The Untold Truth Of Marvel's Hercules

The mid-credits scene of "Thor: Love And Thunder" featured a bitter Zeus nursing his wounds after Thor attacked him. Tired of mortals being more interested in super-heroes than gods, he charged his son Hercules to kill Thor Odinson, with the intention of putting fear back into mortals. The scene then cut to the Greek demi-god in his original costume from the comics, armed with a mace. 

For die-hard Marvel fans, it was cause for celebration. After all, the Prince of Power dates all the way back to "Journey Into Mystery Annual" #1 from 1965, making him one of Marvel's oldest characters in more ways than one. 

In the comics, Hercules provides muscle for the Avengers when Thor is away from the team, though he rarely stay with them for long. In the Marvel Universe, Hercules is powerful and noble, but he is also arrogant, boastful, and frequently foolish. Short-tempered and violent, he often delights in good-naturedly giving his opponents "the gift" of battle. 

Hercules is Thor's natural rival, and they've battled as often as they've teamed up. Over his many years on Earth, Hercules has been part of countless teams of heroes, lost his powers, regained his powers, died several times, and saved the world (and the universe) more than once. Below is an examination of this noble hero — who's been played for laughs more than once, but has also been a powerful leading man. 

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 Earth-829, who has many adventures in space. Accompanied by a Recorder of Rigel, he saves a world from death cultists, challenges Galactus and makes him laugh, and has a romantic encounter with Galactus' herald, Nova. Layton uses Hercules as a comedic character here, albeit one who learns important lessons about the follies of godhood.

In the second miniseries, things get a little more serious, as Zeus decides to kill the gods while Herc continues his adventures. Herc meets a Skrull posing as a fashion model named Skyppi, a Skrull-hunting cosmic Red Wolf, and the last follower of Thanos. The latter steals Mar-Vell's Nega-Bands and tries to kill everyone on Titan, but Hercules stops him. Zeus reveals that the time of the gods is over, but Hercules has his own destiny to fulfill as the leader of a new race of gods.

Years later, Hercules learns he has a son named Arimathes, a cruel emperor manipulated by his bitter and vengeful mother, Layana Sweetwater. Hercules eventually battles him one-on-one and knocks some sense into him. Years after that, a fragile Hercules has to deal with an uprising and Galactus turning into a black hole and threatening the universe. A dying Hercules delivers a device to "cure" Galactus and, in the wake of this cosmic event, is transformed into Cosmos, the life-bringer. 

The first time Hercules dies, it's in 1246 B.C. His wife catches him with another woman and thinks she's giving Hercules a love charm. Instead, it's poison, and Hercules goes insane with pain. He throws himself on a funeral pyre and dies. His father Zeus takes pity and separates his immortal half from his mortal half, returning him to life. Of course, Hera puts a curse on any mortal woman who falls for him, so it's not all good news. 

Centuries later, Hercules hears an emergency call for the Avengers, whose main team is disbanded at the time. A random team is put together via computer against the threat of the High Evolutionary, who is planning to detonate a genetic bomb to jumpstart humanity's ultimate evolution. These makeshift Avengers track him down and he easily deals with the Hulk and Jocasta. The Beast realizes they don't have the power to take on the High Evolutionary, so Herc agrees to have the Beast turn the villain's genetic accelerator on him. Now in super god form, he forces the High Evolutionary to dissipate, but Hercules also disappears. As it turns out, he would be kidnapped by curious Celestials and taken to the Black Galaxy, to be rescued by Thor. 

Athena apparently kills him a third time, shunting him off to a pocket universe so he can't interfere with her scheme to manipulate Herc's pal Amadeus Cho. Cho obtains godhood and rescues Hercules, even as everyone thinks he's dead. 

Hercules' best mortal friend is Amadeus Cho, the boy genius who later inherits Hercules' role as Prince of Power. Hercules befriends him helping out the Hulk during the World War Hulk event, because he relates to the Hulk losing his family. They form a team called the Renegades, along with the Angel and Namora, to aid the Hulk. Cho and Herc make a funny pair, as Hercules tends to think with his fists and Cho doesn't always have the confidence he needs to back up his brains. 

