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Hercules is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Debuting in the Silver Age of Comic Books, the character is based on Heracles of Greek mythology (despite using the name of his Roman equivalent, Hercules ).
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Hercules is the son of Zeus, the king of the Olympian gods, and Alcmena—herself the great-granddaughter of Zeus. Accounts and chronology of Hercules’ adventures often vary, and Hercules’ lengthy existence and frequent battles have been credited for possible discrepancies in his memory.
- Overview
- History
- Personality
- Attributes
- Paraphernalia
- Notes
- Trivia
- See Also
- Links and References
Whatever Thor canst do -- Hercules canst accomplish more mightily!
—Hercules
Hercules, the formidable god of Greek mythology, stands as a legendary figure. Born as the son of Zeus ruler of the Olympian gods, and the mortal Alcmena, Hercules inherited immense strength and divine abilities from birth. His journey mirrors the heroic feats from ancient myths, including the completion of the Twelve Labors, which solidified his status as a revered hero.
Bridging the gap between myth and modernity, Hercules wields god-like strength, unparalleled endurance, and remarkable durability, surpassing most beings on Earth. Alongside his physical prowess, he exhibits mastery in hand-to-hand combat and possesses extensive knowledge of ancient weaponry. Throughout his existence Hercules has evolved from a brash warrior to a noble hero. His personality radiates joviality, bravery, and an unwavering commitment to honor, earning him a place among various superhero teams such as the Avengers, the Champions, and the God Squad.
Early Life
Herakles was the son of Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, and Alcmena of Thebes in Ancient Greece. He was born as the result of Zeus seducing Alcmena in the guise of her husband, Amphitryon who was away at war battling the pirates of Taphos. Due to his Olympian lineage, Hercules was born with the potential for extraordinary superhuman strength. Zeus' wife Hera grew jealous of his adultery, Alcmena tried to appease the goddess by naming her child Heracles "Glory of Hera". The child was at first abandoned outside the city and when Athena and Hera found him, Hera decided to feed infant Hercules with her divine breast milk. While Hera breastfeeding the child, Hercules' godly strength harmed her when he bit down harder on Hera' breast and she flung him away. He was returned to the city and was accepted by Amphitryon and his wife. However, Hera then sent two serpents to kill the child, but even at one year old he had great strength and strangled them both with his bare hands.
Teen Years
Amphitryon raised Hercules as his own, training him in all forms of combat. It was during a lesson with his music teacher who criticized his lack of skill, Hercules killed him with a single blow. Hercules would go on many adventures of his own. In 1291 B.C., on the road to Thebes he encountered a group of Minyan warriors travelling to sack the city, Hercules beat them all with ease. This led to war between Minya and Thebe and Hercules was imprisoned for the attack. It was then that he learned the truth of his origin from his parents and they gave him the garb bestowed on them from Zeus. He met with the leader of the Minyan, but when they tried to execute him with the axe and it shattered on his neck. It was however during the battle Amphitryon was killed. The king thanked him for saving the city and gave him the hand of his daughter Princess Megara.
Quest for the Golden Fleece
In 1289 B.C., he sailed with the Argonauts led by Jason, among them Augeas. During the adventure, he battled the Akaana and faced the Lernean Hydra, saw the death of Medusa, and defeated Antaeus. He was left behind by the Argonauts when his companion Hylas was taken by Nymphs on the island of Mysia and he couldn't resign to search for him.
