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Ercole Visconti, mistakenly known asSignor Vespa, is the main antagonist ofPixar's 24th full-length animated feature film,Luca.
He is an Italian teenager and local bully who often shows himself off as being an accomplished athlete in the town of Portorosso, which rubs its inhabitants the wrong way. As the film progresses, he shows that he's much viler than that. He is alsothe titular character,Alberto Scorfano, andGiulia Marcovaldo's arch-nemesis, andCiccio and Guido's former boss.
He was voiced by Saverio Raimondo in both the English and Italian versions.
Ercole Visconti is a resident at Portorosso who has won the annual Portorosso Cup, which is a race that the children of Portorosso take. For five years, Ercole's victory has given him quite an ego. However, it has been pointed out before that Ercole is a bit too old to continue entering the race. He is seen flaunting his status around, being a bully to the other children of Portorosso, inspiring fear in them, while the adults only see him as an annoyance. He has gathered a small entourage of two kids named Ciccio and Guido, but they too are not exempt from his bullying.
However, only Giulia Marcovaldo, the daughter of the fisherman Massimo, didn't fear him, due to him constantly taunting her because she ended up throwing up in last year's race. Due to this, she hated him and became obsessed with ending the "Reign of Terror" of his "Evil Empire of Injustice".
Ercole is first seen making a grand entrance by riding his Vespa through the Portorosso piazza, much to the annoyance of the adults. When he, Ciccio and Guido stop by to eat a long sandwich the latter duo were carrying, Luca ends up almost causing his Vespa to fall over after accidentally kicking a ball to it. Upon meeting him and his friend Alberto, Ercole begins to bully them and attempts to dunk Luca's head in a fountain, nearly exposing his identity as a sea monster, but they are saved by Giulia, who takes them away from Ercole.
Ercole is next seen going to sign up for the race. He then starts harassing Giulia for teaming up with Luca and Alberto, and steals the money that they intend to use to enter the race. In the ensuing debacle, Luca earns Ercole's wrath by having Giulia insult Ercole by calling him a catfish and explaining that it is a bottom feeder with tiny whiskers (just like Ercole's mustache hairs), prompting the other kids (including Guido) to laugh at Ercole for this. Humiliated, Ercole hands the money back to Luca, demanding that he sign up for the race so that Ercole himself will crush him during the event.
He spends most of the movie harassing the heroes, which nearly causes them to be exposed as sea monsters. When the day of the Portorosso Cup beings, he tries cheating to win like covering Ciccio with olive oil during the swimming part of the contest to make him more streamlined, but this causes Ciccio to attract a bunch of fish who bite him, slowing him down. Next, he tries to force-feed Guido the pasta in the easting challenge. When a girl points out the poor sportsmanship, Ercole just ignores her and tries to defeat Luca in the bicycle race. In the process, it begins to rain, threatening to reveal Luca's sea monster identity.
When Alberto arrives to help Luca, Ercole kicks him while biking past, causing the umbrella that Alberto was carrying to go flying and Alberto to land in the rain, exposing his identity. Seeing this, Ercole orders Ciccio to get his harpoon and captures Alberto with a net, intending to kill him. Seeing his friend in danger, Luca proceeds to let himself get exposed as a sea monster to rescue Alberto, and Ercole grabs his harpoon and chases the boys down the hill, intending to kill them both and supposedly collect a reward as a means of cementing himself as a hero to the town.
Just before Ercole is about to kill Luca and Alberto, Giulia saves them by crashing her bike into Ercole's, which causes her to hurt herself. Despite getting a chance to cross the finish line and head back to the sea, Luca and Alberto head back to help Giulia back up on her feet, only for the townspeople to surround them. Ercole makes his way, claiming that he should kill the sea monsters and collect the reward for himself. Deciding now that they're done running away in fear, Luca and Alberto furiously stand against Ercole, but the latter is unperturbed as he insults the two by telling them that regardless of their behavior, everyone hates them because of the fact alone that they're sea monsters.
