I wonder what it is about the Son of Zeus that never allows him to rise above the second rank?

I wonder what it is about the Son of Zeus that never allows him to rise above the second rank?

***

Hercules was a bit of a jerk in the myths, wasn't he?  That seems to carry over to the comics versions of him: Marvel's Hercules is something of a blowhard and DC's has been close to a villain at times.  Disney had to do a total whitewash to make the character palatable.

Just a guess, but could it be that some people perceive Hercules as being too similar to Thor?

  I think they're wrong since Hercules is obviously much different than Thor, but all people don't perceive things the same way. Maybe it also comes down to when a particular reader is introduced to a character. I encountered Hercules at a good time, when he was in the Avengers and appearing in your Hulk run, but I've often been disappointed by subsequent use of the character.

No, Thor's a whitewash. Hercules actually has the attitude of most of the gods. "By my beard," and all that. Thor's humanized to a degree by being part human.

I love the Marvel version of Hercules. I mean, I always through he could use a new kind of thing on his head, but aside from that, the revision (JB?) of the Herc "look" was nice.

The only thing Hercules needs is a great grand adventure context. And a mortal enemy. Unfortunately, Herc started out as an antagonist of Thor, and he doesn't have a "Loki" or "Doom" or "Doc Ock" to match up against.

Herc's an immortal. There's thousands of years of history to find a good enemy. It'd be better if it was somebody recognizable, a fairly "big" name.

The fact is, Conan was very popular in comics. Hercules could be as well.

Crediting Roger Stern and John Buscema, they presented my favorite Hercules moment ever. During their run on AVENGERS, the Beyonder "guests" and starts a little tussel with Herc and the Avengers. The Beyonder has been popping in and out of mags, messing with heroes, and like before he vanishes. The Avengers feel the need to find him and stop him, somehow.

During a conference in their Avengers Mansion meeting room, the Avengers are questioning just what they will do if and when they find the Beyonder again.

Hercules, per usual, says, "I know what I would do, if I found him."

The Beyonder materializes in front of Hercules, hands on hips. "Oh? And what would you do?"

Hercules uppercuts the Beyonder immediately, sending him hurtling through the mansion levels. I laughed out loud when I read that. I wish I could find a scan. Really nice gag by Stern/Buscema, forced as they were to deal with the stupid Beyonder.