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* 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.
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Hottip cleanup
; see thread for details.
; see thread for details.Changed line(s) 8,9 (click to see context) from:
Now on the run from the forces of the law, the titular Greek demigod is forced to mentor the incredibly smart but inexperienced Cho (with coyote pup Kerberos, or Kirby[[hottip:*:no, not any of ''those'' {{VideoGame/Kirby}}s]] for short, in tow), who starts out looking to bring down TheMan over the murder of his family. Eventually they meet up with Herc's half-sister Athena, goddess of wisdom, and proceed to have wacky adventures spanning the globe and the cosmos.
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Now on the run from the forces of the law, the titular Greek demigod is forced to mentor the incredibly smart but inexperienced Cho (with coyote pup Kerberos, or Kirby[[hottip:*:no, Kirby[[note]]no, not any of ''those'' {{VideoGame/Kirby}}s]] {{VideoGame/Kirby}}s[[/note]] for short, in tow), who starts out looking to bring down TheMan over the murder of his family. Eventually they meet up with Herc's half-sister Athena, goddess of wisdom, and proceed to have wacky adventures spanning the globe and the cosmos.
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* [[AmbiguouslyGay Ambiguously Bi]]: 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!"]]
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* [[AmbiguouslyGay Ambiguously Bi]]: AmbiguouslyBi: 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!"]]go!"]]
** The alternate universe ''X-Treme X-Men'' reveals that Herc in that universe is in a relationship with Wolverine, there called James Howlett, making things considerably less ambiguous.
** The alternate universe ''X-Treme X-Men'' reveals that Herc in that universe is in a relationship with Wolverine, there called James Howlett, making things considerably less ambiguous.
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* BatFamilyCrossover: Chaos War, which spawned a few tie-ins that confirmed Hercules' status as one who connects the Gamma side ([[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Incredible Hulks]]), the mythological side (Chaos War: [[TheMightyThor Thor]] mini-series, Chaos War: Ares one-shot) and the typical superhero side (Chaos War: Dead [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] and Chaos War: ComicBook/{{X-Men}} mini-series, Chaos War: AlphaFlight one-shot) of the MarvelUniverse.
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* BatFamilyCrossover: Chaos War, which spawned a few tie-ins that confirmed Hercules' status as one who connects the Gamma side ([[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Incredible Hulks]]), the mythological side (Chaos War: [[TheMightyThor Thor]] mini-series, Chaos War: Ares one-shot) and the typical superhero side (Chaos War: Dead [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] and Chaos War: ComicBook/{{X-Men}} mini-series, Chaos War: AlphaFlight ComicBook/AlphaFlight one-shot) of the MarvelUniverse.
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* FetishFuelStationAttendant: Herc gets with a lot of women, but Amadeus gets the NinjaPirateZombieRobot of Hotness in Delphyne: CuteMonsterGirl GorgeousGorgon and Amazon warrior in a {{Goth}} School Girl outfit.
* GratuitousIambicPentameter: Mikaboshi speaks purely in haiku. He doesn't seem to have any particular reason for doing so, as he's fully capable of speaking normally.
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* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Mikaboshi speaks purely in haiku.
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** Hercules is this to Thor in terms of pure strength. In a battle without Mjolnir, Thor himself admitted that while nearly passing out.
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** Hercules is this to Thor in terms of pure strength. unarmed combat. In a battle without Mjolnir, Thor himself admitted that Hercules is slightly better at it while nearly passing out.
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Namespace move. Please don\'t create new work pages in Main/
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* {{Determinator}}: Subverted in ''ChaosWar''. Hercules, the patron god of the AttackAttackAttack strategy, gets told flat out by Amadeus and every other surviving ally that attacking the Chaos King is pointless. Hercules refuses to listen or to give up, no matter what... but he eventually comes to realize that everyone else is right.
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* {{Determinator}}: Subverted in ''ChaosWar''.''ComicBook/ChaosWar''. Hercules, the patron god of the AttackAttackAttack strategy, gets told flat out by Amadeus and every other surviving ally that attacking the Chaos King is pointless. Hercules refuses to listen or to give up, no matter what... but he eventually comes to realize that everyone else is right.
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* AncientGrome: Hercules is known by his Roman name while most of the other Greek gods go by their Greek names (except Pluto.) Justified in Herc's case: if you were named after a woman who's spent thousands of years trying to kill you, you'd be happy to have a name change as well.
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* AncientGrome: Hercules is known by his Roman name while most of the other Greek gods go by their Greek names (except Pluto.) Justified in Herc's case: if you were named after a woman who's spent thousands of years trying to kill you, you'd be happy to have a name change as well.)
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* CombatPragmatist: Lampshaded and invoked on several times that Hercules ''loves'' to ''fight dirty''.
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* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Athena]]
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* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Athena]][[spoiler:Athena]].
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* EccentricMillionaire: Hercules, unwittingly. Turns out Herc has made many good investments(among which was purchasing stock in a just starting out company called [[IronMan Stark Enterprises]]) which resulted in him being filthy stinking rich and owning a lot of property but ''never'' realized this himself as he never bothered to keep tabs on them.
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* EccentricMillionaire: Hercules, unwittingly. Turns out Herc has made many good investments(among investments (among which was purchasing stock in a just starting out company called [[IronMan Stark Enterprises]]) which resulted in him being filthy stinking rich and owning a lot of property but ''never'' realized this himself as he never bothered to keep tabs on them.
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-->'''Hercules:''' [[MenInBlack The difference between us is, I make this look good.]]
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-->'''Hercules:''' [[MenInBlack [[Film/MenInBlack The difference between us is, I make this look good.]]
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* ContinuityPorn: As per Greg Pak's style, the story makes numerous {{Call Back}}s to prior stories.
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* HilarityEnsues: Whenever Herc does something, really.
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** Hercules is this to Thor in terms of pure Strength. In a battle without Mjolnir, Thor himself admitted that while nearly passing out.
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** Hercules is this to Thor in terms of pure Strength.strength. In a battle without Mjolnir, Thor himself admitted that while nearly passing out.
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* BatFamilyCrossover: Chaos War, which spawned a few tie-ins that confirmed Hercules' status as one who connects the Gamma side ([[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Incredible Hulks]]), the mythological side (Chaos War: [[TheMightyThor Thor]] mini-series, Chaos War: Ares one-shot) and the typical superhero side (Chaos War: Dead [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] and Chaos War: [[XMen X-Men]] mini-series, Chaos War: AlphaFlight one-shot) of the MarvelUniverse.
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* BatFamilyCrossover: Chaos War, which spawned a few tie-ins that confirmed Hercules' status as one who connects the Gamma side ([[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Incredible Hulks]]), the mythological side (Chaos War: [[TheMightyThor Thor]] mini-series, Chaos War: Ares one-shot) and the typical superhero side (Chaos War: Dead [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] and Chaos War: [[XMen X-Men]] ComicBook/{{X-Men}} mini-series, Chaos War: AlphaFlight one-shot) of the MarvelUniverse.
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** Hercules is this to Thor in terms of pure Strength. In a battle without Mjolnir, Thor himself admitted that while nearly passing out.
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* ShoutOut: To ''{{Casablanca}}'', during Dark Reign. And Film/MenInBlack during the same.
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* ShoutOut: To ''{{Casablanca}}'', ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', during Dark Reign. And Film/MenInBlack during the same.
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** His idea of stopping a bunch of [[AllTrollsAreDifferent trolls]]? Have Zeus part the clouds and shine the sun on them. When this does nothing, Zeus asks him where he got the idea he claims it's from TheHobbit, which he believes is some sort of documentary.
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** His idea of stopping a bunch of [[AllTrollsAreDifferent trolls]]? Have Zeus part the clouds and shine the sun on them. When this does nothing, Zeus asks him where he got the idea he claims it's from TheHobbit, Literature/TheHobbit, which he believes is some sort of documentary.
