"Name's Hades, Lord of the dead. Hi, how ya doin'?"
A villain that is able to have more depth beyond being evil makes for better entertainment and storytelling overall. The Disney portrayal of Hades is not only evil, but comedic. Part of what makes the movie superior to others of the same setting is the concept of a villain that can garner some kind of sympathy from the audience through comedy. There is a lot of comic relief from the good guys, but I would argue that Hades does the majority of relieving the audience from the terror of his schemes. The stylistic choice to give Hades a personality beyond his plot to overthrow Olympus makes the movie overall more memorable.
The way Hades's actions are animated, along with the coloring and sound effects to enhance the character, help to portray his diversity. The images below are two consecutive frames that highlight the core of Disney's portrayal of Hades. The first depicts his evil and villainous nature. Hades's anger is enhanced by his facial features being overpowered by the warm reds and oranges, symbolizing his complete and utter rage. Every element in the frame is shaded with some type of red to overly dramatize how furious he is, highlighting the evil within him. His hands are exaggerated, mimicking the silhouette of claws, ready to attack his minion Pain for sporting "Air Hercs." Hades is naturally looking down on his minion as he holds a high amount of power in this moment. The high amount of power is made clear through the fact that his figure not only marks where the middle of the frame is, but even takes up over half of the frame to intensify his presence. This frame perfectly portrays the typical evil villain seen in ancient world films.
The frame below, however, highlights what makes Hades a somewhat likable evil. Not a second later, the colors switch from red to purple, making the atmosphere surrounding the two less chaotic. Why? The sounds of the frame reveal a pestering slurping noise from his other minion Panic, causing Hades to become distracted from the task at hand. In this moment, Hades's reaction to his workers supporting Hercules becomes less terrifying and more comedic to the audience. Hades's facial expressions are dumbfounded, garnering a laugh. His hands become less claw-like once they return to their natural state of blue toned gray. The terrified facial expression of Pain is no longer worrying the audience, but is now comedic relief from Hades's temper tantrum.
Hades's "mood swings" are what makes the character differentiable from other ancient world villains. An example of a truly evil villain would be Commodus in Gladiator. Commodus's beginnings in evil do make the character complex; the fact that he wishes to be loved in most cases would cause the audience to sympathize with him. Commodus, however, becomes so demented throughout the film - such as when he threatens to kill his sister's son - that his actions overshadow any reason for his evilness. Having a character be evil for the sake of being evil gives the audience no reason stay interested in the development of that character. A truly evil character's death is indeed satisfying to witness, though the journey of the evil character can become tiresome as the audience fiends for his death. Hades, on the other hand, is able to keep the audience engaged in his evil plans through the use of comedy, making him a superior villain. The audience does not want Hades to win by any means. They are interested to follow what he decides to do and say because he is such an oddly enjoyable character. Having Hades as the villain makes the audience even more upset when he reveals to Hercules of Meg's betrayal, due to the fact that the audience actually enjoys Hades's character. A character you like betraying the hero causes a stronger reaction, mimicking the feeling of a mild plot-twist. A betrayal by an inherently evil character hardly has the same effect, as it is more expected of him. An evil character that the audience never loses interest in due to his comedic elements is what helps makes Hercules superior to its ancient world cinema counterparts.
