Likewise, if you wanted to present the lord of the underworld as a ‘businessman ready to chuckle at his own wisecracks’ type who, as if on a whim, will slap together a salesman-patter offer that maybe seems too good to be true — and who doesn’t seem to have the time or the inclination to quibble over details, lot of irons in the fire, heh, figuratively and literally, how about that, anyway, look, it’s your loss and not mine if you miss out on this amazing deal — then Woods was the guy to cast as Hades for Hercules, and full stop.