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Now on the run from the forces of the law, the titular Greek demigod is forced to mentor the incredibly smart but inexperienced Cho (with coyote pup Kerberos, or Kirby[[hottip:*:no, not any of ''those'' {{Kirby}}s]] for short, in tow), who starts out looking to bring down TheMan over the murder of his family. Eventually they meet up with Herc's half-sister Athena, goddess of wisdom, and proceed to have wacky adventures spanning the globe and the cosmos.
to:
Now on the run from the forces of the law, the titular Greek demigod is forced to mentor the incredibly smart but inexperienced Cho (with coyote pup Kerberos, or Kirby[[hottip:*:no, not any of ''those'' {{Kirby}}s]] {{VideoGame/Kirby}}s]] for short, in tow), who starts out looking to bring down TheMan over the murder of his family. Eventually they meet up with Herc's half-sister Athena, goddess of wisdom, and proceed to have wacky adventures spanning the globe and the cosmos.
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In the wake of the CrossOver ''WorldWarHulk'', MarvelComics decided to relaunch the title character of ''The ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'' in a newer series by JephLoeb, leaving them with some space to fill with the original series. After initial plans for a team book were made, the proposed lineup was pared down to just two of its original four members: Hercules and the boy genius Amadeus Cho, seventh smartest man in the world. Thus, ''The Incredible Hercules'' was born, written by [[GoodIsNotDumb Greg]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Pak]] and [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor Fred]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Van Lente]]. The series was renamed to "Incredible Hercules" with issue #113 (February, 2008).
to:
In the wake of the CrossOver ''WorldWarHulk'', MarvelComics Marvel Comics decided to relaunch the title character of ''The ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'' in a newer series by JephLoeb, leaving them with some space to fill with the original series. After initial plans for a team book were made, the proposed lineup was pared down to just two of its original four members: Hercules and the boy genius Amadeus Cho, seventh smartest man in the world. Thus, ''The Incredible Hercules'' was born, written by [[GoodIsNotDumb Greg]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Pak]] and [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor Fred]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Van Lente]]. The series was renamed to "Incredible Hercules" with issue #113 (February, 2008).
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Hercules (by Marvel) is a comic book character who first appeared in ''"JourneyIntoMystery Annual''" #1 (1965), created by StanLee and JackKirby. At first Hercules was mainly used as a rival to TheMightyThor. But he quickly became another well-established superhero. He has served at times as a member of ComicBook/TheAvengers, the Champions, TheDefenders, and the Heroes for Hire. He has also received various mini-series: "Hercules:Prince of Power" vol. 1 (1982), "Hercules:Prince of Power" vol. 2 (1984), "Hercules:Heart of Chaos" (1997), and "Hercules" (2005). But he was never one of the most prominent characters of Marvel.
In the wake of the CrossOver ''WorldWarHulk'', MarvelComics decided to relaunch the title character of ''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk'' in a newer series by JephLoeb, leaving them with some space to fill with the original series. After initial plans for a team book were made, the proposed lineup was pared down to just two of its original four members: Hercules and the boy genius Amadeus Cho, seventh smartest man in the world. Thus, ''The Incredible Hercules'' was born, written by [[GoodIsNotDumb Greg]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Pak]] and [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor Fred]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Van Lente]]. The series was renamed to "Incredible Hercules" with issue #113 (February, 2008).
In the wake of the CrossOver ''WorldWarHulk'', MarvelComics decided to relaunch the title character of ''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk'' in a newer series by JephLoeb, leaving them with some space to fill with the original series. After initial plans for a team book were made, the proposed lineup was pared down to just two of its original four members: Hercules and the boy genius Amadeus Cho, seventh smartest man in the world. Thus, ''The Incredible Hercules'' was born, written by [[GoodIsNotDumb Greg]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Pak]] and [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor Fred]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Van Lente]]. The series was renamed to "Incredible Hercules" with issue #113 (February, 2008).
to:
Hercules (by Marvel) Creator/MarvelComics) is a comic book character who first appeared in ''"JourneyIntoMystery Annual''" #1 (1965), created by StanLee Creator/StanLee and JackKirby. Creator/JackKirby. At first Hercules was mainly used as a rival to TheMightyThor.ComicBook/TheMightyThor. But he quickly became another well-established superhero. He has served at times as a member of ComicBook/TheAvengers, the Champions, TheDefenders, and the Heroes for Hire. He has also received various mini-series: "Hercules:Prince of Power" vol. 1 (1982), "Hercules:Prince of Power" vol. 2 (1984), "Hercules:Heart of Chaos" (1997), and "Hercules" (2005). But he was never one of the most prominent characters of Marvel.
In the wake of the CrossOver ''WorldWarHulk'', MarvelComics decided to relaunch the title character of''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk'' ''The ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'' in a newer series by JephLoeb, leaving them with some space to fill with the original series. After initial plans for a team book were made, the proposed lineup was pared down to just two of its original four members: Hercules and the boy genius Amadeus Cho, seventh smartest man in the world. Thus, ''The Incredible Hercules'' was born, written by [[GoodIsNotDumb Greg]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Pak]] and [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor Fred]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Van Lente]]. The series was renamed to "Incredible Hercules" with issue #113 (February, 2008).
In the wake of the CrossOver ''WorldWarHulk'', MarvelComics decided to relaunch the title character of
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Hercules (by Marvel) is a comic book character who first appeared in ''"Journey Into Mystery Annual''" #1 (1965), created by StanLee and JackKirby. At first Hercules was mainly used as a rival to TheMightyThor. But he quickly became another well-established superhero. He has served at times as a member of ComicBook/TheAvengers, the Champions, TheDefenders, and the Heroes for Hire. He has also received various mini-series: "Hercules:Prince of Power" vol. 1 (1982), "Hercules:Prince of Power" vol. 2 (1984), "Hercules:Heart of Chaos" (1997), and "Hercules" (2005). But he was never one of the most prominent characters of Marvel.
to:
Hercules (by Marvel) is a comic book character who first appeared in ''"Journey Into Mystery ''"JourneyIntoMystery Annual''" #1 (1965), created by StanLee and JackKirby. At first Hercules was mainly used as a rival to TheMightyThor. But he quickly became another well-established superhero. He has served at times as a member of ComicBook/TheAvengers, the Champions, TheDefenders, and the Heroes for Hire. He has also received various mini-series: "Hercules:Prince of Power" vol. 1 (1982), "Hercules:Prince of Power" vol. 2 (1984), "Hercules:Heart of Chaos" (1997), and "Hercules" (2005). But he was never one of the most prominent characters of Marvel.
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*** '''Herc''' suggests that [[spoiler: he might have made this up and didn't really know what he was doing aside from generally "fixing what Mikaboshi destroyed", considering he accidentally resurrected Ares' CompleteMonster son, Kyknos]].
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*** '''Herc''' suggests that [[spoiler: he might have made this up and didn't really know what he was doing aside from generally "fixing what Mikaboshi destroyed", considering he accidentally resurrected Ares' CompleteMonster Ares's son, Kyknos]].
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** His idea of stopping a bunch of trolls? Have Zeus part the clouds and shine the sun on them. When this does nothing, Zeus asks him where he got the idea he claims it's from TheHobbit, which he believes is some sort of documentary.
to:
** His idea of stopping a bunch of trolls? [[AllTrollsAreDifferent trolls]]? Have Zeus part the clouds and shine the sun on them. When this does nothing, Zeus asks him where he got the idea he claims it's from TheHobbit, which he believes is some sort of documentary.
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** '''[[color:#5400ff:NURPLE!]]''' for [[BreastAttack guess what.]]
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** '''[[color:#5400ff:NURPLE!]]''' '''NURPLE!''', colored purple for extra lulz. [[BreastAttack guess what.Guess what that one's for.]]
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Please don\'t list subversions unless they directly invoke the trope.
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* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Subverted like [[strike: Hell]] ''Hades'' with Delphyne.
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* AliensStealCable: While not aliens and also not likely to steal cable (they can certainly afford it), it's strongly suggested that the various Greek gods got up to speed on modern culture by watching movies and television. The ''Prince Of Power'' miniseries suggests that the Norse gods (or Thor at least, who admits to watching videos on [=YouTube=]) did this as well.
