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G
- "Gaining Confidence" Song: Hercules is ostracized by his peers because he is unable to control his own strength, so he somberly sings "Go The Distance" to express his desire to be accepted. Halfway through the song, his adoptive parents advise him to visit the Temple of Zeus in order to learn about his past, which fuels him with optimism and causes him to happily sing that he will not give up until he finds the place where he belongs. Once he learns the truth about himself, the third verse is about how he definitely will prove himself.
- God of Evil: Hades is portrayed as an Evil Overlord that schemes and betrays as naturally as a mortal breathes as part of his god of death thing. This is contrary to Greek Mythology and more in line with a Christian line of thought. See Satanic Archetype.
- The Gods Must Be Lazy: Played straight and inverted.
- Zeus singlehandedly defeated and imprisoned the Titans in the prologue.
- Zeus persuades Phil to take Hercules on as a student.
- Hades reveals himself as one behind the release of the Titans and their assault on Olympus seeking to usurp the king of gods from his throne. Yet in the climax all the gods are not in the underworld, and are not proceeding to kick Hades' ass.
- Goofy Print Underwear: When Hercules announces to a small crowd of distressed people that he's a hero, one of the men realizes the "goat man", Phil, that's with him trained Achilles. Phil tries to beat him up and ends up biting his toga, revealing white underwear with red spots. This may qualify Phil under the All Animals Are Dogs trope since that's a very canine thing of him to do.
- Go Seduce My Archnemesis: After Hercules kicks the collective asses of every monster Hades sends at him, he decides to send Meg in to seduce him in order to find out what his weakness is. Predictably, she falls in love with him instead. However, this provides Hades with the answer he wanted in the first place.Hades: Meg, listen. Do you hear that sound? It's the sound of your freedom, fluttering away, forever!
Meg: I don't care, I'm not going to help you hurt him!
Hades: [sighs] I can't believe you're getting all worked up over some guy.
Meg: This one is different. He's strong, he's caring, he would never do anything to hurt me...
Hades: He's a guy!
Meg: [smugly] Besides, O Oneness, you can't beat him. He has no weaknesses! He's gonna...
[she turns and sees Hades smirking at her]
Hades: I think he does, Meg. I truly think he does. - Gory Discretion Shot: We only see a distant reaction shot of the Cyclops after Hercules jabs a flaming stick into his eye.
- Gospel Revival Number: Basically, anything that the Muses touch becomes stirring and passionate. Charlton Heston didn't stand a chance.
- Grade System Snark: When Hercules defeats the River Guardian and sends him flying (with just a headbutt) to rescue Meg, Phil loudly says several congratulatory remarks, ending with, "Not bad, kid!" This is directly followed by him muttering underneath his breath, "Not exactly what I had in mind, but not bad.", as not a minute earlier he told Hercules to 'use his head' to beat the Guardian.
- Greek Chorus: Literally! The movie is narrated by the Greek Muses who take part in the story, sort of.
- Groupie Brigade: One follows Hercules after his fame explodes, and tackles him for fan paraphernalia.
H
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Hades has a bad case of this. Every little annoyance or perceived transgression Pain and Panic (or anyone else) make is enough to drive him to viciously beat them or burn them.
- Half-Hearted Henchman: Anyone working for Hades.
- Pain and Panic are clearly with Hades because they are terrified of him. They have no problem lying to him, and after Hercules punches him into The River Styx they clearly do not miss him. Panic is only worried about how angry Hades will be.
- Meg is only working for Hades because she sold her soul, and is paying off a debt. Once she falls in love with Hercules she turns on him.
- While the Fates don't really count as Hades’ henchmen, they are given a more neutral role in the Hades Challenge computer game as well as a few episodes of the TV series.
- Hammy Villain, Serious Hero: Herc is a sweet, fun-loving Nice Guy but his personality turns much more serious and Tranquil Fury against the more hammy, comedic, and easily angered Hades.
- Handshake of Doom: Towards the end of the film, Hades holds Meg hostage and forces Hercules into accepting a deal: he will let Meg go free and unharmed but on the condition that Hercules surrender his superhuman strength for 24 hours - more than enough time to for Hades to conquer Olympus. Finally, he has Hercules seal the deal with a handshake.
