History Characters / TheIncredibleHercules

* SuperWeight: Normally somewhere between 4 and 5, as he has {{Super Strength}} on par with Thor, but lacks his extended powerset. During Chaos War he became a High-Level 6, after first becoming a *Super-God* who defeated the entire roster of Skyfathers and later gaining enough power from Gaea to stalemate the reality-devouring Chaos King and afterwards recreate 98% of the multiverse. After this incident burned out his power, he became somewhere between 1 and 2, because he is still a master fighter and retains his magical arsenal of weapons. Quickly went back to being class five again in the All-New Marvel Now comicline where his powers were mysteriously restored.

** Also played for drama in his 2015 series, where he is trying to go sober. As of 2023, he seems to have stayed that way.

-> See [[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson Thor]]

* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: Hercules's strength increases in proportion to his anger. Not nearly as much as the Hulk (whose size and power boost ''exponentially'' with anger, not proportionately), but a pissed-off (or Hydra-poison-maddened) Hercules has been able to curbstomp ComicBook/WonderMan, [[ComicBook/CivilWar a Thor clone]], and an alternate-universe Silver Surfer.

* HurtingHero:
** He never forgave himself for killing his family back in the age of myth.
** He was absolutely lovesick for Taylor Madison throughout the Dark Age era, and greatly mourned her once she "died".
** The "New Labors" miniseries from 2005 featured Hercules trying to rebuild his reputation and self-respect from probably his lowest point.
** He is hurt and depressed by the fact that many of his former teammates and friends don't respect him or want him around in his 2015 series.
** In general, he tends to party to so much to cope with the death of his family, shame of his most famous deeds being punishment for it, the inevitable deaths of his mortal friends, the constant harrassment from Hera, and the constant crap from his father Zeus along with nothing he ever does being enough to satisfy him.

** At one point, while Herc was running around being himself, his distraught wife Hebe was set on a blind date with [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]]. Hercules shows up and tries to beat the crap out of (a completely mortal for all Herc knows) Peter. When Hebe asks where Herc gets off getting angry at her for going on a date, when Herc is unabashedly unfaithful, Herc flat out states that it's because a wife is a man's ''property''. [[WhatTheHellHero Neither she nor Spider-Man let him slide on that.]]

* BareYourMidriff: Her signature outfit shows her midsection.

* AllAmazonsWantHercules: He is the trope picture.

** Also played for drama in his 2015 series, where he is trying to go sober.

** Despite Marvel officially stating that he's fully heterosexual, Herc pretty much outright flirts with the male gods during Sacred Invasion, as well as making some suggestive remarks about former companions from myth, how fetching they were and such. [[spoiler: In ''Fall of an Avenger'', the mini dedicated to his funeral, several of the women in his life step up and admit that they had sex with him, and encourage others to step up. Cue Northstar -- the first gay character at Marvel out of the closet -- activating his super-speed and saying, "Is that the time? Gotta go!"]]

* AncientGrome: Hercules is known by his Roman name rather than his Greek name Heracles while most of the other Greek gods go by their Greek names (except Pluto and Venus.) In the case of Hercules, it's {{justified|Trope}} because he wishes to distance himself from Zeus' wife Hera, who was his enemy in the original Greek myths and isn't particularly fond of him in Marvel either.

* BoisterousBruiser: He calls facing him in combat "The Gift of Battle".
* BrainsAndBrawn: Hercules is the brawn and Cho is the brains.

* CerebusRetcon: Hercules was originally introduced by Stan Lee as a {{Foil}} for Thor. Where Thor is noble, honorable and selfless, Hercules is arrogant, crude, and selfish. while on occasion his behavior was portrayed as problematic, or even dangerous, it was still intended to be endearing and fun. Later on, it's revealed that there are several deep psychological reasons he behaves this way: 1) he grew up in an era where JerkassGods ruled and that had a profound influence on him, 2) he is subconsciously ''still'' in mourning and punishing himself for accidentally killing his own family millennia ago, 3) being on Olympus for millennia not only bored him out of his mind, but on Olympus parties and revelry last for decades or sometimes ''centuries'' and that habit is hard to break. The bottom line is, though, that Hercules's past actions as an IdiotHero, [[TheCasanova Casanova]] and BloodKnight are sometimes painted in darker colors.

