| “ | Ba-boom. Name is Hades. Lord of the Dead. Hi, how ya doin'? | „ |
| ~ Hades' most famous quote |
| “ | Hades: What did they dig these freaks up? Jeez, louise. Pete: Oh, they're nothing but trouble, the whole lot of them. So, uh, what are you going to do about Hercules. He's made meat on every fighter you sent at him. Pretty soon, the Underworld's gonna be a standing room only. Say, why don't you just pick somebody already dead and save him the trouble? Hades: Dead. Dead is good. And I know just a warrior. |
„ |
| ~ Hades and Pete |
| “ | I knew this was gonna happen. | „ |
| ~ A relieved Hades, Once Upon a Studio |
Hades is the main antagonist of Disney's Hercules franchise.
He is the corrupt Olympian god of the Underworld who is also Zeus and Poseidon's brother, Pain and Panic's abusive leader, Megara's former boss, and the uncle and archenemy of the titular character.
In all of his appearances, he was voiced by James Woods, who also played Falcon in Stuart Little 2, himself in Family Guy, Lex Luthor in Justice League Action, Captain Ahab in The Adventures of Moby Dick, Martin Walker in White House Down, Tom Hedden in Straw Dogs, Ned Trent in The Specialist, George Sheffield in Scarface: The World is Yours, Lester Diamond in Casino, Byron De La Beckwith in Ghosts of Mississippi, Maximilian "Max" Bercovicz in Once Upon a Time in America, Owlman in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Gloomius Maximus in Roly Poly Olie: The Great Defender of Fun, and Dr. Phillium Benedict in Recess: School's Out!. His singing voice was provided by Rob Paulsen in the song "It's Our House Now!" in Mickey's House of Villains. In the musical, he was portrayed by Roger Bart, who also provided the singing voice of young Hercules in the original film.
Description
Appearance
Hades is a slender, muscular humanoid. He has bluish-gray skin, flaming blue hair, yellow eyes, and sharp teeth. He is also very tall. Hades' fire hair also affects his emotions: when he's angry, his skin turns red and his hair turns orange. In Hercules: The Animated Series, when Hades is confused or embarrassed, his hair goes out, revealing his baldness. Hades wears a black, gray, and blue robe with skull garments.
Personality
Hades is normally cynical, sarcastic, manipulative, and ruthless, but he has a serious anger management problem. As an Olympian God, he is immortal and specifically has authority over the dead. Though temperamental and destructive, he is a persuasive fast-talker and a shrewd bargainer acting along the lines of a seedy car salesman or con artist. At some point prior to the film, he took ownership of Meg's soul as the result of one of these bargains. Hades isn't liked or well-regarded by most of the other Gods, except, ironically, his brother Zeus who he secretly detests, being completely resentful and jealous of his position as King of the Gods, and makes long-term plans to overthrow and kill him.
Also, unlike most villains, Hades really does not like arrogance, but he does have constant mood swings, being entertaining, comedic, and laid-back one minute, cloaking his dark aspirations in sarcasm and misdirection, and then argumentative, short-tempered, impatient, and angry the next as even the slightest inconvenience sends him into a fiery rage despite his humorous attempts to remain calm.
Despite his villainous and egotistical nature, Hades can also be quite honest and appreciative, even willing to honor his deals to those who served him well. This was confirmed when he happily frees Megara from her servitude after draining Hercules of his superhuman strength, saying that a deal is a deal. Also, when Megara was harmed and killed by the pillar that she protected Hercules from, Hercules' strength was restored, even though it would mean the downfall of Hades' diabolical plan. As well, Hades can also be somewhat friendly and demonstrative at times (hence when he politely introduced himself and greeted Hercules and others).
In House of Mouse, Hades is more polite and thoughtful, but only towards Maleficent (whom he has a crush on).
In the Kingdom Hearts video game series, Hades is the only Disney Villain who is not corrupted by Heartless. He rejects Maleficent at a certain point. He views taking over the multi-verse as not worth his time when just taking over his world would suit him, at least once Maleficent's plans to do so have already failed him twice. This edition of Hades, to the collective Disney canon, illustrates that Hades is both pragmatic and strong-willed, neither trait out of character for his original movie/cartoon series iteration. In the games, it is still demonstrated his anger has a breaking point even if his will does not and enough interference in his schemes will eventually cause Hades to go berserk with rage.
