Hydra (Disney)

"Will you forget the head slicing thing?!"

- Philoctetes yelled on Hercules to stop beheading the Hydra.

The Hydra is a giant serpent-like monster that appeared as a minor antagonist in the 1997 animated Disney film, Hercules. It is based off the original Hydra, a monster that fought the original Hercules in the story.

Its vocal effects were provided by Frank Welker, who also voiced other monsters such as Doctor Claw in the Inspector Gadgets TV franchise, the Cave of Wonders in Disney's Aladdin and the Spiders in Eight Legged Freaks.

History
In the Disney movie, the Hydra was once a minion of Hades who was commanded to kill Hercules. In the epic battle, when it swallows Hercules, Hercules cuts off the Hydra's head by slicing at its throat from within.

The Hydra was not dead yet, and three more heads grew in its place. Hercules continued to cut off the heads in a vain attempt to kill the Hydra. Apparently, it was a jungle of heads, and Hercules seemed to be unable to kill it. Eventually, Hercules came up with a plan, and tricked the Hydra. He let it grab him with its claw and pin him to the side of a cliff, intent on delivering a killing blow. At just the right moment, Hercules used his immense strength to deal a powerful punch to the cliff. This fractured apart the cliff enough to cause an avalanche of rocks to pour down as a massive rockslide. This rockslide crushed the Hydra, killing it permanently.

Kingdom Hearts
The Hydra also makes its appearance as the boss in the videogame Kingdom Hearts II.

Trivia

 * The Hydra is based on the Lernaean Hydra, a serpent-like water monster of Greek mythology. It originally had nine heads, one of which was believed to be immortal, that would replace each other in the same manner as the Hydra in Hercules, and was killed by Hercules as the second part of his twelve Labors after The Neamean Lion.
 * As stated in the myth, Hercules slew the Hydra by slicing off its heads, then using a torch to cauterize the stumps left. The immortal head was sliced off like the others, and was buried under a rock.
 * The Hydra is rendered in CGI, unlike the rest of the movie which is in hand-drawn animation. This was done as it would have been incredibly difficult to draw each head individually.
 * In Once Upon a Time, the Hydra does not appear. However, when Hercules tells his twelve labors to a teenage Snow White, one of his medals represent the creature.
 * The Hydra is similar to Sammael from the 2004 live action film, Hellboy, as they have the ability to regenerate, though they can still be killed with the proper methods.
 * According to the Disney Read-Along story of Hercules, the Hydra grew a total of 30 heads.
 * However, the math shows if Hercules removed 1 head and 3 more were added up to 14 times, the result would be 29.