List of Disney's Hercules characters

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Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The following are fictional characters from Disney's 1997 film Hercules and from the derived 1998 TV series. These productions are adaptations of Greek mythology, very different from the classical versions.[1]

Hercules

Hercules is the title character of the franchise. He is based on the mythological Heracles, best known under the Roman spelling Hercules. In the original movie, Josh Keaton voiced Hercules as a teenager, while Tate Donovan was the hero as an adult, and Roger Bart was Hercules' singing voice in the song "Go the Distance". Donovan went on to voice the teenage Hercules in a derived animated series where the hero in training attended high school. His appearance is top-heavy, muscular, and handsome, with orange hair and eyebrows and blue eyes. His teenage version wears a one-sleeved Greek tunic, while the adult version wears a Cuirass-like tank armor tunic with a blue cape (the television series has teenage Hercules wearing this armor during hero missions).

In the original movie, instead of the demigod hero son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene, Hercules was actually born on Mount Olympus with all the powers of a god, and his parents were Zeus and Hera (the King and Queen of all the gods, thus making him a god prince), who has been re-imagined as a loving mother instead of a spiteful stepmother. However, one god is upset about the new arrival: Hercules' evil uncle Hades who wants to take control of Olympus and the world along with all of creation, and discovers Hercules can foil his plans as an adult. Knowing that as a god, Hercules is immortal and invulnerable, Hades sends his two lackeys, Pain and Panic, to kidnap Hercules and turn him mortal by means of a magic potion. However, the arrival of two mortals, Amphitryon and Alcmene, causes Hercules to miss the final drop of the potion, causing him to retain his godly strength. The couple then adopts the child, considering his arrival a gift from the gods since they are themselves childless. Too late, Zeus and the other gods discover the kidnapping. Because Herc is now mortal, he cannot return to Mt. Olympus.

Growing up, he has difficulty being accepted by others due to his strength and clumsiness. Shortly after, he is told about his adoption by his parents, who tell Hercules to visit Zeus's temple to discover his true parentage. Zeus then tells Hercules to visit the trainer Philoctetes to discover how to become a hero, while giving him the winged horse Pegasus to assist in transportation. Phil at first declines returning to the hero training business, but is convinced by Zeus. When Hercules has reached adulthood and has passed his training, he sets off with Philoctetes to become a hero in Thebes. On his way, he saves Megara from Nessus, a centaur acting as river guardian. Unbeknownst to Herc, Meg is working for Hades (albeit unwillingly), and relates the events to the Lord of the Underworld, by which he learns that Hercules is still alive and so sends a variety of monsters to kill Hercules, but Hercules dispatches every monster Hades sends against him. By this time, Hercules has become the toast of Greece, and he believes himself a true hero, He is greatly upset when Zeus tells him that his celebrity status is not enough to regain his immortality, as being famous isn't the same as being a hero, and to "look inside his heart". Meg (on assignment from Hades) convinces him to play hookie, going on a date. At first, she was trying to learn any weakness he might have, but she eventually fell as hard for him as he had for her. The date is ended by Phil, irate at Hercules for skipping training. Phil is knocked off Pegasus, and wakes up in time to learn of Meg's involvement with Hades. He leaves to tell Hercules, not hearing Meg's refusal to help destroy Hercules. Hercules, ecstatic from the date, refuses to believe Phil's warning about Megera, even hitting him in a flash of blind anger, prompting Phil to quit.

Hades, realizing that Meg herself is Herc's weakness, confronts Hercules, offering Megara's safety if the hero will give up his strength for 24 hours (long enough for Hades to conquer Olympus). Herc is reluctant to see anyone hurt, but Hades vows that no harm will come to Meg. Hercules agrees, and Hades takes the opportunity to humiliate him before revealing Megara's role in his scheme. Enacting his plan, Hades sends a Cyclops to destroy Hercules. Without his superhuman strength and crushed by Meg's betrayal, Herc is brutally beaten about by the monster but, with a pep talk from the returning Phil, and using his wits, he is able to defeat the Cyclops and send him hurtling off a cliff. The monster's fall causes a pillar to topple towards Herc and Meg pushes him out of the way, taking the impact of the pillar. This in turn causes Hercules to regain his strength because Hades' end of the bargain is now broken as he promised that Meg wouldn't get hurt. Hercules leaves Megara in the care of his friends while he rushes off to thwart Hades' invasion of Olympus. Freeing the captured gods, he captures three of the Titans in the tornado body of the fourth and throws them into space, where they explode. He returns to Meg's side only to learn that her injuries were fatal. However, he then travels to the Underworld to rescue Meg's spirit from the River Styx, which swiftly ages mortals upon contact, thus killing them within a short time. Hercules nevertheless enters the pool to rescue Megara's soul. He is able to reach Meg before he dies and his selfless act fulfills the requirement for being a true hero, thus regaining his godhood. He then punches Hades into the River Styx, and returns Meg's soul to her body. He is invited by Zeus to live in Olympus, which was indeed originally his wish, but he decides rather to live his life on Earth as a mortal with Megara.

In originating the design for the infant version of Hercules used in the film, animator Randy Haycock drew inspiration by videotaping a friend's six-month-old and by renting movies with babies in them,[2] while the curly hairstyle for baby Hercules was derived from the appearance of Haycock's infant daughter. He adds, "Hercules' mannerisms come right off things I've picked up from her", even though Hercules is more caricatured than a real baby.[2] The inspiration for teenage Hercules came from Haycock's experiences as an adolescent. "I was too tall and skinny for my age, and I was a lousy athlete. At home I broke just about everything..."[2] Teenage Hercules has big hands and feet that the animator remembers having himself, as well as the lack of coordination.[2] Andreas Deja was supervising animator for the adult version of Hercules. He studied photographs of Olympic athletes, not the weightlifters with short necks and bulging muscles, but the swimmers, with long necks and natural musculature.[2] Essentially, he wanted to return to the Greek tradition of character drawing. As Deja explains, this means "straight nose, pursed lips – almost cherubic, large eyes, a lidded look...The classic style you find on Greek vases or drawings."[2]

The animated series Hercules is set in the intervening period between his teen years and his first journey to Thebes as an adult, while he is still in training on Phil's island. The series also reveals that, on Zeus's instruction, Hercules attends a high school called the Prometheus Academy.

Hercules has also appeared in the Kingdom Hearts series. In the series, Sora must help Hercules defeat the evil Hades who, having joined Maleficent's main group of Disney Villains, is still trying to take over Olympus. In the first game, he is voiced by Sean Astin, but Donovan reprises his role in the second game. His Japanese voice is done by Yasunori Matsumoto. Hercules also appeared in the television series Disney's House of Mouse, in the Walt Disney World version of Fantasmic!, at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts daily for greetings, and had his own stage show on the Disney Cruise Line.

Hercules appears on the 13th episode of Season 5 Once Upon a Time [3]

Phil

Phil (which is short for Philoctetes), based on the mythological Philoctetes, is a satyr who is a trainer of aspiring heroes who has often been disappointed by his trainees' shortcomings. This however, seems to be a conflation with the myth of Chiron, as Phil states that he trained Achilles and Jason of the Argonauts, both disciples of Chiron. He also says that he trained Odysseus, Perseus, Theseus -- "a lot of 'yeuseus.'" Phil also trained Bellerophon, but he was equally a failure. On several occasions, Phil will explain something by saying "Two words", and then his next statement will be either one word or three, prompting other characters to count off the number of words on their fingers. Phil has long-since retired after failing to train a successful hero, but is convinced to train the callow young Hercules. While training Hercules or watching him fight, Phil would constantly utter at least one of his 101 rules.

