Hades in Absolute Wonder Woman and Grimm

Hades in Absolute Wonder Woman and Grimm We've covered Hades in Grimm and the arena in Absolute Wonder Woman separately. Putting them next to each other gives us a pretty different picture of the same god. One is deciding whether somebody else gets to leave. The other needs somebody to let him out. In Absolute Wonder Woman #7, Hades controls the arena and the terms of Diana's freedom. After she beats the Chimera, he still makes her kill it. Diana objects to killing for sport and recognizes something of herself in the creature, but Hades wants the result on his terms. Then he adds another cost: freedom would mean leaving Circe behind and never returning to her until Diana dies. Persephone is the reason that last part doesn't work. She has already given Diana a pomegranate seed, which ties Diana to a month in the Underworld each year. Hades can't conveniently throw out that rule without undermining the arrangement that keeps Persephone there too. His own rules give Diana a way back to her mother. Grimm Universe #1 puts Hades in a very different position. Neptune finds him chained up and needs his help dealing with the escaped monsters. Hades's freedom becomes part of the bargain. We also see him command a Minotaur through his authority over the Underworld and its monsters, so that authority is real even when his personal circumstances are pretty miserable. That difference is more interesting to me than trying to rank them by strength. Absolute's Hades has the position of power and uses it to hurt Diana. Grimm's Hades is the imprisoned brother someone suddenly needs again. The title gives both versions power, but it doesn't make either one untouchable. Absolute's Hades gets caught by a rule he still needs. Grimm's Hades has to negotiate his way out of chains with a brother who has barely bothered with him until he needs a favor.