Powers
Olympian/Human Hybrid Physiology: Hercules was inherently born a half-Olympian god from his biological father, Zeus, king of the Olympian gods and half-human from his biological mother, Alcmena. As an infant, he was breastfed by his stepmother, Hera, queen of the Olympian gods, who nurtured him with her divine breast milk which vastly increased his already demigod physiology to godlike levels. Hercules possesses the conventional superhuman physical attributes of an Olympian god; however, some of his powers are superior to the vast majority of his race, such as godlike strength, invulnerability, and godlike stamina.[117] •Godlike Strength: Hercules' principal power is his godlike strength,[118][119] and he is physically the strongest of all the existing Olympians. As the Olympian god of raw strength, Hercules' strength is incalculable by Marvel's standard scale of measurement,[118][120][117] making him one of the strongest heroes in the Marvel Universe. However, Hercules' strength is not infinite as his maximum strength level was quantified and could be surpassed by beings such as a significantly enraged Hulk[121][122] (Hulk's strength and durability increase in the same measure, in direct proportion to his rage).[123][124] Furthermore, Hercules' upper limits are stable, as it was never officially stipulated that Hercules has limitless potential growing gradually from a base level. Combined with Thor's help, he has generated enough force to demolish worlds,[125] to knock the planet Earth out of orbit,[118] and he has the ultimate potential to literally shake the universe (presumably referring to a local universe, requiring merely finite strength, and classifying this feat as multi-galaxy level).[126] Moreover, Hercules' physical strength was also established to rival Thor's raw power[118][127][128][129][130][131][132][133], who was regarded as a potential threat to a vast portion of Eternity,[134] thus classifying Hercules as multi-galaxy level. Even though Hercules' brute might is physical based and less powerful, it is still comparable to Thor's striking power. Hercules has also stated he once exerted enough strength to lift the planet in place of Atlas.[135][115] Though Banner himself believes that the Hulk is stronger,[121] Banner has even stated Hercules could possibly overpower the restrained "Green Scar" persona (not the Worldbreaker Hulk),[136] and Hercules' immeasurable strength allowed him to easily defeat the Abomination. •Superhuman Leaping: Hercules' great strength extends to his powerful leg muscles, allowing him to jump great distances and heights, although they do not match those of the Hulk.[119] However, while the exact limit is unknown, he is capable of leaping a height of at least 100 feet in Earth's gravity. •Superhuman Strength Utilizations: As part of Hercules' immense strength, he can produce powerful shockwaves by either clapping his hands or stomping his foot.[137] •Superhuman Speed: Hercules is capable of running and moving at speeds beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.[120] •Superhuman Reflexes: Hercules' reflexes are in levels beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.[120] •Superhuman Agility: Despite his extreme muscular size, Hercules has the ability to move his body with flexibility and coordination that are significantly beyond the natural limits of the human body.[120] •Superhuman Stamina:[117] Hercules' highly advanced musculature produces no fatigue toxins, enabling him to sustain almost indefinitely.[138] •Invulnerability: Having sipped of Hera's breast milk as an infant, Hercules gained mystical invulnerability, making him extremely resistant to all forms of physical injury. Conventional bladed weaponry has been shown to be unable to pierce or even break his skin. Hercules has a greater resistance to physical injury than any other Olympian god except for Zeus and possibly Neptune and Pluto.[119] It has been said the only thing that could truly kill Hercules is if his body was incinerated or his molecules dispersed enough.[138] Among other things, Hercules proved able to withstand a blow from Iron Man at maximum capacity and rapidly recover, even though he was taken by surprise.[139] •Superhumanly Dense Tissue: Due to the side-effect of his half Olympian physiology, like all Olympians, Hercules' skin, muscles, and bones tissue are about three times denser than similar human tissue, contributing to his superhuman strength and weight. •Regeneration: Despite his great resilience, it is possible to injure Hercules. However, like all members of his race, he is capable of recovering from injuries with superhuman speed and efficiency. However, he is unable to regenerate missing limbs or organs unless he used magical assistance to do so. Hercules is also immune to all known Earthly diseases and infections. He is highly resistant to most drugs and toxins but can be affected if exposed to great quantities. •True Immortality: Like all Olympians, Hercules is true immortal. He is immune to the effects of aging and has not aged since reaching adulthood. Hercules is also immune to all known Earthly terrestrial diseases and resistant to conventional injury. Although he can be wounded in battle Hercules cannot die by any conventional means. Despite being thousands of years old Hercules possesses the appearance and vitality of a man in his physical prime. Interestingly, this seems to have made him resistant to temporal tampering as his age is highly unknown. When Kang eradicated a recent team of Avengers by murdering their infant selves Hercules was left alone. It is left ambiguous if this is a case of Kang not knowing the date or Kang not caring about Hercules.[140] Former Powers •Skyfather Physiology: During Chaos War, Hercules become king of the Olympian gods and possesses the powers of skyfather. As the skyfather, his vast powers surpassing to all of the Olympians except for his father, Zeus, whose powers are equal with skyfather Hercules. He was powerful enough to defeat Chaos King with a full mighty blow.[141] While angry, Hercules knocked down the Council of Godheads one-by-one with a single blow.[141] •Nigh-Omnipotence: As skyfather, Hercules possesses near-omnipotent level of power, meaning he could do almost anything he desires. He used all of his nigh-omnipotence powers to restore everything the way it was before Chaos King destroyed it.[142] •Vast Energy Manipulation: Hercules can generate and manipulate vast forms of energy. He is capable of creating powerful destructive energy such as when he accidentally take the next step of his foot and splitting the ground like an earthquake.[141] •Appearance Alteration: Hercules can change his size and shape into that of other humanoid beings. •Size Increase: He was able to change his size to be larger than earth during his fight with Chaos King.[142] •Electricity Generation: Hercules can generate tremendous amount of electrical energy to project it from his hands in the form of lighting bolts. •Flight: Hercules can fly at near limitless speed,[141] and is capable of moving faster than the speed of light.
