If there’s one thing Marvel Comics (and pretty much all comic books) have a problem with, it’s continuity. When you’ve been telling serialized stories for decades, it’s understandable that plot holes and continuity breaks will crop up, leaving some long-time readers scratching their heads.
The situation is even more complicated when the company uses a heroic figure from mythology like Hercules. Since these characters come with their own lengthy backstories, some writers and artists like to expound on them, which can lead to some problems with those familiar with the original mythology. It’s gotten to the point where Hercules himself has reflected on the problems of having a backstory that spans centuries — and his unique solution for addressing it. Both funny and sad, Hercules’ thoughts on being an immortal hero make other continuity issues seem almost irrelevant by comparison.
In The Incredible Hercules #116, the God of Strength is approached by Ikaris and Thena, two Eternals who believe Hercules is really their amnesiac friend Gilgamesh (who, ironically, is a friend of Herc’s). To try to convince Hercules that he’s not really Hercules, Thena asks him if he can his mother. In response, Hercules remarks, “The poets wrote – and they spoke the truth – that her eyes were as beautiful as Aphrodite’s.” When asked about his father, Hercules begins paraphrasing some lines written by the playwright Euripides, leading Thena to note that Hercules doesn’t know anything about his family that he hasn’t read in books.
However, Thena is adamant and when her words fail to sway the Olympian, Ikaris begins beating up Hercules to knock some sense into him. Before the fight can get too out of hand, the Eternal Makkari catches up with his siblings and its that he mistranslated the information about Gilgamesh, leading the Eternals to attack the wrong person. Herc takes the whole thing in stride, but later its he almost wishes he was an Eternal so he wouldn’t have to be the son of Zeus (whom Hercules feels is “pretty much a jerk”).
However, in a previous story from The Incredible Hercules #115, Hercules its that even his own history contains continuity errors, when he relates a tale of how he killed his wife Megara and his sons after his Twelve Labors (and not before the Labors as most myths indicate). When Herc’s friend Amadeus Cho tries to call him out on that, Herc responds:
“Shut up. You’re not listening. This is a myth I’m telling you. Myths aren’t some collection of dates and biographies you bicker over like a clerk with his ledger. Myths are stories that only have the meaning you give to them, so listen.”
By framing his personal story in this way, Hercules reprimands both Amadeus and comic book fans everywhere, reminding them that comic book stories are a modern mythology that contain meaning for how readers respond to them — not how well they fit in a stable timeline. Arguing over how well a particular story fits within a given continuity is often less important than how well the story stands on its own — a lesson more than a few comic book fans could benefit from.