Powers and Abilities
- Pyrokinesis: Hades controls fire and can shoot it in any direction, which destroys any object in its path.
- Magma Manipulation: As the god of death, Hades can not only manipulate fire but also lava and magma.
- Conjuring: He has the ability to create objects out of a black mist.
- Teleportation: He can teleport himself from one point to another in black smoke.
- Reality Warping: He has the ability to warp reality by using his deals (like when he took Hercules' strength or when he healed Megara's former lover). He also manage to turn the Caucasian Eagle into a fire-powered bird with a simple bolt of fire energy to fight Prometheus.
- Resurrection: As an immortal god, Hades can manipulate life and death and bring someone back from the dead, as he did with Jafar. However, Jafar had to keep hold of his snake staff in order to be flesh and blood; otherwise, he would be a lifeless spirit. He also made Jafar's staff much more powerful.
- Sickness Inducement: As the god of death, Hades can manipulate sicknesses and other deadly diseases that can make someone die.
- Terrakinesis: Hades has shown to have the power to manipulate the terrain when he was chasing after Prometheus and Hercules.
- Telekinesis: Hades can move any object with his mind, like when he threw an altar on Hercules.
- Control over the Underworld's Creatures: He has the ability to control monsters like Cerberus, a three-headed dog, who guards his palace. He can also create monsters.
- Immortality: He is unaffected by age and he can't die (unless he were to drink the magic potion that made Hercules mortal).
- God-like strength and durability: As a god, he has shown huge levels of superhuman strength, endurance, durability, stamina, enhanced senses, and superhuman healing factor. However, his strength is noticeably inferior to Zeus' and equal to Poseidon's.
- Dark Magic Manipulation: Hades is highly skilled in dark magic, including necromancy. He can manipulate dark magic and create dark potions like when he successfully made a Mortal Potion, a glowing pink, poison-like potion that makes the drinker mortal (hence the name, as it is used on immortals) to make Hercules drink it and become mortal.
Former Powers and Abilities
- Lightning Manipulation: In the TV series episode "Hercules and the Tapestry of Fate", Hades briefly altered fate to create an alternate universe, where he was King of the Gods and his brother Zeus was the God of Death. In this altered world, Hades also copied and stole his brother's lightning powers. However, after Hercules fixed the tapestry and restored the real universe, Hades then lost his position and lightning powers and was reverted to being the God of Death.
Relationships
Allies
- Jafar - Resurrectee and friiend
- The Fates - Assistants
- Pain and Panic - Minions and enforcers
- Cerberus - Pet
- Titans - Uncles and Aunts, former enemies turned allies
- Pete - Friend and minion
- Disney Villains
- Maleficent - Love Interest
Enemies
- Kronos - Father and attempted killer
- Olympian Gods - Family turned enemies
- Zeus - Brother turned enemy
- Poseidon - Brother turned enemy
- Hera - Sister-in-law turned enemy
- Megara - Former minion turned enemy
- Phil
- Hercules - Nephew turned archenemy and attempted victim
- Aladdin - Attempted victim
- Abu - Kidnapped enemy
- Icarus - Kidnapped enemy and attempted minion
- Magic Carpet
- Pegasus
- Cassandra - Former minion
- Sora
- Donald Duck
- Goofy
Quotes
| “ | If only. If only… | „ |
| ~ Hades as he leaves Mount Olympus |
| “ | I KNOW!!! You know, I know! I got it! I got the concept. | „ |
| ~ Hades the second time the Fates said that they know |
| “ | So lemme just ask, is this kid gonna mess up my hostile takeover bid, or what? What do you think? | „ |
| ~ Hades to the Fates about Hercules' fate |
| “ | WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!? [inhales] Okay, fine, fine, I'm cool, I'm fine. | „ |
| ~ Hades bursting out in flames after learning Hercules is destined to defeat him before relaxing |
