Known Relatives: Oceanus (father), Tethys (mother), Coeus, Crius, Cronus, Hyperion, Ophion (uncles, Titans), Ceto, Eurybia, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Theia, Themis (aunts, Titanesses), Actaeus, Acheron, Alpheus, Asopus, Asterion, Cebren, Cephisseus, Cisseus, Cocytus, Inachos, Ladon, Meander, Pactolus, Penaeus, Peneicus, Phlegethon, Po, Sangarius, Scamander, Simoeis, Sphericus, Strymon, Termessus, Tiber (brothers, river-gods), Aornis, Callirrhoe I, Calypso, Clymene, Dione, Doris, Electra, Eurynome, Metis, Perseis, Ortheis, Philyra, Styx (sisters, Oceanides), Cronus, Japet, Nereus (uncles/brothers-in-law), Pallas, Zeus (cousins/brothers-in-law), Perimela (first wife, deceased), Callirrhoe II, Peirene, Castalia (daughters by Perimela), Melpomene (second wife/cousin), Aglaope, Himeropa, Ligea, Parthenope, Peisinoe, Thelchtereia (daughters, the Sirens), Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Polyhymnia, Terpischore, Thalia, Urania (sisters-in-law/cousins, The Muses), Athena, Aegina, Aglaea, Daphne, Echo, Euphrosyne, Nike, Syrinx, Thalia, Iris and the Harpies, (nieces) Orpheus, Bia, Kratos, Zealos (nephews), Venus, Asteria, Demeter, Eos, Hades, Helios, Hera, Vesta, Leto, Neptune, Selene (cousins)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Hades;
formerly New York City, New York;
formerly the Achelous River in Aetolia (now part of Modern Greece)

First Appearance: Hercules III#1 (June, 2005)

Powers/Abilities: Achelous possesses the conventional attributes of the Olympian gods including superhuman strength approaching that of Hercules who has Class 100 level strength. He has superhuman resistance to injury, stamina, longevity and the ability to mystically change his size and appearance. He can turn into a snake or as large as a full-size bull. He can also assume humanoid forms merging human and animal forms and in addition to becoming a bull can take on the form of a minotaur.

Height: 6'2" (variable)
Weight: 595 lbs. (variable)
Eyes: Brown (human form); red (bull & snake forms)
Hair: Black

History: (Greek-Roman Myth) - Achelous is the son of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, gods of the ocean. On earth, he ruled the river Achelous which shared his name. the river flowed southward from Thessaly and formed the boundary between Acarnania and Aetolia as it flowed to the Ionian Sea in the land that would be modern Greece. When five native earth-goddesses known as nymphs refused to honor him, Achelous swept them away to the Echinadian Islands. He later fell in love with Perimela, daughter of the mortal king Aeolus, who flung her off a cliff, but Achelous persuaded the sea-god Neptune to rescue her for him. Perimela bore him three daughters, Callirrhoe, wife of the seer Alcmaeon; Peirene, protector of a spring at Corinth and Castalia, protector of another spring at Delphi. After Perimela died, Achelous fell in love with the Muse Melpomene, daughter of Zeus, King of the Olympian Gods, and the Titaness, Mnemosyne. They were the parents of the Sirens who actually began to excel in singing over their mother and their aunts. The Sirens were then exiled to the island Anthemoessa near Ancient Italy far from the ears of their vain aunts.

(Greek-Roman Myth/Hercules III#2 (fb)/Incredible Hercules#113 (fb) - BTS/Incredible Hercules#119 (fb) ) - Around the Thirteenth Century BC, Achelous fell in love with Deianeira, a Caledonian princess, but she was already in love Hercules, the son of Zeus. Believing that he could make a better husband for Deianeira than the frequently carousing son of Zeus, Achelous met Hercules in unarmed combat to fight for her hand. He tried to tire out the hero by shapeshifting through several forms to tire him out, but Hercules held fast to his forms and when Achelous became a great bull, Hercules wrestled him down and ripped one of his horns off effectively and painfully ending the fight. Hercules, however, filled the horn with food and left it as an offering to the gods and it became known as the Cornucopia, or Horn of Plenty.

(Hercules III#1 (fb) - BTS) - Under unrevealed circumstances, Achelous became a ward of the former king of Mycenae, Eurystheus, since restored to life by the goddess, Hera.

(Hercules III#1) - After several years of distant enmity with Hercules, Achelous was sent to meet with Hercules at the Extra Points Bar where he confronted him in the men's room as Hercules used the facilities. Getting in the first punch, he knocked Hercules through the door then reminded him of who he was. He then dragged Hercules out to the back of a limousine where Eurystheus was waiting. 

