| “ | You may not want to be a God, Perseus. But after feats like yours, men will worship you. Be good to them. Be better than we were | „ |
| ~ Zeus to Perseus |
Zeus is the overarching protagonist of the rebooted Clash of the Titans duology. He was the youngest son of Kronos and Rhea, the brother of Hades and Poseidon, and the biological father of the Greek hero, Perseus. In the 2010 remake, Zeus is portrayed significantly younger than Laurence Olivier's performance, having brown hair as opposed to white. He also interacts with Perseus more than once in the film.
Despite remaining an aloof and distant father, Zeus still guides his children, such as Perseus, throughout his times of need.
Zeus is based on the mythological character of the same name from Greek Mythology and alludes to Prometheus (who created humans in the original myths. He is portrayed by Liam Neeson who portrayed by Qui-Gon Jinn in the Star Wars franchise, Aslan in Disney's film adaptations of the Chronicles of Narnia franchise, Bryan Mills in Taken, Ottoway in The Grey, Michael MacCauley in The Commuter, John "Hannibal" Smith in The A-Team (which was also released in 2010).
History[]
Background[]
Zeus was the biological father of Perseus, the brother of Hades and Poseidon, one of the many children of Kronos and Rhea, and the leader of the Olympian Gods
In fear that one of his children would overthrow him, Kronos consumed his first five-born children, Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon. However, his and Rhea's youngest child, Zeus, was hidden by his mother on the Isle of Crete and raised by nymphs. As an adult, being a cupbearer for his father, Zeus made a drink mixed with wine and mustard and tricked Kronos into drinking the concoction, which caused Kronos to disgorge and freeing all five of Zeus' siblings
He, Hades, and Poseidon all plotted to overthrow their parents. During the Titan War, Zeus had convinced Hades to give birth to the Kraken, who defeated the Titans in Stygia. After the ten-year Titanomachy, Zeus tricked his brother, Hades into being ruler of the Underworld, and he became the king of the Heaven while Poseidon became king of the seas. Zeus tricked Hades into living in darkness and misery in the Underworld. Over time, Hades grew resentful of Zeus and plotted to overthrow his brother.
As king of the Olympians, Zeus later married his sister Hera but occasionally had affairs with goddesses and other mortals whom Zeus created to populate the world. This included an affair with Metis (mother of Athena), Leto (mother of his twin children Apollo and Artemis), and Maia (mother of Hermes).
Offended by Acrisius' attempt to siege Olympus, Zeus disguised himself as Acrisius and impregnated her. Danae was horrified by what she had done once she realized she inadvertently cheated on her husband. Zeus turned into an eagle and flew away. Mine months later, Danae gave birth to her and Zeus's son. Acrisius was so enraged, he ordered the execution of his wife and her son, casting them out to sea in a box. Offended, Zeus through a lightning bolt at Acrisius, killing him and resurrecting him as the monster, Calibos. Instead, Io guided Perseus to Spyros, where he was raised by a family of fishermen. As the battle between the mortals and the gods raged on, Hades plotted his revenge to overthrow Zeus, who grew tired of the humans' defiance and more or less left his demigod children alone. As time went on, Ares grew to despise his father as well for his admiration always pointing to Perseus and Athena.
Clash of the Titans[]
Angered by the Mortals' resistance, Zeus is angered by their defiance and denies all of the gods' conviction to reach a truce with the humans. They are disturbed by the arrival of Hades, who proclaims that he has a way to make the humans love and respect them again. Blinded by anger, Zeus allows Hades to go to Argos and threaten the humans with unleashing the Kraken. Hermes comes to Zeus and announces that his son, Perseus, is alive.
Despite claiming not to help Perseus, Zeus gifts his son with a sword and a winged horse, Pegasus. However, Perseus refuses everything his father gives him. After Perseus confronted the three Stygian Witches, Zeus appeared to Perseus and offered his son immortality. However, Perseus refuses to acknowledge Zeus as his father and accepts the god's offer of immortality. Instead, Zeus gives Perseus a drachma to bribe the ferryman, Charon.
Hades reveals his intentions to his brother: to feed off of the fear of humans and gain more power. Zeus realizes he can only rely on Perseus now.
