Hercules

Origin

The Legendary 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.

Hercules destroying a robotic clone of Thor during Civil War

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.

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 Icaris 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 consisting of  Snowbird, Tecumotzin, Amatsu-Mikaboshi, and Atum the God Eater. 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

In route to Skrull space through the dream realm they battled Nightmare, and received his map of the dream realm. While enroute to skrull space Hercules connected with Snowbird. As they come upon the edge of the Skrull's realm, they are discovered and challenged. During the course of the ensuing battle they loose both Snowbird and Cho. Upon their arrival to the throne of Sl'Gurt and Kyl'bn, Aztec leads a rebellion against him placing the blame for the loss of their companions firmly on his shoulders. Hercules allows him to assume command, though when Kly'bn arrives to confront them, it is Hercules who ends up doing battle with him.

Enraged by Cho's loss (which was the boy genius' plan) Hercules cuts loose, and battles the god-head to a stand still. (Impressive being as he is the Emperor over the whole of the Skrull Empire and rules over all their captured Pantheons) Hercules holds him, while the rest of the team battles Sl'Gurt, though Atum meets his end at her hands, Mikaboshi is able to defeat her. Working with the newly returned Snowbird, Hercules uses Atum's spine to impale Kly'bn killing him. Having defeated their Godhead and broken the back-bone behind the Skrull's spiritual based Invasion, Hercules and his companions return home.

Love and War

While Hercules decides to have a vacation with Namora after the Secret Invasion, a group of Amazons attack and capture Amadeus Cho. They wanted him to find the Omphalos, and use it to become the world's dominant force. Hercules manages to save the captured Poseidon, and heads to intercept the Amazons at the new axis mundi, in Washington D.C. but, the Amazon leader Artume succeeds anyways in reshaping the world into an Amazon-dominated one, with Hercules as the sole remaining rebel against her empire.

Meanwhile, Hera and Pluto have taken over the Olympus Group/Olympus Corporation, the modern day seat of power for the Olympians, via the inherited shares of Zeus' and by buying out Poseidon, and have decided the company has a new major goal: the deaths of Athena and Hercules.

Hercules, Amadeus, Athena and others manage to slay Artume and restore all of reality. Hercules discovers that Namora's fondest desire is to love Namor, to his shock. Hercules and Amadeus unite after Athena uses what remained of the axis mundi energies to undo the damage inflicted.

Hercules and Amadeus Cho, is then sent by Athena to Hades, so they can neglected by Pluto through his attachment to the mortal plane, must work to defend his fallen father Zeus from the condemnation of Pluto hundreds of feet down in Hades as the court case of the divine rages.

In the aftermath of Secret Invasion, the activities of the Chthon created a series of freak events that Cho dubs the "chaos cascade", and concludes the Avengers will be necessary to deal with the events. Hercules and Cho locate Edwin Jarvis, and then Hank Pym and Jocasta, to form the new Mighty Avengers. This team is lead by Hank Pym.

Powers

Superhuman Strength

Hercules's principle power is vast superhuman strength and he is easily capable of lifting far above 100 tons, Hercules has several impressive strength feats and he has been observed dragging the island of Manhattan which weighs over 99 billion tons, lifting and tossing Marvel's 60,000 ton version of Godzilla, lifting and hurling a giant Sequoia, lifting a starship, drop-kick a bulldozer and force The Thing to submit. Hercules's strength is great enough that he rivals even the Mighty Thor and The Hulk in raw strength, there are no known limits to Hercules's strength. Hercules also has highly developed leg muscles which allow him to leap at least 100 feet in Earth's gravity, aside from immense strength Hercules possesses superhuman agility greater than that of any professional Olympic athlete, Hercules's muscular body produces no fatigue poisons which grant him superhuman stamina and he is virtually tireless, Hercules is also highly durable and has been shown to withstand the impact of high calibur machine gun shells, falls from incredible heights, exposure to extreme temperatures, withstood powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury, he was able to survive two blank-point blasts from the god Michael Korvac, he withstood hits from Thor's hammer Mjolnir and survived an ambush from very strong villians including Goliath, the Wrecking Crew and Mr. Hyde. Hercules is also functionally immortal and cannot die through conventional means, Hercules is nearly 3,000 years old however he does not age.

Abilities

Dealing a Mighty Blow to the Hulk

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 (even causing the Thing to submit). Hercules is also a very accomplished melee fighter. He has had centuries of practice with many types of weapons, such as battle axes and long swords.

Weapons and Armor

Hercules dawning the Nemean Lion Skin and the Golden Mace

Hercules possesses the skin of the Nemean 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 fair play prevent him from using his Golden Mace and Nemean Lion Skin armor frequently.  However, 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.

Alternate Realities

Earth-398

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