Hercules (Or Heracles as is his actual Greek name)
Backstory:
While his strength is above average, Hercules isn't all that intelligent. But what the hero lacks in outstanding brains, he makes up for in compassion and the desire to do good, which is especially appreciated in a world with constant turmoil around every corner, be it by the hands of a demon or beast, or The Lord of the Dead himself, Hades.
As mentioned above, Hercules is compassionate, and his most dominate trait is, without a doubt, his innocence and massively kind heart, in spite of being treated like a "freak" by his peers and those around him (with the exception of his foster parents) throughout his childhood, and adolescent years. Even after becoming a worldwide phenomenon, Hercules retained his innocence and cheerful nature, not once letting the fame dangerously inflate his ego. This makes Hercules one of the purest of heart Disney characters.
Notably, whilst usually on the bright side, Hercules has an effective sternness to his personality, notably seen during the climax of the film, where the actions of Hades take a turn for the worse, killing and threatening the entire world of Olympus, as well as Megara. This can be seen again when his trainer and close companion, Phil, questioned Megara's affections towards the hero after witnessing her plotting against the latter with Hades (though it was a misunderstanding at that point in the movie).
The primary lesson Hercules learns throughout the film is what it takes to be a true hero. Something his father Zeus explained he had to learn for himself. After meeting and falling in love with the beautiful femme fatale, Megara, Hercules would learn a true hero is measured by the strength of his heart, as opposed to the strength of his muscles.
Powers and Abilities:
Superhuman Physical Characteristics,
Martial Arts,
Weapon Mastery,
Immortality (Type 1, possibly 5; as it was stated that gods were immortal and couldn't be killed, as shown when Hercules was unfazed by the Sister's powers and the river of souls once he became a god, the formers being able to end any life by cutting their string),
Healing,
Flight (With Pegasus),
Resistance to Fate Manipulation / Life and Death Manipulation (The Sisters of Fate were incapable of predicting his ascension into godhood and cutting the thread of his life)
Weakness: Naive
Maui
Backstory:
Maui was born to human parents centuries before the events of the film. Disgusted and supposedly wanting nothing to do with their son, Maui was thrown into the sea as an infant and left for dead. He was saved by the gods, who raised and granted Maui supernatural abilities, immortality, and a giant, magical fish hook that allows him to shape-shift.
Despite his demigod status, Maui's cruel upbringing would forever scar him. He felt inadequate to humans and used his powers to benefit mankind in any way they pleased as a means to earn the love and validation he was denied by his parents; he pulled islands from the sea to provide them with homes, extended their days by pulling back the sun, and stole fire from the bottom of the earth to provide them with warmth on cold nights, among many feats. As a result, Maui became one of the most acclaimed figures of Oceania history.
Powers and Abilities:
Superhuman Physical Characteristics,
Shapeshifting,
Limited Animal Manipulation,
Bodily Weaponry,
Size Manipulation (With his Fishhook. Maui's fishhook is a gift from the gods that allows him to freely shapeshift into several animals as big as sharks, hawks and whales, as well animals as small as fishes and flies. Can even shapeshift into the hybrid of a shark and his own body though the first time he did this was by accident),
Weapon Mastery,
Possibly Accelerated Development (Has shown great mastery in wielding his ancient fishhook. Learned and mastered using his hook again over the course of one night after not using it for 1,000 years),
True Flight (With Hawk form),
Underwater Breathing (Type 1; With aquatic forms such as fish form, whale form, shark form and sharkhead form),
Minor Water Manipulation (By turning into a whale above water, he creates huge splashes of water like he did during his fight Te Ka),
Surface Scaling,
Shockwave Generation (Created a powerful shockwave after hitting Te Ka with his severely-damaged Fishhook),
Immortality (Eternal life and resilience to damage),
Self-Sustenance (Type 2; Survived on a rocky island with no food or fresh water for 1,000 years)
Weakness: Cocky. Without his hook, Maui can't use his shapeshifting.
Song: Zero to Chee-hoo!