| “ | Hades: Pain? Panic? Got a riddle for ya. How do you kill a god? Pain: I… do not know. Panic: You can't! They're immortal? Hades: Bingo, they're immortal! So first, you're gonna turn that little sunspot… mortal. |
„ |
| ~ Hades tasking Pain and Panic to kill the infant Hercules with a potion that renders anyone mortal |
| “ | Hades: Meg, my little flower, my little bird, my little nut-meg. What exactly happened here? I thought you were going to persuade the River Guardian to join my team for the uprising, and here I am kind of… River Guardian-less. Meg: I gave it my best shot, but he made me an offer I had to refuse! Hades: Fine, so, instead of subtracting two years of your sentence, hey, I'm gonna add two on, okay? Give that your best shot! |
„ |
| ~ Hades confronting Meg over failing to get Nessus to join his side |
| “ | So you took care of him, huh?! "Dead as a doornail"! Weren't those your EXACT words?! | „ |
| ~ Hades to Pain and Panic after learning that they failed to kill Hercules |
| “ | I'm about to rearrange the cosmos. And the one schlemiel, who can louse it up, is waltzing around IN THE WOODS!!!" | „ |
| ~ Hades raging against Pain and Panic about Hercules' survival |
| “ | Fortunatley for the three of you, we still have time to correct this rather obrageous oversight. And this time, no foul-ups. | „ |
| ~ Hades planning to get rid of Hercules |
| “ | Hades: Stirring performance boys. I was really moved. Panic: "Jeepers, mister"?! Pain: I was going for innocence. Hades: And, hey. Two thumbs WAY way up for our leading lady. What a dish, what a doll. |
„ |
| ~ Hades after Hercules rescued Pain and Panic disguised as children |
| “ | Let's get ready to RUMBLE! | „ |
| ~ Hades as the battle between Hercules and Hydra begins |
| “ | Guys. Guys. Relax! It's only halftime. | „ |
| ~ Hades as it starts to rain |
| “ | Hades: My favorite part of the game. Hercules: Uh… Hades: Sudden death. |
„ |
| ~ Hades |
| “ | I've got 24 hours to get rid of this bozo. Or the entire scheme I've been setting up for 18 years goes up in smoke. And you... are wearing... his... MERCHANDISE?!" | „ |
| ~ Hades getting angry at Pain for wearing Hercules branded sandals |
| “ | Hades: I wonder if maybe I haven't been throwing the right curves at him… Meg, my sweet. Meg: Don't even go there. Hades: See, he's got to have a weakness because everybody's got a weakness. I mean, for what? Pandora, it was the box thing. For the Trojans, hey, they just bet on the wrong horse, okay? We simply need to find out Wonderboy's. |
„ |
| ~ Hades suggesting to Meg that Hercules might have a weakness |
| “ | Hades: I need somebody who can handle him as a man. Meg: Hey, I sworn off man-handling. Hades: Well, you know what, that's good because that's what got you into this jam in the first place, isn't it?! You sold your soul to me to save your boyfriend's life! And how does this creep thank you: by running off with some babe. He hurt you real bad, didn't he, Meg? Huh? Meg: Look, I learned my lesson, okay? Hades: Which is exactly why I got a feeling you're gonna leap at my new offer. You give me the key to bringing down Wonder-Breath, and I give you the thing you crave most in the entire cosmos: your freedom. |
„ |
| ~ Hades offering a deal to Meg to find Hercules' weakness in exchange for her freedom |
| “ | Hades: Meg, Meg, Meg, my sweet, deluded little minion! Aren't we forgetting one teensy, weensy, but ever-so crucial, little, tiny detail? I OWN YOU!!! You work for me! If I say sing, you say "Hey, name that tune!" If I say I want Wonder Boy's head on a platter, you say? Meg: Medium or well-done? |
„ |
| ~ Hades to Meg after she attempts to quit |
| “ | He's a guy. | „ |
| ~ Hades complaining to Meg about Hercules |
| “ | I think he does, Meg. I really think, he does. | „ |
| ~ Hades realizing that Meg is Hercules weakness |
| “ | Here's the trade-off: You give up your strength for about 24 hours; Okay, say the next 24 hours, and Meg here is as free as a bird and safe from harm; we dance, we kiss, we schmooze, we carry on, we go home happy. What do you say? Come on. | „ |
