- “You should’ve left when I told you. Now, I gotta kill some sea monsters!”
- ―Ercole attacking Luca and Alberto[src]
Ercole Visconti is the main antagonist of the 2021 Disney•Pixar animated feature film Luca.
Background
Official Description
- Ercole Visconti is the allegedly 16-year-old bully of the small Italian town of Portorosso and repeat champion of the town's Portorosso Cup race, despite how many people point out he is too old for it. He's a Vespa-owning, pompadoured blowhard who believes that everyone loves him and enjoys watching him eat sandwiches. He has two worshipful followers, Ciccio and Guido, who accompany him everywhere, ready to do his bidding.[1]
Personality
Ercole is a narcissistic bully, believing himself to be the best person in Portorosso, and bullying others as a way to brag about his self-proclaimed success and as a show of strength. He cares deeply for his reputation, going to any length to keep his track record as winner of the Portorosso Cup. His ego causes him to delusionally believe that everyone in Portorosso adores and respects him when in fact nearly everyone despises him, even the local priest.
His approach to bullying can be physical, as seen when he tried to dunk Luca after he accidentally almost harmed his Vespa and when he punched Alberto when he tried to defend his friend. He is also a bad boss, abusing his underlings to the point of them eventually rebelling against him and throwing him into the fountain after he insults them.
Ercole is also greedy, to the point of going to hunt for a sea monster upon hearing that there's a reward for capturing one and even admitting upon hearing this that he is doing it for the mere idea of winning a prize at all. As well as greedy and a bully, he can also be murderous when he attempted to kill Alberto and Luca for both the reward and to win the race, in spite of being completely aware that they are as sentient as he is, revealing himself to be a self-centered sociopath.
Additionally, Ercole is materialistic, displaying anger once Luca nearly harmed his Vespa and sadness when his sweater was wet due to being thrown into the fountain with him. He is also shown to be very immature, as seen with his self-centered ways of bullying and constant entering of the Portorosso Cup, even though many have pointed out that Ercole's getting too old to compete in the race.
Physical appearance
Ercole has a slender build, a straight-laced face, lightly tanned skin, hazel eyes, dark brown slicked-back hair, and a few pencil-thin mustache hairs. He wears a dark blue polo shirt with: thin, light blue stripes, periwinkle shorts, brown slip-ons and a hot-pink wool sweater wrapped around his shoulders. During the race, Ercole wears a red polo shirt with a thick white stripe in the middle and two white stripes on both sides, white fingerless gloves, dark blue shorts, white socks and black dress shoes.
Role in the film
In the Italian seaside town of Portorosso, Ercole has gained a notorious reputation as the local bully as a result of having won the town's annual Portorosso Cup five times in a row and constantly bragging about it to everyone, as well as constantly flaunting himself by loudly riding his Vespa through the town square and streets whilst blaring loud music from a radio. The children of Portorosso fear and hate him for his bullying, whilst the adults see him as an annoying nuisance. When he arrives into town on a shiny red Vespa with his two goons, Ciccio and Guido, carrying a sub for him, Luca and Alberto, having arrived to Portorosso to flee from Luca's parents, accidentally earn his ire after Luca kicks a ball that hits Ercole's Vespa, making it fall over (with Ciccio saving it from getting any major scratches). Upon learning that Luca was responsible, Ercole decides to mock him before threatening to dunk his face in the fountain, exposing him as a sea monster. Luckily, a girl named Giulia, who loathes Ercole for costing her the chance of winning the Portorosso Cup, saves Luca and Alberto just in time and takes them away, while Ercole eggs them on one last time by telling to go start a club "for losers".
Later, when Luca, Alberto, and Giulia earn enough funds to buy their participation in the race, Ercole, Ciccio, and Guido arrives to sign up for the race as well. After signing up, Ercole sees the three heroes signing up as well and orders Ciccio to steal their entry money. However, when Luca insults him by calling him a catfish (a bottom-feeder with sad little whiskers), Ercole decides to allow them to enter the race with the intention of destroying them.
During the days leading to the race, Ercole soon becomes suspicious of Luca and Alberto, as he discovers signs that they might be sea monsters. During the final day of training, Luca and Alberto get into an argument when the former suggests going to Giulia's school in Genoa to learn more. When Giulia catches up, Alberto decides to expose himself in front of Giulia, expecting Luca to do the same, but Luca, out of panic, calls Alberto out. This one act, coupled by Giulia's screaming, catches the attention of Ercole, who tries to capture Alberto with the intention of winning the prize money.
