It means hero the common noun, not Hero the proper name.

It's all 'indicative mood, common noun, third person, singular number, and agrees with John.'

Thus whenever we use any common noun, e.g.

On the other hand, many comedies have a common noun as their title: l'Avare, le Joueur, etc.

Since "referendum" is a common noun it can have no participial form and so cannot be a gerund.

Sir, -The Irish Times's house style of all lower case "queen" for Queen Elizabeth, as if she were a common noun, is an anachronism.

From your reading bring up sentences containing ten common nouns, five proper, five abstract.

He gives her the words, three short common nouns.

Kleenex has faced this battle, as has Xerox, Frisbee, Jeep and Spam -popular common nouns all.

The one was a nurse; the other, a box, both common nouns, and merely articles to be conveyed to Gleneesh according to orders.