In a room devoid of visitors, an aged male narrator initiated a recounting of tales from an ancient history museum exhibit, delving into the realm of myths and legends.
"Long ago, in the bygone era of lore, heroes roamed the earth, exhibiting power rivaling that of the gods. Many of these heroes utilized their might to aid the common folk around them. The greatest of these were-"
Interrupted by the Greek pot adorned with five women figures, the Greek Muses. Thalia, the Muse of Comedy, exclaimed with a touch of frustration,
"Oh blah, blah, blah. Must he always take things so seriously? He belongs on Discovery or National Geographic, not here."
Calliope, the Muse of Epic Poetry, responded with a reassuring smile and confidence,
"Worry not, dear. We'll provide this narrative with the grandeur and impact it deserves."
"You go, girl."
Relinquishing control, the narrative ventured into the world of ancient Greece, depicted through intricate pottery art, while Calliope eloquently sang with infectious zeal,
"Our boy Hercules ascended from zero to hero in no time flat, just like that. Heavens bless him, for he was on a winning streak, undefeated, riding high, and yet devoid of arrogance. He was simply a noble soul, not conceited."
The narrative continued, focusing on the exploits of Hercules within Thebes, following his triumph in an archery contest. The surroundings were brimming with applause, with a jubilant crowd cheering for him, joined by his steadfast companions, Pegasus and Phil, and his cherished lover, Meg. Calliope continued the narrative with gusto, stating,
"And yet, his adventures did not conclude when he saved Meg and turned godhood down just to be a cool dude. He continued his heroics, up to defending against a demigod who challenged our main youth. What happened that day may seem impossible, it's the honest to Zeus gospel truth."
As Hercules prepared to recieve his prize, the attention of everyone was abruptly drawn to a piercing screech, their gazes rising upwards in anticipation. A colossal hawk, unlike any they had ever witnessed, cast a vast shadow before gracefully descending with a powerful impact, transforming into the demigod Maui, trickster demigod of Oceania, who had chosen to encroach upon the realm of another mythology. With a defiant smirk, Maui towered over the perplexed Hercules, circling him with a mixture of challenge and arrogance.
"So this is the one they call 'zero to hero'? I fail to comprehend what sets you apart. You lack the physical attributes and appearance of a true hero, unlike myself."
He flexed his much bigger muscular frame, showcasing his rippling muscles, as his tattoos danced to a rhythm only he could hear. Hercules, bewildered by the unexpected newcomer, inquired,
"Who are you?"
Maui scoffed and responded with a confident self-introduction, his hand striking his chest as he flexed his pectoral muscles. He proclaimed,
"Me? Are you kidding me? Everyone has heard of me. Maui, demigod of the sea."
He was exuding an air of self-assured invincibility. As Hercules displayed a puzzled expression, still unacquainted with the name, Maui persisted in encircling him, attempting to provoke a response. He reiterated his credentials, proclaiming,
"Maui, the demigod of the wind and sea, the hero of men and women? Does that ring a bell even a bit? By any chance, young one, have you ever held up the sky?"
Hercules awkwardly tries to stand heroic, as he answers,
"Yes, I have. From Atlas at one time."
Maui was surprised that this upstart demigod held up the weight of infinity, and went for something else.
"Have you ever delivered fire from the underworld to man?"
"No, that's Prometheus, but I did retrive back the sun from Hades to bring it back to the sky."
Exasperated, Maui tried one more feat.
"Have you ever defeated a lava monster?"
"I have, actually. Have you?"
Hercules answered, having taken down a magma golem from when Hades attempted to take over Olympus. Maui's expression shifted, tinged with a hint of bitterness as he confronted the reminder of his past failure in battling Te'Ka. He was determined not to let this moment further undermine his pride. With a sense of urgency to save face, Maui tried to regain his footing in the conversation. Despite the challenge to his ego, Maui swiftly regained his charismatic demeanor, chuckling at the situation.
"I get it now. You're just itching to follow in my footsteps of greatness, huh? Well then, you'll have to prove it."