| ~ Hades forcing Hercules into making a deal to take away his strength for 24 hours in exchange for Meg's safety |
| “ | Hades: Yes, we're THERE!! BAM! You may feel just a little queasy, it's kinda natural. Maybe you should… sit DOWN!!! [throws a weight on Hercules] Now you know how it feels to be just like everybody else, Isn't it just… peachy? Oh. [chuckles] You'll love this one more thing. [to Meg] Meg, babe… a deal's a deal. You're off the hook. And by the way, is she not a fabulous little actress? Hercules: What do you mean? Hades: I mean your little chicky-poo here was working for me all the time. Duh! |
„ |
| ~ Hades draining Hercules' superhuman strength before releasing Meg from his control, right before he confesses to Hercules that she was working for him until the moment |
| “ | Hades: BROTHERS… TITANS!!! LOOK AT YOU IN YOUR SQUALID PRISON!! WHO PUT YOU DOWN THERE?? Titans: ZEUS!!! Hades: AND NOW THAT I SET YOU FREE, WHAT THE FIRST THING YOU'RE GOING TO DO?!! Titans: DESTROY HIM!! Hades: Good answer. Lythos: Crush Zeus! Hydros: Freeze him! Pyros: Melt Zeus! Stratos: Blow him away! Hades: Uh, guys? Olympus would be that way. |
„ |
| ~ Hades releasing the Titans before directing them to the correct location of Mount Olympus |
| “ | Hades: Zeusy, I'm home! Zeus: Hades… YOU'RE BEHIND THIS!? Hades: You are correct, sir! |
„ |
| ~ Hades revealing his true nature to Zeus by getting the Titans to trap him |
| “ | Zeus: I swear to you, Hades, when I get out of this… Hades: I’m the one giving orders, bolt boy. And I think I’m gonna like it here. |
„ |
| ~ Hades rising to power, having captured Zeus, and overthrowing him as ruler of Olympus. |
| “ | Guys, get your titanic rears and gear and KICK some Olympian butt! Whoa, is my hair out?! | „ |
| ~ Hades raging at the Titans' cowardice before Pegasus blows out the fire on his head |
| “ | We were SO CLOSE!!! So close, we tripped the finish line, why? Because our little nut-Meg has to go all noble! | „ |
| ~ Hades villainous breakdown after the Titans' defeat |
| “ | Hmm. Well, well. It's a small underworld after all, huh? | „ |
| ~ Hades revealing the dead in the river of Styx to Hercules |
| “ | Hades: Hmmm. A son... of my hated rival trapped forever in a river of death. Hercules: Going once! Hades: Hm, is there a downside to this? Hercules: Going twice! Hades: Okay! O-O-Okay, okay, okay, okay. You get her out. She goes, you stay. |
„ |
| ~ Hades making a deal with Hercules to get Meg out of river of Styx while he stays there, knowing full well Hercules will die before he reaches Meg. |
| “ | Hades: This is… This is impossible! You… You… You can’t be alive! You’d have to be a, a… Pain and Panic: A god? |
„ |
| ~ Hades realizing that Hercules has regained his godly status |
| “ | Hercules, stop! You can’t do this to me! You can’t- (Hercules punches Hades) Fine. Okay. Listen. Ha! Okay. Well, I deserved that. Herc, Herc, Herc. Can we talk? You're dad; he's the fun guy, right? So maybe you could put in a word with him, and he'd kinda... blow this whole thing off, you know? Meg. Meg, tell him. have a little smoochze, and... [Hercules angrily punches him in the face] GGAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHH...!!! | „ |
| ~ Hades before he got punched in the face, sending him flying into the river of Styx |
| “ | Eww! Get away from me! Don't touch me! Get your slimy souls off me! | „ |
| ~ Hades as the souls of the Underworld surround him in the River of Styx |
| “ | Taxi! TAXI!!! | „ |
| ~ Hades trying to escape the River of Styx |
| “ | I don't feel so good. I—I'm feeling a little… FLUSHED! | „ |
| ~ Hades' defeat |
| “ | What d'ya say? It's happy ending time! Everybody's got a little taste of somethin' but me. I got nothin'. I am here with nothin'. Anybody listenin'?! It's like I'm, what am I? An echo or something? Hello? Hel—lo?! Am I talking to, what? Hyperspace? Hello, it's me! Nobody listens. | „ |
| ~ Hades' last words in the post-credits |
Trivia
- Hades is ranked #8 in the Top 30 Disney Villains.