-->'''Hercules:''' [[MenInBlack The difference between us is, I make this look good.]]
-->'''Amadeus:''' Where did you even see that?
-->'''Hercules:''' Netflix!
-->'''Hercules:''' [[MenInBlack The difference between us is, I make this look good.]]
-->'''Amadeus:''' Where did you even see that?
-->'''Hercules:''' Netflix!
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*** '''Herc''' suggests that [[spoiler: he might have made this up and didn't really know what he was doing aside from generally "fixing what Mikaboshi destroyed", considering he accidentally resurrected Ares' CompleteMonster son, Knykos]].
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*** '''Herc''' suggests that [[spoiler: he might have made this up and didn't really know what he was doing aside from generally "fixing what Mikaboshi destroyed", considering he accidentally resurrected Ares' CompleteMonster son, Knykos]].Kyknos]].
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* FetishFuelStationAttendant: Herc gets with a lot of women, but Amadeus gets the NinjaPirateZombieRobot of Hotness in Delphyne: CuteMonsterGirl GorgeousGorgon and [[HotAmazon Amazon warrior]] in a {{Goth}} School Girl outfit.
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* FetishFuelStationAttendant: Herc gets with a lot of women, but Amadeus gets the NinjaPirateZombieRobot of Hotness in Delphyne: CuteMonsterGirl GorgeousGorgon and [[HotAmazon Amazon warrior]] warrior in a {{Goth}} School Girl outfit.
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[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Hercules_Thumbs_Up.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[[SincerityMode Cool story]], [[MemeticMutation bro.]]]]
Hercules (by Marvel) is a comic book character who first appeared in ''"Journey Into Mystery Annual''" #1 (1965), created by StanLee and JackKirby. At first Hercules was mainly used as a rival to TheMightyThor. But he quickly became another well-established superhero. He has served at times as a member of ComicBook/TheAvengers, the Champions, TheDefenders, and the Heroes for Hire. He has also received various mini-series: "Hercules:Prince of Power" vol. 1 (1982), "Hercules:Prince of Power" vol. 2 (1984), "Hercules:Heart of Chaos" (1997), and "Hercules" (2005). But he was never one of the most prominent characters of Marvel.
In the wake of the CrossOver ''WorldWarHulk'', MarvelComics decided to relaunch the title character of ''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk'' in a newer series by JephLoeb, leaving them with some space to fill with the original series. After initial plans for a team book were made, the proposed lineup was pared down to just two of its original four members: Hercules and the boy genius Amadeus Cho, seventh smartest man in the world. Thus, ''The Incredible Hercules'' was born, written by [[GoodIsNotDumb Greg]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Pak]] and [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor Fred]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Van Lente]]. The series was renamed to "Incredible Hercules" with issue #113 (February, 2008).
Now on the run from the forces of the law, the titular Greek demigod is forced to mentor the incredibly smart but inexperienced Cho (with coyote pup Kerberos, or Kirby[[hottip:*:no, not any of ''those'' {{Kirby}}s]] for short, in tow), who starts out looking to bring down TheMan over the murder of his family. Eventually they meet up with Herc's half-sister Athena, goddess of wisdom, and proceed to have wacky adventures spanning the globe and the cosmos.
The self-titled series wrapped up with #141 (April, 2010), the end of "Assault on New Olympus," but the saga continued in a series of miniseries, culminating in "Chaos War."
''Herc'', a new ongoing from Pak and Van Lente, kicked off in April 2011, following Hercules' adventures after the ''Incredible Hercules'' saga.
----
!!This series contains examples of:
* AccidentalMarriage: Hercules, while disguised as Thor, accidentally becomes consort to Alflyse, the queen of the Dark Elves. Note that Herc is already married.
* AccidentalPornomancer: As Arachne proves in ''Herc #8'', even when Herc isn't trying, he can't help but get laid.
* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Princess Artume is totally not WonderWoman.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Thor is this for Hercules in a lot of ways; Herc himself is this for Ares.
* [[AmbiguouslyGay Ambiguously Bi]]: 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 while most of the other Greek gods go by their Greek names (except Pluto.) Justified in Herc's case: if you were named after a woman who's spent thousands of years trying to kill you, you'd be happy to have a name change as well.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: "Every night terror that ever lurked the darkness" includes, amongst its numerous {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, an IRS agent.
* AssimilationPlot: The Skrull gods' justification for their universal holy war.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: [[spoiler:Athena's ascension to Skyfather status is signalled by Zeus' thunderbolt descending to her, freeing her from her stone imprisonment, upon which she proclaims herself "Athena Panhellenios".]]
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Amadeus.
* AxeCrazy: Ares.
* BadassBookworm: Again, Amadeus.
* BatFamilyCrossover: Chaos War, which spawned a few tie-ins that confirmed Hercules' status as one who connects the Gamma side ([[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Incredible Hulks]]), the mythological side (Chaos War: [[TheMightyThor Thor]] mini-series, Chaos War: Ares one-shot) and the typical superhero side (Chaos War: Dead [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] and Chaos War: [[XMen X-Men]] mini-series, Chaos War: AlphaFlight one-shot) of the MarvelUniverse.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Athena's plan for getting Hercules and Cho to meet consisted of sending Herc back to Earth and waiting, under the assumption that as the champions of two different eras, they would eventually run across each other.
* BigBad: [[strike:Hera]] [[spoiler:Typhon]]. Amatsu-Mikaboshi takes Hera's place after Assault on New Olympus.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Greek gods are an archetypal example.
* BlahBlahBlah: Amadeus, in Hercules' ImagineSpot.
* BoisterousBruiser: HERCULES!
* BrainsAndBrawn: The main duo. Though Hercules, with his long life and great experience, often has to be the Wisdom to Cho's Intelligence.
* BrokenAesop: [[spoiler: At the end of Chaos War, Hercules says that truly benevolent heroes show the way that gods should be, as they recurrently sacrifice everything to protect, help, and heal others; whereupon he expends his full power to restore all the people that Mikaboshi murdered. That's probably a message that we can all get behind. However, for some reason he also restores all the destroyed demons, afterlives of eternal torture and damnation, and {{EldritchAbomination}}s in the universe...enforcing the type of setting that basically fits his definition of the way a deity ''shouldn't'' be. StatusQuoIsGod, yes (even literally in this case), but seriously, there is no reason offered whatsoever as to why he would restore that kind of CrapSackWorld system other than to HandWave it as OmniscientMoralityLicense.]]
** [[spoiler: Right after the event, [[TheIncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]], thinking that Herc still retained his godlike power, asked him to fix/repair himself and his family from the most crippling damage, mental or physical that they had sustained, as he was mentally strained nearly beyond his limit to handle, and would likely keep trying over and over until his mind was gone otherwise. Herc replied that he expended all of his power in restoring the universe, and stated he was "[[StatusQuoIsGod guided by]] [[OmniscientMoralityLicense wisdom beyond our ken"]], [[HandWave hand waving]] outright in this regard, but felt genuinely bad for the Hulks, implying that he may himself be not completely okay with this.]]
*** '''Herc''' suggests that [[spoiler: he might have made this up and didn't really know what he was doing aside from generally "fixing what Mikaboshi destroyed", considering he accidentally resurrected Ares' CompleteMonster son, Knykos]].
* BrotherSisterIncest: It's Greek myth; most relevant to the main character, Hercules' wife is his half-sister Hebe. Other gods tend to bring up this tendency of the Greek pantheon whenever they get too snippy.
* [[spoiler: BroughtDownToNormal / BackFromTheDead: Hercules sacrifices his All-Father powers to restore the Earth and he's basically mortal again, [[BadassNormal but when's that ever stopped him?]] Also Alpha Flight get a new lease on life.]]
* CainAndAbel: Hercules and Ares.
* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Cho has little choice but to embark on a life of adventure when villains murder his family.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Amadeus is incredibly smart, but he is technically a normal human being. All of his power results from being able to do precise calculations very quickly.
