Hades

Hades is the Greek god of the Underworld and the main antagonist of Hercules and its television series. While the Hades of Greek mythology was not particularly malevolent, he is made into an evil, Satan-like figure in the Disney film, where he attempts to steal his brother, Zeus', throne as ruler of Mount Olympus. He is voiced by James Woods.

Background
Hades appears as a blue-grey humanoid with flaming hair and a smoky base who is normally eccentric and cynical, but is very easily angered. As an Olympian God, he is immortal, and specifically has authority over the dead. Though temperamental, he is a fast-talker, and a shrewd bargainer. At some point prior to the film, he took ownership of Megara's soul as the result of one of these bargains. Hades is shown to be jealous of Zeus's position as King of the Gods, and makes long term plans to usurp his brother.

Hercules
Hades is first seen in the film appearing on Mount Olympus. None of the gods are happy with his joke. Hades goes up to Baby Hercules' crib and attempts to put a spiked skull-shaped pacifier into the baby's mouth. He almost succeeds in putting the pacifier in the baby's mouth but the baby grabs and squeezes his hand, causing him to drop the pacifier and went away in pain. He then leaves Olympus to the Underworld to plan his takeover of Olympus.

Early in the film, Hades consults with the Fates on his plan to take over Mount Olympus. They tell him that when the planets align eighteen years later, Hades will unleash the horrible Titans and that they would lead him to victory. However, if Hercules fought, Hades would fail.

Hades decides to nip the Hercules threat in the bud by having Pain and Panic feed the infant Hercules a potion that will make him mortal. When Hercules is mortal, Pain and Panic would kill the baby. However, Hercules doesn't drink the last drop of the potion, meaning he still retains his godlike strength, allowing Hercules to defend himself. Years later, when Hades discovers Hercules was still alive, he takes matters into his own hands, attempting to recruit an army of monsters to defeat Hercules.

When Hades discovers that Hercules could not be defeated by his monsters, he sends Megara to seduce Hercules and find his weakness. She falls in love with Hercules on their date and forgets about the mission, simply saying that he has no weakness. Hades deducts that Hercules's love for Megara is his weakness and uses her to trick Hercules into giving up his godlike strength for Meg's safety. Hercules agrees and Hades, knowing Hercules will not interfere, not only unleashes the Titans but also sends the Cyclops to kill Hercules while he is powerless.

During the Cyclops's attack on Hercules, a pillar falls on Meg, severely injuring her. This breaks Hades' promise that Meg would not be hurt, causing Hercules to regain his strength. Hercules proceeds to go to Mount Olympus, defeating the Titans and thwarting Hades' invasion. However, Meg has died because of her injuries and Hades claims her soul as his consolation prize, knowing how much her death will hurt Hercules.

Hercules storms into the Underworld, subdues Cerberus and confronts Hades, demanding him to return Meg. Hades smugly explains to Hercules that Meg is dead and he can't have her back. Hercules offers his soul in exchange for Meg's and Hades displays a moment of being genre savvy, seeing the deal as almost too good to be true. However, he decides to agree on the condition that Hercules must retrieve her himself. It is not until Hercules has already dived in that he shouts that he'll be dead before he can get to her. The Fates attempt to cut Hercules' life thread, but are unable to. Hercules' genuinely heroic sacrifice causes him to become a god, making him immortal. Hercules emerges from the river, carrying Meg and Hades, astounded, attempts to smooth-talk Hercules again, who angrily punches him, sending Hades into the Styx, where he is swarmed by the souls trapped inside and dragged into its depths. During the end credits when the thanks to the staff are shown, Hades' voice is heard saying that everyone's got a happy ending but him. Then asking if anyone's listening and he asks if he's talking to hyperspace.

Seeing as Hades is a god and therefore immortal and the fact that no chronological sequel to Hercules exists, as well as the fact that Hades should be able to survive in the River Styx because he is a god, Hades' ultimate fate is uncertain, but so far, his most likely fate is that he remains trapped in the River Styx- at least, until a sequel lets him climb out.

In the end, Hades caused his own downfall; Hades' efforts to neutralize Hercules were what caused him to learn of his plans and provoked him to fight against Hades and inevitably resulted in his god-hood being restored. Hercules knocks him into the River Styx, where the souls attack him pulling him down. He is presumably still trapped in the river.

Hercules: The Animated Series
Contrary to film canon, where Hades was unaware of Hercules's survival until the demigod was 18, the animated series shows that Hades often faces off against a teenage Hercules. Hades tries many different schemes to destroy Hercules and take over Olympus, plans including exposing the other gods to water from the river Lethe- thus making them all forget their original roles and leaving him free to take over -diverting the River Styx into Greece, or killing Zeus when he temporarily made himself mortal to prove a point to Hercules.