After his training is complete, Phil, Hercules and Pegasus set out for the city of Thebes to prove Hercules' newfound worth. Along the way, Hercules saves a woman named Megara from being pestered by the centaur Nessus, and becomes attracted to her, while Phil immediately clashes with her, considering her a distraction from Hercules' activities. Phil becomes a personal manager to the celebrity Hercules has become. Later in the film, Phil discovers that Megara is working for Hades, her mission being to find Hercules' weakness. Phil tries to warn Hercules, but abandons him after an argument ensues. When Hercules loses his powers to Hades, it is Megara who convinces Phil to return to Hercules, motivating him into battling and defeating the Cyclops through improvisation. During the fight, Megara is mortally wounded by a falling column to save Hercules, and Phil is left taking care of the dying Megara while Hercules fights Hades and the Titans. After Hercules defeats Hades, Phil goes with Hercules to Mount Olympus, where he is seen making out with Aphrodite. When Hercules and his friends return to Thebes, Phil is gratified when the people refer to the mighty and triumphant Hercules as "Phil's boy".

The prequel Hercules: Zero to Hero and the subsequent TV series Disney's Hercules are set during the time when teen Hercules is training under Phil and attending the Prometheus Academy.

Phil has also appeared in the Disney/Square Enix video game series Kingdom Hearts, as well as in the TV series Disney's House of Mouse. In the film, Philoctetes' voice is provided by Danny DeVito while Robert Costanzo fills the role in the character's video game and television appearances. Ichirō Nagai supplies Phil's Japanese voice, while Lakis Lazopoulos was cast for Phil's voice in the Greek-language version of the film.

Megara

Megara (commonly shortened to Meg) is a young woman who used to work for Hades, the Lord of the Underworld. She is currently the new leader of the Underworld. Megara has fair skin and waist-length brown hair which is pulled into a ponytail. She appears to wear purple makeup to match the color of her eyes and Grecian-style dress. Sometime during the events of Hercules, Meg went to Hades and sold her soul to revive a lover of hers who had died. Hades agreed on the condition that she serve him forever, which she accepted. However, shortly after her lover was revived, he fell in love with someone else and ungratefully left Meg locked in servitude to Hades. This background story of the character alludes to the myth of Alcestis, who dies by proxy for her husband Admetus. While Meg follows Hades' orders, she shows open defiance at times and a cheeky attitude.

Meg first appears on screen during a quarrel with the centaur Nessus, which ends with the unsolicited intervention of Hercules, whom Meg does not trust, and the death of Nessus. Later in Thebes, Meg lures Hercules to the Hydra, whom he defeats. After Hercules achieves several more victories, Meg is openly smug and confident that he cannot be defeated. Hades offers Meg her freedom in exchange for discovering Hercules' weakness. Meg, however, develops feelings for Hercules instead. Eventually Hades realizes that Meg's affection is perhaps his only undoing and uses her as leverage to convince Hercules to give up his enhanced strength for one day in return for her safety; if the deal is broken, his superhuman strength returns. To prevent Meg from persuading Hercules to deny this, Hades has her bound and gagged with smoke. Hades then reveals Meg worked for him all along, causing him to leave Hercules heartbroken. Meg and Phil later find Hercules being clobbered by the Cyclops and saves him from the fall of a collapsing column and dies in process. Hercules succeeds in reclaiming her spirit and restoring her life during his foray into the Underworld. Once ascended to the Olympus, he declines a place offered to him among the gods to live with Meg.

In Hercules: The Animated Series, Meg appeared twice, once as a teenager and once as an adult from the movie timeline. She meets Hercules, offering a chance to prove himself as a hero. Having him retrieve her the amphora so she can use it to forget about Adonis who she had a blind date with that went badly. They do retrieve it from Ares' sons, but Meg leaves Hercules to escape. She is immediately taken to the Underworld by Pain and Panic; Hercules, despite her betrayal, goes after her. During a fight for the amphora, Meg tells Hercules that she liked him from the start. They almost kiss, but the amphora's water is dropped on them, causing them to forget how they met, and reinforcing the fact that Hercules and Meg never established any relationship until the film. Another episode, "Hercules and the Yearbook", takes place after the events of the film and features Hercules and Meg moving his stuff from Phil's island. Hermes delivers a special package, which Hercules immediately hides from Meg. Phil reveals all of Hercules' incidents during his school time, and Hercules tells Meg he did not want to show her the yearbook because he wants her to see him as a hero. Meg tells him that she accepts that part of his life as an awkward phase, and loves him just the same. However, this does not stop Hercules from having Hermes retrieve Meg's own yearbook where it is revealed Meg was a cheerleader and in the glee club.

Meg appears in Kingdom Hearts II and meets Sora in the Underworld entrance. She assists Sora in the fight against the Hydra by providing useful items. She also appears in Disney's House of Mouse as a guest. In all English-language media, Meg is voiced by Susan Egan. Kacey Rohl played the live-action version of Meg in the fifth season of Once Upon a Time.

Meg is loosely based on the mythological Megara, first wife of Hercules in mythology, with undertones from another mythological figure, Deianira, who in Greek mythology was the third wife of Hercules.

Pegasus

Pegasus, based on the mythological Pegasus, is the winged horse of Hercules. He is very jealous of the relationship between his master and Meg. He was created by Zeus as a gift for the infant Hercules out of clouds, consisting of, as Zeus stated cirrus, nimbostratus, and cumulonimbus. Pegasus is very true and a great "friend" of Hercules and helps in everything. Described by Zeus himself as "a magnificent horse with the brain of a bird", Pegasus' behavior mixes elements of both a steed and a bird, with habits such as clicking his tongue, whistling, and at times, perching on one of Hercules' shoulders. The characterization is under the archetype of a "friendly beast". Frank Welker does Pegasus' horse sounds.

Pegasus has also appeared in the Disney/Square Enix video game Kingdom Hearts II.

Hades

Hades is the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. Unlike the mythological Hades, who is for the most part a relatively passive deity doing a sometimes nasty job, this version is a fast-talking, ornery, evil deity, reminiscent of Satan, as well as sleazy dealers, notably persuasive Hollywood agent types and car dealers. In all of his appearances, Hades has been voiced by James Woods. The character's mannerisms and other tendencies were partly due to James Woods's using "car-dealer"-style speech while providing the voice of Hades. Hades is described as "mean" and "ruthless" by the Muses. His status as a god makes him immortal, but not invincible. His status as a god likely makes him one of the most powerful if not the most powerful Disney villain. He wears a dark robe with a skull-shaped perone, a pin used to fasten a chiton around the body at the shoulder, and his hair is a glowing blue flame, which flares whenever he becomes enraged (if he's excited, it stays blue and if he's angry or frustrated, it turns yellow while his whole body turns red), and can also be extinguished (his hair was blown out at one point by Pegasus). James Woods has stated that Hades is one of his favorite roles in his career, and he will gladly reprise the role whenever asked.

