Origin

Hercules with mace in hand

Hercules is the son of Zeus, king of the gods of Olympus, and Alcmena, a mortal woman who lived about three thousand years ago. Recognizing the need for a son who would be powerful enough to defend both the Olympian gods and humanity from future dangers he foresaw, Zeus seduced Alcmena in the guise of her husband, King Amphitryon of Troezen. Thanks to Zeus's enchantment, Hercules was born with the potential for extraordinary strength, which he first displayed before he was even one year old by strangling two serpents which attacked him. As an adult, Hercules is best known for his celebrated Twelve Labors, which were performed in part to prove his worthiness for immortality to Zeus. (One of these Labors, the cleansing of the Augean Stables, was actually performed by the Eternal called the Forgotten One, who was sometimes mistaken for Hercules.)

In the course of these Labors, Hercules provoked the wrath of three immortals who remain his enemies to this day. By slaughtering the man-eating Stymphalian Birds, he enraged the war god Ares, to whom they were sacred. In temporarily capturing Cerberus, the three-headed hound that serves as guardian to the Olympian underworld (not to be confused with the shape-shifting giant of the same name), Hercules offended Pluto, the lord of that realm. By killing the Nemean Lion, the Hydra, and other creatures spawned by the inconceivably grotesque and powerful monster Typhoeus, Hercules gained the bitter enmity of Typhon, the immortal humanoid offspring of Typhoeus and a Titaness.

However, it was the centaur Nessus who caused Hercules' mortal demise. Nessus kidnapped Hercules' wife Deianeira, whereupon Hercules shot him with an

arrow. Feigning a wish to make amends, the dying centaur told Deianeira how to make a love charm from his allegedly enchanted blood, aware that it was now tainted with the lethal poison of the Hydra, in which Hercules had dipped his arrows. Some time after Nessus' death, Deianeira, distraught over her husband's latest infidelity, rubbed the supposed love charm into Hercules' shirt. After putting aflame. Zeus thenintervened, consuming the pyre with his thunderbolts and bringing Hercules to Olympus to be made a true immortal.

HAVE AT THEE

In an alternate future of the 23rd century, Hercules is the sole survivor of the Olympians, after Zeus had decided that the time had come for them to leave this plane of existence. Hercules then left Olympus to become the father to a new race of gods.

In She-Hulk, Hercules was sued by the Constrictor, after Hercules beat up the villain. He lost all his money paying this fine, and had to work for Damage Control to earn money.

Civil War, World War Hulk and beyond

During the Civil War, Hercules became a part of Secret Avengers, opposing against the Regestraition Act.

In World War Hulk, Hercules joined Amadeus Cho's group of Renegades, and tried to help the Hulk.

The Incredible Hercules

Incredible Hercules

Issue #112 of the Incredible Hulk series was re-named Incredible Herc(ules), starring him and Cho.

After Hercules convinced Amadeus Cho that taking SHIELD down was wrong, they went to Athena to lay low for a while. Athena advised Hercules to look over Cho as he was at crossroads and could one day become an effective hero or an unstoppable villain.

Athena, Cho and Hercules went to a place to see a Celestial host and Ikaris and Thena (working for the Celestial) thought Hercules was Gilgamesh, The forgotten one (Gilgamesh was the one who performed several of the labors, like the cleaning of the stables and the carrying of the earth on his shoulders). It turned out that the eternal Makkari had made an error in translating the Celestial's message, the Celestials were looking for other forgotten ones, Thena was not sure what they meant, Athena replied "Wouldn't you like to know".

The godheads met to discuss a new threat to earth, the skrull's secret invasion. Hercules will play a part in this, working with other divine representatives. At first he was reluctant  to join the newly formed and aptly named the God Squad but Hercules sealed his decision when he asked "If you follow, I will lead" and the group decided th join him.

Powers

Hercules' principal power is his superhuman strength. He is not only the strongest of the Olympian Gods, but is also one of the strongest humanoid beings ever to walk the earth. Hercules can lift well over 100 tons and has been observed to lift and carry a starship,drag the island of manhattan, lift and hurl a giant sequoia, and drop-kick a bulldozer.

Besides his superhuman strength Hercules possesses superhuman speed, and agility. As true immortals, the Olympian gods do not age and are not susceptible to disease. Although they can be wounded in battle, they cannot die by any conventional means, and have a rapid healing rate. Hercules has a greater resistance to physical injury than any other Olympian god except for Zeus, and possibly Neptune and Pluto. He can even survive unprotected in the vacuum of space for a brief period of time. Only an injury of such magnititude that it incinerated him or dispersed a major portion of his bodily molecules could kill Hercules. In at least some such cases, Zeus or one of the other gods might still be able to resurrect him.

Hercules has highly developed leg muscles, although they do not match those of the Hulk. Hercules can make a standing high jump of at least 100 feet in Earth's gravity.

Hercules is virtually tireless. His supernaturally enhanced musculature produces no fatigue poisons.

When Hercules is enraged enough not even SHIELD can stop him.

Abilities

Hercules is Olympus's greatest warrior and is an expert in traditional means of hand to hand combat and wrestling. Hercules is also highly skilled in athletics such as the discus and hammer throws.

Hercules is also a master of the bow and arrow, his godly attributes combined with centuries of training have made him superior to any earth born archer. His archery skill even surpasses master bowmen such as Hawkeye and Trickshot. Hercules is very skilled in the art of boxing and greco roman wrestling(he submitted the Thing). Hercules is a very accomplished melee fighter. He has also had centuries of practice with many types of weapons on top of bow and arrows such as, battle axes, and long swords.

Weapons and Armor

Hercules possesses an indestructible Golden Mace forged by Hephaestus out of Adamantine, the legendary substance after which adamantium was named. The Mace has survived direct blows from Thor's Hammer without damage. Backed by Hercules strength the Golden Mace can crush almost any substance or break virtually any barrier. It has a special ability to blast energy or force fields that can break barriers.

Hercules possesses the skin of theNemean Lion Skin which acts as an indestructible armor and shield's Hercules from virtually any injury. He is an expert archer as showed when he used Hawkeye's bow and his labors.

Hercules love of combat and sense of fairplay prevent him from using his Golden Mace and Nemean Lion Skin armor in most circumstances. When the situation does arrive for him to use them, these two items combined with Hercules natural strength and invulnerability turn Hercules, who is already a formidable combatant, into an almost unstoppable force of Olympus.

Physical Characteristics

Height: 6'5"

Weight: 325 lbs.

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Dark Brown

Alternate Realities

Earth-398

Hercules of Earth-398 was known by his original name, Heracles, and was a member of the Queen's Vengeance.