Hercules (also known as Heracles and Herakles) is a fictional Olympian god in the DC Universe based on the Greek demigod and hero of the same name.

Hercules first appears in All Star Comics #8 (January 1942) as part of a Wonder Woman story, and was created by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter, in the first of several incarnations.

He performed twelve labors requiring prodigious strength and upon his earthly death, was taken to Mount Olympus to dwell among the Gods ever after" (Wonder Woman #1, 1968).

The same issue reiterates Hercules' deception and subsequent enslavement of the Amazons, this time being said to have been spurred on by the God of War, Mars, whose swordsmen "slew their weaker brothers and plundered them" and sold women as slaves "cheaper than cattle".

This Hercules is portrayed as a drunken, brutish warrior in his lion-skin, as mentioned above, who is determined to "take the magic girdle" of Hippolyte, challenging the Queen of the Amazons in personal combat.

Upon being defeated by Hippolyte, he is given the chance "to return home and leave" but he conspires to "make love to her and steal the magic girdle" instead.

Once he seduces Hippolyte to remove the magic girdle, he and his men proceed to bind the prisoners, loot Amazonia and enslave the Amazons.

In Action Comics #7, cover-dated December 1938, Superman is said to be "A Modern Day Hercules";[4] while in Sensation Comics #2, (cover-dated February 1967) he is mentioned to compare Wonder Woman's strength, along with other gods and goddesses from Greek Mythology: "As lovely as Aphrodite -- as wise as Athena -- with the speed of Mercury and the strength of Hercules, WONDER WOMAN brings to America a new hope and salvation from Old World evils, conquest, and aggression!

In one story, he is transported to the 20th century by Lex Luthor, and, in the guise of reporter Roger Tate, falls in love with Lois Lane.

It climaxed with him saving Olympus from the gods' evil duplicates and, having been deceived by Zeus, deciding to stay in the human world.

It is later hinted that this version of Hercules was actually part of a dream suffered by Gardner Grayle, but was later shown to have existed somewhere in the Multiverse and was eliminated during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

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 discovers that Heracles was transformed into a colossal stone pillar within Doom's Doorway, and was supporting Themyscira's weight for several millennia.

Though some of the Amazons still harbor hatred for their past rapes and humiliation, most of them are moved by Heracles' newfound humility, and Queen Hippolyta asks her people to search their hearts for the strength to forgive, which they eventually do.

Later, John Byrne did an inconclusive storyline in which Heracles appears in the contemporary world and schemes to take revenge on the Amazons by seducing Wonder Woman.

Now shaven and bearing an updated version of the armor worn in the Hercules Unbound series, his place in the Wonder Woman comic is renewed as a fellow agent of Olympus, who occasionally aids Diana and even replaces her in battle.

As one of the inhabitants of Olympus who rejected Athena's decision to remove themselves from the mortal realm, Hercules journeyed to Tartarus in hopes of recruiting Ares to aid him in returning to Earth.

In addition, he is described as a "god" (and not a demigod, as in Wonder Girl) and wears gold bracelets instead of the gray shackles Zeus will place on him as punishment.

Hercules stops the fight by explaining that he is allied with the Furies in hopes of rescuing the gods, or, failing that, starting a new pantheon with them.

After Bloody Mary is murdered by the New God killer, Hercules is freed from her spell and immediately saves his sister from being kidnapped by the fleeing Furies.

In the newest continuity, Hercules is reintroduced in the pages of Aquaman [12] as a maddened prisoner alongside the monstrous children descended from the Titans called the Giant Born.

When accidentally released from their Tartaran prison by a misguided archaeologist, these fiends of old are intercepted by Aquaman and sent in their former jailer, whose mind had been corrupted by their torment and dark magics over the years to do battle with him while they made their escape.

As an Olympian demigod, he has other standard characteristics for all members of the race; superhuman speed, agility, reflexes, senses, endurance, durability, healing factor and immortality.