With the combined forces of father and son, Zeus is called upon by Perseus and sends lightning to his son's sword, who hurls it at Hades and banishes Hades back into the Underworld with Perseus' sword and Zeus' lightning. They both predict that Hades will return and attempt to take advantage of men growing weak and their fears again.
Wrath of the Titans[]
As the walls of Tartarus begin to fall, Zeus realizes that his father is breaking out of Tartarus and that the gods' powers are falling and their work is becoming undone. He visits his son and grandson one night, hoping to convince Perseus to come with him to the Underworld and contain Kronos in his prison. However, Perseus refuses his father in favor of staying with his son, Helius. Zeus travels to the Underworld alone, where he meets with Hades, Poseidon, and Ares. However, the gods of the Underworld and the god of War immediately ambush Zeus and Poseidon, who is mortally wounded and gets away. Hades and Ares announce they plan to drain Zeus of his power and life source and bring Kronos back into power.
Rendered powerless, Zeus sends a call out to Perseus, who is on his way to rescue his father from the Underworld. Nearing death, Zeus apologizes to Hades for abandoning him in the Underworld to be hated. At that moment, Perseus, Andromeda, and Agenor appear. Perseus uses Poseidon's trident and the powers he inherited from Zeus to break his father out of his prison. Ares hurls Hades' pitchfork at Zeus, Though it wounds Zeus, Perseus can claim it and form the Spear of Triam, the only weapon able to defeat Kronos. Zeus tells Perseus to use the love and motivation for his son, Helius, to face off at Kronos.
Hades appears to his brother, and he accepts his brother's apology before transferring some of his powers to Zeus, restoring his youth and some of his powers. The reconciled brothers decide to go out on the battlefield and use their powers before they have weapons. During the battle, Zeus is mortally wounded by Kronos.
Zeus tells Perseus to use his powers wisely and that the world needs people like him. Before he faded away, Zeus thanks Perseus before disappearing.
Personality[]
As the gods who haa has authority over the other gods of Olympus, the skies, and the mortals, Zeus was a capable leader, having most of the gods to follow him, especially during the Titanomachy. He was fairly hot-tempered, as he refused to listen to reason when the other gods pled that there could be peace between them and the Humans. Zeus' brother, Hades, took advantage of his younger brother's anger and directed it towards the humans, after they were ignoring the gods and no longer feeding them prayers. In his anger, he would let it cloud his judgment, such as following Hades' council. When he first learned that Perseus, the son he lost, had survived, Zeus felt no need to help his son. However, he kept a figurine of Perseus hidden and decided to leave his son a sword and a Pegasus for Perseus, who denied both gifts and rather would have fought this as a man than as a god.
Zeus did attempt to convince Perseus of this dangerous quest and to make him immortal. However, he immediately refused. Instead, he gave Perseus a drachma to pay for the ferryman. At the end of the film, Zeus saw that Hades had wanted power and realized that though he wanted men to worship them again, Zeus did not want it to cost him Perseus.
Despite his aloofness, Zeus was caring towards his children in spite of what they thought of him. He cared deeply for his eldest daughter, Athena, as seeing her imprisonment in the underworld brought him to pain and tears in a deleted scene. However, While Zeus loved his children, he had little patience toward some of their worst traits; he was annoyed that Perseus ignored him and also appalled by Ares' behavior. When Ares betrayed the Olympians, he revealed his hatred for his father for favoring Perseus and believed Zeus had gone weak for displaying more human-like traits. Zeus also held affection for his grandson, Helius, often visiting him in his dreams. As he is dying, Zeus reveals that his motivation for keeping Kronos at bay were to make the world safer for his son, as Perseus did for Helius.
In spite of his sterness, Zeus did have a had a sense of humor, as he called Perseus' life as a human "mundane," which caused Perseus to slightly huff in amusement. It was also exhibited in the sequel, where Zeus enthusiastically told Hades that they should "have some fun" while using their powers against Kronos, as they used to have powers before they had weapons.