In Hercules, Hades seeks to overthrow Zeus and rule Mount Olympus, Greece, the Earth and the rest of creation for himself. Upon visiting the Fates, he learns that he could succeed by releasing the Titans in eighteen years, but if Zeus's son, Hercules, is to fight Hades, he will fail. Hades sends his demons, Pain and Panic, to kidnap baby Hercules and give him a potion that would render him mortal, and kill him. Hercules needs to drink every last drop for it to work, but the last drop is lost. Thus Hercules, while mortal, retains his god-like strength and spends his life on Earth. Pain and Panic, however, tell Hades that Hercules is dead, hoping that he will not find out.

Later, a young woman named Megara sells her soul to Hades so that he will return her lover's soul. He does, but Meg's lover ungratefully dumps her for another girl shortly afterwards. Meg remains trapped as a slave to Hades, and he uses her beauty, charm and intelligence as an advantage to persuade monsters to join his army. After discovering that Hercules is still alive, Hades sends numerous grotesque beasts to finish Hercules off, only for Hercules to slay every one with ease. When he finds out that Hercules has strongly fallen romantically in love with Megara, he uses this to his advantage and makes a deal with Hercules: Herc must give up his God-like superhuman strength for the next twenty-four hours (secretly the same twenty-four hours he will use to take over Olympus) in exchange for Meg's freedom. Herc agrees, as long as Meg will be safe from any harm. Hades then reveals that Megara was working for him the whole time, crushing Hercules' will to fight. Hades then releases the Titans, who defeat and imprison the gods, and sends the Cyclops to kill the weakened and discouraged Hercules to keep him from getting in the way, but Hercules defeats the monster using his wits.

However, Megara is grievously injured saving Hercules from a falling pillar, negating Hades's deal that Meg would not be hurt. Hercules is thus given his Godly powers back and returns to Mount Olympus where he easily takes down the Titans and frees the gods. Hades loses his temper, but he taunts Hercules that he at least has a parting gift; while Hercules was fighting the Titans, Megara died from her injuries. Hercules travels to the Underworld to rescue her soul and offers himself to Hades in exchange for Megara's freedom. He swims into the River Styx to retrieve her soul. It almost kills him, when his full cosmic Godhood is restored by his being willing to risk his own life to save the woman he loves. Hercules emerges from the pit, alive and immortal with Megara's soul in his arms, much to Hades' anger. Knowing that he can't stop Hercules in his path, Hades begs the hero to try and ease things with him and the other gods, but Hercules angrily punches Hades into the River Styx, where he is swarmed by vengeful souls and dragged to the depths where he is trapped.

Later, with the return of Hercules in the form of an animated series, Hades also re-appeared, and had many appearances trying to take over Olympus, such as tricking the other gods into swimming in the waters of Lethe to forget their pasts, arranging for the sun to be stolen, or sending Cerberus after a temporarily mortal Zeus. One episode even had a crossover where Jafar makes a deal with Hades, in order to make Hercules and Aladdin fight each other. While Hades and Jafar had numerous things in common, Jafar's evil laugh consistently got on the more smooth-talking Hades' nerves – at least until he tried it for himself, calling it "cleansing." The entire series ignores a certain fact about the film, however, since in the movie, Hades still thought Hercules was dead throughout his high school days, but in the series, they have many interactions during that time. For this reason, the series is not considered canonical to the movie's storyline.

Hades appears in the Kingdom Hearts series of video games. He was originally in league with Maleficent, using the Heartless to try to take over the worlds. Hades wanted to dispose of Hercules and tricked Cloud Strife into challenging Hercules in the Preliminaries at the Olympus Colliseum. In return, Hades "promised" Cloud he will lead him to Sephiroth. However, when Sora arrived, Hades changed plans and had Cloud attack Sora first. When Cloud refused to kill Sora (or was defeated by him, depending on the outcome), Hades sends out Cerberus to take care of Cloud. Hercules arrived to get Cloud to safety while Sora & company dealt with Cerberus. After Maleficent's defeat, Hades himself battles Sora and lost as all his schemes against Sora and the others end in failure. In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, a facsimile Hades appeared as token of Sora's memory and the darkness in Riku's heart. In Kingdom Hearts II, Hades's desire to kill Hercules is still undeterred. After joining forces with Pete, and probably Maleficent through him, Hades decides to use Auron, who has already died, to fight against Hercules and kill him; however, Auron rebels against Hades and fights him, only to be interrupted by Sora, Donald Duck and Goofy. They fight Hades, but, due to the Underworld curse, he is invincible to their attacks. Hades then sends Cerberus and later the Hydra against Sora and his friends. Upon discovering that Sora's Keyblade could unlock any lock, Hades initially plans to use it to unlock the Underdrome, the Underworld's own coliseum. However, when Pete informs him that the Keyblade will only work for Sora, Hades kidnaps Meg and traps her in the locked Underdrome, forcing Sora to unlock it to rescue her. After defeating Pete and the Hydra again, Sora and his friends eventually fight and defeat Hades. However, Hades survives and acts as a challenger in the last tournaments, which are unlocked near the end of the game. In the prequel, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, he attempts to use Terra to kill Hercules, but Terra resists the Darkness in his heart, so Hades places Zack under his control to eliminate both Terra and Hercules, but Terra defeats Zack and frees him from Hades' influence. Later, Hades and the Ice Colossus (a replica of the Ice Titan) both fight Aqua in the Coliseum, but Aqua defeats the both of them and Hades flees to the Underworld to further his plans. James Woods reprises his role for the English versions of the games, while his Japanese voice in all the games is done by Japanese stage actor Kyusaku Shimada, who does an impersonation of Woods.

Hades stars in "Villains Tonight" on the Disney Magic and Disney Dream. "Villains Tonight" is a musical stage show featuring many different villains from various Disney films, including Doctor Facilier, Ursula, Scar, Yzma, Maleficent, Evil Queen, Captain Hook, Cruella de Vil, Jafar, and his two sidekicks Pain and Panic. The story here is Hades has "softened a bit" and made the Underworld a fun place. Unfortunately, the Fates tell him he has until midnight to get more evil or he will no longer rule the Underworld. So he summons the most evil villains in his quest to become more evil.

Hades is one of the Disney Villains summoned by the Evil Queen to fight Mickey Mouse in Fantasmic!. Hades also appears in several episodes of Disney's House of Mouse. In one episode, he tried to ask Maleficent out on a date and asked Mickey for advice. When Mickey's kind and nice ways did not sway Maleficent, Hades won her over by showing his own, fiery personality in a fit of rage towards Mickey. The two were referred to by Minnie Mouse as "a match not made in heaven". On another occasion, when Pete tries to get the House closed by turning up the thermostat- Mickey's contract stating that the House will close if it is ever empty-, Hades' ability to tolerate heat means that he remains comfortable in the House despite the rise in temperature, thus allowing Mickey to keep the House open. He is also one of the main villains in the full-length spin-off Mickey's House of Villains; James Woods only provides the voice for one line ("Ha – love that"), and Rob Paulsen provides the singing voice when Hades sings the lines "Where everyone's a friend of mine!" and "What a place for breakin' bread!" in the song "It's Our House Now!". He also appears briefly in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. The live-action version appeared in the second half of the fifth season of Once Upon a Time where he is portrayed by Greg Germann.

Pain and Panic

Pain and Panic are a pair of pint-sized, devil shaped demons (also called imps) in the Disney animated feature Hercules. Pain is a fat, red-shaded demon, and Panic is skinny and blue-green. They are the minions of the film's villain, Hades. Pain is voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait and Panic by Matt Frewer.

