Ares (DC)

Latest revision as of 12:32, 15 August 2021

Ares in Wonder Woman v5 #12.

Ares is a comic book supervillain who features in DC Comics.

Biography

Pre-Crisis

God of War in Wonder Woman v2 #6.

Ares was a male deity who was a member of the pantheon of Olympus.

With his sister Eris, he had his sons Deimos and Phobos accompany them to Paradise Island in order to confront his daughter Hippolyta. This was in order to claim the secrets of interdimensional travel that had been entrusted to her by Zeus. Ares had intended to use this knowledge so that he could freely travel across worlds and bring a bloody war to Earth. When she refused, he gathered his armies to lay siege to them with the Amazons attempting to fight off his fores. However, they ultimately lost and once again Ares demanded Hippolyta to reveal the secrets of interdimensional travel but she once again refused. It was then that Eris placed a curse on the Amazon queen causing her to fall into a coma and be besieged by nightmares until she revealed the secret. (Wonder Woman v1 #183)

He later forged a secret alliance where the two of them would storm Olympus to claim it for themselves. Unknown to Ares, Hades was secret an an ally of the Anti-Monitor who hade taken over the underworld and was guiding the two Olympian gods into subjugating their kin. This involved trapping the gods of Olympus whereupon the army of the dead was sent to besiege the city. Only the Amazons stood in their way but despite their skill they were unable to vanquish the undead. In the midst of the battle, Ares himself attacked Wonder Woman as he felt that she posed the only real threat to them. Whilst he battled Diana, Kore approached her husband Hades and convinced him to end his alliance with the Anti-Monitor. This led to the army of the dead disappearing and the gods of Olympus freed from their mystical imprisonment where they helped stop Ares plan. (Wonder Woman v1 #329)

Post-Crisis

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Ares

Under his influence, his followers prepared to bring about the annihilation of the mortal race by launching nuclear warheads. This saw Wonder Woman being drawn into Ares realm where she was seemingly powerless to stop the war go. However, she continued to fight on and used the Lasso of Truth on Ares thus showing him the pain and suffering his actions had caused. This saw Ares shed tears for the first time in his immortal life and decided to end his mad scheme thus taking back his power from his servants before they could launch the warheads. The war god could now see that there was a difference between destruction and oblivion. He then had Wonder Woman returned to Earth where he urged her to save the human race and teach them a different path. He promised to not attack mankind again but did say that if Diana had failed in her mission then the mortal world would hear from Ares again. (Wonder Woman v2 #6)

He later went to recover the slain body of Wonder Woman from an alternate future incarnation and took it with him. Ares filled the corpse with his godly essence and power to serve as raw material in the creation of a being worthy of him. To accomplish that, he influenced the minds of others to transform the body where he appeared in the dreams of T. O. Morrow and influenced the mind of the Cheetah into wanting to creating a weapon against superheroes. He then supplied them the corpse where it was transformed through science and magic into a being called Genocide. (Wonder Woman v3 #31) She was considered to be his future queen with Genocide dispatched by the Secret Society against the world's superheroes. (Wonder Woman v3 #32)

Post-Flashpoint

Ares in Wonder Woman v5 #59.

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.

During this time, he came conclude that the true ideal of a God of War was to be a symbol of justice and to fight for the weak. Thus, he sought his freedom to achieve his goal in the mortal world where he used his power to influence Grail into killing him with the Godkiller sword. This caused him to reappear in Durovnia where he became a local leader of the rebels that were fighting against the country's government. Ares believed that the Durovnian nation held its people under a tyrannical reign and the Olympian war god thought it was hid duty to free them. The country itself was an ally of the United States leading to them deploying Steve Trevor and Etta Candy to help the government with them being joined by Diana who encountered Ares in this land. (Wonder Woman v5 #58)

Overview

Personality and attributes

He came to take the name of Ares Buchanan as an identity in the mortal world. (Wonder Woman v2 #78)

Ares had believed that only through war that he could reign supreme. (Wonder Woman v1 #183)

For a time, Ares looked to fulfil the ancient Greek prophecy regarding the god's fathers and their children. He had intended to kill his own father Zeus similar to how he had killed his father Chronos who in turn killed his parent Uranus. In the process, each had grown more powerful that their predecessor with Ares looking to achieve a similar feat. (Wonder Woman v2 #6)

Eirene the goddess of peace considered herself the lover of Ares and felt that compelled to avenge him. Furthermore, she felt that a true god of war must take his place if he ever were to fall. (Wonder Woman v4 #46)

It was shown that over the course of his existence that he had sired a number of children that included:

• Deimos :
• Phobos :
• Eris :
• Harmonia : daughter of Ares and Aphrodite who claimed that she could have been born beautiful but instead she was ugly due to her father. (Wonder Woman v2 #2)
• Lycus :
• Hippolyta Milton : a daughter he fathered with Circe in her guise as Donna Milton whilst Ares had merged with Ares Buchanan. (Wonder Woman v2 #100)

He had a number of other offspring born from Amazon women that his spirit had impregnated with these being five brothers called Scorpion, Adder, Goat, Spider and Rat. (Wonder Woman v3 #40)

According to one account, the Amazon Queen Hippolyta was born the daughter of Ares making him the grandfather of Diana of Themyscira. It was said that this was not in the sense of flesh but rather that he was the father of the soul that came to be Hippolyta. (Wonder Woman v2 #136)