* ChekhovsGun: The series makes great use of the principle, which becomes very apparent when reading the trades. ''Every'' myth flashback has one of these.
* TheChessmaster:
** Athena.
** The villain Malekith the Accursed tries to be one of these, but it goes badly.
** Pythagoras Dupree ''is'' one of these, but it still ends up going badly.
* ClassicalMythology: mostly of the AncientGrome variety.
* CompanionCube: Delphyne has a ''Death Scrunchie'' for her snakes.
* CostumeCopycat: Herc temporarily dresses up like [[TheMightyThor Thor]] to fool some Asgardian villains; Thor returns the favour.
* CrisisCrossover: Subverted. Chaos War is a large, multiversal-threat event and Hercules gathers all of Earth's heroes to fight [[BigBad Chaos King]], but at the end of the first issue almost all of them are moved out of the equation [[spoiler: by being comatose]], leaving only a small number of gods and dead superheroes to fight him.
* CrossoverCosmology: Every pantheon under the sun.
** To the point that Marvel released the Encyclopedia Mythologica, a special issue of [[AllThereInTheManual the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe]], to codify just how many active pantheons there are in the Marvel Universe.
* CuteMonsterGirl / GorgeousGorgon: Delphyne.
* DeathIsCheap: Lampshaded in Hercules's visit to the underworld. Since Pluto is too busy trying to take over the criminal "underworld" of Earth, the superheroes in Hades gamble for the right to come back from the dead.
* {{Determinator}}: Subverted in ''ChaosWar''. Hercules, the patron god of the AttackAttackAttack strategy, gets told flat out by Amadeus and every other surviving ally that attacking the Chaos King is pointless. Hercules refuses to listen or to give up, no matter what... but he eventually comes to realize that everyone else is right.
* DivineDate: Hey, a god's gotta do ''something'' on a Saturday night!
* TheDogIsAnAlien: We find out that [[spoiler:Kirby, the coyote pup that Amadeus Cho had adopted, had been long-replaced by a Skrull imposter. While the real coyote was safe and unharmed, the Skrull!coyote had accompanied Cho for the better part of a year before TheReveal.]]
* EccentricMillionaire: Hercules, unwittingly. Turns out Herc has made many good investments(among which was purchasing stock in a just starting out company called [[IronMan Stark Enterprises]]) which resulted in him being filthy stinking rich and owning a lot of property but ''never'' realized this himself as he never bothered to keep tabs on them.
* EldritchAbomination: Chaos King, who is the void that existed before the birth of the Universe.
* EnemyCivilWar: Hera vs. Norman Osborn.
* ErastesEromenos: Most of the Greek gods assume Hercules and Amadeus have this relationship, even referring to the latter as Herc's ''eromenos''. Amadeus always angrily corrects them.
-->'''Amadeus:''' I am '''not''' his ''eromenos''!
* ExecutiveMeddling: Arguably one of the positive examples. Originally the book was going to be a team title featuring the "Renegades," a group of four characters who had teamed up during World War Hulk: Hercules, Amadeus Cho, Namora and Angel. These plans were dashed when the X-Men office decided they didn't want to lend out Angel for the new series, and Namora had already been chosen to be a member of the ComicBook/{{Agents of Atlas}}. That left Herc and Cho, and it was decided that it would make more sense for the book to be a solo title focusing on Hercules with Cho as a sidekick. Luckily, this turned out to be ''awesome''.
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Athena]]
* FetishFuelStationAttendant: Herc gets with a lot of women, but Amadeus gets the NinjaPirateZombieRobot of Hotness in Delphyne: CuteMonsterGirl GorgeousGorgon and [[HotAmazon Amazon warrior]] in a {{Goth}} School Girl outfit.
* {{Flashback}}: The series loves these; most issues have a flashback to Herc's mythic exploits.
* FountainOfYouth: Zeus gets turned into a kid, and has his memories stripped from him, by drinking from the River Lethe.
* GambitRoulette: Athena's vague master plan will likely be this.
* GeniusSweetTooth: Amadeus needs sugar to have his brain run at full capacity.
* GenreSavvy: Hercules, natch!
* GirlOfTheWeek: Or arc; among them, Black Widow, Snowbird, Namora...
* GodWasMyCopilot: Athena takes two different guises to influence Cho's life at various points; she did so more extensively in the life of Pythagoras Dupree, to less positive results.
* GoingCommando: It's frequently suggested that Hercules doesn't wear anything under that skirt.
* {{Good With Numbers}}/{{Hyper Awareness}}: How Cho's super-intelligence manifests.
* GorgeousGorgon: Delphyne, natch. Every other Gorgon shown as well.
* GroinAttack: Hercules is a big fan of this move. He used it against the Sentry, and on seeing Namora's use of it against Atlas he was moved to propose marriage; Thor gives Hercules a particularly painful one as well.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler: Zeus actually manages to get Hera to back down after giving her a KirkSummation. However, Typhon takes control of Continuum and kills both of them to try and make TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: Delphyne; though she goes back to being a heel, albeit reluctantly due to TheChainsOfCommanding.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Herc and Cho. ''[[CrowningMomentOfHeartWarming Fall of an Avenger]]'' solidified it.
* IdiotHero: The popular image of Hercules is played with here; Herc's not a genius, but he can be very eloquent.
* IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow: Herc uses this line when Namora puts him in an "Atlantean crab hold" during a sparring match. Namora shoots back an IronicEcho later, when Hercules suggests using an Olympian eagle strike in combat.
* JerkassGods: Zeus [[JustifiedTrope justifies]] his legendary dickishness by claiming that he's there so that people will have someone to blame when something goes wrong, because without him they have no one to blame but themselves.
** [[JapaneseMythology Amaterasu]] is also kind of a bitch, given that she's willing to let the mortal world be absorbed by Mikaboshi if that's the only way for the divine realms to survive. It falls apart in Amaterasu was completely justified in her harsh actions. The mortal world had already fallen and she was trying to protect the heavens and what was left of the universe from a suicide attack that had no hope of succeeding. She was proven right when Hercules in his stupidity opened up a gateway to the heavens allowing Mikaboshi to invade and casually destroy all of the gods. The [[BrokenAesop Aesop]] of mortal heroes being better then gods falls apart since all of the gods actions were necessary and Hercules's stupidity constantly made things worse even in recreating the world.
* JokerJury: Zeus is put on trial by Pluto with a jury of dead supervillains, including [[http://the-isb.blogspot.com/2006/01/profiles-in-courage-tiger-man.html the Armless Tiger Man]].
* JuryOfTheDamned: See JokerJury above.
* KillAllHumans: Hera wanted to do this, saving only her followers.
* LadyLand: Artume retroactively turns the planet into one of these for an issue.
* LadyOfWar: Athena.
* LampshadeHanging: DeathIsCheap is mocked repeatedly when Herc and Amadeus go into Hades to rescue Zeus.
* LargeHam: Herc and Ares.
* ManInAKilt: To quote Hercules himself, "Real men wear skirts!"
* MeaningfulName: Kerberos is a [[IncrediblyLamePun triple-header]]. He's named after both [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerberos_(protocol) the authentication protocol]] and the mythical guard dog of Hades, and he's called [[JackKirby Kirby]] for short.
* MentorOccupationalHazard: [[spoiler:According to Athena, Hercules was to be a victim of this; ultimately, she was the one who [[ShootTheDog ended up doing it]].]]
* MiniDressOfPower: Hercules' usual outfit.
* MistakenForGay: Internet rumors suggest that Amadeus is Hercules' Eromenos, which Amadeus repeatedly denies when he's kidnapped by Amazons.
--> "I am not his eromenos!"
* TheMole: In the SecretInvasion crossover, [[spoiler:Kirby]] is actually a Skrull.
* MoodWhiplash: For the first several arcs of the series, Herc's womanizing ways are a comic highlight; then all of a sudden we're confronted with his distraught wife Hebe, who has been told the failure of their marriage is her fault and can't understand what she did wrong.