Panic is paranoid, twitchy, panicky, and easily spooked, as his name suggests, but he appears to be relatively smart and is very cautious. He appears to be more honest than Pain. For example, when he says, "Hades is gonna kill us when he finds out what happened!" Pain replies, "You mean if he finds out." And Panic replies, "'If'. 'If' is good." Pain, on the other hand, is bossy, hot-tempered, and sly, but also clumsy, impulsive and liable to get into painful situations, and seems to be less intelligent than Panic. Hades asked them how to kill a god. Pain didn't know while Panic answered correctly; gods can't be killed, because they're immortal.

Both possess the ability to shapeshift into almost any form. They frequently manage to irritate Hades even more than usual, and he is always ready to punish them severely for any mistakes. He also threatens them with torture. Ironically, since they are demons, even Hades cannot kill them – but it is made clear repeatedly that they can still feel pain, and since both Hades and they are immortal, they endeavor not to anger him. It is unclear why they even serve Hades, though they seem to do so out of fear or because he owns their souls.

In the movie, Hades sends them to kidnap baby Hercules, make him mortal, and kill him. The imps obey and capture him in the middle of the night, but fail to kill him, and only half-succeed in making him mortal: he keeps his godlike strength, allowing him to dispose of the pair before they have a chance to kill him as snakes (a reference to the original Hercules myth, where he strangles two snakes sent by Hera with one hand as an infant). Not wanting Hades to know about their failure, they tell him that Hercules is dead. Many years later Hades discovers that Hercules is actually alive. To try and grovel sufficiently they become insects, reminding Hades they could still kill Hercules in the time left. Throughout the rest of the movie, they're seen either cheering Hades's monsters on, grovelling to Hades, or using their shape-shifting powers to contact the girl who is unwillingly working for Hades, Meg. E.g. in one scene when they wanted to get Meg's attention, they form bunnies. In another scene, unknown to Meg and Hercules that Pain and Panic are spying on them disguised as birds, Meg and Hercules are about to kiss, and Pain and Panic tell Meg, "stop fooling around! Get the goods, sister!" In rare moments of competence, they manage to trap Pegasus by pretending to be a mare, and even capture Hermes in the assault on Olympus, herding the gods off the mountain in chains. At the end of the movie, Hades is punched into the river Styx, and the two are left watching him go down into the depths, hoping that he won't return.

Pain and Panic also appear in the Hercules TV series, and still serve as Hades's lackeys. They made many brief appearances in the House of Mouse television series, usually along with Hades (though there was one episode in which they broke up Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket without Hades's aid) and had a very small role in Kingdom Hearts II, where they are working for Hades and work at the Underdrome, but have no other purpose.

Pain and Panic seem to be loosely based on the Erinyes from mythology, the three goddesses of vengeance subservient to Hades, better known under their Roman name: the Furies.

