Hephaestus (DC Comics)

Hephaestus is the name of a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is adapted from the Greek god of the same name. Hephaestus first appeared in Wonder Woman #226.

Hephaestus
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceWonder Woman #226 (November 1976)
In-story information
Place of originMount Olympus
Team affiliationsOlympian Gods
Notable aliasesVulcan
AbilitiesDeity, vast supernatural abilities including size-changing, shapeshifting, immortality
Genius-level intellect

Fictional character biography

Hephaestus is the Olympian Gods' blacksmith whose history is the same as his Greek mythology counterpart where he was born to Zeus and Hera and wed to Aphrodite. In the Pre-Crisis, he once assisted Ares in menacing Wonder Woman and singer Julie Gabriel with female robots and fire that feeds off emotion.[1]

In the Post-Crisis, Hephaestus was the one who forged Wonder Woman's golden Lasso of Truth from the Golden Girdle of Gaea and her silver bracelets which he formed from the splintered Aegis of Zeus.[2]

In 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. While Hephaestus is shown to be deformed, his history of creating the Lasso of Truth is still intact. Wonder Woman is taken to Hephaestus by Eros. A molten monster sent by Hades kills two of Hephaestus' laborers and grabs Hephaestus. Wonder Woman uses water to put out the molten monster and shatters it. Afterwards, Wonder Woman discovers that the laborers are not automatons and actually men. Hephaestus and Eros state that the laborers were discarded male children from Themyscira that Hephaestus took in. He cut a deal with the Amazon to donate the male babies in exchange for giving them weapons. Later that night, Wonder Woman tried to get Hephaestus to release the males only for them to show their loyalty to him by demanding that Hephaestus be freed. She does so as Hephaestus states that Wonder Woman should get some sleep as she goes into the Underworld tomorrow.[3] Hephaestus provides Wonder Woman with the equipment needed to rescue Zola from Hades where he even gives her Eros' guns.[4] Hephaestus receives a wedding invitation from Hades after he used Eros' guns on Wonder Woman. Hermes and Zola were later seen walking through the woods when they are approached by Aphrodite. When Hermes states to Zola that Aphrodite is married to the ugly god Hephaestus, Aphrodite states that Hephaestus has other "charms" and also states that she will not be attending the wedding as there is little love in Hell.[5]

Powers and abilities

Like the Olympian Gods, Hephastus has supernatural abilities that include size-changing, shapeshifting, and immortality. He also has genius-level intellect and is an expert blacksmith.

In other media

Hephaestus appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Hawk and Dove," voiced by Edward Asner.[6] He is commissioned by Ares to build "the Annihilator" an enormous robot that Ares uses to foment civil war in Kaznia. During an initial skirmish with the Annihilator, Diana recognizes Hephaestus's sigil on its breastplate and visits his workshop to demand to know how to stop it. Hephaestus refuses to tell her, but gives her a hint that leads her to figure out, during the next battle, that the Annihilator feeds on aggression, and can't attack if it is not being attacked or menaced itself (similar to the weapons Hephaestus created for Ares in the comics). During Diana's visit, Hephaestus also mentions that he crafted Diana's armor, including her tiara and bracelets, for her mother, "but she didn't have your build", and offers to make alterations during her next visit.

gollark: Does it really need to unload the whatever API?
gollark: Or just parallel.waitForAll(keypress handler, thing to run shell).
gollark: You can listen to keys after "boot" using a process manager.
gollark: IT'S STILL KIND OF BAD.
gollark: AAAARGH.

References
  1. Wonder Woman #226-227. DC Comics.
  2. Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #2. DC Comics.
  3. Wonder Woman Vol. 4 #7. DC Comics.
  4. Wonder Woman Vol. 4 #8. DC Comics.
  5. Wonder Woman Vol. 4 #9. DC Comics.
  6. "The World's Finest – Justice League Unlimited". Worldsfinestonline.com. Retrieved 2010-10-17.
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