Adonis

Adonis is a recurring antagonist in the 1998 Disney animated series Hercules. He is the snobbish Prince of Thrace, who enjoyed humiliating Hercules and his friends during their time at Prometheus Academy.

Background[]

Physical appearance[]

Stylized to be an epitome of male perfection as his name would suggest, with long golden hair, "awesomely" tanned skin, a buff build, and chiseled features. He noticeably possesses the triangular male body type— namely, the buff upper body without the legs really matching the rest of his build.

Role in the series[]

One of Hercules' recurring antagonists, mostly out of arrogance and his own stupidity. Unlike most of the hero-in-training's enemies, Adonis is not demonic, magical, or monstrous in any way. Instead, he is simply an archetypal rich jock: an arrogant, self-centered, condescending, and mean-spirited bully who views looks and wealth with the utmost importance and enjoys treating those he considers inferior with contempt and humiliation. Even the gods of Olympus detest Adonis for his attitude and have sought to punish him on occasion, an example of Adonis angering the gods would be when during Poseidon's boat race which he made Hercules insult Poseidon saying they could beat Poseidon's waves and that they are "weak", angering the god of the sea. Another example is he once planned a Bacchanal without inviting Dionysus. As Hermes mentions that gods like Bach "wouldn't come near Adonis' party with a 10-foot limbo stick", even Zeus smote him once.

He is also very slothful and elitist in his ways as he commonly has his servants perform the most basic tasks for him and detests engaging in physical labor or anything that requires much effort as he considers such tasks to be beneath him due to his prestige. He regards Hercules with mutual and deep loathing as Herc has stood up to him on a regular basis for his treatment of others, and as such, Adonis regularly belittles and mocks him for his commoner background despite the fact that he is actually a son of Zeus. His ego has gotten him cursed by Gaia, turned into a peacock, and placed in many other unfortunate situations that Hercules usually has to rescue him from, without demonstrating any gratitude for Hercules' heroism.

His disregard for others even went so far as to ignore the plight of his own parents (and those of Hercules and Cassandra) after they had been taken and nearly eaten by Echidna; instead using this as an opportunity for an early ascension to the throne of Thrace (though they were nevertheless saved by Hercules and Adonis in turn was punished by both Zeus and his parents for his callousness, especially after he had shamelessly feigned concern for their wellbeing after they had been returned).

In "Hercules and the Aetolian Amphora", he is revealed to be one of Megara's ex-boyfriends, (it is unknown whether or not he was the one she gave up her soul to Hades for).

In the episode "Hercules and the Yearbook", Adonis received some karmic justice for his behavior, as it was announced at Prometheus Academy's graduation that despite his self-absorbed belief in his own brilliance, he had performed too poorly and was ordered to attend summer school to improve his grades, much to his horror.

Trivia[]

In the original Greek mythology, Adonis was considered so handsome that Aphrodite and Persephone fought over him. Zeus had him spend time with both to determined who he loved. Adonis chose Aphrodite, but he was killed by a giant boar (sent by Aphrodite's jealous lover, Ares). Grief-stricken, with his blood and her tears, Aphrodite created the anemone flower to honor him.
Some fans suspect Adonis was Megara’s ex-boyfriend who dumped her for another girl in response to her selling her soul to Hades to save him. While this is never confirmed, it is a strong possibility.