Gods

Greek Gods

Olympian Gods

  • Zeus (voiced by Rip Torn in the film, Corey Burton in the TV series and Genzo Wakayama in Japanese): the ruler of Mount Olympus. Husband of Hera and father of most of the Olympian gods. Many eons ago Zeus imprisoned the deadly Titans, who threatened to destroy the world, deep beneath the ocean where they would remain for the rest of eternity undisturbed. However he was unaware that the next planetary alignment would reveal the location of the Titans prison. He tells his son that to join the gods, he must become a hero, which he defines as something more than being famous. Zeus is betrayed by Hades, but Hercules later saves him and Olympus, and Zeus reveals that for willingly giving his life to save Meg, he is finally a true hero and can be a god. Nonetheless, he is supportive of his son's decision to remain with Meg. Zeus was heavily edited by Disney as he is different from his portrayal in mythology. Zeus had many affairs with mortal woman and Hercules was born as a result of one of those, but this was changed in the movie due to it being inappropriate for younger audiences.
  • Hera (voiced by Samantha Eggar): the goddess of women and marriage. Wife of Zeus and mother of most of the Olympian gods. In real Greek mythology, Hera was not Hercules' mother, but actually Alcmene, a human woman who Zeus had an affair with - who in the series remains as just Hercules' adopted mother.
  • Hermes (voiced by Paul Shaffer) - the messenger of the gods, who is frequently sent by Zeus to contact his son Hercules.
  • Apollo (voiced by Keith David) - god of light and music, who drives the Solar chariot.
  • Amphitrite (voiced by Leslie Mann) - the goddess of the Sea. Wife of Poseidon and mother of Otus and Triton.
  • Aphrodite (voiced by Lisa Kudrow) – the goddess of Love, with a theme song that even she thinks is annoying. She is quite strong minded, feisty and clever. She has pink skin and blonde hair. She is wife of Hephaestus, but it is indicated that she is attracted to Phil, whom she is seen making out with at the end of the movie. Hades is constantly trying to flirt with her, to no avail.
  • Ares (voiced by Jay Thomas) – the god of War, who just wants to destroy Athens and prove the superiority of Sparta. He hates using 'egghead' and similar words, and is a brash god. Ares also has two "dogs of war" who draw his chariot named Brutacles & Sadisto.
  • Fear (voiced by David Cross) and Terror (voiced by Toby Russ) – the dim-witted yet superstrong sons of Ares.
  • Artemis (voiced by Reba McEntire) – the goddess of the Hunt and Wild Animals. She is seen protecting the Calydonian Boar and transforms a few of the characters into animals, a reference of her turning a hunter who saw her bathing into a stag in mythology. She is also seen scolding Orion also making references to the Belt of Orion in terms of the star patterns. A few times, she is comically seen fighting off her adoring animal fans like a snake that wraps around her.
  • Athena (voiced by Jane Leeves) – the goddess of Wisdom and witty sister of Ares. Ares tries frequently to destroy her worship city, Athens, but Athena always receives help from Hercules. Athena has a pet owl named Ibid.
  • Aurora - the Goddess of the Dawn and sister of Helios. She is mentioned in the episode "Hercules and the Jilt Trip".
  • Boreas (voiced by Alan Rosenberg) – the god of the North Wind, seems to have a grudge against Ares for beating him up when Sparta was being created. Aeolus or any of the other winds do not appear so in the show he may be the God of all of the Winds and husband of Iris.
  • Bacchus (voiced by Dom DeLuise) – the god of Wine and Partying. He nearly sinks Phil's island with his revelry that bothered Poseidon.
  • Cupid (voiced by Tom Arnold) – the god of Passion also appears. He is shown as a pink, short, overweight, middle-aged man wearing a diaper. He is son of Ares and Aphrodite, brother of Phobos and Deimos and husband of Psyche. Cupid has minions called Cherubs, and his quiver holds both "love" and "loathe" arrows. In the film he is decipted as a teenager and is seen congratulating Hercules. His Roman name was chosen to make the show more family-friendly.
  • Demeter (voiced by Florence Henderson) – the goddess of Agriculture. She is mother of Persephone. Summons Nemesis to smite the satyr Pan for his inadequate offerings at her harvest festival and building a temple to himself. She is also seen among the gods congratulating Hercules.
  • Hecate (voiced by Peri Gilpin) – an Underworld demigoddess and witch, Hecate is the goddess of witchcraft and longs to take over the Underworld from Hades in much the same way he longs to take Olympus from Zeus. Despite his seeming dislike of the place most of the time, he's very possessive of his kingdom whenever she tries to overthrow him.
  • Circe (voiced by Idina Menzel) – A sorceress who while looking for suitable boyfriends, turned most of the male cast into various animals.
  • Hephaestus (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) – the peg-legged god of fire and the gods' blacksmith. He is husband of Aphrodite and hates it if Hades flirts with her.
  • Hestia (voiced by Betty White) – only making a few appearances, the goddess of Family and the Hearth is seen as a cheery housewife type. She is often seen cooking or marvelling at her own confections... most of which end up being ruined in a comical fashion like when Adonis caused Hercules to crash into her cake.
  • Iris - the Goddess of the Rainbow and wife of Boreas. She is mentioned in the episode "Hercules and the Kids".
  • Morpheus - (voiced by Jonathan Katz) – the god of Sleep. He has a little brother called Phantasos who wanted to become god of sleep but Zeus said that he couldn't because of "seniority." He is also among the gods congratulating Hercules at the end of the film.
  • Narcissus - the god of Pride and brother of Trivia. Not truly a god in Greco-Roman mythology, but was depicted several times in both the film and the series as an Olympian god.
  • Trivia (voiced by Ben Stein) - the god of Trivia and brother of Narcissus.
  • Nemesis (voiced by Linda Hamilton) – the demigoddess of Vengeance who works for the Infernal Retribution Service (IRS), a service which punishes mortals who dislikes and/or disrespects some god or even all the gods – situations that include defacing temples, defalcating offerings or posing as a god. Nemesis can turn her hands into weapons, and usually gets really angry whenever she can't do a smiting.
  • Pan (voiced by Joe Pantoliano) - the god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music. Son of Hermes. Was shown as merely the king of the satyrs who wants to be worshiped as a god by his people. He gains the wrath of Demeter, who threatens to send Nemesis for to smite him for building a temple to himself if he does not give her suitable offerings by the end of the harvest festival. After an attempt to get Phil to take his place which nearly gets the trainer killed, Pan is forced to give up all the offerings of the festival to spare his life. He also appear in the episode "Hercules and the Prince of Thrace" in the story of the Muses with King Midas.
  • Persephone - the goddess of Springtime and daughter of Demeter. She is one of the gods seen congratulating Hercules at the end of the film.
  • Phantasos (voiced by Tom Kenny) – At the start of the world, Phantasos wanted to be the god of Sleep only for his brother Morpheus to get the job. Since then, Phantasos plotted to get the job one way or another until the day he created a nightmare counterpart of Morpheus' Blanket of Slumber called the Discomforter. Due to the nightmares people are having, Phantasos suggested to Zeus to become the new God of Sleep should Morpheus fail to stop the nightmare crisis. When in their dreams, Hercules and Philoctetes ended up fighting Phantasos when he turned into the Hydra and Typhon. Though Hercules managed to overcome his nightmare of losing to the Hydra and defeat Phantasos. The next day, Zeus was convinced by Morpheus to make Phantasos the God of Dreams and Nightmares since he is much better at dreams and nightmares than his brother. To improve his work, Phantasos wrote down Zeus's suggestions like no one dreaming is to hit the ground when falling and no one gets caught by dream monsters.
  • Poseidon (voiced by Jason Alexander) - the god of the Sea. Husband of Amphitrite and father of Otus and Triton. He made many cameos in the film, such as when the gods congratulate Hercules. He made a few appearances in the series and many cameos in the Olympian council. In the "Hercules and the Bacchanal," he sunk Phil's Island because of the party of Hercules and after revive it again. In "Hercules and the River Styx," he dealt with Hades to give him a bigger superiority to avenge Athena for taking Athena under her safety, but later he trapped and imprisoned with Athena by Hades. Poseidon and Athena were freed as Poseidon beats up Hades. In "Hercules and the Poseidon's Cup Adventure," Poseidon creates a boat race in his honor. Amphitrite's nickname for him is "Po-po".
  • Eileithyia - the goddess of Childbirth and daughter of Zeus and Hera. She made many cameos in Hercules's birth party.
  • Hebe - the goddess of Youth and daughter of Zeus and Hera. She made many cameos in Hercules's birth party.
  • Psyche (voiced by John Kassir) - Wife of Cupid. She made many cameos in Hercules's birth party.
  • Charon - the rower of the ferry in the Underworld.
  • Helios - the god of the Sun and brother of Aurora. He never physically appeared in the series, but the Colossus of Rhodes - which resembles him - appeared in "Hercules and the Hero of Athens". He made many cameos in Hercules's birth party. However, in Greek mythology Helios became identified as the Sun God Apollo.
  • Nike - the goddess of Victory and daughter of Styx. She is mentioned in the episode "Hercules and the Poseidon's Cup Adventure". She made many cameos in Hercules's birth party.
  • Styx - the goddess of Styx. She is mother of Nike. Was seen in the episode "Hercules and the River Styx".
  • Otus (voiced by Brad Garrett) - son of Poseidon and Amphitrite and brother of Triton.
  • Triton (voiced by Chris Elliott) - son of Poseidon and Amphitrite and brother of Otus. He yearns to be a hero like his cousin, Hercules. He has green skin and flippers. He appears in "Hercules and the Son of Poseidon".

Titans

The Titans were the giant rulers of the world when it was first created, rampaging until they were imprisoned by Zeus. Four of the five Titans each represent one of the four elements.

  • Lythos (voiced by Corey Burton and Patrick Pinney) – a two-headed Titan made of rock, who resembles a living boulder. He also appears in Kingdom Hearts as a boss. He created the earth in the world.
  • Hydros (voiced by Jim Ward) – a skeletal Titan made of ice, who resembles a living glacier. He also appears in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep as a boss. He created the water in the world.
  • Pyros (voiced by Jim Cummings) – a blob-like Titan made of lava, who resembles a living volcano. He created the fire in the world.
  • Stratos (voiced by Corey Burton) – a tall Titan made of wind, who resembles a living tornado. He created the air in the world.
  • Arges (voiced by Patrick Pinney) - a Cyclops one-eyed, who, along with the main Titans, was imprisoned deep beneath the sea of Tartarus by Zeus after their reign of destruction ended. His job is to find and kill Hercules; he searches through the town causing much property damage until Hercules reveals himself. Hercules had earlier made a deal with Hades that he would have his strength taken away for 24 hours so the Cyclops takes his time beating him up badly. Phil comes to the rescue and convinces him that he doesn't need his strength to beat him, but shortly afterward, the Cyclops decides to finish him off by biting his head off. Thinking quickly, Hercules shoves a torch into his eye, blinding him and causing him to stumble around; he then uses this opportunity to tie the Cyclops' legs together, causing him to trip and fall off a cliff to his death.

The animated series added some of the named Titans from mythology.

  • Antaeus (voiced by Miguel Ferrer) – a half-Titan who founded the P.O.O.T.L.s ("People's Organization of Titanic Liberators") so he could free the Titans. He held Prometheus Academy hostage and wanted Hercules as their prisoner so that he can force Zeus to release them. His giant form resembles a rock version of himself.
  • Atlas (voiced by Thomas Lennon) – a muscular Titan that was cursed to forever hold up the sky at the Edge of the World. He appeared in "Hercules and the Prince of Thrace".
  • Gaia (voiced by Kerri Kenney) – the goddess of the Earth. She sleeps deep beneath the Earth and dislikes anyone who disturbs her, such as Adonis after he awoke her from her eternal slumber after not heeding a warning sign.
  • Prometheus (voiced by Carl Reiner) – a kindly Titan who gave the gift of fire to humanity so they could improve their lives and as punishment about that he imprisoned by Zeus in Tartarus, but in the episode "Hercules and the Prometheus Affair" Hercules releases him.