Abilities
•Master Combatant: As Olympus' greatest warrior, Hercules is an excellent hand to hand combatant particularly skilled in Greek boxing and Greek wrestling (which he learned from Autolycus), and even invented the art of pankration, which is the combination of both. Hercules was able to rival his skills with Thor's combat skills in numerous of battles.[127][128][129][143][144][131][132][133] He was able to rival the Hulk in both strength and unarmed combat.[145][146] He has overpowered both the Sentry[147] and Ares in strength combat. •Expert Archer: Hercules is an expert archer. However, since the suicide of his wife Deianira in connection with Hercules' arrows having been tainted by the blood of the Lernean Hydra, he does not often use his bow anymore. •Allspeak: Like all Olympians of his race, Hercules can understand and communicate in all languages, Earth's dialects, and various alien languages.
Weaknesses
•Hydra Blood: The Blood of the Hydra is deadly and was used by one of Hercules' wives, Deianira, to kill him in the days of Ancient Greece, though she was unaware of this fact. Ares later used hollow point bullets filled with Hydra blood while trying to take Hercules down as he knew they could harm, though not kill him, and also drove him into a rage due to the pain.
Equipment
•Vast Fortune: Hercules has gained vast wealth over his long lifetime. He was able to purchase entire bars with gold he had in his pocket. His diverse portfolio required two superheroes a full week to even gather, let alone settle, in the wake of his demise. He was an initial investor in Stark Industries. The original investment was $100,000, but in modern day when the size of the investment was calculated, a second line of zeroes was required.[136] •Shield of Perseus •Helm of Hades Former Equipment •Avengers Identicard •Nemean Lion Skin: The skin of the Nemean Lion acts as an indestructible armor and shields Hercules from virtually any injury with the possible exception of blunt force attacks, grappling (Arm-twists, joint-locks, etc), and strangulation; the latter being how Hercules was forced to kill the Nemean Lion. As he revealed to Sentry, he stopped wearing it because it gives his opponents something to grab onto.[147]
Weapons
•Sword of Peleus •Golden Mace Former Weapons •A wooden club. •Bow and Arrows of Heracles: A bow with arrows dipped in Hydra blood. Hercules has refused to use his bow after the incident with Nessus.
Transportation
None, formerly Avengers Quinjet
•Hercules was one of the characters featured in Series A of the Marvel Value Stamps issued in the 1970's.
•His Greek name is spelled Herakles, not Heracles. Herakles in Ancient Greek means 'to the glory of Hera', a double insult to the goddess as an epithet for her philandering husband's half-mortal bastard, and a great part of the reason for her enduring hatred.
•It was once estimated by Mallory Book, a lawyer working on Hercules' behalf, in a lawsuit brought against him by the Constrictor that Hercules had saved the world at least 85 times.[149]
•On the 50 state variant covers of U.S.Avengers #1, Hercules was assigned as the Avenger of Colorado.
•He has visited the Playboy Mansion many times, and refers to Hugh Hefner as "Sage Hefner".[150]
•Hercules overpowered Wonder Woman in JLA/Avengers Crossover with him using a full nelson on her during their epic battle at Savage Land.[151]
•Hercules is a member of the Forums social media network.[152]
•Hercules was ranked as 21st in "The Top 50 Avengers."[153]
•765 appearance(s) of Hercules Panhellenios (Earth-616)
•27 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Hercules Panhellenios (Earth-616)
•112 minor appearance(s) of Hercules Panhellenios (Earth-616)
•97 mention(s) of Hercules Panhellenios (Earth-616)
•24 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Hercules Panhellenios (Earth-616)
•747 image(s) of Hercules Panhellenios (Earth-616)
- 3 min
Jul 13, 2022 · The first thing you should know is that Marvel’s Hercules is a close adaptation of the Hercules from myth and legend. As such, almost everything you’ve heard about Hercules is true. He completed the Twelve Labors , and Herc established such a reputation for heroics that his name is still known today.
Aug 6, 2022 · In the Marvel Comics, Hercules is, like his father, a bit of a ladies-man. Zeus, in Greek mythology, will quite literally sleep with anything that walks, and it’s not that far off in the...
- Alexandra Ramos
Marvel Heroes. Hercules appears as a non-playable character in the video game, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 voiced by Sean Donnellan. He serves as a boss on the Pro-Registration side.
Aug 2, 2022 · The Laytonverse. Marvel Comics. The artist Bob Layton imagined Hercules being banished from Olympus in the 24th century by Zeus, in order to discover humility. This is the Hercules of...