* MultiversalConqueror: Chaos King; according to Cho's calculations, his rampage at the end of Chaos War annihilated 90% of TheMultiverse.
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Amadeus and his sister, Maddy (Madame Curie Cho).
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In the Chaos War event, Hercules manages to lead the Chaos King right to the council of gods.
* TheObiWan: Herc(in a rare main character example) was this for Amadeus. His conventional wisdom and kindness transforms Amadeus from arrogant MartyStu who is willing to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. [[ForTheLulz for the hell of it]] to a true hero who gladly carries on Herc's legacy after he seemingly dies.
* OmnicidalManiac: The Chaos King who existed as the primordial darkness and chaos before the universe began wishes to return it to that state.
* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]]: Athena certainly feels like she is.
* PreviouslyOn: ''Incredible Hercules''' recap pages are, quite frankly, ''hilarious''.
** And actually included in the trade paperbacks, which is a rarity.
* PublicDomainCharacter: The various Greek gods.
* PunchClockVillain: Delphyne is just doing her job (plus she's not a fan of Athena).
* RatedMForManly: Hercules, naturally.
* ReallyGetsAround: Hercules.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Herc has gotten a number of these; in the case of one given by Ares, Herc interestingly admits that most of what Ares says is true, but that he's still better than Ares anyway.
* RefusalOfTheCall: Pythagoras Dupree not only refused the call, he [[spoiler:went out of his way to kill anyone else who might possibly answer it.]]
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Subverted like [[strike: Hell]] ''Hades'' with Delphyne.
* RuleOfSymbolism: Plenty, but perhaps most prominently, and recurrently, during the "[[CrisisCrossover Chaos War]]".
* SadlyMythtaken: Hercules being called Hercules instead of Herakles is actually [[JustifiedTrope explained]] as him taking the name to distance himself from both Hera herself, and more importantly his mistakes.
* SelfMadeOrphan: Hercules finds it hilarious that Thor has been exiled from Asgard for killing his grandfather, and cheerfully Lampshades how often similar killings have happened in his family.
* SeriesContinuityError: After Herc and Amadeus go their seperate ways after their trip to the underworld, Amadeus reads a book about the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth Hero's Journey]] and thinks about how it applies to his life. When the book describes how a great enemy he may have encountered will often be a villainous shapeshifter, he incorrectly identifies Kly'bn, the god of the Skrulls, in this role while conveniently forgetting that Kly'bn was not a shapeshifter. Point of fact, it was explicitly his schtick as a god. Since the Skrulls are a shapeshifting race, he represents "The you that will always be you."
* ShootTheDog: [[spoiler:Athena sacrifices Hercules in the series' final issue essentially BecauseDestinySaysSo.]]
* ShoutOut: To ''{{Casablanca}}'', during Dark Reign. And Film/MenInBlack during the same.
** Hercules's response to being challenged to three-storied elvish chess? [[Franchise/StarTrek "Live long and prosper."]]
** His idea of stopping a bunch of trolls? Have Zeus part the clouds and shine the sun on them. When this does nothing, Zeus asks him where he got the idea he claims it's from TheHobbit, which he believes is some sort of documentary.
* ShownTheirWork: Particularly as regards classical mythology and Marvel continuity. While Hades being kinda evil isn't part of the original myths, it is how he's portrayed in the Marvel universe.
* SlapSlapKiss: Amadeus and Delphyne; after she tells him that she fatally poisoned Herc (true, as far as she knew), he angrily lunges at her, but then they start making out.
* SophisticatedAsHell: the recaps.
-->But whilst Hercules endeavors to convince Cho to let his ire go, let us not forget that Ares, brother of Hercules and '''GOD OF #%*&IN' WAR''' waits to strike...
* SpinOff: ''Dark Avengers: Ares'' was supposed to be one for DarkAvengers, but featuring Herc's flagship enemy and referencing several plot points from Incredible Hercules [[spoiler: including bringing back a villain introduced in one of the series' flashbacks]] makes it more a spin-off to this.
* StalkerShrine: Hebe has one of Herc.
* StalkerWithACrush: Hephaestus.
** A mild subversion with Hebe, who is a stalker and madly in love with Herc, but also his legitimate wife.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Mikaboshi speaks purely in haiku.
* SuperDeformed: Herc, Cho and Delphyne appear as cute chibi versions of themselves in Cho's fantasy world.
* SuperStrength: How strong is Herc? ''Seriously'' strong.
* TakeAThirdOption: Invoked [[spoiler:by Amadeus in his final confrontation with Pythagoras Dupree; Dupree doesn't take it well.]] Lampshaded by Thor in ''Fall of an Avenger'':
--> '''Thor:''' What would Hercules do? When confronted with a task beyond the ken of mortals or gods, change the rules of the game.
** Spoofed when Hercules is challenged to three-storied chess by the Dark Elves, with another lampshade hanging and a ShoutOut to Franchise/StarTrek.
--> '''Thorcules:''' The only way to win an unwinnable scenario is to change the rules of the game!
--> '''Alflyse:''' Brilliant!
--> '''Elf advisor:''' But ... that wasn't unwinnable. All you have to do is move the rook --
* TakeThat:
** YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe. Most Marvel gods talk this way, but Hercules (and the Greek pantheon) switched to modern English round about Comicbook/CivilWar. When Herc meets his [[spoiler: mortal part]], who still talks like that, Herc points out that they're 1) from Greece and 2) were born over 2000 years before Shakespeare (or English for that matter).
* TeamDad: Athena, rare female example.
* TeenGenius: Amadeus.
* ThemeNaming: Athena uses two aliases in the series: Miranda Minerva, where the theme is obvious, and the surname Sexton, which is more obscure.
* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: Athena is quite certain that the status of Prince of Power works like this.
* TheyFightCrime: He's the Prince of Power! He's the Seventh Smartest Man on the planet! TheyFightCrime!
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler: By the Chaos War mini, Herc has gained nigh-infinite power.]]
-->'''Eternity:''' Little [[spoiler:Hercules]]. You've grown.
-->'''[[spoiler: Hercules]]:''' So did my enemies.
** Hebe is either this or CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass - compare how she is at the beginning of the series (where she's accident-prone and looks like she's afraid of her own shadow) versus Assault On New Olympus or after (being willing to take a point-blank thunderbolt from then-pantheon head Hera and showing nerves of steel from that point onward).
* UnsoundEffect: ''Incredible Hercules'' loves this trope; Pak and Van Lente credit ''World War Hulk'' editor Nate Cosby for starting this off. Examples include KRAKINAJAA for somebody getting kicked in the jaw, and GODATHUNDAA for Herc hitting Thor with [[DropTheHammer Mjolnir]].
** '''[[color:#5400ff:NURPLE!]]''' for [[BreastAttack guess what.]]
* WellDoneSonGuy: Though not driven to distraction by it at all times, Hercules really wishes that Zeus would be more impressed by his accomplishments.
** Thor, having similiar issues with his own father, recognizes this and actually tells Zeus he should be aware of it while judging Herc's actions.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Amadeus apparently gives up his search for his sister and we never ''do'' find out what happened to her.
** WordOfGod ([[IncrediblyLamePun ahem]]) says they weren't able to cover her fate in the main story, but they hope to pick up on it in a forthcoming comic.
* WickedStepmother: Hera, the ''original'' wicked stepmother, to Herc and Athena.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: It took a lot of time and even more trouble before Amadeus and Delphyne became an actual couple.
* XanatosGambit:[[spoiler: Chaos King used one in Chaos War, taking over Zeus' body and attacking Hercules and the God Squad. He either would have killed them or, the one he deployed, used the dying Zeus to convince Hercules to contact the council of gods, leading him to their hideout.]]
