Ares (DC Comics)

Ares first appeared in Wonder Woman #1, volume 1, published in the summer of 1942, written and created by Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston. In the next issue,[3] he reappeared under his Roman name, Mars.

He retained this name until February 1987,[4] when comics writer/artist George Pérez restored the Greek name Ares as part of his reboot of the Wonder Woman mythos. As the narrative continuity of Wonder Woman comics has been adjusted by different writers throughout the years, various versions of Mars/Ares, with various personalities and physical appearances, have been presented, though most have been depicted wearing Greek hoplite or Roman gladiator armor. The character's longest-running look, designed by George Pérez, is that of a red-eyed Greek warrior clad in black and indigo battle armor, face hidden by an Attic helmet.

After DC's continuity was again rebooted in 2011 (an event known as the New 52), the character cycled through several divergent visual interpretations before returning to his Pérez-inspired warrior design.[5] In September 2011, the conclusion of the limited series Flashpoint (2011) established a new continuity within the DC Universe, with all characters regressing to a younger age and earlier stage in their careers, while remaining in a modern timeline. DC Senior VP of Sales, Bob Wayne, explained that with each of their titles reverting to issue #1, "our creative teams have the ability to take a more modern approach—not only with each character, but with how the characters interact with one another and the universe as a whole, and focus on the earlier part of the careers of each of our iconic characters."[6] Following this company-wide relaunch, Ares appeared in a new Wonder Woman volume.

In this new timeline, Ares closely resembles the then-ongoing series writer Brian Azzarello, as originally intended by the artist Cliff Chiang. As the team was preparing the series, Azzarello requested "a tired, old guy" for the initial design of Ares. Chiang responded with a sketch of Azzarello's own look as a joke, to which Azzarello reportedly responded, "Cool". Other than hollowed eyes and bloodied legs, Ares is characterized by Azzarello's own bald head, long beard, and slender look.[7]

During most of the Golden Age, Silver Age, and Bronze Age, Ares was called Mars and was one of the most recurrent enemies of Wonder Woman. He was depicted as a Greco-Roman warrior in orange armor.

Ares, who eventually became known as Mars, sought to realize his vision of eternal war and conflict in the world of man. He was chiefly opposed by Aphrodite, goddess of love, who sought to realize a contrary vision of loving civilization. Meanwhile, the men who worshipped Ares killed each other and their weaker brothers, selling women cheaper than cattle. When Ares taunted Aphrodite with the success of his plans, Aphrodite created a new race of women, the Amazons, whom she modeled from clay, who built a city-state called Amazonia, where they created a women-centered civilization for spreading the gospel of Aphrodite's Way. They were stronger than Ares's men. Hippolyta was granted a golden girdle that made her invincible.[8]

When she arrives in Man's World and leaves Steve Trevor in a hospital, Wonder Woman accidentally drops a manuscript depicting Ares, Aphrodite, and the history of the Amazons. From Wonder Woman #1

Mars eventually created a home base on the planet of Mars, with its superpowerful population enslaved to serve him and his chief deputies, the Duke of Deception, Lord Conquest, and the Earl of Greed. Mars's aid-de-camp is General Destruction. He used Mars as an interplanetary headquarters, supplementing the enslaved Martian population with the spirits of the dead he collected from war zones on multiple planets, including Saturn and Earth. Slave spirits became embodied after being ferried to the planet Mars, where they were subjected to strength tests to determine how they would best be used, whether as gladiators in slave games, personal slaves in the retinue of Mars himself, or employees in the War Factories, one of which included the Lie Factory run by the Duke of Deception. The very strongest would be trained and given new bodies to be sent to wage future wars on earth. He also set up the Injustice Court for humiliating slaves and meting out punishments. Mars's Earth base was beneath Mount Olympus and run by Lord Conquest.[3]

From this base, he sought to defeat the Allied cause in World War II, sending thoughts of conquest, deception, and greed into the Axis leaders with the use of astral projection, but he found himself repeatedly thwarted by the Amazon champion Wonder Woman. When Wonder Woman rescued Steve Trevor from Mars, the War God ordered his three lieutenants to capture her. The Earl of Greed was sent and enlisted German aid, along with convincing the Dean of Holiday College to rob it, but failed and was imprisoned. The Duke of Deception gained Japanese help and captured Wonder Woman, but failed, as she escaped before she left Earth and he was imprisoned. The Count of Conquest gained Italian help and by trickery succeeded in shackling Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor and bringing them to Mars. Greed and Deception were released while Wonder Woman was imprisoned in the dungeons. However, with the help of Etta Candy's spirit form, Wonder Woman was able to escape and overpower Mars, whose Iron Palace was destroyed by his weapons, though he survived. The Duke of Deception tried many times to defeat Wonder Woman, but failed despite his cunning and incredible technology, and Mars finally stripped him of his mighty appearance, showing him to be a weak, toothless man. The Duke, after being set with the female slaves, caused them to rebel and briefly ruled Mars.