- Hades is one of the most popular Disney villains, mainly due to James Woods' voice performance of him. Originally, he was supposed to be less comedic and more serious. However, when Woods auditioned for the role, the character was rewritten to fit more with the actor's portrayal of him.
- Hades' voice actor, James Woods has stated that Hades is his favorite voice role and he reprises the role at any opportunity and has successfully done so with only one exception where his singing voice was provided by Rob Paulsen in Mickey's House of Villains.
- James Woods ate a watermelon while recording to make the slurping sounds more authentic in the scene where he is eating worms.
- His defeat (thrown into the River Styx) is potentially a reference to the Devil being thrown into the Lake of Fire in The Revelation of Saint John. However, the difference is while Hades was merely trapped in the River; Satan is completely and utterly destroyed from his fall into the Lake of Fire.
- In classical mythology, Hades was actually a relatively passive and acquiescent god; he was simply feared, because of his position among the Olympians (i.e. he ruled over the Underworld).
- Due to his immortality, Hades and Governor Ratcliffe are the only two Disney Renaissance villains who don't die at the end of their films. Although Jafar didn't die at the end of Aladdin, he actually dies at the end of the 1994 sequel, The Return of Jafar.
- He was originally supposed to be voiced by Jack Nicholson, who also portrayed Frank Costello in Martin Scorsese's The Departed, Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman, Jimmy Hoffa in Danny DeVito's Hoffa, Colonel Nathan R. Jessup in Rob Reiner's A Few Good Men, and Daryl Van Horne in the 1987 film The Witches of Eastwick by George Miller. However, Nicholson turned down the role because he felt that his payment was bad. Curiously, James Woods was considered to portray the Joker and Colonel Nathan R. Jessup before Nicholson obtained the roles.
- Before the release of Descendants 3, it was theorized that he was Mal's absent father since the film's trailer. This is later confirmed in the film when it was released.
- Hades' supervising animator was Nik Ranieri.
- Hades is the second Disney villain to be biologically related to the protagonist, preceded by Scar from Disney's The Lion King. Ironically, Hades and Scar were the archenemies of Hercules and Simba, respectively.
- It is unclear as to why Hades was not aware that Hercules hadn't been killed by Pain and Panic back when Hercules was a baby, seeing that he is the Lord of the Dead; the most likely explanation is that he does not keep track of specific details about his role and simply assumed that all had gone according to plan. But in the series, Hades claimed that if someone was dead, he would know about it. Hades' appearance in the TV series contradicts the film as he believed that Hercules was dead when he was a teenager during the film. This is an open inconsistency with the production crew to allow him to be written into episodes.
- But in "Hercules and the Aetolian Amphora", it's revealed that Hades has jars of the Lethe water. Because of this, it's possible that Pain and Panic used one of them on Hades before he found out. Plus, Hades is shown to be overconfident many times, so it's possible that he didn't check, and just imitated Pain and Panic.
- Hades serves as a dark reflection to Megara. Both were feeling with much frustration, due to different circumstances (Meg is infuriated by her revived ex-boyfriend's infidelity, and has a sense of misandry; Hades is enraged by his predicted fate of being beaten by his own nephew, Hercules, while attempting world domination) and were working together for the same goal of targeting Hercules as well. However, once Meg gets to personally know Hercules more, she started to mellow herself out (which also made her rebel against her boss) and began to lose her overall misandristic streak. On the other hand, Hades himself could not let go of his own anger against his nephew, given that he is a power-hungry deity himself. If Meg didn't get any chance to meet and interact with Hercules on a personal basis, and let her own past grudge get the better of her, she would've ended up like Hades.
External Links
- Hades on the Disney Wiki
- Hades on the Kingdom Hearts Wiki
 Villains
| ||
|
The Underworld Titans Typhon and Echidna's Children Others | ||
 Villains
| ||
|
Just Dance series Crossover Appearances | ||