In one episode, he notably teamed up with Jafar from Aladdin, but their subsequent attempts to defeat each other's enemies failed when they underestimated the value of Hercules's strength and Aladdin's ingenuity, culminating in the two teaming up to stop Hades and send Jafar back to the Underworld for good.

House of Mouse
Hades makes many appearances in the animated series House of Mouse. Hades has several notable appearances on the series. In one episode, Hades had a crush on Maleficent. His first attempt to woo Maleficent fails, so he goes to Mickey Mouse for advice. Mickey tells Hades to try to be nice, but this fails too. Hades attempts to take his anger out on Mickey until Maleficent discovers how cruel he is towards Mickey and decides to date him.

Another notable appearance by Hades in House of Mouse is where Pete destroys the House's thermostat and all the guests leave due to the heat, except for Hades, who enjoys the heat. Mickey and friends then try their best to keep Hades in the House (since Mickey's contract states that the House stays open as long as the show goes on, he would be obliged to close the House down if there were no guests whatsoever). One part of Mickey trying to keep Hades is including an act from Chernabog, a sort of fast-forward version of Night on Bald Mountain. Hades loved it ("Hey! It's the old act! I love this guy!!!!").

Hades is also one of the main villains in Mickey's House of Villains as well, though he does not take part in the initial scheming at the beginning of the film.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
When Terra arrives to test his strength and to see if he can handle his own darkness, Hades convinces him to enter the Games to master his dark powers (his true agenda is to find a warrior strong enough to "give Zeus a jolt of his own medicine"). However, when Terra fights his way though the tournament and gets to the title match, Hades has a Plan Beta since Terra is not using his darkness. Using his magic, Hades empowers Terra's opponent Zack with enough darkness to make him a match for Terra in the final round.

However, when Zack loses, Hades takes control of Zack, gripping his heart with darkness, just as Maleficent had done to Terra previously. This makes Zack more powerful than his last fight with Terra, but Hades has his Plan Beta beaten by Terra who defeated Zack, freeing his heart from Hades's control. Slightly miffed by the turn of events, Hades left remarking: "I guess I bet on the wrong dark horse. That kid just doesn't have it in him to handle darkness".

When Aqua arrives at the Coliseum searching for Terra and takes part in the Games to find him, Hades appears again after she defeats Zack in the final West division match to see who the competition is for the West division. Revealing that he's her opponent for the Games' title, Hades nicknames Aqua "little bluebird" due to her hair color. After insulting Terra, by calling him a "chicken heart" for not using his darkness, Hades tries to coax Aqua into using darkness herself, but is rebuffed angrily by her.

Hades just laughs off Aqua's threat after she vows to make him regret trying to use Terra. When Aqua faces him in the title match, Hades calls for back up in the form a copy of Hydros called the Ice Colossus. He defends this cheating by saying partakes of the tournament may call in back up to help fight. Despite Zack having his offer to help Aqua declined, Hades ends up losing the match when "the snow cone" vaporizes from the long battle due to being an imperfect copy of the actual Ice Titan. Angry, Hades retreats to come up with other plans.

Kingdom Hearts
When Maleficent began her conquest of the worlds, Hades became one of her allies. He utilized the Heartless by supplying them as monsters to the Olympus Coliseum, for heroes to battle as usual. However, he also gained the assistance of Cloud Strife by making a deal: if Cloud kills Hercules, Hades will lead him to Sephiroth (who he apparently does know the location of, as Sephiroth is indeed at the Coliseum). Hades additionally provided Sora with a pass to enter the Coliseum games.

When Sora appeared to be winning in the Coliseum however, Hades instructed Cloud to kill Sora as well. When the plan failed (either with Cloud refusing to deal the final blow to Sora, or with Sora defeating Cloud; it depends on the result of the battle), Hades had Cerberus attack Cloud. However, Hercules rescued Cloud and Sora defeated Cerberus.

As Sora left the Coliseum, Maleficent warned Hades not to be overcome by the darkness. Hades sent Maleficent away, claiming he could handle it. He ironically was not overcome at all (while the rest of Maleficent's followers and Maleficent herself ended up being overcome, with the other exception of Captain Hook). Strangely, Maleficent overlooked the fact that Hades was the immortal god of the dark underworld. This lead to the inevitable irony of Hades outliving Maleficent as well as being currently the only villain in the whole series to show up in all the games and survive and will probably continue to survive due to him being a god.