- Happily Adopted: The human couple that take Hercules in treat him well, though they fade from view after he discovers his godly heritage. He's later shown in one of the musical numbers to be putting his newfound wealth and influence to work paying them back several times over.
- Happily Married: Unlike the mythology, Zeus and Hera are quite happy together. Hercules' human parents qualify as well.
- Heroic BSoD: Hercules, after Hades convinces him to give up his strength for Meg's freedom and safety, and then revealing that Meg was working for him all along. It has such a profound effect on him that he doesn't even attempt to fight back against the Cyclops, until Phil's pep talk.
- Heroic Build: Hercules, following his training with Phil. Just look at the picture at the top of this page!
- Heroic Sacrifice: Twice, from each side of the Love Interest relationship: first Meg pushes Hercules out of the path of a falling pillar to save him (thus abrogating Hades' deal in which he said he wouldn't hurt her, and giving Herc his strength back) and costing her her life, then Herc gives up his life to Hades to rescue Meg's soul (an act of such selfless heroism it restores his godhood).
- High-Five Left Hanging: After Herc defeats the centaur Nessus, Pegasus offers him a high-five, but Hercules is too distracted by the sight of Megara to acknowledge him.
- Hijacked by Jesus: Zeus has become a Grandpa God, Hades a Satanic Archetype, and Hercules a stand-in for Jesus.
- "And that's the gospel truth"
- Hold Your Hippogriffs:
- "Holy Hera! "
- Thebes is called the "Big Olive ."
- "Wanna buy a sundial? "
- "Somebody call IX-I-I! "
- "Keep your toga on, pal!"
- "This is the honest-to-Zeus truth..."
- "Is this an audience or a mosaic? "
- In an interview with Disney Adventure magazine, James Woods said the original line in the script was in fact "oil painting," but he improvised the word "mosaic" and they went with it.
- "That's it, I'm moving to Sparta! "
- "He's just another chariot chaser."
- "...but I could see through that in a Peloponnesian minute."
- Honest John's Dealership: The man who tries to sell sundials to Herc is very shady.
- Honey Trap:Megara: Wonderboy is hitting every curve you throw at him.
Hades: Oh, yeah... I wonder if maybe I haven't been throwing the right curves at him... - Horsing Around: Pegasus is usually gentle with Herc. Megara, on the other hand...
- Hydra Problem: Obviously when Hercules fights the Hydra. He thinks he's won once he cuts off its head, but three more grow to take its place. Hercules keeps chopping off heads, until there are several dozen.Phil: WILL YOU FORGET THE HEAD-SLICING THING!?
- Hypocritical Humor: Done to show how out of favor Hades is with the other gods. He introduces himself with a lame joke that meets with no response; as he leaves, Zeus cracks a similarly lame joke, and everyone bursts into laughter.
I
- I Have Your Wife: Hades holds Meg hostage and tells Hercules he will release her safely if he gives him his powers. Herc, being the guy he is, ultimately accepts after a moment of hesitation, rendering him completely weak and letting Hades fully enact his Evil Plan.
- I Know You Know I Know: Between Hades and the Fates because the Fates know everything and feel a need to remind Hades because he explains things to them.
- Impossible Hourglass Figure: Four of the Muses and Aphrodite—especially Aphrodite given that she's the goddess of love and has a waist so tiny she could wrap one hand around. It's sort of explained by the fact that they're goddesses. Artemis and Megara have Hartman Hips.
- Incredibly Long Note: The reprise of "Go the Distance" holds "belong" for a long time at the end.
- In Name Only: Due to the sheer amount of changes made from the source material, the only things this movie has in common with the original Heracles myth is that they both star a super strong demigod protagonist and share a couple of similar plot points and settings.
- Ink-Suit Actor:
- Short, portly Danny DeVito as the short, portly Philoctetes.
- Hermes, who shares the same features and trademark shades of his voice actor Paul Shaffer, best known as David Letterman's bandleader. He even plays keyboards!
