Prediction Blog: Wonder Woman vs Hercules
"Remember, kid, theres heroes and there's legends. Heroes get remembered, but Legends never die." - Babe RuthWonder Woman, Themyscira's goddess of Strength and Truth.
Hercules Panhellenios, Olympus' god of Strength and Heroes.
Greek mythology is home to many, many, famous champions of mythic proportions, and the world of comic books are no strangers to adapting them for their own tales. DC and Marvel have presented their best warriors on the show before, and today it is time for the former's returning champion to once more put her skills to the test against a surely herculean foe.
Can the warrior princess of the Amazons take down the mightiest half-mortal Olympus has to to offer? It's time to find out!
Before we begin...
Background
Wonder Woman
Themyscira, a magical island created by the gods and inhabited solely by women. While at first, it may seem like this paradise would host only a life of peace and serenity, its an island of warriors. The Amazon are some of the most well-trained and skillful fighters in the whole universe, and no one is a better example of that than the lady of liberty; Diana Prince.
Diana and her fellow Amazons remained undisturbed by the rest of the world for millenia until the year of 1916, when WW1 pilot Steve Trevor crash-landed on the island. As a result of this incident, the Queen of the Amazons Hippolyta made a decision. A tournament would be held to dictate their best warrior, who would then make her way to the "World of man". It was time for Themyscira to become one with the rest of the Earth, and Diana proved herself the perfect candidate for this mission.
Thanks to her divine blessings and Amazonian training, Diana proved more than capable of completing the mission brought on her. She proved herself an incredible warrior and even more incredible hero, becoming a funding member of the Justice League of America alongside Superman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lanter, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter, even often being heralded as member of the DC Trinity.
No matter the challenge, Diana will rise up to defend this new world she eventually grew to call her second home.
Hercules
In modern times, Hercules fought in World War II alongside Wolverine, and would later be tricked by the Enchantress into attacking the Avengers, but Hawkeye was able to snap him out of her control. He now fights alongside the Avengers and Earth's other defenders as the true hero he was always meant to be.
Equipment
Wonder Woman
The most recognisable thing in Diana's arsenal, the Bracelets of Submission are a pair of indestructible cuffs. Aside from being good at blocking attacks, the Bracelets also keep Diana's divine abilities contained (more on that later) to keep civilians and bystanders safe. In terms of blocking attacks, they can do that too! Even attacks from the likes of Zeus and Nekron can't shatter them.
Diana's main weapon of choice is the Lasso of Truth, forged out of the purest gold Mount Olympus has to offer and infinite in length. It is also extremely sturdy, capable of supporting the weight of the entire Earth. But it's most recognisable ability is the one it is named after, capable of forcing anyone who touches it to reveal the truth, such as when it forced Ares to see the truth of his plan, forced Martian Manhunter to reveal his true form, nullified the Queen of Fable's powers by forcing her to confront the truth, and forced a thug to relive his entire life which led him to killing himself.... wow.
The Lasso can also summon the Fires of Hestia, magical flames even the gods can't resist, protect against magical monsters, and kill Black Lantern Corp members. The Lasso can conduct magical energies, and even pour the very element of life to destroy entities of death.
And to top it off, the Lasso has various soul manipulation abilities, such as going into people's souls to look through their history and memories, or attack, torture and "napalm" souls. It's also said that the Lasso can even destroy souls, and apparently no souls can escape it.
As one of DC's best swordfighters, it's only natural that Diana would have a personal favourite blade of choice. In her case, the Sword of Hephaestus was made by the man it's named after, and is more than sharp enough to effortlessly slice apart atoms.
An extraordinarily powerful blade that contains the energy of the Godwave, a cosmic force of divine energy that created the Pantheons of Earth, the Speed Force, the Quantum Field, and the Emotional Spectrum. Obviously, Diana can't fully channel all of this energy at the same time, but it does grant her the ability to kill immortal gods like Ares.
Gun
During a period where she temporarily lost her powers, Diana used a gun to fight off some demonic foes. Her gun looks to be a standard Uzi, a very popular sub-machine gun that fires 9x19mm Parabellum cartridges at 600 rpm with a muzzle velocity of 300 m/s, all with an effective firing range of over 200 meters.
