Miscellanea:	Asgard • Asgardians • Journey into Mystery • Mjolnir • Thor: Blood Oath • Thor: Son of Asgard • Ultimate Thor

References

External links

• Marvel.com Bio of Hercules