- Tate Donovan looks almost exactly like Hercules. Ditto for Susan Egan as Meg. Even after nearly two decades, their resemblances are still incredibly striking.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: After struggling with a one-headed Hydra that swallows him whole, then having cut his way out from inside the Hydra, Hercules staggers out covered in green slime, saying "See Phil? That...that wasn't so hard." However, the Hydra grows three heads with each cut.
- Interspecies Friendship: Herc, a demigod, has a flying horse, Pegasus, for a companion, and his mentor, Phil, is a satyr.
- Ironic Echo:Hercules: (to Meg) You know, when I was a kid, I would've given anything to be exactly like everybody else.
Hades: (after taking away Hercules strength) Now you know what it's like to be just like everybody else! - "I Want" Song: "Go the Distance", which also became an Award-Bait Song, focuses on Hercules' desire for acceptance.
J
- Jealous Pet: Hercule's horse Pegasus becomes jealous of his love interest Megara nigh instantly. As his first act after hero training, Hercules rescues snarky beauty Megara and falls in love with her. His flying steed Pegasus does not share his liking for her. During their first flight, he purposely makes it difficult for Meg, who has a fear of heights. He eventually comes around after Meg frees him from captivity and saves his master.
- Joke of the Butt:
- Pegasus's Stuck in the Doorway moment happens because his butt is too big to fit through Phil's door, and it's shown entirely from the outside so the audience gets an eyeful of his rear end failing to squeeze through.
- Phil's "fur wedgie".
- Just in Time: Hercules reaches Meg's soul right when the Fates are about to cut his thread. By succeeding, his thread turned indestructible and his immortality was secured. It may even have been part of the unspoken rules that you have to be willing to sacrifice your life to be a true hero.
K
- Karmic Jackpot: Amphitryon and his wife adopt a baby they find on the road, rearing him as their own son. They love him and comfort him when his clumsiness causes problems with the neighbors; when he wants to find out who he is, they let him go seek Zeus's guidance with bittersweet smiles. As a result, Hercules supports them with the royalties he gets from his hero merchandise, their adoptive son is honored as a god, and Hercules returns home with a lovely wife and a hero's reputation.
- Kavorka Man: Phil at the end, since Aphrodite kisses him.
- Kick the Dog: After Hades captures Megara and has Hercules give him his strength and powers in exchange for Meg's safety, the first thing he does is to viciously toss a huge barbell toward Herc, knocking him into the ground and taunting him about how he finally got his wish of being "just like everybody else". To further rub salt into the wound, Hades uses the moment to reveal to Herc that Meg had been working for him the entire time. Herc, already in huge pain from the drastic loss of his powers, is utterly devastated by this revelation. Then, Pain and Panic mock him in front of Meg, who is then reduced to tears for being involved in this mess.
- Kidnapped While Sleeping: Baby Hercules is kidnapped by Pain and Panic while he is asleep.
- Kill It Through Its Stomach: When the Hydra swallows Herc, it looks pretty satisfied with itself, until it gives a confused look moments before Hercules decapitates it from the inside. However, this isn't enough to kill it.
- Kubrick Stare: When Hercules decides to reverse Meg's death by marching into the underworld, he sports one of these almost the whole time, especially when looking at Hades. Beware the Nice Ones indeed.
L
- Laugh of Love: Hercules and Megara tend to laugh as they hang out together and eventually fall in love, particularly in the garden scene
. - Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Hades' comment "it's only half-time" in reference to Hercules and the Hydra battle comes at the actual halfway mark of the film's runtime.
- "Leaving the Nest" Song: "Go the Distance" is a song about Hercules leaving home for the first time to discover his roots and his purpose after years of being treated like a freak for his godly strength.
- Let Me at Him!: Pegasus tries to attack Nessus after he struck Hercules twice, but Phil holds him back, citing that Herc has to fight him on his own.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Zeus. On his free time, he's a loving father and husband, spends time joking with everyone and attempts to be a good big bro for Hades; in fact, he's much more lovable than the original Zeus, but once the Titans attack and Hades proved to be a backstabber, we quickly see where Hercules' strength come from and why you don't mess with the King of the Gods.
