First Appearance: Journey Into Mystery Annual #1Origin Issue: Has not yet been revealed
HERCULES
alternate look
First Appearance: Journey Into Mystery Annual #1
Origin Issue: Has not yet been revealed
Real Name: Heracles (Hercules is
the Latin form of his ancient Greek name)
Aliases: Harry Cleese, Alcaeus (birth name),
Prince of Power
Height: 6' 5"
Weight: 325lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Dark Brown
Distinguishing Features: None
Occupation: Adventurer, Movie
Actor
Citizenship: Olympus; provisional United States
citizenship due to his Avengers status
Place of Creation/Birth: Thebes, Greece
Known Relatives: Zeus (father),
Alcmena (mother, deceased), Gaea (great-grandmother), Ouranos (great-grand-father),
Chronos I (Saturn, grandfather), Rhea (grandmother), Amphytrion (foster father, deceased),
Iphicles (half-brother, deceased), Neptune (Poseidon) and Pluto (uncles), Hera, Demeter,
Hestia (aunts), Ares, Apollo, Dionysus, Hermes, Hephaestus (half-brothers), Venus
(Aphrodite), Athena, Artemis (half-sisters), Deianeira (wife, deceased), Hebe (wife), Thor
(son of Gaea)
Known Allies: Thor, Black Widow, Avengers, Sub-Mariner,
Magma, Gods of Olympus, Venus, Prometheus I; (former) Champions Los Angeles, Theseus,
Argonauts
Known Enemies: Ares, Pluto, Typhon, Hippolyta, Masters
of Evil IV, Wrecking Crew, Huntsman of Olympus, Enchantress, Dweller in Darkness, Nessus,
Hera, Nemean Lion, Hydra, Erymanthian Boar, Stymphalian Birds, Geryon, dragon of the
Hesperides, Cerberus, Amazons
Intelligence: Normal (4/10)
Strength: Incalculable (12/12)
Speed: Superhuman (6/10)
Stamina: Godlike (9/10)
Durability: Metahuman (9/14)
Agility: Superhuman (6/7)
Reflexes: Superhuman (6/7)
Fighting Skills: Extraordinary hand-to-hand combatant, trained in the combat
skills of ancient Greece
Special Skills/Abilities: Extraordinarily gifted archer
Superhuman physical powers: In addition to the above
listed physical abilities, Hercules possesses virtual immortality. As an
immortal, Hercules was immune to aging and conventional disease. He was
virtually tireless, as his body produced no fatigue poisons. Although he
could be wounded in battle, he could not die by any conventional means and had a
rapid healing rate. Only an injury of such magnitude that it incinerated
him or dispersed a major portion of his bodily molecules could kill Hercules.
In some such cases, Zeus or one of the other gods might still have been able to
resurrect him.
Superhuman Mental Powers: None
Special Limitations: None
Source of Superhuman Powers: Hercules is a member of
the race of superhumans known as the gods of Olympus
Personal Weaponry: The "Golden Mace", made of
enchanted adamantine and forged by Hephaestus, which is virtually indestructible. Before attaining godhood,
Hercules employed arrows dipped in the lethal blood of the Lernaen Hydra
Other Accessories: Before attaining godhood, Hercules
wore the virtually indestructible hide of the Nemean Lion
Origin: Recognizing the need for a son who would be powerful enough to defend both the Olympian gods and humanity from future dangers he foresaw, Zeus seduced the mortal woman Alcmena in the guise of her husband, King Amphitryon of Troezen. Thanks to Zeus's enchantment, Hercules was born with the potential for incredible strength, which he first displayed before he was even one year old by strangling two serpents which attacked him. As an adult, Hercules is best knows for his Twelve Labors, which were performed in part to prove his worthiness for immortality to Zeus. (One of these Labors, the cleansing of the Augean Stables was actually performed by the Eternal named Hero, who was sometimes mistaken for Hercules.) In the course of these Labors, Hercules provoked the wrath of three immortals who remain his enemies to this day. By slaughtering the man-eating Stymphalian Birds, he enraged the war god Ares, to whom they were sacred. In temporarily capturing Cerberus, the three-headed hound that serves a s guardian to the Olympian underworld (not to be confused with the shape-shifting giant of the same name), Hercules offended Pluto, the lord of that realm. By killing the Nemean Lion, the Hydra, and other creatures spawned by the inconceivable grotesque and powerful monster Typheus, Hercules gained the bitter enmity of Typhon, the immortal humanoid offspring of Typheus and a Titaness. However, it was the centaur Nessus who caused Hercules' mortal demise. Nessus kidnapped Hercules' wife Deianerie, whereupon Hercules shot him with an arrow. Feigning a wish to make amends, the dying centaur told Deianeira how to make a love charm from his allegedly enchanted blood, aware that it was now tainted with the lethal poison of the Hydra, in which Hercules had dipped his arrows. Some time after Nessus's death, Deianeira, distraught over her husband's latest infidelity, rubbed the supposed love charm into Hercules' shirt. After putting the garment on, Hercules was wracked with agonizing pain. Horrified at what she had done, Deianeira killed herself. Dying, Hercules mounted a funeral pyre and had it set aflame. Zeus then intervened, consuming the pyre with his thunderbolts and bringing Hercules to Olympus to be made a true immortal.