An extremely durable piece of greek forgery that Diana uses as her main method of guarding against attacks. It's easily her best piece of defensive gear, capable of protecting against attacks from the likes of the Green Lanterns and Doomsday.
Made out of one of the strongest materials in DC, Diana's tiara serves as an unexpectedly powerful boomeranging weapon that can swat projectiles out of the air and decapitate gods. Diana has used it to tag the likes of Cheetah, who, by Diana's own words, is comparable in speeds to the Flash.
Bolt of Zeus
The main weapon of Diana's father Zeus, this divine rod of electricity is one of the strongest weapons in her arsenal. The Bolt is powerful enough to send tanks flying and obliterate mountains. When used by Zeus himself, it proved powerful enough to one-shot Poseidon.
Also, it can resurrect the dead.
Gauntlet of Atlas / Sandals of Hermes
A gauntlet and sandal combo that boosts Diana's strength & speed. The gauntlets reportedly increase her strength by a factor of 10, while the sandals grants her the ability to fly... which she can't already do. Nope. Not at all.
Magic Sea Shell
Designed and given to Diana by Pallas, this Golden Armour is obviously much stronger than Diana in her normal. It doesn't exactly grant her any specialised abilities or anything, but it does provide incredible protection against most types of damage, wether it being blades, explosions, magic or anything else.
Perhaps Diana's strangest piece of equipment, the Lansinarian Morphing Disk is a sentient piece of machinery that even Superman can't harm. Alongside high-speed flight, the Disk offers telepathic shielding even against the likes of Martian Manhunter.
The classic iconic stealth-plane itself. Diana's invisible jet is, you guessed it, completely invisible, meaning it's the perfect transportive vehicle to use in any situation where you don't want to get noticed by your foes.
Wait what do you mean it doesn't turn the driver invisible as well-
One time when Diana was under the influence of the Black Lanterns, she was gifted a Star Sapphire Power Ring that helped her free herself from their control. With an endless love for creation and light, she became a perfect member for the group, and with the additional blessings from the goddess of love Aphrodite, was more than a perfect fit for their cause. While she did leave the group, she has rejoined it several times and is always welcomed into their ranks.
- Increased Physical Capabilities: By wearing a Lantern Ring, your natural physical capabilities are boosted to near-immeasurable degrees.
- Flight: All Lantern Rings give the user unrestricted interstellar flight.
- Love Empowerment: The Star Sapphires draw their strength from the emotion of love, and Diana has a lot of it. For her, Diana can draw her power from her undying love for humaity and the world she protects, as well as her friends, family, and allies.
- Crystallisation: One of the signature abilities of the Star Sapphires is their ability to crystallise targets with focused blasts fuelled by love energy. Diana can shoot several blasts to crystallise multiple targets in quick succession. These crystals are strong enough to hold people like Lobo.
- Energy Manipulation: Star Sapphires can fire energy out of their Power Rings for devastating ranged attacks, such as planet-spanning laser beams or explosive blasts.
- Construct Creation: The signature Lantern ability; Star Sapphires can create virtually any object or entity they want, limited only by their imagination.
- Forcefield Projection: With Star Sapphire energy, Diana can create barriers and forcefields to guard herself and others from attacks.
- Resurrection: By bonding someone's heart with a person they love, Star Sapphires are capable of bringing them back from death.
- Resistance to Physical, Spiritual & Mental Corruption: Diana was initially granted her ring to free herself from Black Lantern control. The moment an individual comes into contact with a Black Lantern ring, they are fundamentally changed in body, soul and mind, instantly falling under Nekron's control.
Hercules
Herc doesn't wear a lot of armour, but he always carries with him his Golden Bracelets which are surprisingly durable, capable of deflecting all sorts of different projectiles.
Helm of Hades
Another piece of equipment he carries is the Helm of Hades, which grants Hercules the ability to turn completely invisible for as long as he wears it. This invisibility is magic in nature, rendering him unable to be detected by even the gods. It is also forged out of adamantine, and has the added protection of shielding Herc against telepathic attacks.