Mars repeatedly tangled with Wonder Woman on Earth-One and Earth-Two. During a period when Diana abandoned her powers to live among the world of men, as the Amazons retreated temporarily to another dimension, Mars (calling himself Ares this time) and his children Phobos, Deimos, and Eris battled the Amazons to secure from Hippolyta the secret to domination of all dimensions of existence. Later, he enlisted his descendant Helen Alexandros to become the Silver Swan.

His final scheme before the history-changing battle of the Crisis on Infinite Earths was to ally himself with Hades and the Anti-Monitor to subdue the Gods of Olympus. As Wonder Woman engaged him in final battle, Steve Trevor freed the gods and Hades's wife Kore appealed to her husband with a message of love, leaving Mars isolated.

Ares as Ares Buchanan

Despite being Zeus's son, Ares never fit in with the other gods of Olympus and created his own realm, the Areopagus. Aphrodite, the patron of the Amazons, swore that her women would save the world with love from the hatred and warfare of Ares, meaning he opposed their creation. Recently, through his deceit and manipulations, Ares deposed Hades and became ruler of the underworld.

Ares did his best to destroy the Amazons, using Hercules against them, who sacked the island, but Diana was born and raised just in time to fight Ares as Steve Trevor's plane, driven by one of Ares's human puppets, crashed into Paradise Island. His plot was to fire the missiles between the United States and Russia at the same time, provoking World War III, but Diana managed to make him see, trapped in her magic lasso, how this chaos would lead to his own disappearing, with Ares having no one to worship him. He then gave her the task of "saving mankind from themselves", promising to return if she fails, essentially acting as a continuous test of her success.

Although Ares abandoned his plans that time, he managed to possess an unimportant criminal, Ari Buchanan. Possessing his body, he changed his name to "Ares Buchanan".[9] He began climbing the business ladder by providing high-tech weapons for gang wars.[10] As Buchanan, he had a relationship with his lawyer Donna Milton (who was Circe in disguise, although not even she knew it then), conceiving a daughter named Lyta Milton. Lyta has been shown to possess a great amount of magic, which she is still practicing. However, Ares did not care much about Donna, shooting her while she was pregnant. Circe, as Donna, later tried to help Diana out of a trap he laid. She used the last of her forces to shoot a gun, which produced a sort of mini-black hole and absorbed Ares into it. Diana, the child, and she survived.

As opposed to ancient times, the roles of various gods were shown to have altered somewhat according to modern practices and beliefs. Because of this, the actual faith-based power Ares's father Zeus received proved to be very much diminished. However, other gods such as Athena, Aphrodite, and Ares began to gain more power due to the appearance of the computer age, love never diminishing, and conflict remaining consistent. Thus, the three godly siblings eventually took over Olympus as the godly home's new masters.

Realizing that conflict proved to maintain his strength over the output of war, Ares changed his title to the God of Conflict. To celebrate this change, he altered his appearance to a more approachable visage. His rule under this name proved to be short-lived, though, as the god Hades was also overthrown and Ares was all too eager to take up the mantle of God of the Dead.

Realizing that a crossroads for the gods of Olympus was at hand, Ares confided in his half sister Cassie Sandsmark about a future war. In exchange for additional powers, the only wish he requested in return from his sister was her love. He then traveled to Themyscira and kidnapped his daughter Lyta, who was under the protection of the Amazons. Discovering this fact, Circe confronted Ares and was surprised to learn of his new godly title. She agreed to remain as his consort and to raise their daughter Lyta in the Underworld.

During Ares's family bonding with Cassie, he blessed her with a powerful lasso able to expel Zeus's lightning in times of anger for her to use in her persona as Wonder Girl. Ares has since appeared to Cassie repeatedly to warn her about "the coming war." In one story, the Teen Titans were thrown 10 years into the future, where Cassie had inherited the mantle of Wonder Woman after Diana's death.[11] She was also referred to as "Ares's champion".

