Prince of Power

The Road to Thebes, 1291 BC

A group of warriors from Minyan are stopping for the night by fire manned by a cowherder. They boast that their ruler, Erginus, has sent them to slaughter King Creon and his people for failure to pay a tribute of 100 cattle. To pass the time, they decide to question the farmer to find out if the rumors about Creon having a son of godly strength was true or not. Rumor has it, the goddesses Athena and Hera had found the child when it was abandoned when but a baby. It is said that the powerful child gained great strength and invulnerability when it drank Hera’s breastmilk. The child had clamped down so hard that Hera tossed him off her breast and the spraying milk created the Milky Way in the sky. The man concludes the tale by saying that the child was then named Heracles, which means “The Glory of Hera”.[1]

Another one of the soldiers has an even wilder story, that when Hera learned that Athena had orchestrated the baby being put in their path, it angered her. As revenge, she sent two poisonous serpents to kill the baby in his crib. Unfortunately, Heracles’ great strength prevailed again.

A third soldier scoffs at these stories as superstitious nonsense. The only story about Heracles he believes is the tale about the youth killing his music teacher with a single blow from his lute. It reinforces his opinion that the people in Thebes can only be a threat to poets and philosophers, not warriors such as them.

That’s when the farm hand finally speaks up. He says that Heracles regretted the killing because he didn’t know his own strength. He then goes on to say that as penance, Heracles was sent to a cattle ranch for a year. There he learned how to control his strength, until one day when he and his cattle were terrorized by a lion on the foothills of Mount Cithaeron. Heracles slew the lion with his bare hands.

That’s when the soldiers notice the farmer they have been talking to is wearing a sash made out of lion’s fur and realize that he has been talking about himself. Heracles then smiles at their dawning realization. When they draw their swords and attack, Heracles easily trounces them all beats them all into submission. He sends them back to Minyan. King Erginus is furious at this insult and vows to rain down Armageddon on Thebes.

When word reaches Thebes, the ruling class is furious to learn that Amphitryon’s son has doomed them all. Heracles defends his decision, calling them all cowards for not standing up to the Minyans. They continue chastising the youth, explaining that during his year long exile the Minyans had stolen all their weaponry and they are defenseless against the invading horde. Heracles finds this ridiculous as there are weapons available, the ones that they have left in temples as offerings to the gods. They are enough to arm every man, woman, and child three times over. This is viewed as heresy but it gives the King Ceron much to think about, but demands that Heracles be imprisoned until he makes a decision on what to do. Disgusted by their lack of action, Heracles heads to the dungeon on his own, scoffing how even the royal guard have no weapons to force him down there.

Days later, when the armies of Minyan have arrived, King Erginus’ temper has cooled a bit. Rather than invade the city, he demands that Ceron hand over Heracles and 200 cattle before dawn to avoid invasion. By this time, Heracles’ parents Amphitryon and Alcmena have gone down to the dungeon to see their son one last time. They also have a long kept secret to share with him: Amphitryon is not his biological father!

They explain that after the incident with the snakes, the couple sought out the prophet Teiresias to find out the origins of their son’s titanic strength. Teiresias was the son of nymph who once spied Athena bathing one day and was struck blind to protect the goddess’ modesty. When he begged to have his vision restored, Athena refused. Instead, she gave him enhanced hearing so he could even hear the whispers of the gods. With this skill, he learned that Zeus, disguising himself as Amphitryon, was the one who fathered Heracles with Alcemena. The purpose was to birth a savior of both gods and men from giants when they rise.

Now, given the situation, both Amphitryon and Alcmena believe they have failed in raising him to meet this great destiny. They admit that they didn’t know what to do with the boy over the years and believe that he would have been better raised by the gods instead of mere mortals. Heracles tells his parents not to blame themselves, saying his mistakes are their own. Still, the couple have to leave his fate to the gods. However, not wanting her son to meet Zeus dressed as a wild man, she has made him some new raiment that honors his defeat of the Lion of Cithaeron. With that, they tearfully depart the dungeon, giving Heracles much to think about.

The next morning, at dawn, one of the guards comes to tell King Ceron that Heracles has broken out of his cell. However, rather than fleeing, Heracles walks right up to the Minyan camp to confront Erginus alone. He then drops to his knees and asks for penance for what he has done, saying he will accept whatever punishment the rival king has in store for him. Erginus orders that Heracles be beheaded on the spot. His head placed on a chopping block, Heracles offers no resistance as an executioner brings down a massive axe to do the deed. When the blade shatters on his neck, Heracles gets up and offers them to try again. Furious, Erginus orders Thebes destroyed. Heracles then begins battling the armies. He is soon joined by the warriors of Thebes, with Amphitryon leading the charge.

In the ensuing battle, Heracles watches in horror as Erginus throws a battle axe into the back of his father. Enraged by this, Heracles snaps the Minyan King’s neck and rushes to his dying father. Heracles blames himself for what has happened, but Amphitryon’s final words are that this is but the prologue to the saga Heracles, son of Zeus. Heracles refuses to accept that anyone but Amphitryon as his father and vows to live up to become a hero that he can be proud of, either in this life or the next.

Soon, the battle is over and the royal court commends Heracles for his part in defefating the Minyan army. King Ceron says that Heracles’ show of bravery that day inspired the people of Thebes to loot the temples of their weapons and fight for their home. The King thought that this was Heracles’ plan all along, which dumbfounds him, but he takes the credit for it anyway. This delights the king who offers Heracles his eldest daughter, Megara to be his bride, making him an proclaims him as not only the champion of Thebes, but its new prince as well.