- Lighter and Softer: The take on Greek mythology present in the film, in addition to being Sadly Mythtaken, is much lighter and more family-friendly. Without it, the film would have turned out an R-Rating. It also applies in the context of Disney Animated Canon. Of the '90s Disney movies, this film was considerably lighter and more of a slapstick comedy, especially compared to its darker and more epic predecessors (The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) and successors (Mulan, Tarzan).
- Literal-Minded: Hercules takes it literally when Phil tells him to Use Your Head .
- Living Forever is No Big Deal: The Gods seem to consider immortality part of their lives; they are naturally worried when it's removed from one of them, but in normal times they barely refer to their immortality. Phil, too, who is apparently immortal/has an extremely long life span (since he trained all the heroes of the past), doesn't even mention being immortal.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Despite being part of the Olympian pantheon, Hades is somehow unaware for 18 years that Hercules survived his kidnapping and assassination and that Zeus had located him in the mortal realm. Hades only finds this out after Meg's chance encounter (and realizes Pain and Panic botched their mission and lied). This can be justified, as the opening of the film establishes Hades has little love for the Olympus crowd (and vice-versa), and both parties mutually steer clear of each other. So it is plausible this isolation ironically backfired on Hades and left him in the dark on the family crisis (although given his network throughout the mortal realm, you'd think somebody on the Underworld payroll would've observed what Zeus was up to and informed Hades).
- Lone Wolf Boss: Nessus the Centaur, who has no ties to Hades and Herc fights solely because the creep was making a move on Meg. While Meg had attempted to get Nessus to join Hades army, Nessus took sole interest in her and had other plans instead.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Portrayed rather positively in this case, as Meg's genuine love for Hercules, and his for her, foils Hades' plans.Megara: People always do crazy things when they're in love.
- Lower Half Reveal: Inverted. When Herc arrives at the island of Philocetes the trainer of heroes, he sees what looks like a goat hiding under a bush, its hindquarters sticking out. He picks it up and realizes that the "goat" is really a satyr — Phil himself.
M
- Meaningful Echo:Panic: Hades is gonna kill us when he finds out!
Pain: You mean if he finds out.
Panic: Of course he's gonna— [realization strikes] "If." "If" is good.
[much later]
Panic: He's not gonna be happy when he gets out of there.
Pain: You mean if he gets out of there!
Panic: "If". "If" is good. - Meaningful Name: Pain and Panic. Pain is constantly subjected to pain, and as for Panic, he does just that: panic.
- Mentor's New Hope: Phil believes Hercules to be his final hope of training a great hero after all of his other failures, which is discussed in his song "One Last Hope".
- Mickey Mousing: The coda for "One Last Hope". It seems that, as in Fantasia, the animators took their cue from the music.
- A Minor Kidroduction: The film begins with Hercules as a baby. It appears to be a baby shower, or maybe the day of his birth since he gets gifts.
- Moment Killer: Phil is quite skilled at doing this. He has a megaphone.
- Mood Whiplash: Meg sacrifices herself to save Hercules, her body is crushed. Herc then goes to save the gods from Hades' plot, and partakes in some hilarious hi-jinks, only to snatch right back after the confrontation, as Meg is dying.
- Mortality Ensues:
- At the beginning when Pain and Panic make Baby!Hercules drink the mortality potion.
- At the end when Hercules gives up his reinstated godhood to live on Earth with Meg.
- Ms. Fanservice:
- Meg is drawn to be a lot more sexy than the usual Disney heroine, sharing a similar body type to Jessica Rabbit. She also gets scenes like when she washes herself in the river and seduces Hercules.
- The Muses are also amongst the most attractive women in Disney history, wear robes that expose their shapely legs and cleavage, and spend much of their time in the movie shaking their ample hips. Even the goofy Thalia is gorgeous.
- Muggle Foster Parents: Hercules' human parents have no idea they found the son of gods.
- Multiple Head Case: The Hydra, while trying to eat Herc, accidentally attacks the other heads or knocks into them. The heads themselves also fight over which one gets to eat him. Justified that it only had one head a few minutes ago—growing extra heads takes some getting used to, you know...