Other Greek myths

  • The Fates are three wraiths who see the future and decide how long mortals live. They share a single eye among them (a trait from another mythological trio, the Graeae).
    • Clotho (voiced by Amanda Plummer in the film, Tress MacNeille in the TV series) - the Fate who spins the Thread of Life. She has green skin with yellow wavy hair and a long chin.
    • Lachesis (voiced by Carole Shelley) - the Fate who decides how long mortals will live . She has blue skin and a long nose.
    • Atropos (voiced by Paddi Edwards) - the Fate who cuts the thread. She has lavender skin, green hair, and is the only fate to have a single eye socket.
  • The Muses are the five goddesses who provide inspiration for the fine arts, who act as a girl group to narrate the story as a Greek chorus.
  • Typhon (voiced by Regis Philbin) – the Father of all Monsters and husband of Echidna. He imprisoned by Zeus in Tartarus under Mount Etna, but in the episode "Hercules and the Return of Typhon" Hercules accidentally releases him when he fighting with his wife Echidna.
  • Echidna (voiced by Kathie Lee Gifford) – the Mother of all Monsters and wife of Typhon. Echidna had a recurring role in the series and was typically seen as an obsessive and doting mother to her various children who one-by-one were defeated by Hercules.
  • Briareos (voiced by Reggie Miller) - a Hecatonchires. In this show, he is a giant that can conjure arms from the ground and even water. He is also a fan of the comic book hero Myklos.

Norse Gods

In the episode "Hercules and the Twilight of the Gods", Hercules and Phil visit Valhalla and meet the Norse gods, including:

  • Loki (voiced by Vince Vaughn) - Cunning, manipulative god of mischief, who planned to have Hercules replace Thor as the god of thunder, allowing him to more easily bring about Ragnarok.
  • Odin (voiced by Garrison Keillor) - One-eyed king of Valhalla. He is rather deadpan and often exasperated by the antics of Loki and Thor.
  • Thor (voiced by David James Elliott) - Loud and aggressive god of thunder, who wields the hammer Mjolnir. He briefly loses his position to Hercules after being defeated by him in a duel; the challenge was actually fixed by Loki, who wanted Thor out of the way because he is predicted to avert Ragnarok.

Egyptian Gods

In ""Hercules and the Romans", the gods of the Egyptian mythology earn temporary worship from the Roman Empire before the Greek pantheon assumes this role.

  • Ra (voiced by Stan Freberg) - God with the head of a falcon.
  • Bastet - Goddess with the head of a cat.
  • Khnum - God with the head of a ram.

Prometheus Academy

The Prometheus Academy is the fictional high school from the Disney animated television series Hercules. Though set in Ancient Greece (specifically Athens), the Academy shares many traits with modern educational institutions. It is coeducational, with both male and female students, and teaches such diverse subjects as history, astronomy, shop class, theater arts and "Home Greconomics".

Prometheus Academy is the school that the teenaged Hercules attends while training with Philoctetes to become a hero in the Disney movie Hercules. Many of the other students at the Academy are based on characters from mythology.

The Academy was named after the Titan Prometheus, who brought fire from Mount Olympus (the metaphorical "light of reason") to mankind, and was punished by Zeus being chained to a rock and having his liver pecked out by an eagle every day forever. A bronze statue of Prometheus being administered in his punishment is the central point of the Academy's courtyard.

Prometheus Academy students

  • Icarus (voiced by French Stewart) – Hercules' best friend. The boy who escaped from the Labyrinth with his father on wax wings appears as a complete nut (he was "brain-fried" by flying too close to the Sun). Despite his accident, Icarus still flies every chance he gets resulting in a few more encounters with the sun. Icarus is very adaptive and hence could adjust to about every situation, except when he is very jealous and acts irrational. He could become an ultra serious soldier at boot camp or a nearly identical version of Hades himself. Thankfully, at the end of each episode, he reverts to his own odd self. His father Daedalus is a teacher in the academy and Icarus doesn't acknowledge his parents' divorce. Icarus flirts with Cassandra at every opportunity he gets despite Cassandra showing she does not reciprocate. When Icarus graduates, he goes into inventing with his father and makes a fortune, earning the commercial title "The Wax-Wing King". Phil says that in adulthood, Icarus helps his father with inventions.
  • Cassandra (voiced by Sandra Bernhard) - the other best friend of Hercules, social outcast, and Seer. Daughter of Vic (Fred Willard) and Evelyn (Georgia Engel), who call her "Casserole". Cassandra is cursed with the helpless ability to foresee catastrophic events, but never to be believed. When one of these prophetic trances overcome her, she becomes immobile and her eyes spin. Icarus calls this her "Cassandra-Vision." Cassandra is constantly annoyed by Icarus's flirtatious behaviour towards her and calls him her stalker. She tolerates his presence because before Hercules joined the trio she would have had no friends. But even after she gained Hercules as a friend she still continues to socialise with Icarus and even admitted to him that she considers him a good friend. In adulthood, Cassandra's visions have made her famous, even getting her own public show.
  • Adonis (voiced by Diedrich Bader) – the idiotic, cowardly, narcissistic, self-obsessed prince of Thrace who bullies Hercules and Icarus every chance he has, but sometimes can be their friend. He also annoys the gods which resulted in Gaia even putting a curse on him once. Adonis believes that anything can be solved with power and money. In "The Yearbook" at graduation, he was one credit short and had to attend summer school. He was the guy who Meg sold her soul to him to save his life but, he dumped Meg ungratefully by leaving her to do service for Hades.
  • Anaxarete (voiced by Cree Summer) - Herc's girlfriend during "Hercules and the Jilt Trip", who later breaks up with him for no reason.
  • Andromeda (voiced by Katherine Soucie) - a new student who attracts Herc's attention.
  • Ajax (grunts by Frank Welker) - a barbarian student with very bad hygiene.
  • Electra (voiced by Joey Lauren Adams) - a Goth student with a habit of defying the established order and a believer in freedom of creativity. Electra is all in all a good person, but vicious Furies are created whenever she feels angry.
  • Helen of Troy (voiced by Jodi Benson) – Helen is caring and enthusiastic. She was the most popular girl in the academy and Adonis' girlfriend. Helen tries her best to keep Adonis from being a jerk but mostly fails. She likes Hercules but as a friend. She is a princess as in the myth but is not a half-sister of Hercules in the series.
  • Melampus (voiced by Ethan Embry) - a rival of Icarus, due to Cassandra's affections. Mykloid fan-boy of the comic-scroll superhero Myklos.
  • Pandora (voiced by Jenna von Oÿ) - a student who possesses a locker full of mysteries.
  • Tempest (voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh) - the quick-tempered Amazon "Warrior Princess". She is the daughter of Queen Hippolyta & King Darius.

Prometheus Academy staff

Jr. Prometheus Academy students

The junior school attached to Prometheus Academy. The students that attend are also figures from mythology or ancient history, though preteen versions of those characters, before they became famous. One of their teachers is Mr. Aesop, who tells stories (his eponymous fables) in order to teach the students by means of his morals.