This is observed by both Hera and Athena. Hera is insulted that the Thebeians took weapons from the shrines as she believes that the mortals need to blindly worship the gods. Athena, on the other hand, disagrees. She believes that the mortals will continue to evolve and a hero to inspire them and Heracles fits that need. Hera is enraged further, saying if they should worship anyone it should be Ares, the god of war, not some mongrel demigod sired by her unfaithful husband. As she returns to Olympus, she vows that there will be a reckoning!

However, Athena has other plans, should Heracles fall in battle, she already has plans in motion to find another champion. Using magic to look into the future, she watches a young Amadeus Cho riding through the city on his scooter. [2]

Recurring Characters

Hercules, Hera, Athena, King Ceron, Amphitryon, Alcmenam, Megara, Tiresias

Continuity Notes

1. Hercules originally went by the name of Heracles until he accidentally killed his wife Megara while in a rage. This was explained in Incredible Hercules #115

2. When Hercules seemingly dies in Incredible Hercules #121, Athena will choose Cho to succeed him as seen in Hercules: Fall of an Avenger #1-2. He will then be christened the new Prince of Power in Heroic Age: Prince of Power #1-4, a title he’ll maintain until Hercules returns to life in Chaos War #1-5.

And Thus Began the Saga of the Incredible Hercules

This is a recap page that goes into a number of Hercules’ most notable appearances in the fiction. They include: His battle with the Hydra and mortal death through the tricker of Nessus (as depicted in Incredible Hercules #112-115), Zeus returning him to Earth in the Modern Age (Journey into Mystery #125/Thor #126), his time on the Champions of Los Angeles (Champions #1-17), his severe beating at the hands of the Masters of Evil during the Siege on Avengers Mansion (Avengers #273-277), his opposition to the Super Human Registration Act and slaying the clone of Thor created to enforce it (Civil War #1-7), his defense of the Hulk during World War Hulk (Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #106-111), his conflict with SHIELD (Incredible Hercules #112-115), Amatsu-Mikaboshi’s invasion of Olympus and the death of Zeus (Ares #1-5), the formation of the Olympus Group and how Hera took control of it (Incredible Hercules #121-125) and Herc’s recent victory over the Skrull gods during Secret Invasion (Incredible Hercules #117-120).

The Search for Kirby

At one of Bruce Banner’s secret hideouts in the Mojave Desert, Banner is interrupted from his work when Amadeus Cho breaks in. The two are shocked to see one another because both are on the run from the law.[1] Moreover, Banner isn’t interested in anything that Amadeus is up to since he considers him more reckless than Rick Jones.[2] Amadeus needs Bruce’s help, point to the fact that his coyote pup Kirby is missing. The pup was replaced by a Skrull spy during their invasion of Earth and he is just now searching for the missing pet.[3] He had the forethought to plant a tracking device on Kirby, however the signal has led him to a nearby military installation.

Unfortunately, Amadeus hasn’t been able to figure out a way to hack the security system to get inside. While Bruce knows that Amadeus will eventually crack this, he warns him that involving normal people in their lives gets people hurt. Cho refuses to abandon Kirby, explaining how — not long after the death of his own parents — he rescued the orphaned pup and cared for him ever since.[4] When Cho says Bruce wouldn’t understand this, it makes Banner think about his love for Betty Ross. As he tries to gather his thoughts, Amadeus snatches Bruce’s laptop and flees the scene.

Banner chases after Cho’s jeep on a bicycle and tries to warn him that the entry codes on the laptop are old and easily traced. Sure enough, when Amadeus starts using it, the military deploys helicopters to eliminate the intruders. While Banner turns into the Hulk to deal with this threat, Amadeus finds Kirby in the desert, now fully grown. Kirby then shows Amadeus to the cave he has been staying in and where he discovers that Kirby now has a mate.

That’s when the military choppers arrive and fire missiles at him. Luckily, the Hulk manages to land in front of Amadeus and shield them from the explosion. The Hulk then scoops up Amadeus and the two coyotes and leaps them to safety in a nearby forest. There, Cho tries to reassure Kirby that it is safe. Tragically, when he approaches the coyote it snaps at him before cowering away with his mate. The message is clear to Amadeus, who realizes that Banner’s warnings were correct and that Kirby doesn’t want to be anywhere near his former master out of safety. As the Hulk reverts back to Bruce Banner, Amadeus admits he was right and apologizes for his rash actions. Banner also offers his apologies as well. The two part company and Amadeus goes to a nearby stretch of highway to thumb a ride back alone.

Recurring Characters

Amadeus Cho, Hulk, Kirby

Continuity Notes

1. At the time of this story, Banner was captured following the events of World War Hulk #1-5. He broke free in Hulk (vol. 2) #3. Here, Banner mentions that Amadeus Cho is on the run from SHIELD, as seen in Incredible Hercules #112-115.

2. Bruce mentions how Rick was playing the harmonica at a gamma bomb testing site. This was the inciting incident that turned Banner into the Hulk waaaay back in Incredible Hulk #1.

3. As revealed in Incredible Hercules #119, Kirby was replaced with a Skrull spy ahead of their invasion in Secret Invasion #1-8. Kirby was swapped out circa Incredible Hercules #112.

4. Per Incredible Hercules #133-137, Amadeus Cho’s parents were murdered by rival genius Pythagoras Dupree. Amadeus adopted Kirby back in Amazing Fantasy (vol. 2) #15.

Topical References

• Amadeus Cho is depicted using a modified Nintendo Game Boy to help him search for Kirby. This hand-held console was sold from 1989 until it was discontinued in 2003. You could consider this a topical reference as it could be replaced by any other type of vintage tech with a video screen. That said, you could also argue that the fact that it is vintage is the reason why Amadeus has it to begin with. YMMV.