With a swift move, Maui seized Hercules with his fish hook, skillfully spinning him through the air before hurling him into a nearby mural advertisement of the Greek celebrity. The wall shattered upon impact, leaving behind a mess of rubble and plaster. Calliope once again assumed the narrative, vividly describing the unfolding battle with her powerful voice,
"The mighty hero of men and women wielded his divine fish hook with unmatched skill. Yet, the demigod of strength was not easily overthrown."
Hercules, demonstrating unyielding determination, rose from the wreckage, albeit slightly dazed. His innate sense of heroics compelled him to respond and seek retribution. With a steely gaze, he squared off against Maui, ready to return the favor.
Maui charged towards Hercules, aiming a powerful belly flop, but the demigod responded with a swift headbutt, landing a direct hit on his abdomen. Maui staggered back, momentarily stunned, and found himself punched and slammed into a nearby marble pillar. As he attempted to recompose himself, he saw Hercules coming at him, and Maui transformed into a small bug, evading a subsequent punch. The punch, instead, shattered the marble pillar and crashed it down with a loud thud.
Defying expectations, Hercules refused to yield, gripping the mighty fish hook with unyielding strength and tearing it free from Maui's grasp, to the trickster's fear. With a defiant declaration, he asserted,
"I am a true hero!"
In a spectacular display of power, he hurled a devastating punch, sending Maui hurtling through the air with such formidable force that he vanished from sight, only to resurface with a mighty splash in a distant fountain. Maui groaned as he brushed back his wet hair, regaining his composure after the unexpected plunge into the fountain. He watched as Hercules attempted to attack him with a powerful spinning throw of the fish hook, but to his surprise, Maui swiftly caught the hook, firmly grasping it as its rightful owner. With a playful quip, he proclaimed,
"Thank you for returning my hook to me! It's Maui time! Chee-hoo!"
In an impressive display of transformation, Maui metamorphosed into a colossal hawk, taking flight to gain a strategic advantage in the air. Phil, watching from the sidelines, was visibly frustrated with Hercules' tactical error. With a mix of excitement and frustration, he yelled out,
"What are you doing, kid?! Remember rule XXIV: Don't get cocky!"
Hercules smacked his forehead in mild annoyance, scolding himself for not fully grasping the fact that Maui's power was intrinsically connected to the fish hook. In the heat of the moment, he realized the need for increased mindfulness in his future attempts to disarm the trickster demigod. As Hercules kept a watchful eye on Maui in his hawk form, he swiftly snatched up the fallen marble pillar, wielding it with practiced ease as he swung it around a few times. With a determined aim, he hurled the pillar at the airborne trickster. Maui, ever nimble, dodged the incoming projectile, transforming into a colossal python in midair and wrapping himself around Hercules, constricting him with an unsettlingly tight grip.
But he underestimated how strong Hercules was as he got a stranglehold around his body, and swung Maui around against the ground a few times like a whip until the transformation wore off. Getting Maui into a bearhug, Hercules tried to force the trickster into submission, but he was caught off guard by his opponent turning his upper half into a shark, and biting down around his body. Maui vigorously flailed the demigod in the air before violently flinging him upwards with the release of his jaws.
"Shark head! Can I get a chee-hoo?!"
With a swift swing of his fish hook, Maui batted Hercules into a nearby pottery shop, causing a loud crash as hardened clay shattered into numerous fragments. The young demigod, though not seriously injured, was left covered in superficial cuts that continued to seep with a slight trace of blood.
With fierce determination, Hercules leapt up through the shattered wreckage of the pottery shop, aiming to deliver a powerful descending blow. However, just before impact, Maui executed a lightning-quick transformation, morphing into an agile iguana and deftly avoiding the strike. The force of Hercules' fists crashing into the ground caused a seismic impact, sending unsecured objects within the vicinity momentarily airborne and inducing a wave of unease among the onlookers.
