Hades is the main antagonist of the Disney movie Hercules. Based on the ancient Greek deity of the same name, he is the god of the Underworld and is the brother of Zeus. Unlike the Hades of Greek legend, who was depicted as being perhaps the least self-serving deity of the Olympian pantheon, the Disney incarnation of Hades is truly and wholly evil; he resents Zeus for bestowing on him the responsibility of caring for the dead and seeks to conquer Olympus for himself.
Hercules[]
In Disney's Hercules, Hades plots with the Fates to try and seize the throne of Olympus, allowing him to rule over the cosmos. In eighteen years time, the planets are due to align, revealing the prison of Tartarus where the almighty Titans have been sealed away and allowing Hades to release them. However, with the birth of Zeus and Hera's new son Hercules, a new obstacle to Hades' plan has arisen as the Fates have seen Hercules thwarting the Lord of the Dead in the future. To get Hercules out of the way, Hades concocts a potion that saps a god of their immortality, making them human. He sends his imps Pain and Panic to kidnap the infant Hercules and feed him the potion, taking away the child's godhood.
While Pain and Panic take Hercules to Earth and feed him Hades' potion, the baby doesn't drink every last drop of the concoction and retains his godlike strength. When the two imps morph into snakes to try and kill the baby, Hercules ends up strangling them and throwing them far away. The pair return to the Underworld but keep their failure a secret, letting Hades believe that his plan will go forward without any interference.
Eighteen years later, Hades' plans of conquest are nearing fruition. He is assisted by a young woman named Megara who had sold her soul to him to save the life of her lover, only for her boyfriend to leave her for another woman. Forced to do Hades' dirty work, Meg attempts to convince the centaur Nessus to join the evil deity's army, but Nessus tries to take Meg for himself. She is rescued by a grown-up Hercules, who has been training to be a hero under the satyr Philoctetes, and later tells Hades about what happened. Enraged to find out that Hercules is still alive, Hades makes plans to eliminate the fledgling hero before he can interfere with his plans.
Over the following weeks, Hades employs various monsters and villains to terrorize all of Greece and kill Hercules, but Hercules proves to be too powerful for any of them. He then devises a more surreptitious plan to deal with the son of Zeus, sending Meg to woo the hero and find out his weakness. While she does meet with Hercules again and tries to manipulate him into revealing his weakness, Meg actually falls in love with Hercules and refuses to help Hades any further. Hades realizes that he can manipulate Hercules' heart and he takes Meg hostage before meeting with the hero himself. He threatens to take Meg's soul unless Hercules gives up his godly might, but Hercules is able to get Hades to agree to the condition that Meg will remain safe from any harm. Hades agrees, stating that Hercules will get his strength back should Meg get hurt, and the deal is made with a handshake. After taking away Hercules' strength, Hades releases Meg from servitude, but also reveals to Hercules that Meg had been working for him all along.
With Hercules reduced to a mere mortal and the planets at last in alignment, Hades travels out over the ocean where a maelstrom reveals the prison where the Titans had been locked away. Hades uses his magic to set the Titans free so that they can storm Mount Olympus and take their revenge on Zeus. While the Rock, Lava, Ice and Wind Titans head to Olympus, Hades sends the Cyclops to destroy the city of Thebes and kill Hercules. However, while Hades storms Olympus, Hercules battles the Cyclops in Thebes without his strength and still emerges victorious, though Meg is fatally wounded during the battle. Because Hades had promised that Meg would not come to any harm, Hercules' strength was restored and he rode atop Pegasus to Olympus to stop Hades.
Having captured Zeus and the other gods, Hades was just settling in when Hercules arrived, freeing the captive gods and ultimately defeating the Titans. Though infuriated by this defeat, the Lord of the Dead would claim Meg's soul as a consolation prize when she died from her injuries. However, Hercules refused to accept Meg's loss and ventured into the Underworld to save her. He confronted Hades and demanded that he let Meg go, but Meg's soul had been cast into the River Styx and was descending into a vortex of death. Hercules offered his own soul to Hades in exchange for Meg's, a deal that Hades accepted: if Hercules could dive into the Styx and get Meg out, she could go but he would remain. As the Styx sapped the life of any living thing that entered it, Hades expected Hercules to die before he could reach Meg. Indeed, the Fates attempted to cut Hercules' thread of life, but the thread began to glow and the thread became unbreakable. With his act of self-sacrifice, Hercules had proven himself a true hero and had regained his godhood, saving Meg and rising from the Styx unharmed. When Hades tried to stop him from leaving, Hercules punched Hades in the face and sent him hurtling into the Styx where the countless souls within attempted to drag him down with them. As a god, Hades could not die, but would possibly be forced to endure being pulled down through the vortex for eternity.
