Disney's "Hercules" is literally "Superman: The Movie" · 1:41am Oct 6th, 2020
Seriously, a lot of the plot beats are kind of the same when you stop to think about it.
A child is born to a loving couple in a far-away paradise (Zeus and Hera on Mount Olympus/Jor-El and Lara on Krypton). When tragedy befalls (Hercules being made mortal/Krypton's destruction), they send their still-infant son to Earth where he is raised by a kindly couple in a small community (Amphitryon and Alcmene in Greece/Jonathan and Martha Kent in Smallville, Kansas). As the child grows up he finds himself possessing superhuman abilities (Hercules’s strength/Superman’s, well…everything). Wanting to learn more about himself, he goes off to an isolated structure in the middle of nowhere where he meets a gigantic image of his birth father (Zeus’s statue in the temple/Jor-El’s hologram in the Fortress of Solitude), who tells the son to go and use his abilities for the good of mankind. He goes back to the rest of humanity where he ends up under the tutelage/employ of a gruff but well-meaning person (Phil training him/Perry White at the Daily Planet), and falls in love with a snarky and witty woman (Megara/Lois Lane) whom he ends up saving in his earliest outing as a hero (The Centaur/the helicopter crash). He firmly cements himself as a hero, but his exploits put him in the crosshairs of an amusing but very much dangerous super-villain (Hades/Lex Luthor) who finds a way to strip the hero of his powers (Forcing Herc to give up his strength/Kryptonite). The villain unleashes their devastating evil scheme (releasing the Titans and attacking Olympus/nuking the San Andreas fault), and while the hero successfully stops this plan, his love interest is killed (falling pillar/falling into a crack caused by the Earthquake). To save the one he loves, the hero pulls a crazy stunt to bring her back from death (diving into Hades’ well of souls/turning back time), before finally giving the villain what’s coming to him (punching Hades into his own pit/dragging Luthor off to prison). The film ends with an image of the hero in the sky (Hercules as a constellation/Superman flying into space and smiling at the camera).
This is nothing new to me. I remember reading that Grant Morrison once said something similar, in the commentary for "All Star Superman" no less. XD
But all the same, it is funny to realize the parallels.
I honestly think that Superman may have served as an inspiration for Disney's Hercules.
I never thought about it like that, before.