When Hades learned of Maleficent's demise, he took matters into his own hands. Hades, determined on personally defeating both Hercules and Sora, opened the Hades Cup in the Coliseum. The long, grueling tournament had a battle with him near the end. Unfortunately for Hades, Sora defeated him in the battle, knocking him into a cell where he was beaten up by someone. After a few more battles in the cup, though, Hades decided on a way for revenge.

In events very much like those in Hercules, Hades unleashed the four Titans upon the world (although only two are seen, it can be guessed that the other two and possibly the Cyclops were as well). When Sora reached the final rank in the tournament, he had to combat the Lythos(called Rock Titan in Kingdom Hearts). Upon its defeat, Hades apparently went into hiding.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
When Sora and his friends are in Castle Oblivion, Hades makes an appearance as a figment of Sora's memories in the recreation of Olympus Coliseum. He, like before, hired Cloud to defeat Hercules. However, the only difference in their deal if that Hades will restore Cloud's lost memories instead of helping him find someone.

Eventually, Cloud was unable to defeat Hercules, due to fatigue. Hades decided to fight Hercules personally after firing his hired assassin. Sora intervenes which leads to a battle against him, during which he is the first of two Disney villain characters to use sleights. Defeating him grants you his enemy card.

First Visit
Hades again appears as an antagonist when a re-awakened Sora visits the Coliseum, but most of his dealings take place in the Underworld in this game. This time, in an effort to destroy Hercules, he tries to strike a deal with the dead Auron (whom he calls "The Mother of All Bad Guys"). He offers him his life back with a clean slate, on the condition that he "Fight Hercules. In the Coliseum. To the death!" Auron refuses this offer. When Hades reminds him that he is talking to the Lord of the Dead, he responds "No wonder no one wants to die." Hades becomes enraged, and almost strikes Auron down until Sora arrives, needing to speak to him. However, it ends up with Sora and gang running for it as Hades is invincible within his domain, and they are weakened by the Underworld's curse.

Pete suggests waiting for the Heartless to take care of Sora and company, but Hades knows better and dispatches Cerberus to take care of them instead. However, Sora and Auron defeat Cerberus and escape when Sora unlocks a door with the Keyblade. Learning that the Keyblade can open any lock, Hades decides to steal it and reopen the Underdrome, a coliseum locked up by Zeus long ago that makes the Olympus Coliseum itself "look like an Olympic kiddie pool". When Pete informs him that the Keyblade won't work for just anyone and the fact that Sora is a lot tougher than he looks, Hades decides to apply "a woman's touch" to his plans.

To this end, he kidnaps Meg and traps her in the Underdrome. This means Sora must use the Keyblade to rescue her, unsealing the Underdrome in the process. Hades also sent a Hydra after Hercules so he would be out of the way. Hades's plan works and Sora opens the Underdrome to save Meg. Pete waits in ambush, but Sora still manages to save Meg with Hercules's help. He tells Sora to take Meg as he confronts Pete, but Sora, after taking Meg to safety, returns and together they beat Pete who retreats.

At the exit of the Underworld Hades confronts them and reminds Hercules about the Hydra which he had neglected to finish off completely. They enter the Coliseum to see it in ruins with the Hydra towering over it. The Hydra is defeated, but Hercules lost his strength and will, because of the guilt that he had since he had not completely destroyed the Hydra.

Second Visit
To celebrate the Underdrome re-opening, Hades decides to hold the Hades Cup, in the hopes of trying to kill the weakened Hercules. Knowing he needs a pawn of his own in the Games to fight Hercules, Hades creates a statue of Auron and sealed away painful memories that strengthen Auron's heart, causing him to become colder and speak in monotone. When Auron refused to kill Sora, Donald and Goofy along with Hercules, Hades had no choice but to seal what remained of his free will into the statue, placing it in his chamber.

However, Sora overheard their conversation, and with Hercules help, convinced Hades to let them fight the winner of Auron and Hercules' match. This proved to be his downfall as they infiltrated the Underworld and stole the statue back. While enjoying the battle between the two heroes, Hades was surprised to she Sora toss the statue into the arena, shattering and allowing all the stolen memories and will of Auron to return. Furious, Hades dumps Meg into the River Styx with Hercules diving after her. Confident they'll be dead within moments, Hades overpowers Sora and gang until Hercules emerges, his full power restored by willing to risk his life to save Meg.