Ares later appeared to Cassie, informing her that the gods were leaving this plane and Zeus was taking the power he had granted Cassie, as well.[12] In exchange for acknowledging their siblinghood and becoming his champion, he offered her some of his power, saying only that she would be "more powerful than [she has] ever been." The full extent of Cassie's powers has not been revealed, though some indication exists that she has retained all of her former powers at this point.[13]

During the events of Amazons Attack!, it is discovered that Ares left Circe and kidnapped their daughter to raise on his own. As Lyta and he were only spoken of during the storyline, their presence is yet unknown.

Cassie is confronted by Ares's son, Lord Lycus, whom Ares has sent to interfere with Cassie's powers.[14]

Wonder Woman fatally attacks Ares

Shifting himself into the future, Ares stole the dead body of Wonder Woman and brought it back into the present. He then manipulated several villains to use the body to create his bride and chief agent Genocide. He then imbued this new creature with his own magical dominance, causing the new being's persona to be not only more deadly, but also completely obedient to him. Ares's plans to destroy the present-day Wonder Woman went awry when Diana was able to destroy Genocide, leaving the monster's dead body to drown in the ocean. Angered, Ares commanded a son of Poseidon to cause a swarm of deadly sea creatures to attack Themyscira and the new island nation of Thalarion. During this battle, Diana deduced that Ares was the grand manipulator and confronted him. Not allowing Ares much time to gloat in his latest masterpiece of war, Diana took a battle axe and used it to strike Ares's head, splitting his helmet in two.

Despite being gone from the mortal world, Ares is still manipulating events to destroy the Amazons. His next plot involves the birth of five male children by five random Amazons. Once they are born, he takes them under his wing before Ares is banished from Themyscira both in body and spirit by his father Zeus.[15]

Ares's appearance in The New 52 continuity: Panel from Wonder Woman #4 (2012). Art by Cliff Chiang

In The New 52 continuity, Ares is commonly referred to as War. His first appearance in this new continuity was in Wonder Woman #4, where he is depicted as a bald, aged man with a white beard. Due to the revelation that Diana is the demigod daughter of Zeus, their new dynamic is that of brother and sister. War's calves and feet are permanently smeared with blood. He appears in a bar in Darfur, where his brother Apollo tries to convince him to side with him in his quest to take over the rein of Olympus. His attitude also seems to be more pessimistic and uncaring.[16]

He is revealed to be Diana's former mentor in Wonder Woman #0, a stand-alone issue published in September 2012 set in the past. He takes Diana under his tutelage because of her vast potential in combat, and teaches her the ways of the warrior. Their relationship is like a father-daughter relationship. However, they part ways when Diana is asked by Ares to slay the Minotaur, but is unable to bring herself to kill it. This show of mercy makes her a failure in Ares's eyes.[17]

Over time, Diana learns she can trust Ares to protect their youngest brother, the infant Zeke, and his mother Zola. Alongside their British brother Lennox, Hera, and the New God Orion, they form a dysfunctional family unit that seeks to protect the baby from First Born, their eldest brother, who had been imprisoned by Zeus aeons ago. In Wonder Woman #23, Wonder Woman's group clashes with First Born in London, where Ares raises an army of soldiers and fights First Born himself after Wonder Woman is temporarily incapacitated. First Born manages to overpower Ares and prepares to kill him to usurp his position of God of War. Seizing her opportunity, Wonder Woman regretfully drives a spear through both of them, as it is the only way to stop First Born. In his last breath, Ares forgives and commends his former pupil, stating that she did what he would have done. Hades manifests to take Ares to his afterlife, and announces that Wonder Woman has taken on his position as God of War.[18] Appearing to Wonder Woman in an apparition, counselling her on the ongoing conflict with the First Born, he tells her not to call him War anymore, as that is her name—she refers to him instead as Ares.[19]

In the DC Rebirth reboot, Wonder Woman's origin is retold in the "Year One" storyline. A group of people called the "Sear" terrorizes a mall where Diana and her friends are exploring. They have been infected with the Maru virus, which causes them to lash out in homicidal rage, though Diana and Steve Trevor are able to defeat them, and Barbara Ann Minerva discovers Sear is an anagram of Ares.

The god of war attacks shortly after this discovery. He reveals his desire to spread the virus across the world in major locations with the hope of turning most of the human population into warring killers to fuel his power. Diana offers him Themyscira's location in exchange for him sparing everyone, though Ares discovers she has no memory of its location; as a sacrifice of leaving the island, Diana was barred from returning by losing knowledge of how to return. Accepting her new role to save mankind, Diana, with the help of the patron gods in animal form, subdues Ares with the Lasso of Truth. Diana and her friends are given the locations where Ares has the virus sent and Diana is christened as Wonder Woman for her heroics.

