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Hercules
 Created by:
Joe Blair &
Ed Wexler
Real Name:
Heracles,
Son of Zeus
Joined Mighty Crusaders:
The Hangman is not a member of the Mighty
Crusaders.
First Appearance:
Blue Ribbon
Comics #4, June 1940
Origin:
Hercules,
strongest man in all history, earned a place on Mount Olympus by wiping
out the evils of ancient Greece. Now Zeus has orders Hercules back to
Earth to rid the modern world of wars, gangsters and racketeers.
History:
Hercules is the son of Zeus,
king of the gods of Olympus, and Alcmena, a mortal woman who lived about
three thousand years ago. Recognizing the need for a son who would be
powerful enough to defend both the Olympian gods and humanity from
future dangers he foresaw, Zeus seduced Alcmena in the guise of her
husband, King Amphitryon of Troezen. Thanks to Zeus's enchantment,
Hercules was born with the potential for extraordinary strength, which
he first displayed before he was even one year old by strangling two
serpents which attacked him. As an adult, Hercules is best known for his
celebrated Twelve Labors, which were performed in part to prove his
worthiness for immortality to Zeus.
In the course of these
Labors, Hercules provoked the wrath of three immortals who remain his
enemies to this day. By slaughtering the man-eating Stymphalian Birds,
he enraged the war god Ares, to whom they were sacred. In temporarily
capturing Cerberus, the three-headed hound that serves as guardian to
the Olympian underworld
, Hercules offended Pluto, the lord of that realm.
By killing the Nemean Lion, the Hydra, and other creatures spawned by
the inconceivably grotesque and powerful monster Typhoeus, Hercules
gained the bitter enmity of Typhon, the immortal humanoid offspring of
Typhoeus and a Titaness.
However, it was the centaur Nessus who caused
Hercules' mortal demise. Nessus kidnapped Hercules' wife Deianeira,
whereupon Hercules shot him with an arrow. Feigning a wish to make
amends, the dying centaur told Deianeira how to make a love charm from
his allegedly enchanted blood, aware that it was now tainted with the
lethal poison of the Hydra, in which Hercules had dipped his arrows.
Some time after Nessus' death, Deianeira, distraught over her husband's
latest infidelity, rubbed the supposed love charm into Hercules' shirt.
After putting aflame. Zeus then intervened, consuming the pyre with his
thunderbolts and bringing Hercules to Olympus to be made a true
immortal.
Powers & Weapons:
Hercules is highly expert in
traditional means of hand-to-hand combat, as well as in wrestling.
Hercules is also very highly skilled in ancient Greek athletic feats
such as the discus and hammer throws. Hercules' principal power is his
superhuman strength. As true immortals, the Olympian gods do not age and
are not susceptible to disease. Although they can be wounded in battle,
they cannot die by any conventional means, and have a rapid healing
rate.
Checklist:
MLJ Comics:
Blue Ribbon Comics 4-8
  
TEXT BY:
Rik Offenberger
ART BY:
Ed Wexler
MICRO BY: CopperAge, Isaac Turner and
Rik Offenberger
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