Hades (Disney)

"Ba-boom. The name's Hades, Lord of the Dead. Hi, how ya doing?"

- Hades "We dance, we kiss, we schmooze, we carry on, we go home happy. What do you say? Come on."

- Hades tricking Hercules into making a deal with him.

Hades is the main antagonist of the Hercules franchise, and one of the secondary antagonists in Mickey's House of Villains. He is the blasphemous ruler of the Underworld, Pain and Panic's leader and boss, Hercules' uncle and arch-nemesis, and Zeus' younger (older in original Greek mythology) brother.

He was voiced by the legendary actor, James Woods, who also played Falcon in Stuart Little 2, and Dr. Phillium Benedict in Disney's Recess: School's Out!, and would later play Lex Luthor.

Personality
Hades is normally cynical, sarcastic, manipulative and ruthless, but has a serious anger management problem. As an Olympian God, he is immortal and specifically has authority over the dead.

Though temperamental and destructive, he is a persuasive 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 completely aggressive, resentful, and jealous of Zeus' position as King of the Gods and makes long-term plans to overthrow and kill him.

Also, unlike most villains, Hades really doesn't like arrogance, but does have constant mood swings, being entertaining, comedic, and laid-back one minute, and then argumentative, short-tempered, impatient and angry the next.

Despite his villainous and egotistical nature, Hades can also be quite honest and appreciative, even willing to honor his deals to those who served him well. This was confirmed when he happily frees Megara from her servitude after draining Hercules of his super strength, saying that a deal is a deal. Also, when Megara was harmed and killed by the pillar that she protected Hercules from, Hercules' strength was restored, even though it would mean the downfall of Hades' diabolical plan. As well, Hades can also be somewhat friendly and demonstrative at times (hence when he politely introduced himself and greeted Hercules and others).

In House of Mouse, Hades is more polite and thoughtful, but only towards Maleficent (whom he has a crush on).

Appearance
Hades has bluish-gray skin, flaming blue hair, yellow eyes, and sharp teeth. He is also very tall. Hades' fire hair also affects his emotions: When he is angry, his skin turns red and his hair turns orange. In Hercules: The Animated Series, when Hades is confused or embarrassed, his hair goes out, revealing his baldness. Hades wears a black, gray, and blue robe.

Hercules
In the original film Hercules, Hades appears as the main antagonist. He is first seen appearing on Olympus to see the celebration of Hercules' birth, joking about the sentimental moment between baby Hercules and Zeus, saying that he hasn't been that choked up since he got a "hunk of moussaka caught in his throat". He pauses with a grin, waiting for the Gods to laugh, but Hades only gets a response of scowling looks (since they are unhappy to see him). Confused, Hades asks if it is an audience or a mosaic. After politely greeting the Gods (asking how Bacchus is doing while grabbing his cheek, much to his annoyance and staring at Aphrodite's dress while complimenting on it), Zeus greets his brother and asks how things are in the Underworld. Removing Zeus' hand from his shoulder in contempt and disgust, Hades replies that things are just fine, explaining they are a little dark and gloomy and full of dead people (as always), then asks Zeus what he is going to do about it.

Upon noticing Hercules, Hades pushes an oblivious Zeus out of the way and observes the infant, whom he calls the "little sunspot" and a "little snootchie". Creating a spiked skull-shaped pacifier out of black mist, Hades tries his very first attempt to hurt Hercules: By trying to stick his pacifier in his mouth. Hades does this by pinching Hercules' nose, making him open his mouth. Hades almost succeeds, but Hercules squeezes his finger tight, making Hades drop the pacifier (which disappears). Pulling away in pain, Hades quietly calls Hercules a "powerful little tyke" to himself.

Wrapping his arm around his brother, Zeus tells him not to be a stiff and to join the splendiferous celebration. Slipping away, Hades says he would love to, but cannot because unlike the Gods lounging about, he regretfully has a full-time gig that Zeus charitably bestowed on him and then leaves. Zeus tells Hades he should slow down or he will "work himself to death", but then realizes he made a joke since Hades is the Lord of the Dead, making himself and the other Gods laugh. When Zeus falls into his throne and says he kills himself, a humiliated Hades fake laughs and quietly says to himself, "If only. If only.".