** Athena's behavior in [[spoiler: Chaos War]] was essentially this. [[spoiler: Either Chaos King would destroy the Universe and a new one would be born to take its place, or he would do enough damage before being defeated that the gods would have to rebuild it from scratch.]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: At the end of "Sacred Invasion", Athena's plan has the unexpected consequence of [[spoiler: putting [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal]] dark god Amatsu-Mikaboshi in command of an army of hundreds of intergalactic slave-gods]]. This is good news, apparently.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: "[[GenreSavvy Why do you persist in talking in old-timey Shakespeare talk?!]] [[FakeNationality We're from Greece!]] [[FridgeLogic From two thousand years before Shakespeare!]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny IT MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE!]]"
** It is made even funnier because Hercules is punching the crap out of the guy.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Chaos King to [[spoiler: Athena]], despite the fact the only thing [[spoiler: she]] did was to remind him that it was [[spoiler: her]] plan that made his assault so successful and that he still needed [[spoiler: her]]. He disagreed and ate [[spoiler: her]].
** [[spoiler: All of which was apparently part of her GambitRoulette]].
----
[[caption-width-right:250:[[SincerityMode Cool story]], [[MemeticMutation bro.]]]]
Hercules (by Marvel) is a comic book character who first appeared in ''"Journey Into Mystery Annual''" #1 (1965), created by StanLee and JackKirby. At first Hercules was mainly used as a rival to TheMightyThor. But he quickly became another well-established superhero. He has served at times as a member of ComicBook/TheAvengers, the Champions, TheDefenders, and the Heroes for Hire. He has also received various mini-series: "Hercules:Prince of Power" vol. 1 (1982), "Hercules:Prince of Power" vol. 2 (1984), "Hercules:Heart of Chaos" (1997), and "Hercules" (2005). But he was never one of the most prominent characters of Marvel.
In the wake of the CrossOver ''WorldWarHulk'', MarvelComics decided to relaunch the title character of ''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk'' in a newer series by JephLoeb, leaving them with some space to fill with the original series. After initial plans for a team book were made, the proposed lineup was pared down to just two of its original four members: Hercules and the boy genius Amadeus Cho, seventh smartest man in the world. Thus, ''The Incredible Hercules'' was born, written by [[GoodIsNotDumb Greg]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Pak]] and [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor Fred]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Van Lente]]. The series was renamed to "Incredible Hercules" with issue #113 (February, 2008).
Now on the run from the forces of the law, the titular Greek demigod is forced to mentor the incredibly smart but inexperienced Cho (with coyote pup Kerberos, or Kirby[[hottip:*:no, not any of ''those'' {{Kirby}}s]] for short, in tow), who starts out looking to bring down TheMan over the murder of his family. Eventually they meet up with Herc's half-sister Athena, goddess of wisdom, and proceed to have wacky adventures spanning the globe and the cosmos.
The self-titled series wrapped up with #141 (April, 2010), the end of "Assault on New Olympus," but the saga continued in a series of miniseries, culminating in "Chaos War."
''Herc'', a new ongoing from Pak and Van Lente, kicked off in April 2011, following Hercules' adventures after the ''Incredible Hercules'' saga.
----
!!This series contains examples of:
* AccidentalMarriage: Hercules, while disguised as Thor, accidentally becomes consort to Alflyse, the queen of the Dark Elves. Note that Herc is already married.
* AccidentalPornomancer: As Arachne proves in ''Herc #8'', even when Herc isn't trying, he can't help but get laid.
* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Princess Artume is totally not WonderWoman.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Thor is this for Hercules in a lot of ways; Herc himself is this for Ares.
* [[AmbiguouslyGay Ambiguously Bi]]: 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 while most of the other Greek gods go by their Greek names (except Pluto.) Justified in Herc's case: if you were named after a woman who's spent thousands of years trying to kill you, you'd be happy to have a name change as well.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: "Every night terror that ever lurked the darkness" includes, amongst its numerous {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, an IRS agent.
* AssimilationPlot: The Skrull gods' justification for their universal holy war.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: [[spoiler:Athena's ascension to Skyfather status is signalled by Zeus' thunderbolt descending to her, freeing her from her stone imprisonment, upon which she proclaims herself "Athena Panhellenios".]]
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Amadeus.
* AxeCrazy: Ares.
* BadassBookworm: Again, Amadeus.
* BatFamilyCrossover: Chaos War, which spawned a few tie-ins that confirmed Hercules' status as one who connects the Gamma side ([[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Incredible Hulks]]), the mythological side (Chaos War: [[TheMightyThor Thor]] mini-series, Chaos War: Ares one-shot) and the typical superhero side (Chaos War: Dead [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] and Chaos War: [[XMen X-Men]] mini-series, Chaos War: AlphaFlight one-shot) of the MarvelUniverse.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Athena's plan for getting Hercules and Cho to meet consisted of sending Herc back to Earth and waiting, under the assumption that as the champions of two different eras, they would eventually run across each other.
* BigBad: [[strike:Hera]] [[spoiler:Typhon]]. Amatsu-Mikaboshi takes Hera's place after Assault on New Olympus.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Greek gods are an archetypal example.
* BlahBlahBlah: Amadeus, in Hercules' ImagineSpot.
* BoisterousBruiser: HERCULES!
* BrainsAndBrawn: The main duo. Though Hercules, with his long life and great experience, often has to be the Wisdom to Cho's Intelligence.
* BrokenAesop: [[spoiler: At the end of Chaos War, Hercules says that truly benevolent heroes show the way that gods should be, as they recurrently sacrifice everything to protect, help, and heal others; whereupon he expends his full power to restore all the people that Mikaboshi murdered. That's probably a message that we can all get behind. However, for some reason he also restores all the destroyed demons, afterlives of eternal torture and damnation, and {{EldritchAbomination}}s in the universe...enforcing the type of setting that basically fits his definition of the way a deity ''shouldn't'' be. StatusQuoIsGod, yes (even literally in this case), but seriously, there is no reason offered whatsoever as to why he would restore that kind of CrapSackWorld system other than to HandWave it as OmniscientMoralityLicense.]]
** [[spoiler: Right after the event, [[TheIncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]], thinking that Herc still retained his godlike power, asked him to fix/repair himself and his family from the most crippling damage, mental or physical that they had sustained, as he was mentally strained nearly beyond his limit to handle, and would likely keep trying over and over until his mind was gone otherwise. Herc replied that he expended all of his power in restoring the universe, and stated he was "[[StatusQuoIsGod guided by]] [[OmniscientMoralityLicense wisdom beyond our ken"]], [[HandWave hand waving]] outright in this regard, but felt genuinely bad for the Hulks, implying that he may himself be not completely okay with this.]]
*** '''Herc''' suggests that [[spoiler: he might have made this up and didn't really know what he was doing aside from generally "fixing what Mikaboshi destroyed", considering he accidentally resurrected Ares' CompleteMonster son, Knykos]].
* BrotherSisterIncest: It's Greek myth; most relevant to the main character, Hercules' wife is his half-sister Hebe. Other gods tend to bring up this tendency of the Greek pantheon whenever they get too snippy.
* [[spoiler: BroughtDownToNormal / BackFromTheDead: Hercules sacrifices his All-Father powers to restore the Earth and he's basically mortal again, [[BadassNormal but when's that ever stopped him?]] Also Alpha Flight get a new lease on life.]]
* CainAndAbel: Hercules and Ares.
* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Cho has little choice but to embark on a life of adventure when villains murder his family.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Amadeus is incredibly smart, but he is technically a normal human being. All of his power results from being able to do precise calculations very quickly.
* ChekhovsGun: The series makes great use of the principle, which becomes very apparent when reading the trades. ''Every'' myth flashback has one of these.
* TheChessmaster:
** Athena.
** The villain Malekith the Accursed tries to be one of these, but it goes badly.
** Pythagoras Dupree ''is'' one of these, but it still ends up going badly.
* ClassicalMythology: mostly of the AncientGrome variety.
* CompanionCube: Delphyne has a ''Death Scrunchie'' for her snakes.
* CostumeCopycat: Herc temporarily dresses up like [[TheMightyThor Thor]] to fool some Asgardian villains; Thor returns the favour.