- Multipurpose Tongue: The Hydra's tongue. In their first battle, the Hydra lashed out with her tongue and caught Hercules by the ankle, then she flipped him high into the air to swallow him whole. Later, when fighting multiple Hydra heads, Hercules grabbed one of the head's tongue to swing around as one attempt to escape the swarm of heads.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Hercules and Phil after seeing the Hydra grow more heads.
- Herc gets this after he slaps Phil in a blind rage. He's very shocked at himself for lashing out.
- Meg also gets this when Hades makes the deal with Hercules to deprive him of his strength, and then reveals that Meg was in Hades's service.
- Mythology Gag: Literally, in this case; Despite many changes to the actual myths, there are more than a few references to them outside the main plot.
- The Mythological Hercules is best knownnote for performing the Twelve Labors, all of which are referenced in the film, most of them in the "Zero to Hero" segment.
- The first labor, the slaying of the Nemean Lion, is changed from a lion that terrorized the town of Nemea to a monster that Hades sends. Hercules is later shown wearing its pelt (as he is usually depicted in the myths), and the lion's skin looks remarkably like Scar's.
- The second labor is the slaying of the Lernaean Hydra; obviously this is referenced by the massive Hydra battle (although it comes before the lion and is not in Lake Lerna, as it is in the myths, and is sent by Hades instead of Hera). In some (often the more detailed versions) of the myth, the Hydra had at least one immortal head, so Hercules had to finish it by burying it under a large rock. In the movie, Hercules defeats the Hydra by burying it under several large rocks.
- The fourth labor is to capture the Erymanthian Boar, which is alternately said to get its name from where it lives, Mt. Erymanthos, or from Erymanthus, Apollo's son who was blinded by Aphrodite (or in a few accounts Artemis) when he saw her bathing, which led him to send said boar to attack her. A large boar shows up in the "Zero to Hero" as another monster that Hades sends.
- The fifth labor is mentioned in passing as Augeas having a problem with his stables that Hercules is expected to help with.
- The sixth labor is to slay the man-eating Stymphalian birds, which are likely referenced by the large bird shown in passing as being a monster Hercules defeated in "Zero to Hero".
- The ninth labor is mentioned by Phil as having to get a girdle from some Amazons.
- The eleventh labor does not appear in the movie, but is referenced in the series, where Adonis is cursed by Gaia and needs the golden apples of Hesperides to be cured, which Hercules gets Atlas to pick for him, just as he does in the original myth.
- The twelfth labor appears at the end of the movie; Hercules was challenged to tame Cerberus, and appears riding him into the Underworld in the finale.
- As a baby, Hercules saves his adoptive parents from Pain and Panic when they turn into snakes, strangling both of them. In the Greek Myths, two (ordinary) snakes sent by Hera actually did attack Hercules as a baby, and he strangled both of them to death.
- In fact, if you count name drops and people in crowd scenes, it's almost a constant stream of references to Greek mythology.
- There's some to other Disney movies too:
- From Fantasia, we get Zeus's wedge-shaped beard, a blue centaur, pudgy Bacchus and a scene of Hephaestus hammering at Zeus's lightning bolts. In addition, Hercules defeats the Cyclops the same way Mickey Mouse defeated the giant in "Brave Little Tailor".
- One of the smallest ones is the blue centaur Hercules battles to save Meg in their first scene together. His name, Nessus, is said exactly once, and in passing, to boot. In Greek mythology, Nessus was a centaur killed by Hercules who tricked Deianeira (Hercules' wife) into using his blood as poison to kill her husband.
- The Mythological Hercules is best knownnote for performing the Twelve Labors, all of which are referenced in the film, most of them in the "Zero to Hero" segment.
- Myth Prologue: The film begins with a straightforward retelling of the Ancient Greek creation myth... until the muses interrupt and turn it into a gospel number. But the story beats are the same, telling the story of how Zeus stopped the Titans and tamed the world.
N
- Near-Miss Groin Attack: During the "One last Hope" song:Phil: Rule number 95: Concentrate![Teen Hercules throws half a dozen swords at the targets and misses, surrounding Phil with swords, who's on the tip of his hooves avoiding one between his legs]Phil: Rule 96: Aim!
