Hercules and Aladdin have a far more direct link in the “Hercules” episode “Hercules and the Arabian Night,” which came out in 1999. The plot kicks off when Hades (James Woods) and Jafar (Jonathan Freeman) team up and go after the other villain’s enemy. This leads to the two heroes having to team up to take down their nemeses. It’s one of the more memorable episodes from the series, even if it creates a plot hole within the “Hercules” movie.
The “Hercules” series serves as a midquel of sorts to the movie, focusing on the titular character’s training with Phil (Danny DeVito), which was mostly montaged in the film. At this point in time, Hades believes Hercules to be dead, but on “Hercules and the Arabian Night,” he tells Jafar to strike the demigod while he’s training with Phil. Hades shouldn’t have known Hercules was still a threat to him at that point, so he’d have no reason to tell Jafar to go after the kid.
There are also timeline issues with the Hercules and Aladdin crossover. Granted, these are fictional stories and myths, but “Aladdin” co-director John Musker once revealed to E! News that the original treatment for the Disney movie explicitly set the story in Baghdad, Iraq, which was founded in the 8th century AD (throwing cold water on the “Aladdin” fan theory saying the film could be set in a post-apocalyptic future). Meanwhile, “Hercules” takes place in Ancient Greece, which would be closer to roughly 500 BCE. The two characters are likely separated by centuries and shouldn’t have been able to interact. Of course, this is thinking too deeply about a silly crossover. It’s all in good fun to see Hercules and Aladdin be buddies … somehow.