It's literally a scouter that uses thermal imaging to scan targets for weak points and openings.
Golden Mace
Herc's signature weapon is his Golden Mace, made of unbreakable Adamantine. It was created in order to match Thor's hammer Mjolnir, and it has repeatedly proven itself capable of doing just that.
Sword of Peleus
Herc's second most well known weapon is his Sword of Peleus. Despite being the size of an average to large knife, he can expertly utilise and swing it with the same ferocity as if it was a broadsword. Not only is it powerful accompanied with Herc's might, but by itself it is also sharp enough to cut through molecules.
A durable shield that Herc usually wields alongside his sword. Apart from being tough, it was imbued with the face of Medusa, allowing Herc to petrify those who happen to look into her face. However, it's important to note that the effect is not permanent, and those with powerful regenerative abilities can break out of it quicker.
Herc's main weapon of long-range combat is his bow. As he has long ago lost his signature arrows coated in Hydra poison, he now instead uses arrows composed out of the feathers of the Birds of Stymphalis that are reportedly capable of cleaving through any armor, natural or man-made.
Herc isn't above packing parabellum, and in modern time carries several powerful firearms. One time, he whipped out a large rifle to use against a crowd of centaurs.
When fighting a group of Gigantes, Herc utilised a special Grenade Launcher that fired shells filled with custom made smoke charges mixed with resin incense and camphor. The weapon itself was just used to weaken them before Herc himself goes in for the punch.
One time, he randomly had a giant rifle that shot energy beams.
Yeah.
When Herc wishes to fight without killing someone, he typically uses a high-voltage taser.
When he wants to travel through the air, Hercules uses a flying chariot pulled by a mighty Pegasus.
Powers and Abilities
Wonder Woman
As expected of a hight-tier comic book character, Diana's physical capabilities are far beyond any mortal could ever imagine. She is one of DC's all time heavyweight champs, and possesses not only great strength and durability, but also incredible speed, agility and manoeuvrability.
Flight
Diana is capable of quick and unrestricted flight of both skyward and interstellar distances.
Hailing from a society where you're literally trained to fight before you can say your own name, it's no suprise that Diana can more than hold her own in a one on one fight.
She has been trained by master martial artists such as the legendary I-Ching, and her skills in combat has been described as "unparalleled".
And she has more than kept up this training as a member of the Justice League. She is a frequent sparring partner for Superman and Manhunter, even being capable of holding her own against the best of the JL while blindfolded. There's a reason Batman considers her the best melee fighter in the world, after all.
Thanks to her divine blessings, Diana is capable of understanding and communicating with all sorts of animals. The best example of this is when she talked to and commanded an entire horde of dinosaurs.
Diana can teleport, both as a flash of light and via mystic portals. She's even capable of teleporting large groups of people alongside herself.
Diana also possesses the ability to telepathically communicate with people from far distances away. Because at this point, why not, right?
Even outside of her lasso, Diana for whatever reason possesses the divine ability to manipulate souls. She can see and interact with normally invisible spirits, heal shattered and factured souls, and even punch people so hard, she inflicts an exorcism on them.
- Heat: Has tanked the detonation of a thermonuclear missile, falling into molten steel, and the heat of a nuclear reactor about to explode.
- Cosmic Radiation & Antimatter: Withstands the inside of a black hole.
- Mind Control: Resists mental manipulations from Dr. Psycho and Maxwell Lord.
- Reality Warping(?): Morphs back after being transformed into a gorilla.
Being a divine entity sculpted from mystic clay by the gods, its not outlandish that Diana possesses some levels of immortality. Most notably, her ageing is extremely slow acting, meaning that she will (and literally has) remain in peak physical condition for centuries.
And although by no means unkillable, she possesses a potent healing factor that allows her to regenerate from most fatal wounds. She was able to completely recover from a massive head trauma, compound fractures, and multiple organ failures in only three hours.
A bi-effect of being a descendant diety is that its hard to control your full strength, and Diana knows this more than anyone else. Thus, a secondary purpose of her Bracelets of Submissions is to restrain her godly might so that she doesn't accidentally harm civilians.
