List of Disney's Hercules characters


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.

Hercules

Hercules is the title character of the franchise. He is based on the mythological Heracles, most 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 brown-orange brass Cuirass-like tank armor tunic with a blue cape.
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 latter of whom 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. 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 Hercules 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, and relates the events to the Lord of the Underworld, by which he learns that Hercules is still alive. After freeing two boys from under a boulder, Hercules unintentionally releases the Hydra, a serpent-like monster which has been set up as a fixed contest by Hades to kill the hero. Although the beast initially swallows him whole, Hercules scrambles to defeat the Hydra by cutting off its head, only for more heads to grow back, as a swarm heads gang up to attack him. Finally, Hercules defeated it by a rockslide, thus earning the hero fame and adoration from the people of Thebes. By this time, Hercules has disposed of other monsters that Thebes had imprisoned for attacking them but were incapable of killing and 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 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. 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 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. 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, but he decides to live his life on Earth 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, 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. 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..." Teenage Hercules has big hands and feet that the animator remembers having himself, as well as the lack of coordination. 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. 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."
The animated series Hercules Hercules go to a high school for gods and mortals named Prometheus Academy and is still in training by Phil.
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 later games. 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 the fifth season of Once Upon a Time portrayed by Jonathan Whitesell.

Phil

Phil, is a satyr who is a trainer of aspiring heroes who has often been disappointed by his trainees' shortcomings. He 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, Megara 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 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".
In the TV series Phil is still Hercules's coach and is now his best friend and sidekick. His training with Odysseus and Achilles remains intact.
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 is a young woman who used to work for Hades, the Lord of the Underworld. Megara has fair skin and waist-length dark brown hair which is pulled into a ponytail. She appears to wear purple makeup to match the color of her eyes and a Grecian-style dress. She also wears a dark purple loose-sash around her waist. 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. While Meg follows Hades' orders, she shows open defiance at times and a cheeky attitude.
Meg first appears on screen while trying to convince the centaur Nessus to join Hades' forces, only to have him attempt to seduce her. Hercules intervenes, defeating Nessus in a fight and becoming enamoured of Meg, which Hades plans to use to his advantage. 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 on the world
In , 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 returns in the sequel, Kingdom Hearts III. 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 is the winged horse of Hercules, created by Zeus out of clouds. 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 games Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts III.

Hades

Hades is the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. Unlike his mythological counterpart, who is typically portrayed as a feared but relatively passive deity, he is a fast-talking, ornery, lord of the underworld: a combination of Satan and a sleazy dodgy persuasive Hollywood agent type/car dealer. He wears a dark robe with a skull-shaped perone fastening his chiton and his hair is a glowing blue flame which flares up whenever he becomes excited or — more famously — flares red whenever he becomes enraged, and can also be extinguished. Hades seeks to overthrow Zeus and rule the universe, in line with other pop-culture Hades's being villainous due to association with death.
In Hercules, upon visiting the Fates, he learns that he could succeed at universal conquest by releasing the Titans in eighteen years, but if Hercules is to fight Hades, he will fail. Hades sends his minions, 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 ends up losing the last drop, thus retaining his godlike strength. Pain and Panic, however, tell Hades that Hercules is dead, hoping that he will not find out.
Later, as revealed in ', Hades passes time by trying other plans 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."
Back to the original film: a young woman named Megara sells her soul to Hades so that he will return her boyfriend's soul. He does, but Meg's boyfriend ungratefully dumps her for another girl 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 the Hydra to finish Hercules off, only for Hercules to slay it. When he finds out that Hercules has fallen in love with Megara, he uses this to his advantage and makes a deal with Hercules: he must give up his superhuman strength for the next twenty-four hours 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 Hercules to keep him from getting in the way, but Hercules defeats the monster using his wits.
However, Megara is seriously injured saving Hercules from a falling pillar, negating Hades's deal that Meg would not be hurt. Hercules is thus given his powers back and returns to Mount Olympus where he defeats the Titans and frees the gods. Hades is upset by this, 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, but his godhood is restored by his being willing to risk his own life to save the woman he loves. Hercules emerges from the pit with Megara's soul in his arms, much to Hades' shock and 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.
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, 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 ', 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 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 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, 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 .
An iteration of this Hades made his live-action debut in the second half of the fifth season of Once Upon a Time, portrayed by Greg Germann.
Another iteration appears in Descendants 3, portrayed by Cheyenne Jackson. Hades is among the villains imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost, despite his godhood. He is revealed to be Mal's father and the ex-husband of Maleficent who left Mal and her mother when she was just a baby. Hades briefly lent his ember to Mal in order to undo a spell done by a jealous Audrey. He was later brought over from the Isle of the Lost to revive Audrey. By the end of the film, Hades approves of Mal's marriage to Ben as interaction between Auradon and the Isle of the Lost is allowed.

Pain and Panic

Pain and Panic are a pair of shapeshifting demons who are Hades's minions. Pain is a fat, crimson-shaded demon, and Panic is skinny and turquoise. 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. 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.
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. 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 powers to contact Megara. At the end of the movie, Hades is punched into the river Styx, and the two are left watching him go down into the river, hoping that he won't return.
Pain and Panic also appear in the, and still serve as Hades's lackeys. They made many brief appearances in the House of Mouse television series, usually along with Hades 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.

Gods

Greek Gods

Olympic Gods

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. When the planets were in alignment, Hades freed the Titans and directed them to Mount Olympus. They were defeated by Zeus and Hercules as Hercules sent the Titans flying into outer space where they exploded.
The animated series added some of the named Titans from mythology.
In the episode "Hercules and the Twilight of the Gods", Hercules and Phil visit Valhalla and meet the Norse gods, including:
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 and after being driven away by Hercules and Icarus.
The Prometheus Academy is the fictional high school from the Disney animated television series . Though set in Ancient Greece, 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 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

The following are the faculty members of Prometheus Academy:
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 in order to teach the students by means of his morals.
One episode featured a crossover with Aladdin, in which Hades and Jafar team up to destroy both their respective archnemesis.

Creatures