There are several major differences within the Disney movie of Hercules and the actual myth. Obviously, the Disney version is not meant to be correct in any way shape or form. It is meant for small children to look at vivid images and find a funny, but cliché story line. The real myth, on the other hand, is for more mature audiences and involves things such as affairs and revenge. The three largest differences between the movie and the myth are in the origin of Hercules, the life of Hercules, and the death of Hercules.
In the Disney movie, Hercules is the happy baby boy of Hera and Zeus. Hercules is born a full god, and the evil character, Hades, is the one who wants to get rid of Hercules. In the real myth, Hercules is born from an affair of Zeus and Alcmene. Hera, being extremely annoyed at Zeus for once against running off with a mortal, decides that she will get revenge by killing Hercules. The difference is obvious between the two, but a smaller difference between the two stories is that in the Disney version, Hercules is born a god and transformed into a moral, and in the myth, Hercules is born a mortal.
The adult life of the myth Hercules and the Disney Hercules differs greatly on the task that each had to do. In the Disney version, Hercules is a misfit among the mortal realm. He always believes that he belongs somewhere else, and with the discovery of his father being the god of gods, he undergoes the task of becoming a true hero in order to return to Olympus. In the Disney story, Hercules tries to make it as a new hero among the world. In the actual myth, Hercules is living his life, when Hera becomes angry at him once again, and decides that he will go in a fit of madness and kill his wife. To make up for the killing of his wife and children, Hercules is told that he will have to perform 12 tasks in order to save himself. These tasks range from killing the Nemean lion and killing the multi-headed Hydra. The only real similarities between the two...