In their adventures, they attack S.H.I.E.L.D., are part of the God Squad (which Cho names), fight Amazons who wield a reality-warping device, form a new Mighty Avengers team to battle the elder demon Chthon, and battle various members of Hercules' family, especially his mother Hera and uncle Pluto. Hercules apparently dies for a while, but it's all due to machinations from his sister Athena to push Cho into a larger role. 

The two are instrumental in bringing an end to the Chaos King. Cho's brains are at least fully backed by his courage, and Hercules' indomitable fighting spirit is tempered by learning how to beat an enemy without using pure force. They parted ways when Hercules became a mortal, but Hercules nonetheless loves Cho like his own son. 

When Hercules roams the Earth and goes from bar to bar looking for a good time, one never sees him take out his wallet. However, after he seems to die saving the world against the threat of Typhon, Hercules' mortal affairs must be tended to. Namora and Venus are tasked with touring his holdings, and what they find is astonishing. Hercules has amassed such a huge fortune that he essentially forgot how much of it he actually owns. He invested $100,000 in Stark Industries when it went public, for instance, a move that alone is worth millions. While he spends lots of money buying taverns, wineries, and nude beaches, he also buys houses for friends and lovers. Most poignantly, he founds a special community for children of monsters, spurred by finding an orphan centaur girl. Herc's generosity knows no bounds.

That is, unless someone makes him mad. When the Constrictor sues him for damages after a battle, he hires the She-Hulk's firm to defend him. At one point, the Constrictor agrees to drop the suit if Hercules pays for his hospital bills. Herc agrees, playfully slapping the serpentine super-villain on the back, which only aggravates his injuries and puts the case back into court. While mulling over defenses, including insanity, Hercules refuses to say that he's anyone other than the son of Zeus. Jennifer Walters tells him to pay every penny of the $18 million dollar lawsuit, because Hercules isn't above the law. Hercules agrees, doing the honorable thing.

The Champions, also known as the Champions of Los Angeles, were Marvel's first west coast-based team. 

Most super-teams need a good reason to exist; the Fantastic Four are a family, the X-Men are all mutants, the Avengers are Earth's Mightiest Heroes, banding together against the toughest foes. The Champions, however, existed as part of an editorial edict. The series' creator, writer Tony Isabella, said in "Back Issue" #65 that he originally wanted to write a book featuring Iceman and Angel, the former X-Men, hanging out on the road together. He then planned to add Bill "Black Goliath" Foster to the mix on occasion. 

However, editorial said the team had to have at least five members, including a woman, a strong guy, and someone with his own title. That turned out to be the Black Widow, Hercules, and Ghost Rider. This group of characters made absolutely no sense working together, however, and their theme ("the superhero team for the common man") was as uninspired as their partnership. 

They got together fighting Pluto, a Hercules villain, as a callback to the Avengers forming because of Loki. Hercules and the Widow had an extremely brief romance. They did fight Swarm, a Nazi scientist whose body was made of bees (in #15,) but their foes were mostly retreads from others. The team broke up in a different comic, as only the Angel was left in the building he owned. Hercules said he just got bored and wanted to roam the Earth.  

While Hercules isn't necessarily a good team player, he certainly does love to join up. Early in his life, Hercules joins Jason and his Argonauts on the quest for the Golden Fleece. He only leaves when his young friend Hylas (whose father Hercules killed) is kidnapped by nymphs, and Hercules can't abandon the search. 

When Hercules sees a documentary about a then-unknown superhero team called the Defenders, he and eighteen other heroes show up at Nighthawk's doorstep to join. The only problem is that the documentary was made by a grifter hanger-on named Dollar Bill, who wants to make money off the team. Declaring it to be a day that will be the "Defenders' finest," Hercules gets elected as the new leader of the non-team. They learn a group of villains are calling themselves Defenders, so this mob heads off to fight them. Hellcat joins with Hercules, but when she uses her latent psychic abilities to take out friend and foe alike, Hercules calls it quits. 

After the attack of Onslaught and the seeming deaths of the Avengers, Hercules joins Heroes For Hire, led by Iron Fist. The team's aim is to do good for a charitable fee. A reckless Hercules happens upon their first battle, but it becomes increasingly apparent that he's constantly drunk. He reveals that he feels survivor's guilt regarding the Avengers and quits to deal with it. 

Hercules was also in the Renegades and the Guardians of the Galaxy.