Although he did have a few encounters on Earth throughout the succeeding millennia, it was in the modern era that he befriended Thor and the Avengers, who would become his greatest allies. Having fought with Thor in the past, Hercules unwittingly attacked him after Odin had removed half of Thor's power, achieving an easy victory. However, soon afterwards, Hercules was duped into signing a contract making him Pluto's slave. Thor stormed the netherworld and rescued Hercules, beginning their long friendship. Still, a friendly rivalry remains between the two, as they argue over which of the pair is the stronger. To Hercules, the answer is clear.
After being seduced and enthralled by Amora the Enchantress, Hercules fought against the Avengers. Though regaining his senses, Hercules still earned the wrath of Zeus for his unexplained journey to Earth and was banished from Olympus. Staying with and eventually joining the Avengers, he assisted them against a series of foes, including the Triumvirate of Terror, Diablo and Dragon Man, the Red Guardian (Shostakov), and the Super-Adaptoid. After saving Olympus from Typhon, Hercules was allowed to return to his homeland. Hercules next encountered the Avengers while fleeing the Huntsman, who had the power to terrify and destroy the Olympians. Hercules eventually overcame the Huntsman with the aid of Namor. Later, when Ares and the Enchantress conquered Olympus, they rendered Hercules an amnesiac; he ended up working as a circus strongman. Discovered by Hawkeye, Hercules joined with the Avengers to defeat Ares and liberate Olympus.
Later, a plot involving Ares, Pluto, and Hippolyta united Hercules with a group of mortal heroes to form the short-lived Champions of Los Angeles. He rejoined the Avengers after helping fight the forces of the fire demon Surtur and stayed on with them for a lengthy period. However, this tenure ended with perhaps Hercules' greatest defeat. When Baron Helmut Zemo's Masters of Evil took over Avengers Mansion and assaulted Jarvis, an impatient and somewhat inebriated Hercules rushed in to stop them. Holding his own for a remarkable length of time, Hercules eventually fell before the combined might of Goliath (Josten), Mr Hyde, and the Wrecking Crew, who beat him into a coma.
Zeus directed the Olympians to capture the Avengers, whom he blamed for his son's injuries. Recovering, Hercules confirmed the Avengers' innocence and saved them from Zeus' wrath. Sometime later, Hercules helped the Avengers against the High Evolutionary and his Evolutionary War plot, but was evolved "beyond godhood" in the process and vanished.
Discovered back in his godly form by Thor in the mysterious Black Galaxy, Hercules returned to Earth and stayed with Thor, using the alias of Harry Cleese. however, the Celestials had been in the process of preparing Hercules to serve in the creation of a new Celestial. As the process was incomplete when Thor rescued him, Hercules lost part of himself. As a result, he froze up in a series of fights and had to be bailed out by Thor. When Thor and Hercules returned to the Black Galaxy, the Celestials' process was completed, and Hercules regained his full vigor.
Rejoining the Avengers, Hercules met and fell in love with the mortal woman Taylor Madison; he was devastated to learn that she was nothing more than an artificial creation of Hera, made to bring pain to the stepson she so despised. After chastising Hera, Zeus encouraged Hercules to return to Olympus, but when Hercules angrily refused, Zeus stripped him of his godhood, leaving him much weaker and certainly no longer immortal.
Hercules remained with the Avengers for some time after that, but left them shortly after the conflict known as the Crossing. Shortly thereafter, Zeus offered to restore his godly powers, but Hercules declined, preferring to continue his mortal existence to better understand and appreciate life.
Since then Hercules has worked alongside the Avengers and Thor on several occasions. One can be sure that Hercules will always be ready to bestow the "gift" of combat unto anyone able to withstand it.
After the enactment of the Super Hero Registration Act (SHRA), Hercules almost immediately joined forces with Captain America in opposition to the registration, due in part to his reluctance to adhere to mortal law as well as his fierce loyalty to Steve Rogers. Since many of Captain America's Secret Avengers were street-level vigilantes, Hercules provided the team with a much needed power-player. During the battle of Geffen-Meyer Chemicals, it was Hercules who prevented Iron Man from defeating Captain America by throwing an automobile on top of him. Hercules remained dedicated to Captain America throughout the remainder of the pro- and anti-Registration forces in Midtown New York, it was Hercules who destroyed the cybernetic Thor clone by using its own hammer to smash its head open. Now that both Zeus (allegedly killed by the Japanese god of evil Mikaboshi) and Captain America are presumed dead, it is not clear where Hercules' loyalties will lay in the future (or how he will react to the news that his hated half-brother Ares has been recruited into the Avengers).
NOTE: In one alternate timeline (Earth MC-2), Hercules fathered the young hero Argo. In another future (Last Avengers Story), Hercules fathered the heroine Bombshell. In another future circa the 24th Century, Hercules is the last survivor of Olympus, has had extensive adventures in the Andromeda Galaxy, and he has fathered a successor, Arimathes, via a past relationship with Layana Sweetwater. He retains close companionship with the Rigellian Recorder #417 and Skyppi the Skrull.
Significant Issues:
