Hades

"Name's Hades, Lord of the Dead. Hi, how ya doin'?"

- Hades

Hades is the Greek god of the Underworld and the main antagonist of the 1997 Disney animated feature film Hercules.

While the Hades of Greek mythology was not particularly malevolent, he is made into an evil figure in the Disney film, where he attempts to steal the Mount Olympus throne from his brother Zeus.

Hades is among the most popular Disney Villains, as well as one of the funniest, in addition to being one of the franchise's primary members.

Background
Hades is the ruler of the Underworld and younger brother of the mighty Zeus, king of Mount Olympus, who is also responsible for "granting" Hades' ownership of the Underworld. Unbeknownst to Zeus and the other deities, however, Hades despises the Underworld, as well as his job, finding them both gloomy, depressing, and overbearing. Because of this, Hades secretly plots to overthrow Zeus and rule Mount Olympus as the King of Deities, himself. Though powerful in his own right, Hades is considerably weaker than Zeus, and a number of the other deities. As such, he often allies himself with various beasts and creatures lurking through Greece, hiring them to do his bidding; the most notable example being the Titans.

Personality
Hades is among one of the most ruthless Disney villains of all time. With no care for anyone other than himself, the Lord of the Dead apparently has no boundaries when it comes to achieving his goals, even going as far as to making an attempt to kill his own newborn nephew.

What he lacks in physical strength, he makes up for in meticulous planning, impressive manipulation, and an intimidating aura. Aside from that, Hades is best known for his uncontrollably hot temper, although he is fully aware of this and immediately tries to remain calm and maintain composure as much as he can. At times, the smallest inconveniences can send him over the edge, causing fiery fits and extreme damage to the area and people around him, depending on the situation. This quality makes him a feared figure among Greece and beyond, especially in the eyes of his minions, Pain and Panic. Despite their constant colossal failures and lies, he seems to have a surprising amount of faith in these imps as he continuously sends them out with various missions and tasks, most of which are rather major.

As mentioned earlier, Hades is a master manipulator, and often resorts to making deals to get the best of his enemies. Even so, he's an honest god, and keeps his end of the bargain with every deal made, despite the stakes or importance; a rare quality found among the Disney villains.

He is also fairly comedic, often making jokes and pop-culture references during casual conversations, though they're usually played for his own, twisted amusement, and at the expense of others.

Physical appearance
Hades appears as a blue-gray humanoid with flaming blue hair, wearing a black robe and a smoky base. When he gets angry his skin turns red and he burst flames (especially the color of his hair turn into exact fire color).

Hercules
Hades is first seen in the film appearing on Mount Olympus. None of the deities are happy to see him. Hades goes up to Baby Hercules' crib and attempts to put a spiked skull-shaped pacifier into the baby's mouth. He almost succeeds, but the baby grabs and squeezes his finger, causing him to drop the pacifier and went away in pain. After being humiliated by his brother in front of the deities, 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 fights, Hades will 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 deitylike strength, allowing Hercules to defend himself. Pain and Panic, to cover their failure, tell Hades they've successfully killed the boy and, believing their front, Hades continues forth with his plan for domination.

In the mix, he comes across a girl named Megara who sells her soul to save her boyfriend's life. However, once he's revived, the boy abandons Meg for another woman, breaking her heart and leaving her in Hades' hands. Since then, Meg has been working with Hades to rule Olympus, though she merely does so because she has no choice, and often mocks the god's temper and schemes with a sarcastic quip. Years later, when Hades discovers through Meg that 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' love for Megara is his weakness and uses her to trick Hercules into giving up his deitylike 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. Meanwhile, Hades ignites an attack on Mount Olympus, successfully imprisoning Zeus and the others deities in the process, thus allowing the throne to fall into his hands.

During the Cyclops' 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's invasion. However, Meg has died because of her injuries (thanks to the Fates clipping her life thread) 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's soul. Hades, astounded, attempts to smooth-talk Hercules again, who angrily punches him, sending Hades into the river, where he is swarmed by the souls trapped inside and dragged into its depths, presumably trapping him there forever.

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 asks if anyone's listening and if he's talking to hyperspace.

Hercules: The Animated Series
Contrary to film canon, where Hades was unaware of Hercules' 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 deities 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. Despite all these transgressions, he is never expelled from deityhood, frequently being summoned to Mount Olympus for job-related matters afterwards.

Hades is shown to have a very poor working relationship with those in his service, primarily the witch Hecate, who frequently attempts to usurp control of the underworld out from under him. Despite Hades attempts to frequently abandon the underworld for Mount Olympus, he seems protective of the job when it's threatened to be taken away from him.

In one episode, he notably teamed up with Aladdin's deceased arch-enemy Jafar and used subsequent attempts to defeat each other's enemies. They didn't always get along however and sometimes argued. Hades found Jafar annoying because he hated his puns and evil laugh, thinking of him as a freak. Their evil plans 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.