Soon after, Ares's sons Deimos and Phobos conspired to free Ares from his imprisonment on Themyscira. They coerced Veronica Cale into aiding them by kidnapping the soul of her daughter, Isadore. However, several years later, Cale and her associate Doctor Cyber still had no luck finding the island. Meanwhile, Cale was plotting against Deimos and Phobos, and recruited the sorceress Circe into trapping the twins into the bodies of two Doberman Pinschers.[20]

Years later, the mysterious tree that had been growing on Themyscira was teleported to the false island that Wonder Woman had originally thought was her home. During a battle with Cheetah, a drop of Wonder Woman's blood opened a portal to inside the tree. There, Wonder Woman and Veronica Cale encountered both Isadore Cale and an attractive, nude man who introduced himself as Ares.[21] Diana had not faced Ares in Year One, but his sons in disguise. Themyscira serves as Ares's prison once he was calmed of his bloodlust with the love of his lover Aphrodite, and Deimos and Phobos plotted to gain access to kill their father and take his role, gaining his power. The gods altered Diana's memories to make her think she had returned to the island so that she could never try to find the real Themyscira, thereby granting access to darker forces. Isadore became his ward in the meantime. He gives her the clue to how to defeat his sons: with love, not hatred. Once his sons have been defeated and bound by the Lasso of Truth, Ares reveals Isadore cannot leave without being split from her physical and astral forms. She can live with the Amazons, however, and thus have a life where she will not age.[22]

Later, Darkseid's daughter Grail was imprisoned in the tree with Ares.[23] Ares, inspired by the hope of justice, manipulated Grail into killing him with the Godkiller sword. This freed him of his imprisonment. Soon after, Wonder Woman encountered Ares, this time resembling the missing Steve Trevor, on a battlefield in Durkovia.[24]

In the Wonder Woman: Earth One continuity, Armored Response Environment Suit called A. R. E. S. is featured in Volume Two as a US military contingency plan for General Phil Darnell and Maxwell Lord. Ares himself is hinted at the end of the book as well. [25]

Ares appears in two different stories in this anthology series featuring Wonder Woman. In the first, "Casualties of War," Wonder Woman is attacked by a dragon that is later revealed to have been a pawn of Ares.[26] In the second story, "Vendetta," Ares ambushes Wonder Woman in a small, African city. He summons his Spartoi, reptilian soldiers, to aid in his battle, but he is inevitably defeated by Wonder Woman.[27]

While not appearing directly, Ares's subject, the Duke of Deception, is a servant of both Ares and Hades. The amazon Antiope is also depicted as Ares's high priestess.[28]

Ares is featured as a major antagonist in the series based on the video game of the same name. He is initially in the Chapter 9 of Year 1, on which he watches as Wonder Woman fought against an entire army and then questions her decision to join Superman's side. He also asks her if she is going to "replace" Lois Lane, who died after the Joker tricked Superman into killing her, as Superman's significant other. Just as he asks this, Wonder Woman acknowledges he fears her union with Superman because it would end all conflict in the world and end war permanently (and without war, Ares would be left mortal). She asks Ares what he would become if Superman's endeavors succeeded and mockingly suggests he become a god of something less violent (as she suggested him being the "God of Ponies"). Enraged, Ares attacks Diana, proclaiming that Zeus himself would not save her so long as they are on a battlefield where Ares is strongest. Before he can harm Wonder Woman, Superman appears and takes Ares down with a single blow, allowing Diana to cut off his hand off and, just as Ares threatens her further, she impales him with her sword and leaves him to bleed. Superman, while disturbed by this, is assured by Wonder Woman that Ares will not die and the two head off to begin peace negotiations. As they leave, Ares admits to himself he fears that Diana will strip away Superman's restraint, and nothing in the world would be able to stand against them if such an event occurred, and in a world without war, Ares is unsure what he would become.