In this "Godforce" state, Diana is powerful enough to match fight on par with incredibly powerful godlike entries such as Firstborn, who is capable of destroying the entirety of the Underword plane of existence.
Hercules
As the son of the king of the Olympian gods, Hercules possesses incredible superhuman buffs. Despite being half-human, his strength, speed and durability dwarfs most superhumans in his universe, even being considered one of the strongest actual gods to exist. He is the literal god of strength after all, and he more than makes use of this power in whatever tussle he gets into.
By clapping his hands together real hard, Hercules can create a powerful shockwave that is capable of dissipating hurricanes, putting out infernos, and knocking out fellow warriors.
Having been a trained warriors for a few thousand years, Hercules is incredibly skilled at unharmed hand-to-hand combat. Thor stated that out of the two, Herc was the better fighter, and he has showed this skill in times such as when he organised a wrestling match where anyone was allowed to challenge him, and he still swept the competition, even against warriors like Wolverine and the Thing.
Hercules has showcased his impeccable senses, like when they allowed him to realise that someone was following him without any indication, and when he managed to figure out that Yellowjacket was hiding in a closet spying on him.
Laser Vision
Resistances
- Heat: Has resisted flamethrower fire, attacks from Ghost Rider and the Molten Man, and plasma blasts capable of melting an armoured bunker.
- Petrification: Resists a gorgon's petrifying gaze.
- Empathy, Poison & Soul Manip: Powers through Oizy's despair-inducing soul poison. Survived Ghost Rider's hellfire.
- Death Manipulation: As an immortal, is immune to Decay's deadly touch.
- Mind Manipulation:
Hercules is immortal, meaning that he cannot die of old age, he doesn't need to breathe, he can drink enough to knock out an elephant with no ill effects, and has a healing factor that allows him to regenerate deadly wounds in short timeframes.
According to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Hercules (bottom, second column) cannot be killed in conventional means, and it requires an injury of such magnitude that it incinerates or disperses a major amount of his molecules to kill him. Even in those cases, Zeus or one of the other gods might resurrect him upon death.
Feats
Wonder Woman
Overall
- Founding member of the Justice League.
- Member of the "DC Trinity"
- Possesses a photographic memory.
- Battles Ares for several hours.
- Fought most of the Justice League while blindfolded.
- One of the four strongest heroes on Earth.
- Became the God of War.
- Shattered a magic prison by... clicking her teeth?
- Exerted enough force on a girder to.. fit it through the eye of a needle...
- Punched a missile precisely enough to turn it into a needle... what??
- Repeatedly punched a penny, exerting immeasurable energy against it, drawing it out to an infinite length, and made a bridge out of it.... yeah... I... I don't know either...
- Shattered meteors as a toddler.
- Shatters Hal Jordan's construct.
- Stabs Darkseid in the eye.
- Pulls the Earth alongside Martian Manhunter and Superman.
- According to Superman, is capable of moving the Earth by hand.
- According to Zatanna, Wonder Woman is stronger than her.
- Is stated to be stronger than Hercules.
- (no correlation)
- (no correlation)
Speed
- Seventh fastest entity in the DC universe.
- Moves at lightspeed as a teenager.
- Deflects several lasers at once.
- Blocked trillions of shards from the Shattered God after he spread himself to every corner of the universe and fired himself at her rapid fire.
- Swings a sword so fast that it turns into actual fire.
- Keeps up with a casual Wally West, moving at easily 9000+ mph.
- Intercepts Darkseid's Omega Beams.
- According to Manhunter, is almost as fast as the Flash.
- Claims to have a faster reaction time than Superman. Confirmed by Batman.
- Is as fast as Amazo, who is faster than Superman.
- Pulls a moon into another galaxy at incalculable speeds.
- Moves faster than thoughts and dreams.
- Threw her lasso into the Speed Force... what?
Durability
- Takes a hit from Superman that sends her from the Sun to Earth in seconds.
- Survives kryptionian heat vision.
- Endures a mystical and physical beatdown from Ares.
- Is punched from Themyscira, to Paris, to China, and back to Themyscira.
