Myths Are the Stories That Only Have Meaning We Give Them

As I said Monday, this post is going to dissect some of the meta-mythical elements in Smash of the Titans. Also as I said Monday, a LOT of this book is taken up with the end of a Hulk story that was only so-so. However, this did give me the opportunity to realize just how many parallels there are between the Hulk and Hercules. I hadn’t thought of it before, and once I started to see a few, many more leapt out at me. Here’s a little side by side comparison.

Hulk

• Strongest being in his world
• Anger management issues/Berserker Rage
• Is often in the company of young, male sidekicks
• Often felt betrayed by those he trusted
• A demigod (union) of Science (Atomic Man)
• Is a Monster/A danger to civilization

Hercules

• Strongest being in his world
• Anger management issues/Berserker Rage
• Is often in the company of young, male sidekic
• Often felt betrayed by those he trusted
• A demigod (union) of Myth (Zeus and Man)
• Kills Monsters/Expands civilization

That’s pretty wild, right? The wildest are the last couple because they’re in opposition to one another. Atomic power was obviously a bit of a mixed bag in the 60s when the Hulk was created (and in the news now, I might add), so his demigod status comes with a heavy price and very little good to go with it. This is quite unlike Hercules who was an instant sensation in the Greek world simply because of his bloodline. I think this ties in with the idea that, even though Hercules was often a very uncivilized brute, he nevertheless pushed back the boundaries of chaos and expanded the Greek civilization by killing the Monsters that threatened it at the edges. Sadly for the Hulk, he is seen as the Monster, a freak of nature that should not exist and has to be hunted down and dealt with. Oddly enough, this is more or less where Smash starts out with Hulk and Herc, in opposition to one another. I honestly believe that, based on what I know of Stan Lee, most of those parallels were accidental. But, knowing what I know about Pak and Van Lente, I don’t think the opening opposition between Hercules and the Hulk is an accident at all.

Beings of Myth Operating in Cycles

After the issues with the Hulk, Hercules is captured by SHIELD, the Marvel Universe’s super-spy agency, who works in tandem with the Avengers. The Avengers, needing some muscle to deal with the Hulk and such, recruited Hercules’ half-brother Ares, the God of War. So when Herc is captured, it’s Ares who comes to make him grovel. It’s also Ares who makes the point that as immortals, as mythical beings, they operate in recurring cycles and can’t do anything about it. I see a small commentary on superhero comics mixed in to that. If you’ve read comics for a while, you’ll see that there are certain status quos that seem to always return, to always crop up, to be the default setting. Then a cycle of adding to that status quo happens only to be followed by smashing everything flat to that same status quo.

Nearly nothing is sacred or safe from the smashing. Well, some things BECOME safe, but almost nothing should be considered utterly inviolate. Superman and Spider-Man have been married for nearly thirty years, but just recently Spidey’s marriage was annulled in a very dubious why while Superman’s marriage continues? Why does one survive while the other doesn’t? Is it significant that every Superman movie and tv show tends to return to the unmarried Superman? I think there is; I think translation to other media is part of the cycle these superheroic characters go through. It’s funny to me that Ares notices it for himself but isn’t operating at a meta-enough level to see it about his compatriots. Nevertheless, to us, superheroes are exactly as Ares describes the mythological gods. Meta myth in action, folks!

Ares ain’t wrong though! Hercules doesn’t want to take another young protégé, but he ends up doing it anyway with Amadeus. Ares is always mean, spiteful, and willing to stab anyone in the back even if it would work better to be nice and ask permission. You’ll see more of this with Athena, Amazons, and even other pantheons as the books progress, but it’s very interesting to see the tracks for that being laid this early in the series.

Folding the Greek Myths into the Marvel Myths

Hercules has been part of the Marvel Universe since 1965 and was predated by Thor three years earlier. Stan and Jack were perfectly comfortable folding other mythic universes into their own, and the trend continues today with both these characters. Specifically in this book, you’ll find:

• During a rage-fueled hallucination, Hercules sees Amadeus as Iolaus. Briefly, Amadeus is Iolaus both literally and figuratively.
• This same hallucination has Hercules reliving previous superhero battles. This is visually cued not only be the outfits of the other heroes being of the correct “period” but the coloring of the book changes from the slicker, computerized style of today to the pixilated dot look of yesteryear. Obviously that’s not how Herc sees events, but it’s how we see him seeing the events.
• Black Widow admits to having read Greek myths to get to know Hercules better. A fictional character read fictional accounts of another fictional character. Don’t think about it too hard, your head could explode.
• Ares uses the blood of the monster hydra, but can’t talk about it on the phone because Hydra is a terrorist organization on Marvel Earth and the conversation would trip alarms with SHIELD.

There are plenty of other examples, but we’ll move on to the next level of making meta-mythology.

Changing the Greek Myths into the Marvel Myths

At a certain point, Pak and Van Lente introduce a thread that will run through the rest of the series. Sometimes the myths have it “wrong” and one of the mythological figures has to retell it. In the retelling, the myth story becomes more important to the current scene and gives more insight into it. Alternately, one of the mythological figures is left not quite sure how to deal with the modernity of the non-mytho figures around them and comments on it. Here are a few examples of each:

• Hercules isn’t sure how to deal with a sidekick that doesn’t idolize him. When Amadeus tries to do things his own way and fails to respond to Herc’s orders, Herc is taken aback at how different that relationship is compared to someone like Iolaus.
• Hercules has to retell the myth of how his family was killed at his own hands. He cops to the fact that it was simply a berserker rage of his own and not sent to him from Hera. He takes away his own excuse and even shames himself  enough to admit to taking his Roman name, thus giving truth to the lie.
• Hercules says, “No power on Earth can stop me from doing the same stupid things over and over.” This suggests that superheroes are a better myth because they have the powers of gods but remain always mortal, always able to break their cycles. (I think this is total crap on a meta level, but an interesting viewpoint for this particular story.)
• Athena bolsters that idea further when she tells a tale of Hulk and Hercules meeting in Olympus. Both of them do some fairly violent, vicious, and questionable things with the moral being that Amadeus must “accept that gods must sometimes be monsters.” Once again, the heroes and gods of myth are cast as somehow intrinsically lesser than their spandex-clad counterparts even when they choose to become part of the spandex-clad counterparts.

Myths in the Might Marvel Manner

That pretty well brings us to the end of Smash of the Titans in relation to meta-mythology. That’s a lot of stuff to think about, but this volume is fairly long compared to the rest of the series. Still, digest it as best you can and please ask questions or bring your own observations to the table if you’ve had the pleasure of reading this series. Next Monday I’ll review Incredible Hercules: Secret Invasion where we get treated to not only the pantheons of Earth’s gods but also a few extraterrestrial pantheons as well. It’s super weird but super awesome and I hope you’ll come back for it.