Heroes

  • Achilles (voiced by Dom Irrera) – an old hero who everyone except for Hercules has forgotten. He was once trained by Phil, but he failed due to his heel.
  • Agamemnon (voiced by Patrick Warburton) – in this show, Agamemnon is a famous hero who is the drill sergeant for the Spar O.T.C.
  • Alectryon (voiced by Steve Hytner) – a guard and former student of Philoctetes who was turned into a rooster for falling asleep on guard duty. Whenever he crows, anyone who is asleep and hears it wakes up.
  • Bellerophon (voiced by David Schramm) – hero king of Corinth who takes Pegasus in and names him "Ignatius". With the help of Pegasus, Bellerophon is able to defeat the Chimera.
  • Cletus (voiced by Charles Kimbrough) - Bellerophon's servant.
  • Butes (voiced by Steven Wright) – Beekeeper from the Argo.
  • Chiron (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson in the first appearance, Louis Gossett, Jr. in the second appearance) – Centaur and hero, famous hero-trainer and author. Chiron is both rival and friend to Phil, and hunting buddy of Nestor and Meleager.
  • Hippocrates (voiced by Mandy Patinkin) – the world's First Doctor. He cures people of plague and even goes so far as bringing the dead back to life.
  • Hylas (voiced by Rocky Carroll) – "the bad boy of rowing" although in Greek mythology he is the son of Hercules or was at least raised by him. In "Hercules and the Poseidon Cup Adventure," Hylas was on Adonis' team until he got injured and Hercules ended up taking over.
  • Jason (voiced by William Shatner) – the leader of the Argonauts.
  • Lynceus (voiced by Larry Miller) – the helmsman of the Argo.
  • Melampus (voiced by Ethan Embry) – a Prometheus Academy's nerd. He is dating Cassandra, which makes him Icarus' rival. Icarus once tried to hurt him, but was stopped by Hercules.
  • Meleager (voiced by Nicholas Turturro) – he's usually with Nestor. He has extraordinary hearing abilities.
  • Mentor (voiced by Edward Asner) – the tough retired police chief who is Chipacles' friend.
  • Nestor (voiced by James Belushi) – he is usually with Meleager. He can see very far.
  • Odysseus (voiced by Steven Weber) – a cunning king of the Greek island of Ithaca.
  • Telemachus (voiced by Justin Shenkarow) – the prince of Ithaca. He, Hercules and three Argonauts end up in their own Odyssey.
  • Orpheus (voiced by Rob Paulsen) – a singer and teen idol.
  • Paris (voiced by Cary Elwes) – Trojan Academy student and arrogant Trojan prince.
  • Pheidippides - he was mentioned as a student of Chiron who ran 10000 metres and set a new world record.
  • Samson - he is described as another student of Chiron's who is very strong and is an "out of towner" referring to him being of Israel.
  • Theseus (voiced by Eric Stoltz) – Hercules' cousin. After the Minotaur escapes from the Labyrinth, he helps Hercules face it. Theseus has a double identity, his second self being the superhero "Grim Avenger", whose costume resembles that of DC Comics' character Doctor Fate, though his personality and backstory are more inspired by Batman. As the Grim Avenger, Theseus is constantly narrating his every move aloud.

Supporting characters

  • Bob (voiced by Robert Stack) – a non-incorporeal Grecian hat who opens most episodes, but is sometimes then helped by the Muses who act as a "Greek chorus" typically singing their narration. Bob has wife named "Mrs. Bob" and two children named "Tiffany" and "Chad". Their only appearance on screen is in episode "Return of Typhon" when 'Bob' is convinced by the Muses to take a holiday, their movements are only noticeable as floating.
  • Demetrius (voiced by Wayne Knight) - a pottery salesman who owns a pottery shop. He only barely tolerates Hercules due to the fear of him breaking his pottery, but the loss of his shop angers him to the point that he openly insults Hercules calling him a freak and ordering Amphitryon to keep him away from the marketplace. The other people that were present supported Demetrius.
  • Amphitryon (voiced by Hal Holbrook) - a mortal farmer and Hercules' foster father.
  • Alcmene (voiced by Barbara Barrie) - Amphitryon's wife and Hercules' foster mother.
  • Chipacles (voiced by Mike Connors) – head city-state police officer for the Athens Police Department who takes his job very seriously (Probably a reference to the television show CHiPs).
  • Croesus (voiced by Wayne Newton) - the richest man in the world and owner of Atlantis City.
  • Galatea (voiced by Jennifer Aniston) – she also made an appearance, but not as the wife of Pygmalion the art teacher (whose wife is referred to as simply "Mrs. Pygmalion"), but as the statue Hercules beseeched Aphrodite to bring to life for him as a date to the Aphrodasia Dance. Hercules learned a decidedly different lesson than the one from the original myth. Because he asked that her personality would be "crazy about [him]", Galatea becomes increasingly obsessive about him, especially when he dumped her and dropped her off on an island in the middle of nowhere. Literally, she walked through water to get to him. Being made of clay, she displays morphing abilities that she uses to endanger anyone that might get between her and Hercules. She was solidified by an accidental fire but tried hopping to him. Aphrodite changes her personality to free will, granting her a mind of her own.
  • Princess Lavina (voiced by Cheri Oteri) - She was Geryon's girlfriend for four days before breaking up with him for unknown reasons. She quickly became infatuated with Hercules upon meeting him and, due to Phil's attempts at helping Hercules get over his own break up, believed he felt the same. After telling her that wasn't the case, she was heartbroken until he convinced her to give Geryon another chance. She and Geryon have gotten back together.
  • King Tivius (voiced by Val Bettin) - the father of Lavina.
  • Gregarious (voiced by Stuart Pankin) - the proprietor of Gyro World.
  • Homer (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) – Homer is Journalist for a National News-scroll, the "Greekly World News". Coincidentally, his voice actor also voiced another another "Homer" from The Simpsons.
  • King Midas (voiced by Eugene Levy) – he is a greedy king whose touch turns everything into gold (after receiving this gift from Bacchus), which wanted Hermes' sandals to transform the whole world. After being foiled in a James Bond manner by Hercules, Midas sees the negative side of his power after accidentally touching his daughter Marigold. To remedy this, King Midas prayed to Bacchus to remove the gift. Bacchus does so and Marigold is returned to normal. In another episode, the Muses sing about how Midas was given donkey ears by Apollo.
  • Marigold (voiced by Tia Carrere) - daughter of Midas.
  • Agent Epsilon (voiced by Craig Ferguson) – an agent of Midas who was pretending to be with Athens Intelligence to get Hercules into a trap.
  • King Cinyras (voiced by John O'Hurley) - father of Adonis and husband of Queen Myrrha.
  • Queen Myrrha (voiced by Holland Taylor) - in this show, Myrrha is the wife of King Cinyras and the mother of Adonis.
  • King Minos (voiced by Charles Nelson Reilly) - an insane King of Crete who had Daedalus construct a labyrinth to hold the Minotaur.
  • King Salmoneus (Jeffrey Tambor) – a King of Thessaly. To keep his morality high to the people, he ends up impersonating Zeus and gets smited by Zeus after being exposed. After escaping from the Grove of Despair, he conspired with Pain and Panic to reclaim his throne.
  • Nereus (voiced by Jim Cummings) - an elderly, grouchy shape-shifter able to turn into various creatures to make people leave him alone.
  • Numericles and Calculus (voiced by Stephen Tobolowsky and Kevin West) - Numericles is the Abacus creator and a great figure for Abacus Valley and Calculus his aid. In "Hercules and the Techno Greeks", they wanted a hero to help them defeat the centaurs.
  • Orion (voiced by Craig Ferguson) - the great hunter. Due to him almost killing off every animal on Earth, he was made a constellation by Artemis to keep Zeus from smiting him. Hercules once freed him to teach him how to use the bow, inadvertently releasing the constellations of Leo, Taurus, Aries, Scorpius, and the Big Dipper.
  • Pericles (voiced by Earl Hindman) - a statesman of Athens.
  • Queen Hippolyta (voiced by Jane Curtin) - the mother of Tempest and Queen of the Amazons.
  • King Darius (voiced by Emeril Lagasse) - the father of tempest, the King of the Amazons and a renowned chef.
  • Tiresias (voiced by Jack Carter) - a blind prophet who resides at the Elysian Sunset Rest Home.

