The following are fictional characters from Disney's franchise Hercules, which includes its 1997 animated film and its derived TV series.
As a teenager, Hercules is a country boy depicted as tall and thin, with exaggerated proportions, such as a staggering pigeon-toed stance.
After completing his hero training, Hercules physically changes from being slender to being top-heavy and muscular, having larger biceps and pectorals and a thicker neck, as well as a more confident stance.
However, Hercules still retains some of his teenage flaws, such as being shy, awkward, clumsy and inept with a lack of coordination, occasionally taking a stance that is pigeon-toed or staggering as well as an instinctive reaction to scream loudly or run away.
As a hero, Hercules wears a brown-orange brass Cuirass-like tank armor tunic with brown wristbands, matching warrior sandals, and a blue cape.
In creating the design for the infant version of Hercules used in the 1997 film, animator Randy Haycock drew inspiration by videotaping a friend's six-month-old and by renting movies with babies in them,[2] while the curly hairstyle for baby Hercules was derived from the appearance of Haycock's infant daughter.
[2] The inspiration for teenage Hercules came from Haycock's experiences as an adolescent: he stated that "I was too tall and skinny for my age, and I was a lousy athlete.
At home I broke just about everything..."[2] Teenage Hercules has big hands and feet that the animator remembers having himself, as well as a lack of coordination.
However, Hercules' evil uncle Hades, who wants to take control of Olympus and the world, along with all of creation, is enraged at this.
Shortly afterward, Amphitryon and Alcmene inform Hercules that he is adopted, inspiring him to visit the temple of Zeus, where he learns of his godhood.
Meanwhile, Hercules arrives in Thebes and announces himself as a hero, only for the Thebans to dismiss the young man as an amateur and refuse to give him a chance to prove himself.
Megara appears and lures Hercules to a rocky canyon outside of town, where he saves two boys, who are actually Pain and Panic in disguise, trapped in a cave.
As an unimpressed crowd of Thebans watch Hercules rescue the trapped boys, the young hero also inadvertently releases a giant serpent-like creature, the Hydra, and bravely faces this tremendous monster with just a sword and his wits.
Hercules is reluctant to see anyone hurt, but ultimately agrees, and Hades takes the opportunity to humiliate him before revealing Megara's role in his scheme.
He is able to reach Megara before he dies, with his selfless act fulfilling the requirement for being a true hero, thus regaining his godhood.
In the series, Sora helps Hercules defeat Hades, who has joined Maleficent's group of Disney Villains and still seeks to take over Olympus.
Megara has fair skin and waist-length dark auburn hair which is worn in a ponytail, and wears a Grecian-style dress.
Hercules intervenes, believing Megara to be a "damsel in distress" and defeating Nessus in a fight, then falls in love with her in the process, which Hades plans to use to his advantage.
She meets Hercules and offers him the chance to prove himself as a hero, having him retrieve her the amphora so she can use it to forget about Adonis, who she had a disastrous blind date with.
She also appears in Kingdom Hearts II as an inhabitant of Olympus Coliseum, where she meets Sora in the Underworld entrance.
He wears dark robes with a skull-shaped perone fastening a chiton and his hair is a glowing blue flame that resembles the will o'the wisp.
To prevent this, he sends his minions, Pain and Panic, to kidnap baby Hercules and give him a potion that would render him mortal and kill him.
At the film's post-climax battle, Hercules then travels to the Underworld to rescue her soul and offers himself to Hades in exchange for her freedom.
He swims into the River Styx to retrieve her soul; he nearly dies, but his godhood is restored by the selfless act of being willing to risk his life to save her.
He is later brought over from the Isle of the Lost to revive Audrey, in the act insinuating that the punishment of Beast is injust and that he has a prejudice about the villains.
By the end of the film, Hades approves of Mal's marriage to Ben, as interaction between Auradon and the Isle of the Lost is now allowed.
Upon the planets aligning, Hades frees the Titans and directed them to Mount Olympus so they can get revenge on Zeus for imprisoning them while Agres was sent to kill Hercules.
It is coeducational, with both male and female students, and teaches subjects such as history, astronomy, shop class, theater arts, and "Home Greconomics".
The academy was named after the Titan Prometheus, who brought fire from Mount Olympus, the metaphorical "light of reason", to mankind, and was punished by Zeus by being chained to a rock and having his liver pecked out by an eagle each day for eternity.
One episode featured a crossover with Aladdin, in which Hades and Jafar (voiced by Jonathan Freeman) team up to destroy their respective archnemesis.