- Never Say "Die": Averted. When Meg goes to Phil on Pegasus to convince him to return and help Hercules when he's fighting a losing battle against a Cyclops, she clearly uses the word "die" to make it clear to Phil that if he doesn't go back and help him immediately, he's doomed.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- As a teen Hercules accidentally destroys an entire town while trying to catch a frisbee. The townsfolk turn on him and call him a freak and a menace.
- Hercules accidentally releases the Hydra to free two children from a cave in. After trying to defeat it by cutting its head off, three more heads grow in its place. Regardless, he keeps cutting them, producing a swarm of heads until Phil yells at him to stop doing that.
- Meg sassing Hades on realizing she loves Hercules accidentally reveals to Hades that she is Wonder Boy's weakness.
- Phil is no exception to this. Since he had no proof of Meg's true intentions because he didn't hear the entire conversation between her and Hades instead of leaving halfway through, Hercules is incredulous when he tries to warn him. He then gets pissed off when Hercules doesn't believe him, argues with him, gets on his bad side when he insults Meg in his face (as offensive words as a G-rated movie can afford), resulting in a slap from his student, and he leaves him in the lurch with the intention to go back to his island and just forget about him and retire. This was a big, big mistake, as Hades took advantage of the fact that his arch-enemy was alone, and because of this, Hercules finds out that Meg was really working for Hades, loses his super strength, gets his heart broken and is at the mercy of a Cyclops in Thebes, winning the fight and not getting killed only because Meg insisted that Phil had to come back and help him.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
- The Cyclops sending Hercules waltzing in all corners of a building not only led to his death but the latter to get his strength back and defeat Hades.
- On the other side of the equation, if Hades led Hercules and Meg be, or better yet, have the Fates cut Hercules' life thread, or murder Hercules himself instead of sending the Cyclops to kill him, his plans would've succeeded.
- Nessus is no exception either. Meg tried to recruit him to join Hades' army but instead wanted to have his way with her. When he was defeated, Hercules and Meg would later fall in love.
- If Pain and Panic were honest with Hades about their failure to kill baby Hercules, Hades would have more time to kill Hercules to prevent him from screwing with his plans to conquer Mount Olympus.
- Non Sequitur, *Thud*: When Phil tries to whisk Hercules back to training after finding he was playing hooky with Meg:Phil: [gets smacked off of Pegasus by a tree branch, lands on his skull on a column and falls, raises arm in protest, slurred] That's IT! Next time, I'm driving... [he faints and his arm collapses]
- No Song for the Wicked: Hades has no Villain Song despite being such a Large Ham. Even though Woods loves playing Hades, he doesn't like to sing (according to the DVD commentary for the first Family Guy episode he appeared).note The stage musical averts this by giving him two numbers, "A Cool Day in Hell" and its reprise.
- Not Helping Your Case: When Phil went to warn Hercules about the fact that Meg was working for Hades, which he didn't believe, he then gets a slap from him. The reason? Because he made Hercules angry by insulting her to his face. Not cool, Phil, be thankful that this is not the Hercules from the original myths.
- Not Wearing Tights: Hercules is portrayed as this; unsurprising, considering that the Greek demigods are arguably the earliest forms of the Superhero archetype. Though some tights are noticeable in Hercules' undergarmments, like during the Hydra battle.
- Nouveau Riche: Hercules gets rich and famous after his victory in Thebes, as "Zero to Hero" describes. The house he buys for his human parents is huge.
O
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: This exchange between Meg and Hercules after Hades has sent her to find out his weakness.Hercules: You know, when I was a kid, I would have given anything to be exactly like everybody else.
Megara: [scoffs] You wanted to be petty and dishonest?
Hercules: Everybody's not like that.
Megara: Yes, they are.
