The Incredible Hercules: Difference between revisions

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Hercules (by Marvel) is a comic book character who first appeared in ''"Journey Into Mystery Annual''" #1 (1965), created by [[Stan Lee]] and [[Jack Kirby]]. At first Hercules was mainly used as a rival to [[The Mighty Thor]]. But he quickly became another well-established superhero. He has served at times as a member of [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]], the Champions, [[The Defenders]], 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]] ''[[World War Hulk]]'', [[Marvel Comics]] decided to relaunch the title character of ''[[~~The~~ Incredible Hulk (Comic Book)|The Incredible Hulk]]'' in a newer series by [[Jeph Loeb]], 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 [[Good Is Not Dumb|Greg]] [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Pak]] and [[Face Heel Revolving Door|Fred]] [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Van Lente]]. The series was renamed to "Incredible Hercules" with issue #113 (February, 2008).

In the wake of the [[Crossover]] ''[[World War Hulk]]'', [[Marvel Comics]] decided to relaunch the title character of ''[[Incredible Hulk (Comic Book)|The Incredible Hulk]]'' in a newer series by [[Jeph Loeb]], 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 [[Good Is Not Dumb|Greg]] [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Pak]] and [[Face Heel Revolving Door|Fred]] [[Crowning Moment of Funny|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<ref>no, not any of ''those'' [[Kirby|Kirbys]]</ref> for short, in tow), who starts out looking to bring down [[The Man]] 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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* [[Axe Crazy]]: Ares.

* [[Badass Bookworm]]: Again, Amadeus.

* [[Bat Family Crossover]]: Chaos War, which spawned a few tie-ins that confirmed Hercules' status as one who connects the Gamma side ([[Incredible Hulk (Comic Book)|Incredible Hulks]]), the mythological side (Chaos War: [[The Mighty Thor|Thor]] mini-series, Chaos War: Ares one-shot) and the typical superhero side (Chaos War: Dead [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers]] and Chaos War: [[~~X Men|~~X-Men]] mini-series, Chaos War: [[Alpha Flight]] one-shot) of the [[Marvel Universe]].

* [[Bat Family Crossover]]: Chaos War, which spawned a few tie-ins that confirmed Hercules' status as one who connects the Gamma side ([[Incredible Hulk (Comic Book)|Incredible Hulks]]), the mythological side (Chaos War: [[The Mighty Thor|Thor]] mini-series, Chaos War: Ares one-shot) and the typical superhero side (Chaos War: Dead [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers]] and Chaos War: [[X-Men]] mini-series, Chaos War: [[Alpha Flight]] one-shot) of the [[Marvel Universe]].

* [[Because Destiny Says So]]: 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.

* [[Big Bad]]: <s>Hera</s> {{spoiler|Typhon}}. Amatsu-Mikaboshi takes Hera's place after Assault on New Olympus.

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* [[Erastes Eromenos]]: 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.

* [[Executive Meddling]]: 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 [[~~Agents of Atlas (Comic Book)|~~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''.

* [[Executive Meddling]]: 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 [[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''.

* [[Face Heel Turn]]: {{spoiler|Athena}}

* [[Fetish Fuel Station Attendant]]: Herc gets with a lot of women, but Amadeus gets the [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]] of Hotness in Delphyne: [[Cute Monster Girl]] [[Gorgeous Gorgon]] and [[Hot Amazon|Amazon warrior]] in a [[Goth]] School Girl outfit.

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* [[God Was My Co-Pilot]]: 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.

* [[Going Commando]]: It's frequently suggested that Hercules doesn't wear anything under that skirt.

* [[Good ~~With~~ Numbers]]/[[Hyper Awareness]]: How Cho's super-intelligence manifests.

* [[Good with Numbers]]/[[Hyper Awareness]]: How Cho's super-intelligence manifests.

* [[Gorgeous Gorgon]]: Delphyne, natch. Every other Gorgon shown as well.

* [[Groin Attack]]: 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.

* [[Heel Face Door Slam]]: {{spoiler|Zeus actually manages to get Hera to back down after giving her a [[Kirk Summation]]. However, Typhon takes control of Continuum and kills both of them to try and make [[The End of the World As We Know It]].}}

* [[Heel Face Door Slam]]: {{spoiler|Zeus actually manages to get Hera to back down after giving her a [[Kirk Summation]]. However, Typhon takes control of Continuum and kills both of them to try and make [[The End of the World as We Know It]].}}

* [[Heel Face Turn]]: Delphyne; though she goes back to being a heel, albeit reluctantly due to [[The Chains of Commanding]].

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Herc and Cho. ''[[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Fall of an Avenger]]'' solidified it.

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* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: [[Death Is Cheap]] is mocked repeatedly when Herc and Amadeus go into Hades to rescue Zeus.

* [[Large Ham]]: Herc and Ares.

* [[Man in A Kilt]]: To quote Hercules himself, "Real men wear skirts!"

* [[Man in a Kilt]]: To quote Hercules himself, "Real men wear skirts!"

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Kerberos is a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|triple-header]]. He's named after both [[wikipedia:Kerberos (protocol)|the authentication protocol]] and the mythical guard dog of Hades, and he's called [[Jack Kirby|Kirby]] for short.

* [[Mentor Occupational Hazard]]: {{spoiler|According to Athena, Hercules was to be a victim of this; ultimately, she was the one who [[Shoot the Dog|ended up doing it]].}}

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* [[Series Continuity Error]]: After Herc and Amadeus go their seperate ways after their trip to the underworld, Amadeus reads a book about the [[wikipedia: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.

* [[Shoot the Dog]]: {{spoiler|Athena sacrifices Hercules in the series' final issue essentially [[Because Destiny Says So]].}}

* [[Shout-Out]]: To ''[[Casablanca]]'', during Dark Reign. And [[Men in Black (~~Film~~)|Men in Black]] during the same.

* [[Shout-Out]]: To ''[[Casablanca]]'', during Dark Reign. And [[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]] during the same.

** Hercules's response to being challenged to three-storied elvish chess? [[Star Trek|"Live long and prosper."]]

* [[Shown Their Work]]: 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.

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* [[Spin-Off]]: ''Dark Avengers: Ares'' was supposed to be one for [[Dark Avengers]], 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.

* [[Stalker Shrine]]: Hebe has one of Herc.

* [[Stalker ~~With~~ a Crush]]: Hephaestus.

* [[Stalker with a Crush]]: Hephaestus.

** A mild subversion with Hebe, who is a stalker and madly in love with Herc, but also his legitimate wife.

* [[Strange Syntax Speaker]]: Mikaboshi speaks purely in haiku.

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* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: 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.

* [[What Happened to ~~The~~ Mouse?]]: Amadeus apparently gives up his search for his sister and we never ''do'' find out what happened to her.

* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: Amadeus apparently gives up his search for his sister and we never ''do'' find out what happened to her.

** [[Word of God]] ([[Incredibly Lame Pun|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.

* [[Wicked Stepmother]]: Hera, the ''original'' wicked stepmother, to Herc and Athena.

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