As Maui scurried around Hercules in his iguana form, the demigod relentlessly attempted to swat at the elusive trickster, but to no avail when Maui pulled his cape over his head. As the demigod tried to free his face from the cape, Maui transformed into a nimble flying beetle and gracefully flying over his head. When Hercules finally got his cape removed, a monumental shadow abruptly appeared overhead, causing Hercules to look up in utter surprise and yell just before being flattened under the colossal weight of Maui in his blue whale form. With unabashed confidence, Maui quipped,
"I suppose I'm just having a whale of a time!"
His self-satisfaction was met with a chorus of boos and food thrown at him from the Greek audience, their disdain fueled by both the crushing of their beloved hero and the added offense of his tactless pun.
"The only thing worse than a concieted jerk, is one who thinks he's funny. Get off of Wonderboy." Meg remarked.
"Yeesh, tough crowd."
Though somewhat bewildered by the audience's reaction, Maui's contemplation was abruptly interrupted when he became aware of himself being slowly lifted into the air. To his disbelief, it was apparent that the weight of his blue whale form held no power over the uncrushable demigod beneath him, though it took the latter some time to find the strength. With an immense display of strength, Hercules eventually managed to throw the trickster into the air, readying a fist for the final blow.
"I can go the distance, but can you? Let's end this!"
Maui displayed a smirk of confidence, reverted to human form, raising his fishhook high above his head. He called out with gusto,
"You said it! Chee-hoo!"
As the tension in the air climaxed, the two forces collided with Hercules' fist against the divine bone weapon, resulting in a blinding flash of purple light and a thunderous shockwave that sent everyone in the vicinity flying back or staggering.
In the ultimate display of triumph, Hercules triumphantly stomped over Maui, signaling his victory. The legendary fish hook lay shattered to pieces, leaving the defeated demigod in despair. Despite the bone shards piercing his knuckles from the devastating blow he'd delivered, Hercules demonstrated remarkable resilience, showing no sign of pain or discomfort, even as he felt the discomfort of the shards beneath his skin. The Greek demigod declared, pointing towards the exit with a tone of weary satisfaction.
"The exit is over there."
With a final, forceful kick, Hercules sent the hapless Maui hurdling into the distance, leaving his fate uncertain as he disappeared into the horizon. The people of Thebes, along with Hercules' closest companions, focused their attention on celebrating the demigod's victory, paying little mind to where the defeated demigod might land. It could be a deserted island for all they care. Calliope concluded the retelling, her voice filled with pride, as she declared,
"And thus Hercules showed that troublesome Maui who's the zero, proving once again to all of history, who truly is the greatest hero."
Strength: Just like with Son Wukong, Hercules and Maui share equal anounts of strength, both having canonically held up the sky in both their Disney adventures, and their original myth counterparts, being equally strong in brute force.
Speed: However, Maui is slightly faster. If we scaled Disney's Hercules to the original myth where he shot down Apollo with a 100X light speed arrow, Maui lassoed the sun in a faster time. By comparing speed feats, Maui would be at least 2.5X faster.
Skill: But strength and speed isn't everything. Hercules has trained with a multitude of weapons under the two years Phil mentored him, while Maui only ever used his fish hook, and there's no showing of him having hand to hand combat training like Herc has shown.
Experience: Even if Maui spent 1000 years on a deserted island, it can be safe to assume that Maui has done more outlandish feats in the sea during his prime than Hercules has done.
Powers: One would initially think that Maui has the superior versatility, having the ability of transforming into presumably every Polynesian animal of the time. But not only is Hercules capable of fighting any of Maui's forms, but he's faced and defeated more danagerous, mythological creatures such as the Hydra, and even the Titans, a level of divinity that Maui has shown that he can't conquer on more than one occasion, even if he can hold his own for a time.
The winner is Hercules.
Next time:
"How many more jobs... How long will it take... I don't know if I can do it... Even if I could forgive myself... This is what I am now. And you'll never know who I was before."
"Things'll never go back to what they were. We all have to "choose our destiny".
A/N: Chapter 92, Sora vs Shulk, has now been properly posted, so enjoy the fight.