Hephaestus is the Greek god of blacksmiths, metalworking, carpenters, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metallurgy, fire, and volcanoes. Hephaestus’ Roman equivalent is Vulcan. In Greek mythology, Hephaestus was either the son of Zeus and Hera or he was Hera’s parthenogenous child. He was cast off Mount Olympus by his mother because of his deformity or, in another account, by Zeus for protecting Hera from his advances.
As a smithing god, Hephaestus made all the weapons of the gods in Olympus. He served as the blacksmith of the gods, and was worshiped in the manufacturing and industrial centers of Greece, particularly Athens. The cult of Hephaestus was based in Lemnos. Hephaestus’ symbols are a smith’s hammer, anvil, and a pair of tongs.
The Illiad depicts Hephaestus assisted by mechanical creations looking like women. The relevant passages have been argued to be a precursor to the idea of robots.
DC:
Hephaestus rarely appeared post Crisis on Infinite Earths and only in cameo as a short squat man Athena ordered to find a way to remove the colossal statue Zeus’ champion had been turned into after Diana used Medusa’s head on him during a fight for Olympus where Athena had Diana represent herself.
In the new 52 reboot, Wonder Woman receives a number of revelations about her true past from Hepheastus and his son Eros. This begins with being informed that Zeus is her actually her father, but later Hephastus explains to Diana the tale of the male Amazons. In order to replenish their numbers the Amazons habitually capture wayward seafarers and seduce them before killing them once every 33 years. Any daughters born are accepted into the group, but the males are traded to Hephaestus in return for weapons. These males Amazons are nurtured and grow up to be labourers to Hephaestus in his foundry and smiths in their own rights. Once Diana discovered this she intended to free them from their slavery, but they resisted, thinking instead that it is not slavery, that the god saved them from death and this is their way to repay him.
Later Lennox, Eros and Hephaestus journey to Hades after being invited to his wedding with Diana, only to arrive in time to see Diana make her escape. Despite the wedding being cancelled and Hades being very upset about it all, mostly because he didn’t understand how Diana could love everyone since he doesn’t love himself to any degree, Hephaestus presents Hades with a present, which turns out to be a silver mirror. Diana makes a long shot at Hades with one of Eros’ pistols while he was looking at himself in the mirror.
Appearance:
In the New 52 Hephaestus has revived a similar update of his appearance and now looks like a large ogre like creature with pointed teeth and crusting lava from his elbows down. Diana, Lennox and Hermes have to go through Eros, Hephaestus’ beloved son and Hermes’ nephew, in order to be allowed into his forge hidden under Mount Etna, because he prefers not having visitors. While his armory contains many weapons and suits of armor, both ancient and modern, like swords and miniguns, Hepheastus also creates many pieces of exceptional jewelry, which his wife Aphrodite still finds lacking.