Hades is soon quickly defeated and, while attempting to avoid a hit from Sora, loses his footing and falls down into the River Styx. Despite this, Hades manages to escape, though he doesn't appear to cause Hercules and company much trouble after that. Later in the game, Hades opens his Paradox tournaments. After Sora wins the Hades Paradox Cup, a scene is shown where Sora, Donald, Goofy, Hercules, and Auron are celebrating with the trophy. Hades looks at them furiously, but is then kicked by Pegasus which sends him flying across the Underdrome. Donald notices this a bit too late, missing sight of Hades.

Kingdom Hearts coded
In Kingdom Hearts coded, a Data version of Hades makes a deal with the Data Cloud: if Data Cloud destroys Data Sora and Data Hercules, Data Hades will give him the power to go to other worlds by telling him "The Secret of Heroes", and make him become stronger. However, he later double crosses Data Cloud, and reveals that he isn't the source of Olympus Coliseum's Bug Blox. After the defeat of the Data Cerberus, the real source of the world's Bug Blox, Data Hades battles the trio of data heroes and loses. He tells them he is not finished yet and will come back soon.

Disney Parks


Hades makes occasional appearances at the Disney Parks. He is known for appearing at Disney's Hollywood Studios for meet and greets.

Hades is also used in promos for the Disney Parks along with other major Disney Villains as a part of Halloween celebrations.

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom
Hades is the lead villain of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. Working with various Disney villains, he seeks to collect magical crystals throughout the park and conquer it in the process.

Villains Tonight!
On the Disney Cruise Line, Hades is the starring character for "Villains Tonight!" In this show, Hades has "gone soft" in recent years and if he doesn't regain his evil nature, he will lose control over the Underworld. Hades visits the most powerful Disney Villains to help recapture his infamous cruelty.

Fantasmic!
Hades is one of the villains summoned by The Queen to destroy Mickey Mouse in the Florida version of Fantasmic! Once Hades is summoned, he then summons Chernabog. Hades is defeated with the other villains at the end.

Starlight Dreams
Hades is one of the central villains in the castle stage show at Tokyo Disneyland. Here he joins other Disney Villains in a hostile takeover scheme against Mickey and Friends.

Mickey's Philharmagic
Hades does not appear in the actual show itself, but on a poster in the queue area where he sings "Torch Songs".



Trivia

 * Unlike other Disney Villians, Hades is 100% sane.
 * Hades is often regarded as one of Disney's funniest villains, alongside Captain Hook and Yzma.
 * It is unclear as to why Hades wasn't 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.
 * Hades' appearance in the series contradicts the film as he believed Hercules dead when he was a teenager during the film.
 * The Greek god Hades was not evil- in fact, he was one of the more personable gods of Ancient Greece, despite his job as lord of the dead. However, many other versions (for instance Clash of Titans) depict him as a villain, like the Disney version. While in Rick Riordan's novels like Percy Jackson and the Olympians he is adept to bargains and hold a slight, brotherly spite over Zeus.
 * A different version of Hades appears in the Silly Symphony The Goddess of Spring.
 * In Hercules, Hades has smoke emitting from the base of his robe; however, this trait is missing in Kingdom Hearts.
 * In all of his appearances, Hades tries using a character from Final Fantasy to get rid of Hercules. In Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts coded, it is Cloud, in Kingdom Hearts II, it is Auron. In Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, he does use Zack in this manner, as well as to display the power of darkness to Terra.
 * He seems to have a strong hatred for the Goddess of the Night, Hecate, calling her a "witch" at the conference of the Olympians. She in turn wants his throne and steals his power.
 * Hades is one of the few villains with historic significance. Others include John Ratcliffe, Chernabog, Arawn and The Hun Army.
 * Hades is the only villain to meet another Disney villian in media canon to his film of origin.
 * Though he had no villain song in the film, in the series he had one called "My Town".
 * The world in Kingdom Hearts II based on Walt Disney's 1997 animated film Hercules entitled Olympus Coliseum contains an attribute very similiar to that of the world in Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep based on Walt Disney's 1950 Animated classic Sleeping Beauty entitled Enchanted Dominion. The similarity is the villain area of the worlds which belong to Maleficent and Hades have a same pathway infrastructure leading onto the antagonist's lair.
 * In the movie, Hades is also the only god that lacks the shining aura in his body (all others have an aura with the color matching their skin's) so as the only one with that smoke aspect.
 * Hades is also depicted in the Disney movie with control over fire, pyromancy, where the fire, is actually an element not related with Hades, beeing earth and gold, actually the closest element to Hades, the fire is probably to give him some association with the common idea of the Devil, augmenting the ideal of villain and comically with his "hot-head" personality.

Gallery
Hades