* CrisisCrossover: Subverted. Chaos War is a large, multiversal-threat event and Hercules gathers all of Earth's heroes to fight [[BigBad Chaos King]], but at the end of the first issue almost all of them are moved out of the equation [[spoiler: by being comatose]], leaving only a small number of gods and dead superheroes to fight him.
* CrossoverCosmology: Every pantheon under the sun.
** To the point that Marvel released the Encyclopedia Mythologica, a special issue of [[AllThereInTheManual the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe]], to codify just how many active pantheons there are in the Marvel Universe.
* CuteMonsterGirl / GorgeousGorgon: Delphyne.
* DeathIsCheap: Lampshaded in Hercules's visit to the underworld. Since Pluto is too busy trying to take over the criminal "underworld" of Earth, the superheroes in Hades gamble for the right to come back from the dead.
* {{Determinator}}: Subverted in ''ChaosWar''. Hercules, the patron god of the AttackAttackAttack strategy, gets told flat out by Amadeus and every other surviving ally that attacking the Chaos King is pointless. Hercules refuses to listen or to give up, no matter what... but he eventually comes to realize that everyone else is right.
* DivineDate: Hey, a god's gotta do ''something'' on a Saturday night!
* TheDogIsAnAlien: We find out that [[spoiler:Kirby, the coyote pup that Amadeus Cho had adopted, had been long-replaced by a Skrull imposter. While the real coyote was safe and unharmed, the Skrull!coyote had accompanied Cho for the better part of a year before TheReveal.]]
* EccentricMillionaire: Hercules, unwittingly. Turns out Herc has made many good investments(among which was purchasing stock in a just starting out company called [[IronMan Stark Enterprises]]) which resulted in him being filthy stinking rich and owning a lot of property but ''never'' realized this himself as he never bothered to keep tabs on them.
* EldritchAbomination: Chaos King, who is the void that existed before the birth of the Universe.
* EnemyCivilWar: Hera vs. Norman Osborn.
* ErastesEromenos: Most of the Greek gods assume Hercules and Amadeus have this relationship, even referring to the latter as Herc's ''eromenos''. Amadeus always angrily corrects them.
-->'''Amadeus:''' I am '''not''' his ''eromenos''!
* ExecutiveMeddling: Arguably one of the positive examples. Originally the book was going to be a team title featuring the "Renegades," a group of four characters who had teamed up during World War Hulk: Hercules, Amadeus Cho, Namora and Angel. These plans were dashed when the X-Men office decided they didn't want to lend out Angel for the new series, and Namora had already been chosen to be a member of the ComicBook/{{Agents of Atlas}}. That left Herc and Cho, and it was decided that it would make more sense for the book to be a solo title focusing on Hercules with Cho as a sidekick. Luckily, this turned out to be ''awesome''.
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Athena]]
* FetishFuelStationAttendant: Herc gets with a lot of women, but Amadeus gets the NinjaPirateZombieRobot of Hotness in Delphyne: CuteMonsterGirl GorgeousGorgon and [[HotAmazon Amazon warrior]] in a {{Goth}} School Girl outfit.
* {{Flashback}}: The series loves these; most issues have a flashback to Herc's mythic exploits.
* FountainOfYouth: Zeus gets turned into a kid, and has his memories stripped from him, by drinking from the River Lethe.
* GambitRoulette: Athena's vague master plan will likely be this.
* GeniusSweetTooth: Amadeus needs sugar to have his brain run at full capacity.
* GenreSavvy: Hercules, natch!
* GirlOfTheWeek: Or arc; among them, Black Widow, Snowbird, Namora...
* GodWasMyCopilot: Athena takes two different guises to influence Cho's life at various points; she did so more extensively in the life of Pythagoras Dupree, to less positive results.
* GoingCommando: It's frequently suggested that Hercules doesn't wear anything under that skirt.
* {{Good With Numbers}}/{{Hyper Awareness}}: How Cho's super-intelligence manifests.
* GorgeousGorgon: Delphyne, natch. Every other Gorgon shown as well.
* GroinAttack: Hercules is a big fan of this move. He used it against the Sentry, and on seeing Namora's use of it against Atlas he was moved to propose marriage; Thor gives Hercules a particularly painful one as well.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler: Zeus actually manages to get Hera to back down after giving her a KirkSummation. However, Typhon takes control of Continuum and kills both of them to try and make TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: Delphyne; though she goes back to being a heel, albeit reluctantly due to TheChainsOfCommanding.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Herc and Cho. ''[[CrowningMomentOfHeartWarming Fall of an Avenger]]'' solidified it.
* IdiotHero: The popular image of Hercules is played with here; Herc's not a genius, but he can be very eloquent.
* IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow: Herc uses this line when Namora puts him in an "Atlantean crab hold" during a sparring match. Namora shoots back an IronicEcho later, when Hercules suggests using an Olympian eagle strike in combat.
* JerkassGods: Zeus [[JustifiedTrope justifies]] his legendary dickishness by claiming that he's there so that people will have someone to blame when something goes wrong, because without him they have no one to blame but themselves.
** [[JapaneseMythology Amaterasu]] is also kind of a bitch, given that she's willing to let the mortal world be absorbed by Mikaboshi if that's the only way for the divine realms to survive. It falls apart in Amaterasu was completely justified in her harsh actions. The mortal world had already fallen and she was trying to protect the heavens and what was left of the universe from a suicide attack that had no hope of succeeding. She was proven right when Hercules in his stupidity opened up a gateway to the heavens allowing Mikaboshi to invade and casually destroy all of the gods. The [[BrokenAesop Aesop]] of mortal heroes being better then gods falls apart since all of the gods actions were necessary and Hercules's stupidity constantly made things worse even in recreating the world.
* JokerJury: Zeus is put on trial by Pluto with a jury of dead supervillains, including [[http://the-isb.blogspot.com/2006/01/profiles-in-courage-tiger-man.html the Armless Tiger Man]].
* JuryOfTheDamned: See JokerJury above.
* KillAllHumans: Hera wanted to do this, saving only her followers.
* LadyLand: Artume retroactively turns the planet into one of these for an issue.
* LadyOfWar: Athena.
* LampshadeHanging: DeathIsCheap is mocked repeatedly when Herc and Amadeus go into Hades to rescue Zeus.
* LargeHam: Herc and Ares.
* ManInAKilt: To quote Hercules himself, "Real men wear skirts!"
* MeaningfulName: Kerberos is a [[IncrediblyLamePun triple-header]]. He's named after both [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerberos_(protocol) the authentication protocol]] and the mythical guard dog of Hades, and he's called [[JackKirby Kirby]] for short.
* MentorOccupationalHazard: [[spoiler:According to Athena, Hercules was to be a victim of this; ultimately, she was the one who [[ShootTheDog ended up doing it]].]]
* MiniDressOfPower: Hercules' usual outfit.
* MistakenForGay: Internet rumors suggest that Amadeus is Hercules' Eromenos, which Amadeus repeatedly denies when he's kidnapped by Amazons.
--> "I am not his eromenos!"
* TheMole: In the SecretInvasion crossover, [[spoiler:Kirby]] is actually a Skrull.
* MoodWhiplash: For the first several arcs of the series, Herc's womanizing ways are a comic highlight; then all of a sudden we're confronted with his distraught wife Hebe, who has been told the failure of their marriage is her fault and can't understand what she did wrong.
* MultiversalConqueror: Chaos King; according to Cho's calculations, his rampage at the end of Chaos War annihilated 90% of TheMultiverse.
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Amadeus and his sister, Maddy (Madame Curie Cho).
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In the Chaos War event, Hercules manages to lead the Chaos King right to the council of gods.
* TheObiWan: Herc(in a rare main character example) was this for Amadeus. His conventional wisdom and kindness transforms Amadeus from arrogant MartyStu who is willing to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. [[ForTheLulz for the hell of it]] to a true hero who gladly carries on Herc's legacy after he seemingly dies.
* OmnicidalManiac: The Chaos King who existed as the primordial darkness and chaos before the universe began wishes to return it to that state.
* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]]: Athena certainly feels like she is.