Powers and abilities

Ares spirit was shown to be strong enough to consume the spirits of mortal beings who burnt from it. (Wonder Woman v2 #1) He was noted to draw his powers from his living worshippers and their loss led to his own power waning. (Wonder Woman v2 #6) Ares could also derive some power from wars being waged in the mortal world. (Wonder Woman v2 #1)

It was shown that he could command darkness to envelop his enemies leaving them trapped in pitch black conditions. (Wonder Woman v2 #6)

Ares was able to use his powers to make women bear his children where his power prevented the mothers from taking their own lives. In that case, he had beasts nurse the offspring with them being made of his choosing. (Wonder Woman v3 #39) These children of the war god all appeared as human with them each being named after animals that included; Scorpion, Adder, Goat, Spider and Rat. Collectively, they were shown to be able to influence the thoughts of mortals and even compel them with a command where they typically used this to make people turn against one another. (Wonder Woman v3 #40)

It was noted that he could command demonic spirits and have them possess the corpses of mortals. (Wonder Woman v2 #6)

His sons Deimos and Phobos commanded armies of Beast Men whose visages were so terrifying that they could paralyse armies into inaction. (Wonder Woman v1 #183)

He had a dimension under his control with this appearing as a hill known as the Areopagus where no one including his father could harm him. (Wonder Woman v2 #1) Within his realm, he was said to be capable of destroying a person with just a thought. (Wonder Woman v2 #6)

Notes

• Ares was created by Charles Moulton in the Pre-Crisis continuity where he first appeared in Wonder Woman v1 #1 (Summer, 1942).
• The character was re-interpreted by George Pérez in the Post-Crisis where Ares first appeared in Wonder Girl v2 #1

Alternate Versions

• In Dark Nights: Metal v1 (2017), an alternate version of Ares was shown in the world as Earth-12 was shown in the Dark Multiverse. On this world, Ares forged a powerful helmet that increased his power by several magnitudes and he brought a terrible war on this planet. The Justice League fought but Ares defeated them where he knocked Wonder Woman unconscious with Batman believing the war god had slain her. He took the helmet of Ares and used its power to slay the god of war but became corrupted by its power as he became the Merciless. He then killed Wonder Woman when she tried to remove the helmet from him and began to purge the world of people as he waged an endless war against them The nature of his world meant that it was going to disappear into the Multiverse but the Batman Who Laughs recruited the Red Death to join him alongside their master Barbatos as they attacked the prime Earth.

In other media

Television

• In Justice League Unlimited, Ares appeared as an antagonist in the DC Animated Universe in the episode "Hawk and Dove" where he was voiced by actor Michael York. A member of the Olympian Gods, the blonde haired god of war sought to encourage conflict. As part of his plans, he had the smith god Hephaestus craft the conflict fuelled Annihilator. He later appeared in Kaznia in the guise of Mr. Sera where he sold the Annihilator to Nardoc of the Northern faction. This was to encourage continued conflict with hate and anger causing the suit to fight harder. Wonder Woman, Hawk and Dove intervened in the conflict where Don Hall learnt of the Annihilators nature. Thus, they managed to end hostilities and thwart Ares plot with the war god vowing to return.
• In Harley Quinn, Ares appeared in the setting of the animated television series where he was an exotic dancer on Hedonikka that was an island near Themyscira.

Films

• In Wonder Woman, Ares appeared as an antagonist in the 2009 animated direct-to-video film where he was voiced by actor Alfred Molina. He was the Olympian God of War who long ago had forced himself on the Amazonian Queen Hippolyta where he had a child with her named Drax. Drax joined his father as he waged war and conflict on the mortal world when the Amazons assembled to battle him. During the battle, Drax was killed by Hippolyta who bested Ares and was prepared to kill him. However, Zeus intervened and stayed Hippolyta's hands to prevent her from killing his son whilst Hera stripped Ares of his godhood turning him mortal with this only being reversed by another god. Ares was made a prisoner of the Amazons who served as his jailers whilst they were given immortality and a life of peace on the isle of Themyscira.
• In Wonder Woman, Ares appeared as the main antagonist in the 2017 live-action film set in the DC Extended Universe where he was voiced by actor David Thewlis. He was the god of war in the Olympian pantheon and the son of Zeus who came to despise mankind as he saw their actions as destroying the Earth. His fellow gods opposed his views leading to Ares murdering their ranks leaving only his father alive. A battle was fought between the pair where Zeus managed to wound Ares damaging his left leg and causing his fall from Olympus though he managed to survive whilst his father succumbed to his wounds. Ares had learnt though that his father had created a weapon known as the Godkiller that was left in the care of the Amazons to destroy the war god. In the aftermath, Ares remained in the mortal world where he continued his plans to have humanity destroy itself. During World War I, he had taken the guise of Sir Patrick Morgan an Imperial War Cabinet advisor where he masqueraded as a man bringing peace but secretly used his influence among the Germans for the creation of deadly weapons to bring about the end of the world.

Video games

• In DC Universe Online, Ares appeared in the setting of the MMORPG video game.
• In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Ares appeared as a playable character in the video game where he was voiced by actor J.G. Hertzler.
• In DC Legends, Ares appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game.
• In DC Unchained, Ares appeared as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game. He was shown to had allied Earth's supervillains to combat the threat of Darkseid as the New Gods forces threatened Ares followers along with powerbase among the mortals of the world.

Appearances

• Wonder Woman v1: (1942)
• Wonder Girl v1:
• Wonder Woman v2:
• Wonder Woman v3:
• Wonder Woman Secret Files and Origins v1:
• Wonder Woman v4:

External Links

• DC Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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