Returning to the underworld, Hades asked the Fates if Hercules could prevent him from taking over Mount Olympus with his super strength and they told him that he would if he were to fight, so Hades ordered Pain and Panic to kidnap Hercules and give him a potion to make him mortal, so that they would kill him. However, he didn't drink the last drop, thus retaining his super strength and allowing him to defeat Pain and Panic, who decides to keep it a secret from Hades to avoid any punishment. Years later, Megara sold her soul to Hades to save her boyfriend's life, but her boyfriend ungratefully left her for someone else, leaving a demoralized Megara under Hades' control. Hades remained oblivious to Hercules' survival until he found out from Megara that the dangerous centaur named Nessus was defeated by him. So he sent several monsters, like the Hydra, the Minotaur, and Medusa the Gorgon after Hercules, who destroyed them all in retaliation, much to Hades' anger.

Running out of ideas, Hades sent Megara to find out if Hercules had any weaknesses, offering her chance of freedom if she succeeds. He soon discovered that Megara is actually in love with Hercules, thus she is his greatest weakness. Taking the opportunity, Hades personally confronts Hercules by holding Megara hostage, convincing him to give up his super strength in exchange for her being set free and not getting hurt. Hercules agrees and with a single handshake, he loses his super strength. Delighted that he finally bested Hercules, Hades releases Meg from her servitude as promised and leaves, but not before he demoralizes Hercules by confessing that Meg was working for him until the moment. Finally rising to power, Hades releases the Titans when the planets aligned, and sent them to attack Olympus and take the gods (including Zeus) as prisoners. During the siege, Hades sends in the Cyclops to kill Hercules. However, even without his super strength, Hercules defeated the Cyclops, who ends up falling over to his death. The impact caused a pillar to fall on Hercules, but Megara pushes him out of the way and ends up being fatally injured, breaking Hades' deal and giving Hercules his super strength back.

With that in mind, Hercules heads to Olympus and defeated the Titans by throwing them into space where they were destroyed, much to Hades' anger. Retreating back to the Underworld, Hades taunts Hercules that while he may have foiled his plans, Megara has already died succumbing to her injuries and her soul will be joining in the river Styx along with other deceased souls. Without hesitation, Hercules went to the Underworld and offers Hades a deal: he will take Megara's place after he fishes her out from the river. Hades gladly accepts the deal, knowing that he will be delighted to have Hercules trapped in the river forever as revenge against Zeus, since it is impossible to retrieve a soul out in time. However, Hercules' selfless sacrifice allowed him to regain his lost immortality and successfully retrieve Meg's soul from the river, much to Hades' complete distraught. Realizing now that he can't stop Hercules anymore, Hades nervously asks Hercules if they can talk and says that since Zeus is the "fun guy", he asks Hercules to put in a word with him and blow the whole feud off. Then Hades holds Megara's face up to Hercules, mockingly telling her to talk to him. Having enough of his hated uncle, Hercules angrily punches him and sends him flying into the river Styx, where the souls start to attack him. Hades angrily tells the souls to get away from him, but they refuse and continue attacking him. Scared, Panic tells Pain that Hades isn't going to be happy when he gets out, only for Pain to cheer Panic up by saying if he gets out. Getting frightened, Hades says that he doesn't feel good and feels a little flushed as he is eventually dragged along with the souls into the depths of the river, never to be seen again. However Hades later exit from River Styx probably thanks to his powers as he is seen in House of Mouse or Mickey's House of Villains.

Hercules: The Animated Series
In the TV series, Hades returns as the primary antagonist where he constantly formulates new plots to dethrone Zeus and take over Mount Olympus, such as tricking the other gods to swim in the river of Lethe to erase their memories, stealing the sun, and turning Zeus into a mortal so that he can feed him to Cerebus. However, as always, Hercules and his friends arrive to foil Hades' plans, much to the latter's distraught. Also, the events of the TV show are considered non-canonical as Hercules and Hades had many interactions in the show, as opposed to the movie when they only met each other during the movie's climax.

