12 Horrifyingly Dark Tales Behind Your Favourite Disney Movies

The stories of Hercules, the son of Zeus date back thousands of years, but when Disney got their hands on them they made them much more child friendly.

In the original tale, Hercules is not the son of both Zeus and Hera, he is the product of an affair between Zeus and a mortal woman. The angry Hera tried several times to kill Hercules, including sending snakes to kill him in his crib.

After he marries Megara, Hera sends Hercules mad causing him to kill his wife and children. As punishment, Hercules must carry out a number of labours to atone for what he has done. One of them is to clean the Augean stables... now that's dirty work.

Seems that Hercules went from Hero to Zero rather than being on a roll.