Kingdom Hearts[]
Hades is a recurring villain in the Kingdom Hearts video games. Like his film incarnation, he is a smooth-talking schemer who aspires to conquer Olympus and has commanded various monsters such as the Titans and the Heartless in his war against Zeus and the other gods. He has also manipulated and blackmailed other characters into doing his dirty work for him.
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep[]
In the prequel, Hades is seeking out suitable warriors to help him in his war against Olympus and manipulates the Olympus Coliseum tournament to pick out favourable candidates. He sets his sights on the Keyblade wielder Terra, sensing that the young man harbours a great deal of darkness in his heart and encourages him to enter the Games. Terra competes and makes his way to the title match where he battles against a young swordsman named Zack. In order to awaken the darkness within Terra, Hades uses his magic to empower Zack and take control of him. Nonetheless, Terra defeats Zack in battle and releases him from Hades' control. Hades is annoyed by this turn of events, believing that Terra doesn't have what it takes to master his own darkness.
Later, Aqua arrives at the Coliseum looking for Terra, she enters the Games as well. Hades tries to manipulate her as he had tried with Terra to awaken her darkness, but Aqua rebukes him. She battles against Hades and seemingly defeats him, but the Lord of the Dead calls upon an Ice Colossus to fight in his place. The Colossus is an imperfect copy of the Ice Titan and fails to live up to expectations as Aqua destroys the creature. An annoyed Hades then retreats in order to devise new plans.
Kingdom Hearts[]
In the first game, Hades stands among a group of villains working with Maleficent to control the Heartless and conquer all worlds, though his interests seem mostly confined to Olympus. As well as utilizing the Heartless for Coliseum contestants to fight in the Games, Hades also manipulates the stoic swordsman Cloud, promising to lead him to his nemesis and other half, Sephiroth, if he kills Hercules in the tournament.
When Sora arrives at Olympus Coliseum and is rebuffed by Phil, Hades provides him with a pass to enter the Games, but when Sora starts winning the tournament, Hades instructs Cloud to kill Sora as well. When Cloud fails to kill Sora, Hades has Cerberus attack Cloud, but Hercules rescues Cloud while Sora defeats Cerberus. As Sora leaves the Coliseum, an infuriated Hades vents his frustration and makes plans for his next scheme, shooing away Maleficent when she comes to check on him.
Later, Hades and Riku converse about Jafar's chances against Sora; Hades states his belief that the vizier might have triumphed if Riku had been there to support him. Maleficent warns Hades not to be overcome by the darkness, but Hades waves Maleficent away, claiming he can handle it and tells Riku that he's got a special surprise for him.
After being defeated in the Hades Cup, Hades is confronted by an angry unseen force. When Sora, Donald, and Goofy win the Hades Cup, Donald puts out Hades's hair with a Blizzard spell.
Kingdom Hearts II[]
One year later, Hades continues to plot and scheme his way onto the throne of Olympus. This time, he resurrects the warrior Auron, offering him his life back if he kills Hercules. However, Auron refuses, and Hades attempts to strike him down once more. It is at that moment that Sora and his friends arrive, defending Auron from Hades' attack. Unfortunately for the heroes, they are weakened within the negative environment of the Underworld while Hades is invincible, forcing them to flee.
Hades later reopens the Underdrome, an Underworld coliseum sealed by Zeus long ago. He achieves this by kidnapping Megara and imprisoning her within the Underdrome, forcing Sora to use the Keyblade to unlock the arena in order to save her. To prevent Hercules from interfering, Hades also sends a Hydra to attack Olympus Coliseum and keep the hero busy. Hercules does later come to help Sora and co., but had failed to fully finish off the Hydra before leaving Olympus Coliseum. As such, the Hydra leveled the Coliseum, causing Hercules to fall into depression and lose his strength and will to fight.
To celebrate the Underdrome re-opening, Hades decides to hold the Hades Cup, in the hopes of killing Hercules in his weakened state. Trapping Auron's soul in a statue, he orders him to take care of Hercules and Sora. Inevitably, the scheme fails, as Sora finds Auron's statue and gave him back his soul. A furious Hades dumps Meg into the River Styx with Hercules diving in after her. Confident they will be dead within moments, Hades overpowers Sora and his allies until Hercules emerges, his full power restored by willing to risk his life to save Meg. Hades is defeated and, while attempting to avoid a hit from Sora, loses his footing and falls down into the River Styx. Despite this, Hades manages to escape, though he doesn't appear to cause Hercules and company much trouble after that.