Thanks to meddling by the Fates, Hades did technically become King of Olympus in an alternate reality, while Zeus became Lord of the Underworld in one of the episodes. They eventually got into a fight nearing the end of the episode, and the reality was undone after Hercules destroyed the tapestry binding the reality together (which also resulted in Hercules getting tickets to a cancelled concert that he had earlier not been able to get due to the prince beating him out of it).

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, "Halloween With Hades", 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 "Suddenly Hades", 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 eventually left when Pete flooded the House, but this allowed the Little Mermaid characters to enter the House instead.

In the episode "House Ghosts", his bloopers reel was shown on the big screen, humiliating him so badly that he tortures his minions Pain and Panic for no particular reason.

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. Hades was also seen in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse, alongside Jafar and Captain Hook during the finale song.

Kingdom Hearts series
Hades appears to be an antagonist in the series, although his role is limited to the world he came from. In Birth by Sleep, Hades' first interaction with the Keyblade wielders begins when Terra arrives to test his strength, prompting Hades to convince him to enter the Games to use against Zeus. But when Terra doesn't use his darkness, Hades decides to use Zack instead, only for Zack to lose against Terra anyway. When Aqua arrives, Hades reappears as her opponent and nicknames her "little bluebird" due to her hair color. After he calls Terra a coward for not using his darkness, Aqua battles him so Hades fights with the aid of a copy of Hydros called the Ice Colossus. Hades ends up losing and retreats, but vows to return.

By the events of Kingdom Hearts, Hades has become a member of Maleficent's council, and has been supplied with Heartless to use in Olympus Coliseum. Like before, he had managed to gain another warrior, Cloud, by promising him a lead to Sephiroth if Cloud kills Hercules and later Sora when the latter begins winning in the Coliseum. When the plan fails, Hades sends Cerberus after them, who also loses. He is seen later speaking with Maleficent and Riku after Jafar's defeat at the hands of Sora, and Maleficent warns him about letting the darkness consume him. Much later, when Maleficent and the rest of her allies have also been defeated, Hades decides to defeat Sora and Hercules personally in a long tournament with a battle with him near the end. Ultimately, he is defeated by Sora. However, Hades retaliates by unleashing two of the Titans upon the world like the events in Hercules. Upon Lythos' defeat, however, Hades disappears.

In Kingdom Hearts II, Hades' planning and actions occur within the Underworld instead of the Coliseum. This time, he revives Auron, the "Mother of All Bad Guys", to destroy Hercules, only for the swordsman to refuse this. Hades tries to strike him, but Auron departs with Sora when the Keyblade wielder arrives wishing to talk to Hades (which proves unsuccessful due to Hades' invincibility within the Underworld. However, after Pete reveals that the Keyblade can open any lock, Hades decides to use Sora to reopen an ancient coliseum known as the Underdrome by kidnapping Megara and bringing her to the Underdrome. Sora rescues her, but unseals it as a result. Due to his victory, Hades decides to hold the Hades Cup to try to kill the weakened Hercules, who was filled with guilt after failing to stop the Hydra. Hades creates a statue of Auron to control him and fight Hercules. However, Sora steals the statue back and destroys it, freeing Auron. Like the conclusion within the film, Hades tries to throw Meg into the River Styx, forcing Hercules to dive in and save her, causing Hercules' power to be restored by his willing to risk his life to save Meg. Hades is quickly defeated and falls down into the River Styx, though he manages to escape, but does not continue to cause trouble for the group.

Hades would also appear in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts coded in minor roles, likely due to how his appearances both games were simply copies of the real one.

He is voiced by James Woods in English, and Japanese voice is done by Kyusaku Shimada.

Disney Parks
In recent years, despite not having too many live appearances, Hades has become quite the common Disney villain in several spots, mostly for entertainment purposes.

Hades is also used in promos for the Disney Parks along with other major Disney Villains as part of Halloween celebrations, including animated commercials and the live-action Christmas/Halloween promo that premiered October 2013.

In 2013, Hades appeared with Megara, Pain, Panic and several Disney villains onstage for the "Unleash the Villains" Halloween stage event at Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort. He would return for the renamed Villains Unleashed event in 2014.

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom
In the Walt Disney World interactive attraction Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, Hades serves as the main antagonist again. In this attraction, Hades sets his eyes on the Magic Kingdom for his new summer vacation spot and plans on turning it into a post-apocalyptic wasteland but Merlin's powerful Crystal of the Magic Kingdom prevents him from doing so, as it is powered to keep all evil at bay at the park.

When Hades sends Pain and Panic to steal it, the crystal is accidentally shattered into several pieces with four of them getting scattered around the park. Hades then recruits several Disney Villains to help retrieve them, but in the end, Hades and the villains are trapped and imprisoned in the newly-reconstructed crystal by Merlin and the park guests that helped him on the adventure.

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 Evil 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".

Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular
Hades is one of the many villains to join The Sanderson Sisters with their Halloween celebration as one of the "frightful friends" Maleficent conjures.

