We all know that MCU movies tend to give out post-credit scenes that allow us to see what’s next in line for the franchise, and that was the case for Thor: Love and Thunder. The first post-credit scene allowed us to see Zeus, who was still alive, monologuing while telling someone to kill Thor Odinson for him. This happened to be Hercules, who is probably going to be the next Thor villain. So, who exactly is Hercules in Marvel?
Hercules, like his counterpart in Greek mythology, is the son of Zeus to a mortal woman that he seduced. That means that Hercules is part god and part man. On top of that, Hercules possesses raw strength that is potentially unlimited and is perhaps greater than what Thor possesses.
While we do know that Hercules is set to make a big splash in the next installment of the Thor movie franchise, there is a good chance that he won’t play the role of the villain in its entirety because the Hercules in the comics was never evil but was still Thor’s rival. That said, let’s look at what we know about Hercules.
Who is Hercules In Thor?
Similar to what the MCU often does when it comes to movie franchises with multiple installments, Thor: Love and Thunder has a post-credit scene that allows us to see what’s next in store for the God of Thunder and his next adventure. And this scene came during one of the most surprising parts of Love and Thunder.
Basically, Thor: Love and Thunder explores the journey of Thor, Jane, and Valkyrie as they are looking for a way to rescue the children that Gorr the God Butcher took from New Asger while also finding a way to prevent him from killing more gods. In that regard, Thor and Valkyrie brought up the idea of going to Omnipotence City, which is a city where multiple pantheons of gods from all over the universe gather. The leader of this city was Zeus, the oldest and wisest of all the gods.
Thor, who idolized Zeus, went to Omnipotence City so that he and his companions could convince him to raise an army that they could use to attack Gorr in the Shadow Realm so that they could defeat the God Butcher and rescue the Asgardian children that he kidnapped. However, when they got to Omnipotence City, Zeus was basically an asshole that only cared about himself and trivial matters. And it also became clear that most of the gods of the universe were also selfish pricks.
So, when Thor tried to ask Zeus to give him an army or, at the very least, allow him to borrow his Lightning Bolt, the leader of the gods denied all of his requests because he was afraid of Gorr. On top of that, Zeus wanted to wait out Gorr’s rampage because he believed that the God Butcher wouldn’t be able to reach them in Omnipotence City or find a way to get to Eternity. He also wanted to keep Thor in the city because he didn’t want Gorr to find a way to get to the other gods.
This led to a fight between Zeus’s guards and the group of Thor, Jane, Valkyrie, and Korg. When Zeus finally decided to join the fight, he used his Lightning Bolt to destroy Korg’s body. An angry Thor used the Lightning Bolt against Zeus and threw it so hard that it went through him cleanly, as the leader of the gods appeared to have been killed. Thor and company took the Lightning Bolt and used it against Gorr.
Nevertheless, in the post-credit scene, Zeus was shown to be alive but badly injured and wounded. He was monologuing about how he hated the fact that people now believed more in superheroes than in gods. As such, he finally told someone to take revenge on Thor on his behalf as we were able to see a character that resembles Hercules. But who exactly is Hercules in Marvel?
The Marvel version of Hercules is similar to the one in Greek myth. He was born out of the union of Zeus and a mortal woman that he seduced. And due to the fact that Hera, Zeus’s wife, was jealous of what her husband did, she named the boy Herakles.
Eventually, Herakles grew into a fine young man that had the superhuman strength of a god despite the fact that he was part human. He also ended up completing the 12 Labors that Hera forced upon him, as this was consistent with the character’s history in Greek myth. And later on, he decided to change his name to Hercules so that he could distance himself away from Hera.
In the comics, Hercules was a hero that eventually became a member of the Avengers at one point in time. That means that Hercules isn’t exactly an evil character, as he is actually more heroic than his father is. But what remained consistent was the fact that he had a rivalry with Thor because they often tried to one-up each other to prove who is the mightier god.
What Are Hercules’s Powers And Abilities?
In the comics, Hercules doesn’t possess any powers other than the fact that his body is extremely powerful due to the fact that he possesses the genetics of a god. In that regard, he possesses a superhuman physique that allows him to do things that normal humans cannot do.
Hercules’s greatest asset is his strength because he possesses strength that is basically unlimited. This makes him one of the strongest characters in the Marvel universe as far as physical strength is concerned. His extremely gifted physique also grants him physical abilities that surpass that of any god, as his only rival in terms of his might is Thor. He is faster and more durable than any other god aside from Thor.
But while Hercules could rival Thor’s physical might, he doesn’t possess his powers. Even though Hercules may be physically stronger than his rival, Thor is capable of doing more things because he has the power of thunder and has both Mjolnir and Stormbreaker to aid him in battle. But that has never prevented Hercules from matching Thor’s might in almost every way, as they ended up becoming rivals in the comics.
Who Plays Hercules In Thor?
It was revealed in the post-credit scene that Brett Goldstein is the one playing Hercules in Thor: Love and Thunder and most likely in any of the future installments of Thor. Goldstein has been acting since 2003, but it was in the Ted Lasso TV series that he truly made a name for himself with his portrayal of Roy Kent, one of the most important characters on the show.
Choosing Brett Goldstein to portray Hercules seems to be a perplexing decision on the part of Marvel Studios. While Goldstein is indeed a talented actor that is still on the rise, he doesn’t fit Hercules’s physical description as far as the comics are concerned. Nevertheless, it is still interesting to see how well Goldstein plays his role in the future, especially now that we know that Thor and Hercules are headed for a collision course.
