Hades (Disney)

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

- Hades

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

He was voiced by the legendary voice actor, James Woods.

In Hercules
Hades is first seen appearing on Olympus to see the celebration, 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 aren't happy to see him). Confused, Hades asks if it is an audience or a mosaic. After politely greeting the Gods (and at one point, staring at a girl's dress while complimenting on it), Zeus greets his brother and asks how things are in the Underworld. Removing Zeus's 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's 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 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."

Years later, 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 him and give him a potion to make him mortal. However, he didn't drink the last drop, thus retaining his super strength. Later, Meg sold her soul to Hades to save her boyfriend's life (and he left her for someone else). Hades remained oblivious to Hercules's survival until he found out from Megara that Nessus, the centaur, was defeated by him. So he sent several monsters, like the Hydra, the Minotaur, and Medusa the Gorgon after him, but he destroyed them all.

Hades sent Megara to find out if he had any weaknesses (though she fell in love with him), and soon discovered that Megara was his greatest weakness. So he held her hostage and convinced him to give up his super strength in exchange for her being set free and not getting hurt. Hercules thought Hades was there to help him, but all Hades cared about was returning to Olympus and revenge. With a single handshake, Hercules lost his strength. Finally rising to power, Hades then released the Titans when the planets aligned, and sent the Cyclops to kill Hercules. However, even without his super strength Hercules defeated the Cyclops, but was nearly crushed by a pillar, however, it fell on Megara instead when she saved him, breaking Hades's deal and giving Hercules his super strength back.

Hercules defeated the Titans, throwing them into space where they were destroyed, and then after Megara's thread of life was cut by the Fates, Hercules went to the Underworld and demanded Hades to let Megara go, making a deal that he would sacrifices himself in exchange for Meg. Hades accepted the deal, knowing it would be impossible for him to get Megara out in time as a mortal god. Diving into the Pit of Death to save Megara's soul, however, Hercules became a true hero and was turned back into an immortal god. Shocked, Hades briefly bursts into red flames in anger while yelling. When Hercules begins to walk away, he then goes back to normal and tells Hercules he cannot do this to him, only to receive a punch in the face by his nephew. Briefly struggling to talk (with his face punched in), Hades' face goes back to normal and he laughs and says he deserved that.

Hades 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 thing off. Then Hades holds Megara's face up to Hercules, mockingly telling her to talk to him. Having enough of Hades, Hercules angrily punches him and sends him flying into the Pit of Death. As the souls start to attack Hades, he tells them to get away and get their "slimy souls" off of him. Scared, Panic tells Pain that Hades isn't going to be happy when he gets out, only for Pain to correct him by saying if he gets out. Feeling a bit better, Panic agrees and says that "if" is good. Getting frightened, Hades says he doesn't feel good and feels a little flushed as he is dragged into the depths of the river, never to be seen again.

Other Appearances

 * Hercules: The Animated Series
 * Disney's House of Mouse
 * Kingdom Hearts
 * The Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom Disney World activity which features Hades attempting to take over by collaborating with other notable Disney villains, sometimes under punny alias like "Boss Teal" and "Prince Azure."
 * 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 Hercules: The Animated Series episode "Hercules and the Arabian Night."

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

Personality
Hades is normally mean, evil, cruel, greedy, bitter, selfish, cunning, jealous, selfish, cynical, ruthless, arrogant, conceited, seductive, egocentric, duplicitous, and manipulative, 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 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 and resentful of Zeus's position as King of the Gods and makes long-term plans to overthrow and kill him.

Also, unlike most villains, Hades doesn't like arrogance, but does have constant mood swings, being entertaining, whimsical, comedic, and laid-back one minute, and then persuasive, egotistical, obstreperous, argumentative, confrontational, short-tempered, materialistic, cantankerous, quarrelsome, unmerciful, indignant, uncaring, furious, savage, and angry the next.

He can also be kind, honest, faithful, scrupulous, and appreciative, saying to Megara that a deal is a deal. Also, when Megara was harmed and killed by the pillar that she protected Hercules from, Hercules's strength was restored, even though it would mean the downfall of Hades's plan. As well, Hades can be somewhat friendly at times (hence when he politely introduced himself and greeted Hercules and others).

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

Appearance
Hades has pale blue skin and flaming blue hair. He is also very tall. Hades's 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 blue, gray, and black robe.

Powers and Abilities

 * Pyrokinesis: He 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's strength or when he healed Megara's former lover).
 * Telekinesis: He can move 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 stated that Hades is his favorite voice role and is willing to reprise his 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.
 * He was originally supposed to be voiced by Jack Nicholson, who also portrayed The Joker, Jimmy Hoffa, Colonel Nathan R. Jessup, and Jack Torrance. However, Nicholson turn down the role because he felt that his payment wasn't good. Curiously, Woods was considered for portray the Joker before Nicholson obtained the role.
 * Hades is very similar to Scar from Disney's 32nd full-length animated feature film, The Lion King.
 * They are jealous of the range of their brothers (Zeus and Mufasa are respectively kings).
 * They are the uncles of the protagonist (Hercules and Simba).
 * They have stupid and clumsy henchmen (Pain and Panic and Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed respectively).
 * They send their henchmen for kill their nephews, but their henchmen failed and lied saying that they killed their respective nephews (Pain and Panic didn't kill Hercules because his adoptive parents arrived; and Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed didn't kill Simba because he fell into some thorns, like Banzai, but Banzai managed to get to where they were Shenzi and Ed, while Simba got out out of reach of the three hyenas).
 * They were finally defeated by their nephews and their respective defeats include a fall (in their respective domains, that are the Underworld and the Pride Lands), that didn't kill them (Hades fell into the River Styx, where he was sucked by the souls to the bottom, and he can't die because he is a God; and Scar fell from the Pride Rock and after that, he was devoured by Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed, along with the Hyena Clan).