Hades has the distinction of being one of the only Disney villains (outside of fanfiction, comics or video games) to meet and team with another Disney villain; Jafar in the episode, "Hercules and the Arabian Night".

Disney's House of Mouse
In the series, Hades serves as a recurring guest, where he is revealed to have a crush on the witch Maleficent, and used his cruelty in a successful attempt to go on out on a date with her. He also serves as a supporting antagonist in Mickey's House of Villains where he tries to help Jafar take over the club from Mickey.

Kingdom Hearts
In the Kingdom Hearts series, Hades serves as a recurring antagonist, though his role is small. He first appeared in Birth by Sleep, when he attempts to test Terra during the Games in an attempt to defeat Zeus. He later attempt to battle Aqua after calling her a coward, but ends up losing and forcing himself to retreat, vowing revenge.

During the events of Kingdom Hearts, Hades serves as a member of Maleficent's council, and uses an army of Heartless to attack the Olympus Coliseum, even convincing an uneasy Cloud in defeating Sora, though this ends up all in failure. Following the defeats of Maleficent and her allies, Hades decides to deal with Sora and his friends personally by unleashing two of the Titans. However, this too ends up in failure, forcing Hades to retreat.

In Kingdom Hearts 2, Hades attempt to drain Hercules of his immortal strength by tricking Sora into opening an ancient coliseum known as the Underdrome and kidnapping Meg. Though this was successful, Sora manages to defeat Hades, who then throws Meg's soul into the River Styx. However, Hercules dives in to save Meg's soul, thus restoring his power and allowing him to send Hades into the river as punishment, just like in the film.

Hades is set to appear in Kingdom Hearts 3 as a villain or an anti-hero.

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom
The game features Hades attempting to take over by collaborating with other notable Disney villains, sometimes under punny alias like "Boss Teal" and "Prince Azure".

Once Upon a Time
Hades is the main antagonist of Season 5B of Once Upon a Time. He is portrayed by Greg Germann.

Descendants franchise
Although an unseen character in the Descendants series it is revealed in the novel Return to the Isle of The Lost that Hades has a son named Hadie who chooses not to be evil and instead wishes to go to Auradon and considers himself an Anti-Hero.

Powers and Abilities

 * Pyrokinesis: Hades controls fire and can shoot it in any direction, which destroys any object in its path.
 * Conjuring: He has the ability to create objects out of black mist
 * Teleportation: He can teleport himself to one point to an other in a black smoke.
 * Reality Warping: He has the ability to warp reality by the using of the deal (like when he took Hercules' strength or when he healed Megara's former lover).
 * Telekinesis: Hades can move any object with his mind, like when he throw an alter on Hercules.
 * Underworld's Creatures control: He has the ability to control monsters like Cerberus, a three-headed dog, guards his palace.
 * Immortality: He is not affected by age and he can't die (unless he were to drink the magic potion that made Hercules mortal).

Trivia

 * Hades has a surprisingly large fan base. Various fans have sympathy for Hades, claiming he truly could be a good person if he was never humiliated.
 * Hades's voice actor, James Woods, has stated that Hades is his favorite voice role and that he is willing to reprise the role if the opportunity arises.
 * It was unknown how Hades became evil in the first place, but it can be assumed that it was out of jealousy that Zeus got to rule Olympus while he got stuck ruling the Underworld.
 * In classical mythology, Hades was actually a relatively passive and acquiescent god; he was simply feared, because of his position among the Olympians (i.e. he ruled over the Underworld)
 * He was originally supposed to be voiced by Jack Nicholson, who also portrayed Frank Costello, Jack Torrance, The Joker, Jimmy Hoffa, Colonel Nathan R. Jessup, and Daryl Van Horne. However, Nicholson turned down the role because he felt that his payment was bad. Curiously, James Woods was considered to portray the Joker before Nicholson obtained the role.

Hades