(Hercules III#2) - Dragging Hercules into Eurystheus's modern corporate offices, Achelous and Eurystheus rehashed past events with Hercules and his film crew over several years of events. While in human form for most of the time, Achelous took offense and took on his bull form when Robert the Camera Man called him the world's first stalker. Threatening the young man, Hercules knocked Achelous cold. Still wanting to get even with Hercules, Achelous had his temper stalled by Eurystheus just as Hercules' friend James rushed out apologizing for despoiling the bathroom facilities.

(Hercules III#3) - Achelous and Eurystheus provide the TV commentary as Hercules and his film crew  go around the world in a modern day version of the twelve labors with modern equivalents to the old creatures and objects of myth. As they realized that Hercules was tearing through all their new obstacles, Hera appeared to them with a set of four labors designed against Hercules.

(Hercules III#4) - Achelous stood by as Eurystheus gave Hercules his last modern labor: to enter the underworld and retrieve a flower from the hair of his first wife, Megaera.

(Hercules III#5) - Achelous overheard through Hera that Hercules had succeeded in the last of his modern labors. upon hearing Hercules charging to confront them, Hera made a hasty departure. Eurystheus then flicked off the lights of his office so that Achelous could deal with his unfinished business. A flash of Robert's camera gave Hercules a chance to deal with Achelous and Achelous ended up rendered on the tip of Eurystheus's sword with the former king impaled on his own bull horns.

(Wolverine/Hercules: Myths, Monsters & Mutants#1) - Achelous fought his way through Matsuo's bodyguard to deliver the box with his master Eurystheus' living head inside to Matsuo's apartment. He asked Matsuo to put his sword down and listen to Eurystheus' offer to bring back the monsters of myth and use them against Wolverine and Hercules.

(Wolverine/Hercules: Myths, Monsters & Mutants#2 (fb) - BTS) - Eurystheus and Achelous led Matsuo and the Hand to the gravesites of many mythological monsters.

(Wolverine/Hercules: Myths, Monsters & Mutants#2 (fb) ) - Eurystheus and Achelous took Matsuo and the Hand to the Labyrinth of Crete to resurrect the Minotaur.

   At Matsuo's apartment Hercules and Wolverine watched a video of Eurystheus, Achelous and Matsuo. Achelous held Eurystheus' head, who explained that they had resurrected some of Hercules' past enemies with the help of the Hand. Hercules and Wolverine were then attacked by Minotaur and the Nemean Lion.

(Wolverine/Hercules: Myths, Monsters & Mutants#2) - Achelous accompanied Eurystheus and Matsuo to the Hand's headquarter to meet their elders, who threatened to kill Matsuo and his allies for even asking to return Matsuo to his leadership position with the Hand. Polyphemus then attacked them on Eurystheus' order.

(Wolverine/Hercules: Myths, Monsters & Mutants#3) - While Matsuo distracted Hercules and Wolverine on the island of Ithaca inside Odysseus' tomb Achelous and Eurystheus dove down into a sunken temple off the coast of Jaffa to successfully resurrect the Kraken (Cetus).

(Wolverine/Hercules: Myths, Monsters & Mutants#4) - Achelous accompanied Eurystheus' army to Athens. They were opposed by Hercules, Wolverine, Pluto and his undead army. When Pluto had enough he just returned all of Eurystheus' army back to Hades where they belonged and took Achelous with him as well.

Comments: Adapted by Frank Tieri, Mark Texeira and James Palmiotti

As yet, Oceanus, Tethys and the Titans have not been seen in the Marvel Universe.  However, they have appeared in the pages of the Distinguished Competition in The New Teen Titans II#11. Tethys was reportedly killed while being manipulated by the Titaness Thia/Theia against the young superhero group. Of course, that would not happen in the Marvel Universe where the Olympians and the Titans are of a somewhat sterner and more invulnerable nature. 

One rationalizes that if Achelous can shapeshift into a bull with horns that he should be able to shapeshift that horn back again in the same way others like Wolverine regain lost cellular tissue.

It's hard to believe that Achelous would confront Hercules during a vulnerable situation in the men's restroom, but then there's a lot of steroid-minded idiots in high schools that do the same thing everyday. Achelous must have got the idea from watching movies with teenagers or he has a part time job as a high school gym teacher. 

I possibly over-extended myself in listing his relatives, but I just wanted to place where exactly he fit in the family tree, but believe me, with the Olympians, it is possible to go so much more further.

Profile by: Will U. Updates (Wolverine/Hercules) by Markus Raymond.