In Dark Knights: The Merciless, part of a series looking at dark alternate versions of Batman who have the powers of other members of the Justice League, one Batman comes from a reality where Ares acquired a new helmet that enhanced his powers to induce conflict. After Wonder Woman and other members of the League had been apparently killed in battle with Ares, Batman donned Ares' discarded helmet to use it against him, only to succumb to the helmet's power, to the point that he not only defeated Ares, but even killed Diana when it was revealed that she had survived the attack because he was already so far under the helmet's influence.[29]

Ares in Justice League Unlimited

• Ares makes an appearance in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Hawk and Dove", voiced by Michael York. In the episode, Ares commissions Hephaestus to forge the Annihilator, a living suit of armor fueled by violence. Posing as Tom Sera and a Kasnian Monk, Ares uses it to incite conflict between North and South Kasnia, hoping to destabilize the entire region and create more conflict. Wonder Woman and Hawk and Dove intervene, forcing Ares to back down after discovering the Annihilator's weakness. The Annihilator armor is confiscated by the Justice League.
• Ares appears in the web series, DC Super Hero Girls, voiced by Fred Tatasciore.
• Ares appears in Harley Quinn as an exotic dancer on Hedonikka, an island near Themyscira.

• Ares is featured in the animated feature film Wonder Woman, voiced by Alfred Molina.[30] He differs slightly in this incarnation in that he had long platinum hair, although he wears a variation of his classic armor early in the film.
• Ares first appears in the DC Extended Universe film Wonder Woman, the fourth installment of the DCEU, played by David Thewlis.[31][32][33] As the God of War, he is depicted as the treacherous son of Zeus and the half-brother of Diana/Wonder Woman. After Ares corrupted mankind and slaughtered all of his fellow Gods, Zeus used the last of his strength to strike Ares down from Olympus and left the Amazons a "Godkiller" sword capable of slaying Ares should he ever return. Stranded on Earth, Ares spent centuries orchestrating wars and conflicts in order to maintain his power. During World War I, he masquerades as Imperial War Cabinet speaker "Sir Patrick Morgan" to manipulate both sides into entering conflicts.[34] After revealing himself to Diana, Ares destroys the sword and informs her that she is the true "Godkiller" that Zeus left behind, before attempting to persuade her that humans are unworthy of her protection and should be destroyed in order to create paradise on Earth. Having concluded that love, not violence, is the only way to prevent conflict, Diana uses her powers as the last child of Zeus to fight and ultimately destroy Ares.
• Ares is featured in the 2017 film Justice League, the fifth instalment of the DCEU. He appears during a flashback of the battle between Steppenwolf's forces and a unified army of the Olympian Gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, Green Lanterns, and mankind. Stuntman Nick McKinless physically played the role, with Thewlis's face digitally superimposed over his.[35]

Ares in DC Legends, based on the DCEU version of the character

• Ares appears as a playable character in Injustice: Gods Among Us, voiced by J.G. Hertzler.[36][37] At the beginning of the game, Ares was seen fighting the Justice League alongside the featured villains assembled by Lex Luthor until he was defeated by Superman and corralled by Wonder Woman and Aquaman. In the alternate reality, Ares first appears to save Aquaman from the alternate Aquaman's army by freezing them in time. The alternate Ares tells Aquaman that Superman's Regime has ended all conflict leaving him virtually weak. The alternate Ares sends Aquaman to the Insurgency base where his comrades are. Later on in the game, the alternate Ares teleports Wonder Woman to Themyscira where he tells her that her alternate counterpart is planning to lead the Amazons to civilization as part of the alternate Superman's plan to destroy Metropolis and Gotham City. The alternate Ares then leaves when Wonder Woman is attacked by the alternate Raven. In Ares' Arcade ending, defeating Superman has the opposite effect of what he intended and he is further weakened by the ensuing peace. Near death, Ares imprisons Brainiac 5 and forces him to create a time loop of the game's events creating a never ending cycle of conflict from which he can feed off forever.
  • He doesn't appear in the sequel, Injustice 2, however, as Wonder Woman claims she slew him and became the new goddess of war.
• Ares appears in DC Universe Online.
• In Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure, the New 52 version of Ares is one of the thousands of characters that can be summoned by the player.
• Ares appears as a playable character in the mobile game DC Legends.
• Ares appears as a playable character in DC Unchained.
• Ares appears as a playable character in Lego DC Super-Villains, voiced by Fred Tatasciore.

DC Direct released an Ares action figure in 2001 as part of their Amazons and Adversaries line of Wonder Woman action figures. Mattel released an Ares action figure in 2008 as part of their DC Universe Classics line of toys. Ares is also part of the action figures lineup for the 2017 film Wonder Woman. Ares is represented as an inaccurate buildable figure in the Lego set "Wonder Woman Warrior Battle" based on Wonder Woman.