* DependingOnTheWriter: Just how much of a simple-minded oaf is Hercules? Some stories portray him as having so much an ego that he's oblivious to the dangers he poses to himself and others. Others portray him as someone who [[LetsGetDangerous gets serious when the situation calls for it.]] Some stories portray him as an AccidentalPornomancer who couldn't keep the ladies away if he wanted to. Others portray him as a CasanovaWannabe and perpetual sexual harasser.

* DoubleStandard: Despite being a generally good guy, Herc's views on gender are not entirely egalitarian.

* DumbMuscle: He is capable of tactical thinking, but displays surprising levels of stupidity at times. Even lampshaded at one point.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: In some series, Hercules has this reputation due to his destructiveness, drunkenness, and misogyny. In particular, his 2005 series and 2015 series both revolved around Herc trying to ''undo'' this reputation.

* HumbleHero: During the 90s, he was a lot more humble. Very little of the braggart Hercules remained during that period. At one point, he even turned down having his immortality restored by Zeus because he felt he didn't deserve it compared to more worthy heroes.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Hercules came across as this in early stories. Less so in modern ones.

* NiceGuy: DependingOnTheWriter. Hercules's level of "nice" depends on how much you value intent versus actions. Herc usually ''intends'' to be a good and decent person--he would almost never [[TheGoldenRule do to anyone else what he himself wouldn't want]]...but he has a habit of believing that because he's the greatest hero and god that ever lived, everyone else ''automatically'' should want what he wants. For example, he punches ComicBook/WonderMan in the face after meeting him, believing that fighting is the friendliest way two men could bond, much to Wonder Man's shock and horror. He is far more polite and courteous to women--usually because of outdated gender mores, as well as feeling he's entitled to sleep with just about any woman he meets. Bob Layton argued that Herc was someone who didn't think anyone could really tell him "No" and actually mean it. Some depictions have him acknowledge that these actions are failings, and then try to overcome them, but again, it depends on who's writing.

* NobleMaleRoguishMale: ComicBook/TheMightyThor is the noble man--fighting for honor, justice and valor, while Hercules is the rogue--fighting evil [[BloodKnight because it's fun]] and to impress women, and he's more than willing to play dirty.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Hercules on the surface is a shallow, brawling BoisterousBruiser. Underneath that, though, he's insightful, experienced, wise, and surprisingly skilled; he's had two thousand years to grow up. How much of the former is fake and how much is real depends on your interpretation.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Herc has had moments of being very, very serious and during those instances, he's usually a lot more humble, self-aware, and astute.

* PowerfulButIncompetent: Herc has often been written as this type of character. As the [[PhysicalGod Olympian god of strength]], Hercules has physical might roughly equal to that of the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] or [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], in addition to several skills and abilities of his own. However, he's also a drunken, misogynistic, quick-tempered ManChild and BloodKnight. On more than one occasion, his failure to stay sober, take orders or plan properly has led to humiliating defeats and even endangering other members of any team he's on. Later depictions of the character have him come to understand that his behavior [[DeliberateValuesDissonance is unacceptable for "heroes" of the modern day]] and try to clean up his act. Even so, when Hercules shows up to a team or crisis, many of those in attendance groan and desperately wish that there were someone else to ask for help.

* ATrueHero: Hercules has been the subject of a number of stories where [[BrokenPedestal people become disillusioned]] after meeting the hero in the flesh and find a simple-minded, violent, misogynist drunk instead of the hero of legend that they expect and feel that someone like Thor, The Avengers or even ''[[HeroWithBadPublicity Spider-man]]'' make better heroes than him. Typically, this upsets or angers Hercules, who sees himself as the ''original'' standard by which later heroes all modeled themselves.

* UnskilledButStrong: ZigZaggingTrope. Hercules is one of the strongest characters in the Marvel Universe, and when he's at full power, he tends to treat combat like a contest of attrition. But there are many far, ''far'' stronger characters out there and Herc isn't completely invincible. When he's forced to, Herc will start using his brains and endless depth of combat skills.

** To Ares. Historically, Ares has been a thuggish JerkAss who cares only about avenging past slights, and openly admits that he antagonizes Herc because he's still hung up about the Stymphalian birds. Even post-HeelFaceTurn his approach to heroism is hyper-violent and comes at the end of [[AnAxToGrind an axe]], where Hercules was usually a brawler with the occasional sword.