Critical Response
Hades has been widely praised. He has been acclaimed for his voice, fast talking, making deals and humor and as such he's cited as one of the greatest and funniest Disney villains of all time. He's ranked #8 in Ultimate Disney's list of Top 30 Disney villains. James Woods' portrayal of the character has also been universally praised. Sometimes, he's compared to Genie in terms of humor and voice acting. Film critic Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times praised Woods' as Hades saying Woods brings something of the same verbal inventiveness that Robin Williams brought to Aladdin. Janet Maslin of The New York Times cited: Woods shows off the full verve of an edgy Scarface villain. In dettoldisney's list of Top 5 Male Disney characters, Hades is ranked #1 with his abilities and Woods' portrayal praised. James Woods won a Daytime Emmy Award for his performance as Hades in Hercules: The Animated Series.

Trivia

 * Hades is said to be based off of Jeffrey Katzenberg.
 * It is also unknown why Hades himself didn't go to convince Nessus himself and sent Megara instead even though Hades must have a high authority; most likely he preferred to delegate.
 * Unlike most villains from Disney films, Hades is 100% sane, aside from a fiery temper.
 * Hades is often regarded as one of Disney's funniest villains, alongside Captain Hook, Yzma, Prince John, and King Candy.
 * 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; the most likely explanation is that he doesn't keep track of specific details about his role and simply assumed that all had gone according to plan.
 * Hades' appearance in the series contradicts the film as he believed that Hercules was 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 deities 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.
 * Jack Nicholson and John Lithgow were once considered for the role of Hades. Nicholson left because he demanded $10-$15 million, plus a 50% cut of all the proceeds from Hades merchandise and Disney declined. Lithgow was released from the role because the directors thought he didn't work.
 * Originally, Hades was going to be portrayed as being less comedic and acting more like a normal Disney villain according to Disney standards. It wasn't until James Woods's auditioning for the role that Hades was rewritten as a comic-relief villain with a huge sense of humor.
 * In all of his appearances, Hades has smoke emitting from the base of his robe; however, this trait is missing in the Kingdom Hearts series. Most likely because it would be hard to animate.
 * In all of his appearances in the Kingdom Hearts series, 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.
 * The fact that he is a god and Lord of the Dead makes him one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, Disney villain ever, as he is immortal, can teleport, control fire and rule the dead.
 * Hades is the only villain to meet another Disney villain in media canon to his film of origin.
 * The world in Kingdom Hearts II based on Walt Disney's 1997 animated film Hercules entitled Olympus Coliseum contains an attribute very similar 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 deity 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; this may be because the others are not evil in any way.
 * Hades is also depicted in the Disney movie with control over fire, pyromancy, where the fire is actually an element not related with Hades, being 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.
 * Because blue flame burns at higher temperature than red/orange flame, the implication that when Hades gets angry he 'heats-up' and turns red is inaccurate. Technically, Hades is hotter when he is calm than when he is angry.
 * Hades is probably the oldest of the Disney villains. Mother Gothel, however, would probably be the oldest human villain so far.
 * Due to him being immortal, Hades, along with Governor Ratcliffe (who is a human), is the only Disney Renaissance villain that does not die at the end of his film. Jafar, although he did not die at the end of Aladdin, actually dies at the end of The Return of Jafar.
 * In the original myths: Gaia was his grandmother. Cronus was his father. Zeus and Poseidon were his brothers (with Hades being older than Zeus). Hestia was his sister and Hera sister as well as his sister-in-law by her marriage to Zeus (their brother).
 * There was a storyline considered for the Disney tale where Demeter was not only his sister but also his ex-wife, with Persephone as his daughter and Dionysus as his son.
 * Considering that Disney wanted to avoid all references to spousal infidelity. It is likely that Dionysus would be his son with Demeter, as she was Dionysus' mother in one version of his story, as well as considering that Persephone was going to be rendered his daughter with Demeter, as Zeus' children with Demeter were going to be fathered by Hades in the Disney version.
 * In the original myths: Amphitrite was not only his cousin but also his sister-in-law by her marriage to Poseidon. As Poseidon's sons Triton and Otus were his nephews. Apollo was his nephew, Artemis was his niece, Athena was his niece and Hermes his nephew by Zeus. Pan was his great-nephew as Hermes' son. Aphrodite was his niece by Zeus. Ares was his nephew by Zeus and Hera. Fear and Terror, as well as Cupid were his great nephews by Ares and Aphrodite. Hephaestus was his nephew by Zeus and Hera. Nemesis was his niece by Zeus, according to one version of the mythology. Hercules was his nephew by Zeus (in the show, Hades does sometimes refer to Hercules as his nephew). Megara was his niece-in-law as Hercules' (1st) wife.
 * When Hades holds a chess set in front of Megara, he symbolizes a chess master while Meg is a pawn. This makes him of the symbolic villains of the movie.
 * James Woods once mentioned, during the recording of Kingdom Hearts II, that he loved doing the voice for the game as it was one of these games where no real violence was included.
 * He likely be in Isle of the Lost cause of Olympus being part of Auradon and Hercules mentioned in School of Secrets.