Hercules: You're not like that. - Obviously Not Fine: Most of the movie runs on supernatural shenanigans and heroics. Hercules shrugs off many injuries that would kill a mere mortal, even when he loses his powers temporarily. Then Meg does a heroic deed, pushing Hercules out of the way of a falling pillar. It crushes her instead, falling on her spine with a Sickening "Crunch!". Pegasus, Hercules and Phil go Oh, Crap! because when Hercules regains his strength and pulls it off her, she's in pain and moaning, voice raspy. Her attempts to smile and say it was Worth It are undercut by her agony. With the town on fire, there are no medics or doctors nearby, and with an injury like that, Meg has no chance of recovery. When she tells Hercules to stop Hades and not worry about her, he reluctantly obeys while Phil holds her hand and waits for the end. She passes away in a short while, writhing in agony.
- Offhand Backhand: Done by Herc to Hades near the end and because his divinity was restored, he literally punches Hades' face in.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Because of his clumsiness, Hercules causes accidents and makes a lot of mistakes in his battles. For instance, losing his sword.
- Hercules and Phil's faces when the Hydra, a gigantic serpentlike monster with one head, towers over them.
- Phil when the Hydra starts growing three more heads:Phil: [sees the Hydra's corpse twitching] That doesn't sound good. [The Hydra gets back on its feet, grows three more heads and starts moving towards them] DEFINITELY NOT GOOD! [hands Herc his sword and runs]
- The look on the Hydra's faces when Herc triggers the rock slide.
- Pain and Panic do this frequently whenever they screw something up.
- Oh, My Gods!:
- Pain and Panic are the Trope Namer - after all, this is set in polytheistic Greece.
- There is also an instance where Phil goes "Holy Hera."
- Later still, Phil says "This is the honest-to-Zeus truth."
- Open the Door and See All the People: Hercules opens the door of his Big Fancy House only to be met with screaming fans who make him want to run back inside and hide.
- Our Hydras Are Different: Hercules faces the iconic multi-headed serpent early in his hero career. The creature starts out with only one head, but three new ones grow in the place of each cranium lost.
- Our Nymphs Are Different: Hercules meets Philoctetes as he is peeping on a group of nymphs lounging by a river. When his cover is blown, Phil tries to catch one, only for them to turn into a pile of flowers and a tree.
P
- Pain to the Ass: During their introduction scene, Pain and Panic trip down a flight of stairs and Pain lands bottom first onto Panic's horns.
- Papa Wolf: Zeus comes to Hercules' aid a couple of times.
- Parental Abandonment: One of the only films in the entire Disney canon to avert this trope. Herc not only has his immortal parents watching from on high, he has a pair of mortal adoptive parents who love him very much.
- Parental Bonus: As expected from a Disney film. Most blatantly, Nessus pushing himself on Megara is certainly reminiscent of a rape attempt, with the centaur noting "I like 'em fiery!" as she keeps rejecting him, and once Hercules frees Meg and asks how she ended up with him, she replies "You know how men are. They think 'no' means 'yes', and 'get lost' means 'take me, I'm yours'!" When talking to Nessus, Hercules briefly hesitates and looks, uh... down there before calling him "sir". There is also one of the Muses reacting to a picture of Hercules saying she'd like "make some music," a guy who appears to be a flasher as he reveals he's selling sundials, and this gem of a quote:Hercules: And that play, that Oedipus thing? Man, I thought I had problems!
- The Pearly Gates: Mt. Olympus possesses glowing-gold gates that the Rock Titan crashes through during the invasion and opens for Hercules when he attains godhood.
- Pegasus: A winged horse made of clouds as a gift for Hercules on his birthday.
- Pet the Dog:
- Hades did bring a gift for the little "sunspot" at the Olympus party. It's just that Hercules bit his finger as well when tasting the sucker. After that, Hades wants to murder the little guy, and not just because of the prophecy.
- Technically, Meg defied Hades and went against their agreement to find Hercules's weakness. She only reveals it by accident when smugly saying that Hercules would never hurt her, causing Hades to have a "Eureka!" Moment. In fact, as far as Meg knew, Wonder Boy was perfectly safe because he seemed to have no weakness. Even so, Hades gets what he wants. Then he frees Meg from her bondage, as promised, despite the fact that she reneged on their deal.