The next day, Luca, Giulia, and Ercole are ready to begin to Portorosso Cup. Before the swimming portion, Ercole pours a whole container of olive oil onto Ciccio to make him more streamlined, revealing his cheating tricks. The race begins, but Ciccio struggles to complete his portion as fish are nipping at his body, allowing Giulia and Luca to complete the first leg. When Ciccio finally finishes the leg, Ercole forces Guido to the table to complete the second leg, which involves eating a whole plate of pasta. When Giulia manages to complete her plate, Ercole impatiently shoves the remaining pasta into Guido's mouth (much to the dismay of another participant, as she points out he's cheating) and quickly tags himself in to catch up with Giulia. At the same time, Luca manages to complete his plate and gets on his bike to finish the final leg.
As the bikers ride up the hill, Ercole manages to beat out Giulia, but Luca arrives and passes him up. Unfortunately, at this time, it begins to rain, jeopardizing Luca's chances of winning the race as the water would expose him as a sea monster. However, Alberto, having a change of heart, quickly catches up to Luca. Ercole decides to sideswipe Alberto, causing him to drop his umbrella and expose his sea monster identity. When Ercole sees the monster Alberto is, he quickly captures him, but Luca, wanting to save his friend, decides to expose his true self and rescues Alberto. As they race down the hill, Ercole starts acting more blatantly unhinged and obsessed with the idea of killing the two.
When Luca, Alberto, Giulia, and Ercole get close to the end, Giulia decides to crash her bike into Ercole's to stop him from harming her friends, but she gets hurts herself in the process. Concerned for Giulia's safety, Luca and Alberto go help her up, but this results in the townspeople surrounding them, with the fishermen ready to kill them, alongside a deranged Ercole, who tries to rally the townsfolk that they are afraid of them because they are sea monsters. However, Luca puts his foot down and tells the bully off, saying that just because they're monsters doesn't mean they should be the subject of shunning. Massimo, having grown fond of the two boys and because they were looking after his daughter, tells the townsfolk that they are the winners of the Portorosso Cup on a technicality (their bike crossed the finish line). However, Ercole refuses to accept this and once again tries to convince everyone to kill them because they are monsters and that their win shouldn't matter, but when the townsfolk realize that they're harmless (and not wanting to get on the wrong side of Massimo), they decide to spare and leave them be. After Luca, Alberto and Giulia break his harpoon, Ercole demands Ciccio and Guido to give him another one and then insults them by calling them idiots and tells them to "be useful for once in their pathetic lives." Finally fed up with his constant mistreatment, they proceed to toss him into the fountain, shrinking his wool sweater and finally ending his winning streak, alongside his reign over Portorosso, Ercole is last seen crying over his wet and shrunken sweater, upset that he lost the cup and his reputation.
Gallery
Trivia
- His last name is based on an actual Italian noble family. Curiously enough, the heraldry of that family shows a person being devoured by a sea monster (or in the case of Silvio Berlusconi's holding company Fininvest and its subsidiary Mediaset, as well as its own channel Canale 5, shows the same sea monster eating a flower instead).
- While it's never revealed how old he actually is, since Ercole had won the Portorosso Cup the last five years in a row and also claimed to be 16 (apparently the oldest possible age to compete in it) for the current year and the previous year, he must be 17 at the absolute youngest (assuming that he was 12 the first time he won the Portorosso Cup). Eventually, it was confirmed by the directors that Ercole's age was around 18.[2]
- Ercole shares some similarities with Gaston LeGume, the antagonist of Beauty and the Beast, in that both characters are fairly well-known in their communities, have a high status of nobility for their various achievements, and attempt to kill the protagonists who are "monsters" for their own personal gain and use their hideous appearance as an excuse (though Gaston's motivation is out of lust while Ercole's is greed). The only difference is that Gaston was beloved by all while Ercole is hated by all.
- During the scene where Luca and Alberto begin to bond, the two spy on a fisherman boat. There are two fishermen on board. Just as they're getting set up, a person speeds by on their boat, causing one of the fisherman to yell an insult at them in frustration. If you close up the image, the person in the boat appears to be Ercole. Another giveaway detail is that it is also the same boat Ercole and his friends are seen in while hunting for sea monsters on the bay line.
References
External links
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