At the very end of his life, Zeus told Perseus that Helius gave his father strength as Perseus gave Zeus his. In the sequel, Zeus admits he regrets banishing Hades to the Underworld to be hated. Zeus was, after all, only human and had finally learned from his mistakes, as his tricking Hades into the Underworld drove him down the path toward the dark side. However, even Hades no longer held a grudge against his younger brother and finally accepted his forgiveness. As a last sign of affection, he gently touches his son's cheek before crumbling to dust.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Olympian Physiology
- Immortality: As long as man prayed, Zeus and his other fellow gods were immortal. However, after they ignored the gods and refused to pray to them, Zeus lost his immortality and was susceptible to dying after Kronos wounded them grately.
- Omnipotence
- Omniscience
- Atmokinesis: Ability to manipulate air
- Electrokinesis: Zeus had the ability to generate lightning and electricity, and sent a lightning bolt to Calibos' head and also sent electricity to Perseus' sword when his son called for him.
- Teleportation: Zeus could transport from one place to another, and he usually appears in a crack of lightning. He could also enter his grandson, Helius' dreams sometimes.
- Shape-shifting: Zeus was known to change forms, either as his sacred animal, a bald eagle, or a bolt of lightning.
- Size Alteration: Zeus can alter his height, whether it's his titanic form or mortal form.
- Telepathy: Zeus can communicate with others' minds, and the person can hear and speak to them and vice versa. Even though they were far apart, he was able to telepathically call out to Perseus in Tartarus, which is how his son could tell Zeus he was coming to rescue him.
Abilities[]
- Leadership
- Tactician
- Impersonation/Acting
See Also[]
- Zeus (Clash of the Titans), original universe
- Zeus (Percy Jackson Films), who also debuted in 2010.
Quotes[]
- "There is a calamity coming. It will affect us all. Gods and men."
- "This is business for gods. We need all our children now. Perhaps, together, we can remedy this. But we need every shred of power, Perseus."
Relationships[]
Family[]
- Kronos † - father
- Mother
- Hades - Brother
- Poseidon † - Brother
- Perseus - Son
- Helius - Grandson
- Io - Daughter-in-law
- Ares - Son
- Artemis † - Daughter
- Athena - Daughter
- Hermes - Son
Allies[]
- Hephaestus †
- Winged Horses - Creations and Sacred Creatures
- Metis - former lover
- Men - Creations
Enemies[]
Flings[]
- Danae - brief affair
- Metis - former lover
- Maya - former lover
- Leto - formerv lover
Trivia[]
Background[]
- During production, Liam Neeson's wife passed away. He became depressed and almost didn't go to the premiere for Clash of the Titans, but Ralph Fiennes goaded Neeson out.
- In the original myths and cut of film, Zeus is far more malicious. However the final cut decided to adapt Zeus's more benevolent personality as the film progressed.
Similarities[]
- This iteration of Zeus, as well as the Disney's Hercules and the Percy Jackson and the Olympians incarnation acts as fatherly figures to their demigod children (Perseus, Hercules and Thalia).
- He also offers Perseus the chance to become immortal, similar to how the Riordan version of Zeus offered his nephew (also named Perseus) immortality.
- Zeus from Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the Clash of the Titans remake were both released in 2010, which featured a main character both named Perseus. Additionally, Luke Evans, who portrayed Apollo, later played Zeus in Immortals
- Zeus resurrects Io, as does the iteration of Once Upon a Time's Zeus resurrects Hook, both love interests to the main protagonists (Emma and Perseus).
Differences from the 1981 film[]
Differences from the 2010 film and the mythology[]
- In the myths, Io is Zeus's lover, who he disguised as a heifer and gifted to his wife Hera for her protection. Here she is Perseus' lover instead and Zeus' daughter-in-law.
- Athena, Perseus, Ares and Apollo are his only outright stated to be Zeus' children in the film.
- Zeus refers to Athena as his daughter in a deleted scene of Wrath of the Titans and the brothers all call Zeus "Father."
- Helius isn't Zeus's only grandson from Perseus. He was also the grandfather of Perseus and z Andromeda's other sons, such as Perses and two granddaughters, such as Gorgophone. His son Dionysus isn't present
See also[]
Gallery[]
Wrath of the Titans[]
_-_Photography_-_Zeus_and_Hades.png "Wrath of the Titans (2011) - Photography - Zeus and Hades.png (888 KB)")
[]
Series  | ||
|---|---|---|
|