Kingdom Hearts III[]
Early on in Kingdom Hearts III, Hades launches an all-out attack on Olympus after freeing the Titans from their prison. He summons an army of Heartless to attack the city of Thebes to keep Hercules distracted while he and the Titans storm Olympus. However, Sora, Donald and Goofy arrive on the scene, much to Hades' annoyance. He demonstrates the Titans' power to the trio by having the Tornado Titan blow them away to Thebes where they must contend with the attacking Heartless army.
Before Hades ascends to Olympus, he is greeted by Maleficent and Pete. The pair ask Hades about a mysterious black box supposedly located on Hades' world. Hades believes that they are referring to Pandora's Box, which he says is buried in the gardens of Thebes. At Mount Olympus, Hades watch the Lava and Ice Titans imprison Zeus in cooled molten rock. However, Hercules, Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrive, having bested the Rock Titan on the way up. Hades orders the Titans to attack his foes, who barely manage to damage them. However, Hercules manages to free Zeus, whose thunderbolts harm the Titans enough to make them flee. Hercules uses the Tornado Titan to suck up the other three and tosses them out into space, where they explode. Hades attempts to retaliate but is mocked by Sora, Donald, and Goofy before Hercules punches Hades for ruining Thebes. Retreating, Hades threatens to dump Meg in the Styx as payback, but Zeus tosses a thunderbolt at Hades to shut him up.
Personality[]
As the Lord of the Underworld, Hades is a hot-headed fast talker who hates ruling the Underworld. His dream is to take over Mount Olympus. Hades is generally calm, cool, and collected. Though his machinations are cruel, his' informal approach to villainy makes him a widely comedic character with a self-aware and irreverent style of humour (though his jokes are usually played for his own, twisted amusement, and at the expense of others). However, this is partly surface-level; Hades is eternally bitter and imperious, with his most famous trait being his uncontrollably fervid temper. At times, the smallest inconveniences can send him over the edge, causing fiery fits and extreme damage to the area and people around him, depending on the situation. This quality makes him a feared figure among Greece and beyond, especially in the eyes of his minions, Pain and Panic.
For all his power, Hades is no match for his eldest brother. What Hades lacks in physical strength, however, he makes up for in cunning. He is incredibly meticulous with his scheming, going so far as to patiently wait eighteen years to unleash an attack upon Mount Olympus. He is also rather analytical; upon witnessing Hercules' strength firsthand, Hades instantly knew that his newborn nephew could cause issues with his plans and sought to eliminate the problem immediately, albeit unsuccessfully.
In addition to his own intellect, Hades relies on schmoozing to get what he wants, more so than his godly power. Even so, he's an honest god and keeps his end of the bargain with every deal, no matter what the stakes are. Additionally, Hades seems to be willing to give people second chances, as he is constantly giving Pain and Panic important tasks in spite of their constant failures. He is also implied to be somewhat sympathetic to Meg, as he is willing to free Meg (or at least reduce her time of servitude) as long as she helps him conquer Olympus. Also, when reminding her of how she ended up as his prisoner, Hades called Meg's ex-boyfriend a "creep", implying that even Hades was disgusted by what he did after Meg saved him.
Appearance[]
Hades appears as a blue-gray humanoid with flaming blue hair, wearing a black robe and a smoky base. When he gets angry, his skin turns red and he bursts into flames (especially his hair, which becomes yellow-orange). He has yellow eyes and sharp teeth.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Immortality: Like all gods, Hades is immortal as he cannot die or age.
- Endurance: Although his stamina is extremely high (he is able to withstand lava and freezing temperatures), Hades is not immune to pain, as evidenced by his fear of Zeus and his rays.
- Pyromancy: Hades possesses power over fire. He can throw fireballs at enemies and generate raging infernos at will. The fire that makes up his "hair" changes colour from blue to orange when he gets angry.
- Smoke Manipulation: With smoke, Hades can conjure objects and creatures from thin air. He also uses smoke as a means to teleport himself with the snap of a finger. Hades' cloak appears to be made of smoke, specifically at its base. Hades can also turn his arms into extendable, smokey appendages and use them to grab things (or people) from a distance.
- Telekinesis: Hades is able to control objets or people with his mind. He was able to throw a large dumbbell to Hercules with this power.
- Alchemy: Hades appears to dabble in alchemical practices as he has a potion stored within the Underworld with the power to turn gods into mortals.
External Links[]
- Hades in the Villains Wiki.
- Hades in the Disney Wiki.[1]