12 Labors
Parents
In Disney's Hercules, his birth parents are both gods, Zeus and Hera. We see them celebrating the birth of their wonderful bouncing baby boy with other gods up on Olympus. Hercules is incredibly loved by both his parents. Unfortunately this is not the case for the Greek myth of Heracles. His parents are a mortal women, Alcmenes, and the god Zeus. Hera hates Heracles because he is the living reminder of her husband’s affair and sets random fits of madness upon him which caused him to kill his wife and children at one point.
In the myth, Heracles had to perform the 12 labors for Eurystheus. The 12 labors are discussed on the About Heracles page. The Disney's Hercules does not perform the 12 labors specifically for anyone like the myth but instead he fights similar monsters and completes tasks in his quest to become a true hero. We see him battle the Hydra, the Stymphalian bird, Erumanthian boar as well as a few other monsters listed in the real 12 labors. Disney mentions a few more labors like stealing the girdle from the Amazonians and cleaning the Augean stables when Phil is talking about his schedule for the day and his appointments.
Disney’s ending to the story is kept PG for the children compared to the ending of the real myth. Hercules saves Meg from the underworld, gains immortality and then gives it all up to be a mortal with Meg on earth and everyone lives happily ever after. Unfortunately the Greek myth does not end so magically. Heracles wife is worried he is losing interest in her and gaining interest in another women so she puts what she thinks is a love potion on a robe and gives it to her husband. It is actually poison and it puts Heracles in excruciating pain. He decides to kill himself with the help of his friend in order to stop the pain. He burns himself to death which leads to him becoming immortal and living on Olympus.
As mentioned before Hera was not happy that Heracles was born. In an attempt to kill him she sent two snakes to strangle him as an infant but he miraculously strangles both of them with his incredible strength. A similar event happens in Disney’s version. In this version Hades sends his two minions disguised as snakes to kill him because a prophecy was told that Hercules would ruin his plans to take over Olympus. Hades plan is thwarted by the infant Hercules when he ties the two snakes in a knot and throws them aside.
Hercules's ending
Snakes sent by Hades
Greeces Heracles vs. Disney's Hercules
There are a lot of similarities and differences between the Greek myth and Disney's version of Hercules. Disney tried to stay true to some of the story while still being able to make the movie appeal to its younger audience. Anyone who knows the myth of Heracles would recognize the ways Disney tried to sneak parts of the myth in while still keeping it PG. Although it is not historically correct Disney does do a good job of keeping the ideas and events present in their version.