Thor’s Olympian counterpart, Hercules, had his best moment in the spotlight when writers Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente turned “The Incredible Hulk” into the “Incredible Hercules” after “World War Hulk.” And one of his most memorable stories brought Thor and Herc back together, in his own unique way.
In #132, Hercules meets Balder, the current ruler of Asgard, who was forced to exile Thor after Loki tricked him into killing his grandfather. But Balder needs Thor to stop Queen Alflyse of Svartalfheim from conquering the other kingdoms, so he calls in Hercules as a substitute and disguises him in Thor’s armor. Except that “Balder” is actually the former and future king of Svartalfheim, Malekith the Accursed (which clever readers might have seen coming since his guise is twenty years old).
Unlike the real Thor, Hercules cannot resist the pleasures of the flesh, and ends up eating, drinking, and dragging himself to marry Alflyse, whom he finds waiting for him. Lead the invasion he had been sent to prevent. Fortunately, the real Thor shows up, but to prevent the Dark Elves from retaliating for Hercules’ deception, he wears his own disguise, leading to #136’s promise of a battle between “Hercuthor” and “Thorcules”. .
Thor-as-Hercules challenges Hercules-as-Thor on behalf of Asgard, and we see that they’re not afraid to fight dirty, as shown by sound effects like “NUHHKKKRACK!” “HWWWEDGIE!” and “NURP!” (written in purple, of course). Hercules loses, which is fine by him even if he has to ice his groin, because not only did he prevent the war, as far as everyone watching is concerned, “Hercules” won.