Hercules is the name of a character (perhaps multiple characters) in the DC Universe/Multiverse.
Hercules (Golden Age)[]
The first noted incarnation of Hercules in the DC Universe was a "hero" of ancient times who had also enslaved the amazons before they outwitted him and escaped. After the reboot of the DC universe in Crisis, Heracles — the Greek spelling — appeared in the pages of Wonder Woman. George Pérez, putting Greek mythology at the center of Wonder Woman's world, relates the tale of Heracles' and his men's conquest of the Amazons and his rape of Queen Hippolyta, and their revenge upon him. During Diana's Challenge of the Gods storyline, she discovered that Heracles was transformed into a colossal stone pillar within Doom's Doorway, and was supporting Themyscira's weight for several millennia. In this stone state, he was tormented and scarred by various mythological creatures, feeling the pain inflicted by them but not being able to do anything about it. This was the punishment given to him by his Olympian family for his past transgressions. Gaining his original form back, he begged the Amazons for forgiveness. Though some of the Amazons still harbored hatred for their past rapes and humiliation, most of them were moved by Heracles' newfound humility, and Queen Hippolyta asked her people to search their hearts for the strength to forgive, which they eventually did. Doing so herself, Hippolyta not only forgave Heracles, but shared a brief romance with him before he left the mortal realm to return to his father in Olympus. Later, John Byrne did an inconclusive storyline in which Heracles appeared in the contemporary world and schemed to take revenge on the Amazons by seducing Wonder Woman. He did this by making an agreement with a mortal Golden Age superhero named Harold Champion. In exchange for his identity, Heracles gave Champion admission into Olympus. Once this was agreed upon, Heracles used the Mirror of Circe to alter his appearance into that of Champion. He proceeded to befriend Wonder Woman as a "new" friend, helping her deal with such problems as a confrontation with a duplicate of the monstrous Doomsday. Heracles' identity was eventually revealed and he resumed his life on Olympus. Strangely, the question of Hercules being part of Captain Marvel's power is something that is never addressed.
Trivia[]
During the Marvel/DC crossover JLA/Avengers, Wonder Woman believed the Marvel Comics' Hercules to be a villain, assuming that he had raped his dimension's Hippolyta; however, Marvel Comics' Hercules had simply had a consensual relationship with Marvel Comics' Hippolyta. Ironically, the Marvel Universe version of Hercules is a hero, while Hippolyta is a villainess. However, this presents some continuity problems as Diana and her mother had already accepted his forgiveness, and Wonder Woman had not yet reverted to any previous incarnations. It is possible she was using the incident to fuel her rage, but she was still threatening approaching Asgardian gods that she would harm a subdued Hercules at the end of the fight. It may also be possible that Wonder Woman (who, like most of the JLA, did not believe that good was championed sufficiently in the Marvel Universe) was too disgusted at the idea that this Hercules had never been punished for what he did to the Amazons to think straight.
Media[]
The character was only adapted for the old series Shazam! (A kindly version of him appears as one of the characters responsible for the powers of the character Captain Marvel).