One episode featured a crossover with Aladdin, in which Hades and Jafar (voiced by Jonathan Freeman) team up to destroy both their respective archnemesis (ignoring the fact these two series seem to take place a thousand years apart from each other).

Creatures

  • Arachne (voiced by Vicki Lewis) – the guardian of the Tapestry of Fate; a spider-like monster with a bored, sarcastic personality. She only became a guardian because of her mother saying she should see the world and eat exotic people. When Hades changed the Tapestry, Arachne was reduced to minding the cave where the Tapestry used to be.
  • Argus Panoptes (voiced by Harvey Fierstein) - a multi-eyed monster who has a history with Hermes.
  • Nessus (voiced by Jim Cummings) - a large centaur who is known as the "River Guardian". He is a minor villain in the film Hercules. Megara was sent by Hades to recruit Nessus for his army but in exchange Nessus wanted Megara to be his lover. She refused however, but this only made Nessus more persistent (which is reminiscent of the original myth). Luckily Hercules showed up and headbutted the perverse centaur straight into the rocky wall of the waterfall before sending him flying with a mighty punch. In the myth, it is the blood of Nessus that is responsible for Hercules death, as the poisonous substance burns into his skin.
  • The Caucasian Eagle (voiced by Jerry Stiller) – a giant eagle who was ordered by Zeus to eat the liver of Prometheus every day. After Hercules freed the Titan, the Eagle allied with Hades, who briefly turned him into a fiery phoenix to battle Hercules. Appeared in "Hercules and the Prometheus Affair."
  • Catoblepas (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker) - a bull monster that Phil once fought.
  • Doubt – a snake that bites people, causing them to drown in fear and doubt. Hades called him in to strike Icarus so that he won't kiss Cassandra (because she sold her soul to him to make sure he doesn't kiss her), but his bite wore off quickly.
  • Orthos – (voiced by Wayne Knight and Brad Garrett) – a two-headed Cyclops that Hercules fought in "Hercules and the First Day of School."
  • Cerberus (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker) – the three-headed dog that guards the Underworld for Hades. He also appeared in the 1998 TV series as a rambunctious puppy which Hades has a hard time controlling.
  • The Hydra – a giant reptilian monster from Thebes that grows three heads every time one is cut off. Hercules defeated her, thus earning him fame and adoration from the people of Thebes.
  • The Nemean Lion (voiced by Jeremy Piven) – a huge lion with a hide that no weapon cans penetrate.
  • Chimera (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker) - an enemy of Bellerophon. In this show, it has the head and front legs of a lion, the horns and back legs of a gosake-headed tail, and retains its fire-breathing ability.
  • Ladon (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker) – the youngest of Echidna's monsters, who looks similar to a dragon.
  • Gegeines (voiced by Brad Garrett in the first appearance, Frank Welker in the second appearance) – the multi-armed yeti-like sailor-eating giant that was encountered by Hercules and the Argonauts.
  • Geryon (voiced by Will Ferrell) – a monster with three torsos with each head and arms on it.
  • The Furies – giant birds that live in the Underworld.
  • Ceto – a sea monster.
  • Fenrir - a monstrous wolf that was released by Loki in a plot to incite Ragnarok.
  • The Frost Giants - giants of Norse legend from Jotunheim; composed of ice and snow, similar to the Ice Titan. Agents of Loki and enemies of all that is good.
  • Griffin - In the film, Hades sends him to kill Hercules together with Stheno and the Minotaur, but all the three were defeated by Hercules in less than a second.
  • Griff (voiced by Tim Conway) - an elderly griffin that guarded a diamond that Hephaestus forged. He resides at the Elysian Sunset Rest Home.
  • Merv Griffin (voiced by Merv Griffin) - an Athenian griffin with his own talk show.
  • Medusa (voiced by Jennifer Love Hewitt) – the famous gorgon whose gaze turns people to stone, although here she is really just lonely and longs for friends.
  • Stheno (voiced by Andrea Martin) - sister of Medusa and Euryale. She appeared in "Hercules and the Phil Factor". In the film, Hades sends her to kill Hercules together with the Minotaur and the Griffin, but all of the three are defeated by Hercules in less than a second.
  • Euryale - sister of Medusa and Stheno. In the episode "Hercules and the Phil Factor", she was seen in a picture on Stheno's home fireplace.
  • King Arismap (voiced by Harvey Korman) - the King of the Arismapse (a race of thieving mountain gnomes) who had been trying to steal the diamond that Griff guards.
  • King Ephialtes (voiced by Jim Varney) - a tree giant who is the King of the Dryads and the father of Syrinx.
  • Syrinx (voiced by Annie Potts) - a nymph who is the daughter of Ephialtes.
  • The Laestrygonian (voiced by Patrick Warburton) - a giant that Hades tries to lure to his side. He is a big fan of Orpheus.
  • The Man-Eating Mares (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker) – Phil tasks Hercules with the job of taking down one of these dangerous horses. Hades sends Neurosis to make sure Hercules fails. When the Man-Eating Mares prove to be difficult for Hercules, he calls on his father for help. Zeus (who possesses his statue after Cerberus destroyed his cloud) manages to scare off the Mares.
  • Memnon (voiced by David Alan Grier) - a reptilian fire-breathing monster who is a servant of Hades.
  • The Minotaur (voiced by Michael Dorn) – he appeared in two episodes: during the first – and following his myth –, he was housed inside a Labyrinth built by Daedalus in Crete for its insane king Minos, and in the second he had escaped from Crete and reached Athens facing there both Theseus and Hercules only for to be subdued by them together and placed back by the gods. In the film, Hades sends him to kill Hercules together with Stheno and the Griffin, but all of the three are defeated by Hercules in less than a second.
  • Charybdis - a sea monster with only a mouth in her head without eyes that make a giant wirlpool who shallows whole ships. She appeared in "Poseidon's Cup Adventure" and in the "Odyssey Experience".
  • Scylla - a sea monster resembling a woman with an eel's tail and six eel-like heads circling her waist. Hercules fought her twice in "Hercules and the Big Sink" and "Hercules and the Oddysey Experience."
  • The Sphinx (named "Martindale") (voiced by Wink Martindale) – a trivia game show host who asks questions nobody can answer until Hercules comes along winning a chariot in the process.
  • The Three-Headed Sea Serpent (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker) - a sea monster that Hercules and Poseidon fought in "Hercules and the Son of Poseidon."
  • The Winged Wolves of Hecate (voiced by Jon Cryer and Jim Cummings) - two wolves with bird-like wings who work for Hecate.

References

  1. Hercules (1997) - Trivia - IMDb
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Thomas, Bob: "Chapter 11: Animating Hercules", pages 201–220. Disney's Art of Animation: From Mickey Mouse to Hercules, 1997
  3. Once Upon a Time Labor of Love