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Why Hercules is an Avenger

Hercules was born a mortal, of a mortal woman who had been seduced by the ruler of the Greek gods Zeus. As a son of the Sky God, Hercules had certain advantages over other children; Greek myth had Heracles (Hercules is the Romanised name) strangling serpents in his crib. Marvel's Hercules has also been depicted as originally being a strong but not invulnerable mortal in his earliest days.

In fact Marvel Hercules' history parallels the classical myth in many counts. Hercules sailed on the Argo with Captain Jason - a shield-wielding blonde hero according to Peter David's excellent Hulk/Hercules one shot - and was used to the fellowship of a band of brave adventurers. He latterly married Deianeira - portrayed by Marvel as a short-haired redhead not unlike Natasha Romanoff in appearance - whose jealous attempt to restrain Hercules' wandering eye inadvertently led to his poisoning and death. Thereafter, Zeus raised Hercules as a member of the family of Olympian gods, and he dwelled with them on Mount Olympus. Classical myth suggests he married the healing goddess Hebe; Marvel Hercules has at least had a relationship with her.

But the fact remains that Hercules' greatest adventures were the ones he had before settling in Olympus, when he was wandering around with a band of warriors and fighting monsters and tyrants. Hercules had the world's acclaim back then as the greatest of heroes, and was respected even by his enemies. There is evidence that Hercules, like many of the Olympians, has taken holidays down on the mortal sphere that the Greek gods have officially withdrawn from. On one such sojourn he met and fought with Thor of the Norse pantheon, eventually finding in the Thunder God a strange mutual liking for the industrious, brief humans whose world they occasionally walked. Like Thor, Hercules too raised the ire of his father by his obsession with the mortal world.

Enter the Enchantress. She and Ares have a plan to be revenged upon Hercules and the Avengers. Amora enchants Hercules (she's the best at what she does) and sends him to Earth in defiance of Zeus' decrees to destroy her old foes the Avengers. The plan might even have worked if not for the fortuitous use of Hawkeye's classic brimstone arrow.

And here's where Zeus shoots himself in the foot. Manifesting as a big shouty face at the end of Avengers #38 he exiles Hercules to Earth for a period of one year to teach the boy some lessons about obedience; the sort of Olympian equivalent of "you've made your bed now sleep in it." And the reason this is a bad move from Zeus' viewpoint is that this enforced sojourn on Earth reawakens in Hercules his great love for the world of his birth.

Hercules' early months of exile are a bit like Cap's early months after awakening form that iceburg. Both are men out of time, given to brooding about what they've lost, given to moments of occasional melodramatic self pity. And both find in the Avengers an interest which engages them in the modern world, and a band of comrades with whom they bond. One of the turning points for this is Herc's first encounter with Captain America, where he cannot understand why the others should listen to this unpowered normal man - until Cap takes him on in a multi-panel sequence where Herc can't lay a finger on him and Cap topples him to the floor.

Hercules is gradually integrated from angry loner to loyal team-mate, so that when he is graciously allowed to return to Olympus because he has saved the Greeks deities from falling to the treachery of Typhon (Avengers #50) he seems genuinely regretful at having to leave his friends the Avengers.

Amongst Earth's Mightiest Heroes Hercules has found things which have been missing too long from his life, things which are really fundamental to his character. Hercules loves challenge ("the gift of combat"), and the Avengers encounter challenge and combat in plenty. There are even threats which overcome Hercules. "T'is beyond belief!" Hercules also loves company, sometimes the adoration of the masses, and especially any young ladies who might happen to be in those masses, and sometimes that of his peers. He seems comfortable lounging in Avengers mansion in a way that he never appears to be amongst the Greek pantheon.

This probably accounts for much of Hercules' constant return to Earth, and his alliances with the Champions and the Defenders when he hasn't been with the Avengers.

And let's face it, Hercules comes from a rather dysfunctional family. The product of an out-of-wedlock affair, Heracles was named after Zeus' wife in the hopes of appeasing her (his name means "the glory of Hera"). It didn't work. He has constantly struggled with Zeus' son Ares, the very god of war, and with Pluto, Lord of the Underworld. He has battled against other Greek gods and goddesses as well. The Olympians make the Avengers look positively well-balanced and orderly.

Another aspect of Hercules' nature, one which he shares with Thor, is a concern for protecting mortals against the depredations of other members of his pantheon. Hercules has assisted to liberate human souls from Pluto, has prevented the warmongering of Ares, and has taken on a variety of Greek mythical monsters for the betterment of mankind. He alone of all the Olympians seems to have a perspective on the value of humanity, and on the importance of not interfering with its' ultimate destiny. Prometheus, who shares that understanding, is a titan, not an Olympian. This sense of guardianship is far more akin to the Avengers' sensibilities than the gods'. It is also the characteristic which sets Hercules apart to become ruler of the next pantheon of gods in Bob Layton's future-Hercules series.

The most distinctive (some might say only) development to happen to Hercules in recent years has been the loss of his godhood after his argument with Zeus over the creation of Taylor Madison as Herc's perfect woman for Hera to destroy. What the supposedly-wise Zeus saw as being a clever way of thwarting his wife Hercules took as a cruel misuse of the King of the Gods' power to create sentient life. This clash probably typified the whole chasm of understanding between the immortal, eternal, aloof, yet sulkily childlike creatures of Mount Olympus, and the once-human Prince of Power. For me Hercules was right in rejecting the Olympians, even if it left him weaker and more vulnerable. A human Hercules can grow, develop, and learn. A human Hercules can be a true hero because he has limitations he must overcome. A human Hercules can accomplish things that the petulant Olympians would never even consider trying. And a human Hercules needs the Avengers more than ever. Many people dismiss Hercules as a mace-wielding strongman who makes foolhardy boasts with a rash disposition and a short temper. Some sloppy writers make the same mistake. In actual fact Hercules, even more than Thor, is the "working man's god". With a very human perspective, with a heart filled with passion and genuine valour, with a vast and simple love for his friends and a clear hatred of meanness and malice, Hercules takes his place in the company of heroes which is the Avengers at the forefront of their ranks.