- Phosphor-Essence: The gods of Olympus glow in bright colors, and the loss of Hercules' immortality is visually represented by the loss of his godly glow. His glow makes a triumphant return when he regains his godhood by saving Meg's soul, and disappears again when he chooses to live on Earth with her. When he loses his super-human strength, his colors are faded and much darker.
- Pietà Plagiarism: This is played twice: once when Hercules cradles Meg's corpse in his arms, and once when he, restored to godhood, holds her listless spirit.
- Pig Latin:Herc: [The Hydra emerges] Phil? What do you call that thing?
Phil: Two words: AM-SCRAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!! - Plug the Volcano: During the song "Zero to Hero", Hercules can be seen stopping a volcanic eruption by plugging the crater with a huge boulder.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: The original Heracles myth—and Greek Mythology in general—were as family unfriendly as you can get and had a lot of built-in
Values Dissonance (the basic conflict alone was unacceptable for a family film, since Hercules is a product of Zeus' adultery with a mortal, and Hera, Zeus' wife, is the villain who constantly makes Hercules' life miserable because of this), so the studio was forced to heavily rework the concept; it borrows the character names (not so much the personalities), story points and the setting from the myths, but throws out and adds in things from other parts of Greek Myth (such as Pegasus and the Muses, who were not in the original Heracles story), and reworks everything else (such as expanding Hades role in the story by turning him into the main villain), ultimately making the film less an adaptation of Greek Mythology and more like a mashup of Superman: The Movie and Rocky set in a burlesque of Ancient Greece. - Prophecies Rhyme All the Time: Lampshaded:Fates: In 18 years, precisely, the planets will align, ever so nicely...
Hades: Oy, verse. - Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "I've got 24 hours to get rid of this bozo, or the entire scheme I've been setting up for 18 years goes up in smoke, and you. Are wearing. His. MERCHANDISE!?!"
R
- Rapid Aging: Herc is subject to this in The River Styx, and his thread of life becomes immediate fair play for the Fates; he survives by rescuing Meg and becoming a god.
- Rapid-Fire Descriptors: When Phil argues with Hercules when telling him that Meg is working with Hades (with Herc refusing to believe him), he uses many adjectives in a row.Phil: She's nothin' but a two-timin'...Hercules: Stop it!Phil: ...no-good, lyin', schemin'—!Hercules: SHUT UP! (smacks Phil away, sending him flying into some barbells and chains)
- Rapid-Fire Nail Biting: Pegasus bites his front hooves, during the "One Last Hope" number when Hercules goes through the dangerous obstacle course that Phil set up as part of his training to save a damsel in distress.
- Refusing Paradise: At the end, Hercules chooses to remain on Earth with Meg instead of returning to Olympus.
- Rescue Introduction: Hercules meets Megara when rescuing her from a monstrous centaur.
- Rescued from the Underworld: Hercules travels to the Underworld in order to rescue Meg's spirit and reunite it with her body, thus getting his godhood back.
- Recycled In Space: The movie's plot is basically Superman: The Movie and Rocky IN ANCIENT GREECE! Hercules bearing some resemblance to Shazam!, a boy who becomes a man, due to retaining his teenage characteristics even after growing into a hero upon completing his training. The film being like a superhero movie was no accident either—John Musker and Ron Clements, the directors of the film, are admitted superhero comic fans.
- Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Herc storms the underworld to bring Meg back.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The Titans go on one of these against Zeus after being released from the vault he locked them in.
- Rule of Funny: Why isn't Phil a pile of dust from the lightning? Because it's funnier to see him with ash-face instead.
- Rule of Three: The people of Thebes' reactions to Herc’s first public heroism and their raising reception: when he raises and throws the colossal boulder they are unimpressed but still clap for him, then when he cuts off the Hydra’s first head they are legitimately impressed and their clapping is much more sincere, then when Herc kills the Hydra they go crazy and erupt into a roaring applause.
- Run or Die: After the Hydra's head is cut off, three more grow in its place. Having had enough trouble while fighting the monster with one head, Hercules had no choice but to run away from three snapping heads.
- Running Gag: "Two words: (insert three [or more or less] words—in a place where two words could have been used)". Bilingual Bonus
