Why did the dub keep Hercule's name in Super Hero?

[mecha3000]

When Mr. Satan is namedropped in Super Hero, the English dub still calls him HERCULE Satan. It just struck me as odd considering how much the dub has been more faithful about calling him Mr. Satan and now he's back to being called Hercule again. Also, Toriyama revealed Mr. Satan is just his stage name and his real name is actually Mark, so Hercule just seems even more dated. Did this bug anyone else or just me? I mean, I guess it's like changing Ash Ketchum's name. It's just so ingrained in the dub (and the Viz manga) at this point that maybe Crunchyroll felt changing it was pointless? And I guess Hercule is a pun on Hercules so somewhat of a pun is preserved (since Hercules comes from Greek mythology, which includes Hades). I mean, Hercule fits the whole "Hercules is a hero" vibe of Mr. Satan, I guess. And they also still call him Mr. Satan, so am I making a big deal of nothing here?

[MrSatan2099]

I thought that was very odd too. The only thing I could think of is that there may have been some consideration that this particular product was going to be seen by an abnormally high number of people (sure enough it was), and since he was only being referenced and not featured the writers used both names just in case somebody watching was only familiar with the dub names from Z.

An ultra specific scenario I know, but I do personally know people who went to see it without ever having watched the recent movies or Super just because it happened to be playing at their local theater.

[mecha3000]

I thought that was very odd too. The only thing I could think of is that there may have been some consideration that this particular product was going to be seen by an abnormally high number of people (sure enough it was), and since he was only being referenced and not featured the writers used both names just in case somebody watching was only familiar with the dub names from Z.

An ultra specific scenario I know, but I do personally know people who went to see it without ever having watched the recent movies or Super just because it happened to be playing at their local theater.

IT'S SO AWESOME YOUR NAME FITS THE TOPIC PERFECTLY!!! Also, I agree, but then why call him Hercule SATAN still? I feel like that defeats the point of what they were trying to achieve. In my opinion, Hercule is a name we should get rid of in the dub. Whenever I hear it or read it in the Viz manga, I cringe because I felt like we're back in the 2000's. It's just so dated. Even in FighterZ, Buu clearly says "Mr. Satan", not Hercule, which surprised me given it was a video game.

But I do understand that Crunchyroll probably wanted to make it more accessible to audiences in the same way Viz wants to sell more Dragon Ball manga. And having a character named Mr. Satan in countries with religious fans and families could be seen as damaging the brand. It's really a hard dilemma to balance. In my screening, I even saw a young Muslim woman with her son asking if he enjoyed the movie and it was heartwarming, but a part of me was also like, "Oh, wait. She probably wasn't too fond of hearing a character named Hercule SATAN in this movie considering her faith." So, it really is a hard thing to deal with in terms of localization.

[TheGreatness25]

Yeah, that is odd considering that Kai and Super never referred to him as "Hercule"... do they? I know that dating back to the original Z dub, they did call him "Mr. Satan" on the uncut video release, but they tried to tie "Hercule" in a bit like when Gohan was informed that Videl was Satan's daughter and he said, "Hercule Satan's?"

If I had to take a wild guess, I would think that this might have been a Toei thing? Only because they're the ones that basically put out an edict to make names uniform to the dub names, no? So, I'd imagine that "Hercule" still being used in the video games might have contributed to this decision. Of course, this is just me speculating.

[MasenkoHA]

The Hercule Satan thing has been done since uncut dub Z. It's probably just a consistency thing like Tien Shinhan instead of Tenshinhan.

[MrSatan2099]

I didn't personally mind either, in a movie all about throwbacks it was a little throwback for a lot of us dub-diet fans here in the US.

Though it is funny, we're on something of a generational cusp. I took my ten year old son to see it and he's only ever watched the uncut English dub, so he doesn't really know the character as anything other than Mr. Satan. I'd say this may be the very last time we ever hear it an a dub for new animation.

[jjgp1112]

Yeah, that is odd considering that Kai and Super never referred to him as "Hercule"... do they? I know that dating back to the original Z dub, they did call him "Mr. Satan" on the uncut video release, but they tried to tie "Hercule" in a bit like when Gohan was informed that Videl was Satan's daughter and he said, "Hercule Satan's?"

If I had to take a wild guess, I would think that this might have been a Toei thing? Only because they're the ones that basically put out an edict to make names uniform to the dub names, no? So, I'd imagine that "Hercule" still being used in the video games might have contributed to this decision. Of course, this is just me speculating.

In the Z Dub, he's introduced as Hercule Satan in his very first appearance and in the post-Cell filler he makes a joke along the lines of "Hercule, Mr. Satan - whatever you wanna call me, I'm the champ!"

[chitsunameru]

with how his full dub name is hercule satan it is to be expected if the use a characters full name. such as with bulma breefs.

[WittyUsername]

I was under the impression that the ‘Hercule’ name had pretty much been retired post-Super. The English releases for FighterZ and Kakarot refer to him as Mr. Satan, for example.

Actually, come to think of it, if FUNimation had to come up with a different name for Mr. Satan to appease the censors, why didn’t they just call him Hades or something? Parents definitely would not have had a problem with that.

[90sDBZ]

I'm pretty sure the edited version of Super's dub which airs in the UK uses Hercule. Kai's edited dub definitely did too, so it's not as if it hasn't been used recently.

[jjgp1112]

I was under the impression that the ‘Hercule’ name had pretty much been retired post-Super. The English releases for FighterZ and Kakarot refer to him as Mr. Satan, for example.

Actually, come to think of it, if FUNimation had to come up with a different name for Mr. Satan to appease the censors, why didn’t they just call him Hades or something? Parents definitely would not have had a problem with that.

Hercule originated from the French dub, which called him Hercules because they'd already changed Piccolo's name to Satan.

Of course, they could've just piggybacked off of the pre-Funi toy line from 1994 and called him Mr. Savage.

[Wrigglything]

Well his estate would like some of that Dragon money too while we're at it.

But as for the use of Hercule, I think Legends also uses this terminology. So it's definitely still being put into effect through official products, although a less necessary one as more people are willing to embrace the original version without censored or altered names.

[NitroEX]

Actually, come to think of it, if FUNimation had to come up with a different name for Mr. Satan to appease the censors, why didn’t they just call him Hades or something? Parents definitely would not have had a problem with that.

Dante is more appropriate. Fits the hell motif and doubles as a reference to Count Dante.

[Mac]

Actually, come to think of it, if FUNimation had to come up with a different name for Mr. Satan to appease the censors, why didn’t they just call him Hades or something? Parents definitely would not have had a problem with that.

Dante is more appropriate. Fits the hell motif and doubles as a reference to Count Dante.

Dante would've been really cool. Ah well.

[MasenkoHA]

Actually, come to think of it, if FUNimation had to come up with a different name for Mr. Satan to appease the censors, why didn’t they just call him Hades or something? Parents definitely would not have had a problem with that.

They still occasionally used Hercule in the uncut dub. I remember that Pizza woman pretty much exclusively called him Hercule. And I think it was used mostly in Bio Broly. They probably wanted to give him a first name so they could limit how many alternate lines of dialog they had to record for the edited dub and uncut dub. Hades Satan or Dante Satan sounds awkward.

[Hellspawn28]

They should just call him Mark Satan at this rate in the English dub.