However, Giulia's dad, Massimo, who witnessed Luca and Alberto aiding Giulia, came to the boys' defense by pointing out that they are harmless in nature (despite their appearances) and that their bike had crossed the finish line, thus, they technically won the race. Refusing to accept this, Ercole once again uses the sole fact that they're sea monsters as an excuse on why their win shouldn't matter. When the persistent fishermen still intend on capturing the two boys, Massimo silently glares at them, causing them to immediately step down and leave them be, much to Ercole's anger.
Seeing how no one is on Ercole's side anymore, Luca, Alberto, and Giulia grab and break his harpoon in retaliation. Still refusing to concede defeat, Ercole furiously orders Ciccio and Guido to get another harpoon before calling them idiots and telling them to "be useful for once in their pathetic lives". Finally realizing what a complete scoundrel Ercole truly is and being fed up with his abusive treatment, Ciccio and Guido proceeded to throw Ercole and his wool sweater in the fountain, stating that they are done hanging out with him for good. As the townspeople finally accepted the sea monsters (including Luca's family, who reunited with their son) into their society, save for a few others, Ercole is last seen crying over his wet, shrunken sweater, upset that his reputation is completely ruined for good.
Due to his absence in theDisney+ short film, it's possible that Ercole moved away from Portorosso, was arrested, or was driven out of town following his actions in the Portorosso Cup. It's also possible that he simply was still too humiliated and/or hated by everyone in town to risk reappearing in public, or that he was in another part of town during the events of the short film.
Personality[]
“
You know, people think I'm a nice guy, always joking around. But really, I'm not!
„
~ Ercole claimed that he always enjoyed being mean to others.
Ercole is shown to be an arrogant, cruel rude, vile, remorseless spiteful, sinister obnoxious, barbaric, snooty, mean-spirited bully who has no redeeming qualities. He appears to be under the delusion that everyone in Portorosso respects him when in truth, they are either scared of him, like the kids, or find him irritating, like the adults. When he cornered both Luca and Alberto at the alley, he stated that he always enjoyed bullying and hurting other kids. This suggests he could be considered a malignant narcissist, based on his behavior.
His arrogance seems to have stemmed from winning the Portorosso Cup for five straight years. He really adores his Vespa and considers anyone who he sees as being below him, which is pretty much everyone, as unworthy of having one. It's also shown that he isn't just a braggart, as he's willing to get physical, as shown when he tries to dunk Luca in a fountain. He also doesn’t care what happens to people that he doesn’t like, an example is when he and his minions were hunting Sea Monsters during Guilia’s training, he decides to ram his boat into Luca and Alberto’s boat and sadistically smiling before Guido turns the boat. Like a lot of the people of Portorosso, he believes that sea monsters exist and is very determined to catch one.
His bullying goes straight into sadism, as he is willing to kill Luca and Alberto when he finds out they are sea monsters, despite showing themselves to be harmless and sentient beings. This reveals the sociopathic side of Ercole.
His overall personality is what leads to his downfall, even including his mistreatment towards Ciccio and Guido, leading them to turn against and humiliate him.
Appearance[]
Ercole has a slender build, a straight-laced face, lightly tanned skin, hazel eyes, dark brown slicked-back hair, and a few pencil-thin mustache hairs. He wears a navy blue polo shirt with thin sky-blue stripes, periwinkle shorts, brown slip-on shoes, and has a hot pink wool sweater wrapped around his shoulders. During the race, he sports a red polo shirt with a thick white stripe in the middle and two matching ones on both sides, white fingerless gloves, navy blue shorts, white socks, and black shoes.
Quotes[]
“
Listen, piccoletto: I eat kids like you for breakfast. I DUNK THEM in my chocolatta and YUM!! Finite! So here, sign up. I’ll make it my mission to destroy you.
„
~ Ercole coercing Luca for getting Giulia to call him a catfish.
“
Something’s fishy with you two. I mean besides the smell. You’re hiding something.
„
~ Ercole being suspicious of Luca and Alberto.
“
Wait your turn, piccoletto! I want to make myself very clear: this is my town, Numberone! (punches Alberto in the stomach) ...and Number Two: Idon't want youin it!
„
~ Ercole bullying Luca and Alberto.
“
Nobody wants you here, idiotis! Keep running!
„
~ Ercole mockingly trying to make Luca and Alberto leave Portorosso
“
For the last time, you two don't belong here!GET OUT OF MYTOWN!!!
