Heroes can take different forms.
Some are simply humans that have extraordinarily close interactions with the gods. Often the heroes are endowed with special powers. Heracles , who is also known as Hercules, was the ultimate Greek jock. He was born to the god Zeus and the human Alcmena. Hera, Zeus's wife, was jealous of Zeus having a child with another woman, so she sent snakes into Heracles' crib to kill him.