Zeus' demi-god son, and a character inspired by Sean Connery's most obscure role

Vartox- Hercules

In the Marvel diaspora, Hercules has been a perpetual presence; he’s been written consistently as a likable blowhard. The character has taken over the Incredible Hulk’s book; It’s now the Incredible Hercules!

Even though the DCU has an Olympian pantheon with Hercules, Zeus et al, I’ve chosen to pair the MU’s Hercules with a character from the Superman stable, a guy who parallels Kal-El the way Herc does Thor and one so obscure I can’t believe that I remember him …

VARTOX!!!!!!!

Apparently, writer Cary Bates and artist Curt Swan created Vartox after they saw Zardoz, an LSD-etched, pre-Logan’s Run film from 1974 which found Sean Connery running around a post apocalyptic dystopia… in trunks! Dig this fucked up trailer, in which Connery seem to be completely bemused (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbGVIdA3dx0).

ZARDOZ!!!!!

So this b-list Superman character seems to be the most enduring exponent of this way fucked up film that I can’t wait to see. I reckon DC shoulda got the King to do something with Vartox.

Commonalities:
More or less, both serve as equivalents to marquee characters, namely Superman and Thor…

Differences:
But Herc has been a major player in the MU for forty years; Vartox is a marginal ‘70s character that has been revived to little effect in recent years.

Alternate histories:

VA: Vartox is a half-human but most physically powerful member of the royal family that rules the planet Valeron; like the Kryptonians they resemble and have consorted with over the ages, Valerions are tremendously powerful. He comes to Earth in recent years and meets and battles Kal-El, whom he knows from years ago. Something of a braggart and drunkard but lion-hearted and convivial, Vartox eventually joins the Justice League, allies often with Superman and commutes from Valeron to Earth.

HE: Hercules, native of the extradimensional realm Olympus, comes to Earth after his wife on another planet dies, and befriends the Mighty Thor. He meets and then romances Janet Van Dyne, and departs and returns to Earth from time to time.