„
~ Ercole kicking Alberto during the race
“
NOOO!! CICCIO!!
„
~ Ercole becoming hellbent on killing Luca and Alberto and slowly going insane
“
Ercole: I saw them first! The reward is MINE!! Luca: We're not afraid of you! Ercole: No, but we're afraid of you! Everyone here is horrified and disgusted by you, because YOU ARE MONSTERS! Giulia: Stop! They're not monsters! Ercole: Oh yeah, who are they then?!
„
~ Ercole planning to kill Luca and Alberto, despite Giulia standing up to them.
“
Ercole: They can't be the winners, they're not even people! Massimo: Signora Marsigliese? Signora Marsigiliese: Technically.. legally..... yes, they won. Alberto: We won? Ercole: Who cares if they won?! They're sea monsters!
„
~ Ercole trying to sway the villagers to kill Luca and Alberto, despite Massimo and Signora Marsigiliese stating that both boys are and harmless and that they won the race as their bike crossed the finish line.
“
What?! C'MON! (Luca, Alberto and Giulia break his harpoon) HEY!!! Ciccio, Guido, another harpoon. (a short pause) AGH, IDIOT-I! BE USEFUL FOR ONCE IN YOUR PATHETIC LIVES!
„
~ Ercole being outraged that the villagers won't kill Luca and Alberto before taking out his rage on Ciccio and Guido, the very same words that drove them to rebel against him.
“
No.... piccolino!!
„
~ Ercole last words, crying over his wet wool sweater after being dumped with it into a fountain by an angry Ciccio and Guido as punishment for his cruel behavior against them.
Gallery[]
Ercole's first appearance.
Ercole ordering Ciccio to steal Giulia's money.
"You should've left when I told you. Now, I GOTTA KILL SOME SEA MONSTERS!" (Ercole's breakdown)
“No, but we’re afraid of you! Everyone here is horrified and disgusted by you because you are MONSTERS!” Ercole raging at Luca and Alberto while also calling them monsters again.
Ercole insulting Ciccio and Guido.
Ercole after being thrown in the fountain by his former henchmen.
"No.... piccolino!!" Ercole's well-deserved defeat & punishment when Ciccio and Guido humiliate him as retaliation for his abuse to them, thus losing his reputation in the Portorosso Cup.
Videos[]
Luca Clip - Ercole Was Defeated-2
Trivia[]
Ercole's surname is based in an actual Italian noble family. Curiously enough, the heraldry of that family shows a person being devoured by a sea monster (or in the case of Silvio Berlusconi's holding company Fininvest and its subsidiary Mediaset, as well as its own channel, Canale 5, shows the same sea monster eating a flower instead).
While it's never revealed how old he actually is, since Ercole had won the Portorosso Cup the last 5 years in a row and also claimed to be 16 (apparently the oldest possible age to compete in it) for the current yearand the previous year, he must be at least 17 at the absolute youngest (assuming that he was 12 the first time he won the Portorosso Cup). But eventually, it's confirmed by the director that Enrico Casarosa in Twitter that Ercole's age was around 18-19.[1]
This makes Ercole the third Pixar main antagonist to not be an adult, afterSid Phillips fromToy Story andJohnny Worthington III fromMonsters University. He's also the only one of them so far who hasn't yet been depicted as such, at least outside the legal definition. Sid was seen as an adult inToy Story 3, and Johnny was seen as an adult inMonsters at Work.
In real life, some people are actually adults when they're 18-19 years old.
Ercole seems to act as Massimo's dark side. Both Portorosso residents are passionate monster hunters who behaved rather questionably towards both Luca and Alberto. After they fully found out that the young duo are sea monsters themselves, Massimo started to lose interest in hunting them down, while Ercole remained dedicated into pursuing them, which lead to his downfall. If Massimo let his monster-hunting behavior consume him, he would've ended up like Ercole.
Ercole could also be a dark foil to Alberto, representing what he would've become if he let his jealousy towards Giulia consume him.
In a hint of irony, while Luca and Alberto are literal sea monsters themselves, it turns out that Ercole himselfwas the bigger monster than the duo were, largely thanks to his own developed sociopathic personality.
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