* PreviouslyOn: ''Incredible Hercules''' recap pages are, quite frankly, ''hilarious''.
** And actually included in the trade paperbacks, which is a rarity.
* PublicDomainCharacter: The various Greek gods.
* PunchClockVillain: Delphyne is just doing her job (plus she's not a fan of Athena).
* RatedMForManly: Hercules, naturally.
* ReallyGetsAround: Hercules.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Herc has gotten a number of these; in the case of one given by Ares, Herc interestingly admits that most of what Ares says is true, but that he's still better than Ares anyway.
* RefusalOfTheCall: Pythagoras Dupree not only refused the call, he [[spoiler:went out of his way to kill anyone else who might possibly answer it.]]
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Subverted like [[strike: Hell]] ''Hades'' with Delphyne.
* RuleOfSymbolism: Plenty, but perhaps most prominently, and recurrently, during the "[[CrisisCrossover Chaos War]]".
* SadlyMythtaken: Hercules being called Hercules instead of Herakles is actually [[JustifiedTrope explained]] as him taking the name to distance himself from both Hera herself, and more importantly his mistakes.
* SelfMadeOrphan: Hercules finds it hilarious that Thor has been exiled from Asgard for killing his grandfather, and cheerfully Lampshades how often similar killings have happened in his family.
* SeriesContinuityError: After Herc and Amadeus go their seperate ways after their trip to the underworld, Amadeus reads a book about the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth Hero's Journey]] and thinks about how it applies to his life. When the book describes how a great enemy he may have encountered will often be a villainous shapeshifter, he incorrectly identifies Kly'bn, the god of the Skrulls, in this role while conveniently forgetting that Kly'bn was not a shapeshifter. Point of fact, it was explicitly his schtick as a god. Since the Skrulls are a shapeshifting race, he represents "The you that will always be you."
* ShootTheDog: [[spoiler:Athena sacrifices Hercules in the series' final issue essentially BecauseDestinySaysSo.]]
* ShoutOut: To ''{{Casablanca}}'', during Dark Reign. And Film/MenInBlack during the same.
** Hercules's response to being challenged to three-storied elvish chess? [[Franchise/StarTrek "Live long and prosper."]]
** His idea of stopping a bunch of trolls? Have Zeus part the clouds and shine the sun on them. When this does nothing, Zeus asks him where he got the idea he claims it's from TheHobbit, which he believes is some sort of documentary.
* ShownTheirWork: Particularly as regards classical mythology and Marvel continuity. While Hades being kinda evil isn't part of the original myths, it is how he's portrayed in the Marvel universe.
* SlapSlapKiss: Amadeus and Delphyne; after she tells him that she fatally poisoned Herc (true, as far as she knew), he angrily lunges at her, but then they start making out.
* SophisticatedAsHell: the recaps.
-->But whilst Hercules endeavors to convince Cho to let his ire go, let us not forget that Ares, brother of Hercules and '''GOD OF #%*&IN' WAR''' waits to strike...
* SpinOff: ''Dark Avengers: Ares'' was supposed to be one for DarkAvengers, but featuring Herc's flagship enemy and referencing several plot points from Incredible Hercules [[spoiler: including bringing back a villain introduced in one of the series' flashbacks]] makes it more a spin-off to this.
* StalkerShrine: Hebe has one of Herc.
* StalkerWithACrush: Hephaestus.
** A mild subversion with Hebe, who is a stalker and madly in love with Herc, but also his legitimate wife.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Mikaboshi speaks purely in haiku.
* SuperDeformed: Herc, Cho and Delphyne appear as cute chibi versions of themselves in Cho's fantasy world.
* SuperStrength: How strong is Herc? ''Seriously'' strong.
* TakeAThirdOption: Invoked [[spoiler:by Amadeus in his final confrontation with Pythagoras Dupree; Dupree doesn't take it well.]] Lampshaded by Thor in ''Fall of an Avenger'':
--> '''Thor:''' What would Hercules do? When confronted with a task beyond the ken of mortals or gods, change the rules of the game.
** Spoofed when Hercules is challenged to three-storied chess by the Dark Elves, with another lampshade hanging and a ShoutOut to Franchise/StarTrek.
--> '''Thorcules:''' The only way to win an unwinnable scenario is to change the rules of the game!
--> '''Alflyse:''' Brilliant!
--> '''Elf advisor:''' But ... that wasn't unwinnable. All you have to do is move the rook --
* TakeThat:
** YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe. Most Marvel gods talk this way, but Hercules (and the Greek pantheon) switched to modern English round about Comicbook/CivilWar. When Herc meets his [[spoiler: mortal part]], who still talks like that, Herc points out that they're 1) from Greece and 2) were born over 2000 years before Shakespeare (or English for that matter).
* TeamDad: Athena, rare female example.
* TeenGenius: Amadeus.
* ThemeNaming: Athena uses two aliases in the series: Miranda Minerva, where the theme is obvious, and the surname Sexton, which is more obscure.
* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: Athena is quite certain that the status of Prince of Power works like this.
* TheyFightCrime: He's the Prince of Power! He's the Seventh Smartest Man on the planet! TheyFightCrime!
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler: By the Chaos War mini, Herc has gained nigh-infinite power.]]
-->'''Eternity:''' Little [[spoiler:Hercules]]. You've grown.
-->'''[[spoiler: Hercules]]:''' So did my enemies.
** Hebe is either this or CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass - compare how she is at the beginning of the series (where she's accident-prone and looks like she's afraid of her own shadow) versus Assault On New Olympus or after (being willing to take a point-blank thunderbolt from then-pantheon head Hera and showing nerves of steel from that point onward).
* UnsoundEffect: ''Incredible Hercules'' loves this trope; Pak and Van Lente credit ''World War Hulk'' editor Nate Cosby for starting this off. Examples include KRAKINAJAA for somebody getting kicked in the jaw, and GODATHUNDAA for Herc hitting Thor with [[DropTheHammer Mjolnir]].
** '''[[color:#5400ff:NURPLE!]]''' for [[BreastAttack guess what.]]
* WellDoneSonGuy: Though not driven to distraction by it at all times, Hercules really wishes that Zeus would be more impressed by his accomplishments.
** Thor, having similiar issues with his own father, recognizes this and actually tells Zeus he should be aware of it while judging Herc's actions.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Amadeus apparently gives up his search for his sister and we never ''do'' find out what happened to her.
** WordOfGod ([[IncrediblyLamePun ahem]]) says they weren't able to cover her fate in the main story, but they hope to pick up on it in a forthcoming comic.
* WickedStepmother: Hera, the ''original'' wicked stepmother, to Herc and Athena.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: It took a lot of time and even more trouble before Amadeus and Delphyne became an actual couple.
* XanatosGambit:[[spoiler: Chaos King used one in Chaos War, taking over Zeus' body and attacking Hercules and the God Squad. He either would have killed them or, the one he deployed, used the dying Zeus to convince Hercules to contact the council of gods, leading him to their hideout.]]
** Athena's behavior in [[spoiler: Chaos War]] was essentially this. [[spoiler: Either Chaos King would destroy the Universe and a new one would be born to take its place, or he would do enough damage before being defeated that the gods would have to rebuild it from scratch.]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: At the end of "Sacred Invasion", Athena's plan has the unexpected consequence of [[spoiler: putting [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal]] dark god Amatsu-Mikaboshi in command of an army of hundreds of intergalactic slave-gods]]. This is good news, apparently.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: "[[GenreSavvy Why do you persist in talking in old-timey Shakespeare talk?!]] [[FakeNationality We're from Greece!]] [[FridgeLogic From two thousand years before Shakespeare!]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny IT MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE!]]"
** It is made even funnier because Hercules is punching the crap out of the guy.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Chaos King to [[spoiler: Athena]], despite the fact the only thing [[spoiler: she]] did was to remind him that it was [[spoiler: her]] plan that made his assault so successful and that he still needed [[spoiler: her]]. He disagreed and ate [[spoiler: her]].
** [[spoiler: All of which was apparently part of her GambitRoulette]].
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