- Punched a nuclear warhead, tanking the explosion.
- Is punched from New York to Canada by Supergirl.
- Survives the pressure of inside a black hole.
- Survives a blast that obliterates all of Olympus.
- While in space, survives a blast that creates an Earth-trembling shockwave.
- Takes hits from Amazo when he was stronger than Diana and Superman combined.
- Takes a hit from Superman that sends her from the Sun to Earth in seconds.
- Survives kryptionian heat vision.
- Endures a mystical and physical beatdown from Ares.
- Is punched from Themyscira, to Paris, to China, and back to Themyscira.
- Punched a nuclear warhead, tanking the explosion.
- Is punched from New York to Canada by Supergirl.
- Survives the pressure of inside a black hole.
- Survives a blast that obliterates all of Olympus.
- While in space, survives a blast that creates an Earth-trembling shockwave.
- Takes hits from Amazo when he was stronger than Diana and Superman combined.
Hercules
Overall
- One of the most well-known figures in all of mythology, on the level of King Arthur and Thor.
- Fights Thor for almost an hour straight.
- Throws his mace so that it bounces of an enemy right to Ghost Rider's hand.
- Bodies the Thing in a wrestling match.
- Expertly fires an arrow through the barrel of an enemy gun.
- Fought relatively evenly against the Hulk even with his immortality stripped from him.
- Throws his sword precisely enough to slice a chain apart.
- Has saved the world at least 85 times.
- Is great at the guitar.
- Helps entertain sick children at the hospital. (Because that's what heroes do.)
- Organises wrestling matches for cancer research.
- Punches a dinosaur in the face.
- Holds up the Heavens of Olympus for three hours.
- Has enough power to shake the universe.
- Struggles with Ares and begins overpowering him.
- Alongside Thor, punches hard enough to close a wormhole.
- States that he has levelled mountains.
- Matches Jane Foster in arm wrestling.
- Breaks the grip of Thor and Iron Man at the same time.
- Throws an arrow into space.
- Physically moves the island of Manhattan after it was moved by aliens.
- Is stated by Bruce Banner to be one of the few people capable of taking down the Hulk on his own.
- One-shots Rogue.
- Punched Ares into another country.
- Used a fake Mjolnir to kill Ragnarok.
- Knees Sentry in the dick. (0_0)
- Zeus states that Herc is the strongest of all his sons.
- Punches the Beyonder through three floors of Avengers Mansion.
- Stops Godzilla's foot and throws him through the air.
- Punched Galactus in the dick. (0_0) (again)
Reminder that this guy feels the need to carry around a bow and arrows.
Speed
Durability
- Is completely bulletproof.
- Unharmed by intense fire.
- Walks through lava.
- Tanks rockets from a helicarrier.
- Venom is unable to eat him.
- Is hit by the Beyonder hard enough to shake the Pegasus Complex.
- Walks through attacks from both Ghost Rider and Iceman.
- No-sells Iron Man's strongest punches.
- Survives a beating from Zeus.
- Is conscious after a brutal beatdown from Hulk.
- It hit by Atlas using the Washington Monument as a weapon.
- Ares states that Hydra Blood is about the only thing on Earth, Olympus or Hades that can seriously harm Hercules.
Scaling
Wonder Woman
Superman
- Shoulderpresses the weight of the Earth for five days straight.
- Sneezed away a Solar System.
- Flies through the Big Bang.
- Recreated timelines in his fight with Jaxon.
- After flying through hundreds of stars, KO's the World Forger and shatters his new multiverse.
- Physically flies into the 5th dimension.
- Flew fast enough to time travel.
The Flash(es)
Lantern Corps
- Kyle Rayner held back Imperiex' Big Bang.
- John Stewart created an entire solar system.
- Hal Jordan sent SOS probes across the universe in the timeframe of a heartbeat.
- Alan Scott strikes Darkseid with the energy of the Multiverse.
- Atrocitus' Napalm Breath made Krona scream in pain.
- GL Sinestro creates hundreds of power rings.
- Larfleeze stole Barry Allen's wallet.
Other DC Heroes
- Survives a dimension of nothingness.
