One of the reasons the Marvel Universe is such a rich and diverse fictional world is that Stan Lee loved reading so much as a child. The classic stories swimming in his head gave him a wealth of inspiration to draw from – which may be why he was so fond of making characters like Thor and Hercules speak in old-fashioned lines inspired by Shakespearean plays.
Where other heroes like Reed Richards often engaged in long-winded technobabble, Thor would often leap into battle, throwing his hammer Mjolnir and bellowing, “Have at thee!” His highly stylized way of speaking (which was shared by his sparring partner the Greek god Hercules) became a long-running trademark of Marvel’s god characters. However, it makes absolutely no sense.
In recent years, Marvel has toned down Thor and Hercules’ overly formal speaking patterns. Chris Hemsworth’s Thor has grown more casual in his speech with each MCU movie and even Hercules has dropped all the “thees” and “thous” from his lines. However, not every version of their characters has embraced this change. In The Incredible Hercules #131, Hercules descended into the Greek underworld and made a startling discovery. In the Marvel Universe, as in Greek myth, Hercules became a god after being poisoned by the blood of the Hydra. As his mortal life ended, Hercules was burned alive only for his divine form to be reborn on Mount Olympus as an immortal god. However, this wasn’t the complete story…
Apparently, since Hercules was half-god and half-human, his human half still descended into the Greek underworld where it languished for centuries. While his divine, godly half went on to have new adventures and live the good life on Earth, Herc’s mortal self knew nothing but torment. When it sensed its godly counterpart had arrived in the underworld, the dead Hercules engaged his other half in battle, still spouting the pseudo-Shakespearean dialogue that Marvel gods were once so fond of. The godly Hercules defended himself, but was simultaneously angered and annoyed by his mortal half’s single-minded rampage and constant whining. At one point, Herc calls out his mortal half’s speech patterns in particular:“
It’s a hilarious, fourth-wall breaking line that calls out Stan Lee’s use of Shakespeare-style speech for characters like Thor and Hercules while also showing how much Marvel’s versions of these gods have evolved since their first appearance in the comics. While Thor and Hercules are often viewed as throwback characters thanks to their dress and manner, both are more than capable of adapting to modern times (Herc even joked in one issue that he answers his email messages and has mastered the flush toilet).
Given the fact that Thor and Hercules (and indeed practically all Marvel superheroes) are updated versions of mythological figures, it makes sense that both Marvel gods would move away from the old (and frankly inaccurate) speaking patterns the comics used to make them use. They may have been battling the same gods for thousands of years, but that doesn’t mean they can’t pick up a few new tricks.