10 Superheroes Who Are Literal Gods

7. Hercules

Marvel ComicsMarvel ComicsWhen he smiled the girls went wild with oohhhs and aahhhs, and they slapped his face on every vas-hang on, wrong Hercules. The literal Greek god hasn't made as big a mark on the world of comics as he did on the minds of Disney-watching kids from the nineties, but he's still a presence in both the Marvel and DC Universes. In fact in both cases he's joined by the rest of the ancient pantheon, with his dad Zeus and all the various demi-god children he sired. Including Hercules, who in every version of the story except maybe the Disney one was the bastard child of the God of Thunder (and infidelity) and a human woman. In DC continuity there are actually two versions of Zeus - one the literal god who's still around, the other the "mythological" figure who gave Captain Marvel some of his power - but just one Hercules, who has acted more of an antagonist for Wonder Woman than anything approaching a superhero. Despite being guilty of raping WW's mother, DC's Hercules has made a bit of a name for himself as a good guy under the name Wonder Man. Marvel's Hercules, meanwhile, has all the same god-like abilities as his DC incarnation, but less of the bad attitude. Eventually he rose from demi-god to Olympian God of Strength and Labor, and later Olympian God of Heroes; so he wasn't just god-like in his superhuman strength and agility, but also by title. Also he's hilarious, arrogant, and thinks that stripping off to show his Olympian abs in front of the students of the Avengers Academy is fine. Like father, like son.
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Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/