- Survives being thrown through infinite dimensions.
- Helmet of Fate contains its own universe.
Hercules
Thor Odinson
- An infant Thor merely crying summoned a storm more intense than any Asgard had ever before seen.
- Summoned a storm on Asgard so strong it crossed the Universe and destroyed buildings on Earth.
- Pulled the planet-sized Midgard serpent.
- Lifted a book of Infinite Pages as a child.
- The shockwaves from his blows shatter planets.
- Flies to the edge of infinity at light speed.
- Can galaxy-cross in under a minute.
- Universe-crosses in a few seconds.
- Mjolnir outraces and impresses Silver Surfer.
- Mjolnir flies from the end of existence in seconds.
The Incredible Hulk
The Sentry
- Famously has the power of a million exploding suns.
- Managed to stun Dr Strange with a punch.
- Punches Hulk through several skyscrapers.
- Beats the shit out of Ares and rips him in half. Ares can fight in the span of planck-time.
- Boxes with the Chaos fucking King.
- Snatches a gun at FTE.
- Plays a game of pool at FTE.
- Causes a sonic boom to defeat Venom.
- Disarms 17 men in mere seconds.
- Avoids a point-blank Optic Blast.
- Outruns a radio wave.
- Can throw 1000 punches in the time it takes you to throw one.
- Reacts in a Picosecond.
- Bridged infinite universes by combining his power with a singularity.
- Battled Knull and made him bleed.
- Accidentally maimed Tyrant, who rivals Galactus.
- Flew fast enough to time travel.
- His speed defies existence in human terms.
- Wolverine can fight in Blightspoke, a realm above the multiverse where collapsed realities are stored. In this fight, entire universes shattered around and atop Logan but he was able to continue fighting.
- Shrugs off an attack from Galactus.
- Absolutely manhandles the Hulk.
- Stated by Dormammu to be him and Odin's equal. Described as Odin's equal.
- Nullified Surtur's flame, which burned the Yggdrasil world tree and would have spread across the Multiverse.
- Fought on par with Seth while weakened, their fight threatening infinite planes of time and space.
Cosmology
Weaknesses
Wonder Woman
However, the weakness you likely think of first is her extra vulnerability to piercing weapons. While her divine skin is impenetrable to most attacks, it doesn't take more than a sharp enough sword or a bullet with enough firepower behind it to cause some serious damage.
And yes, I feel obliged to mention that up until the 1980's, Diana and all amazons had a weakness to being bound by men, which would make them lose their powers. Thankfully, that was retconned and never mentioned ever again.
Hercules
The writers.
No, seriously. If you're reading a Marvel story and Hercules shows up in it, there is a 95% chance that it will end with him getting his ass kicked.
As for actual weaknesses, despite his millenia of battle experience, Herc often goes into a fight fists first, brains second. He is known to make brash decisions and not think until he gets himself in trouble, relying on brute force to get though obstacles.
Summary
Wonder Woman
- Statstomps with finite stats.
- Equivalent with infinite stats.
- More nimble and acrobatic.
- Likely the better trained of the two.
- Better strategist
- More esoteric abilities and arsenals.
- Lightning vs Wonder Woman OMM
- Bisexual icon.
- Physically weaker.
- Worse healing factor.
- Most weapons can't put Herc down.
- Rogue vs Wonder Woman, Thor vs Wonder Woman, She-Ra vs Wonder Woman.
- Injustice
- Related to Zeus
Hercules
- Equivalent with infinite stats.
- Broader and more versatile arsenal.
- Far greater healing factor.
- Almost just cannot be killed by Diana.
- Bisexual icon.
- Far weaker with finite stats.
- Likely not as well trained.
- Not much of a strategist.
- Has a tendency to not think ahead.
- More clumsy, bigger target.
- The writers hate him
- Related to Zeus
So.....does this mean you think Diana beats Thor, or would that be a whole other story for a whole different post?
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, I'm unsure on who I think wins that. Thor has a LOT more abilities than Herc and almost certainly scales higher nowadays. I'd be interested to do a deep dive on that at some point in the future, but for now I think it's likely Thor wins.
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