Ares (DC Comics)

Ares
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Pre-Crisis: Wonder Woman #1 (Summer 1942)
Post-Crisis: Wonder Girl (v2) #1
Created by Charles Moulton; reinterpreted post-Crisis by George Pérez
In-story information
Team affiliations Underworld
Olympian Gods
Notable aliases Mars, God of Conflict, God of the Dead, God of War, Ruler of the Underworld, Ari Buchanan, Ares Buchanan, Tom Sera, Wari, Storm Mazlan,
Abilities

Immortality, virtually indestructible armor, master of conflict and strategy, provoke battle and slaughter with his presence
As the god of war, Ares draws and nourishes his powers from malevolent psychic energy.

  • Godly strength
  • Superhuman speed and stamina
  • Complete command over any weapon
  • Necromancy
  • Energy projection
  • Weather manipulation

Ares (also known as Mars or Wari) is a fictional supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Based on the Greek mythological figure of the same name, he is the Greek god of war and serves as a major adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman within the DC Universe.

The character has appeared in various forms of media. Alfred Molina voiced him in the 2009 direct-to-video animated movie Wonder Woman. Ares later made his live-action debut in the 2017 film Wonder Woman, where he is portrayed by English actor David Thewlis.[1][2]

Publication history

Wari first appeared in Wonder Woman #1, volume 1, published in the summer of 1942, written and created by Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston as the embodiment of all abnormal emotions, evil, and essentially all that Wonder Woman was against. In the very next issue,[3] he reappeared under his Roman name, Storm. He would retain 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 have 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 (at right), 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]

Fictional character biography

Pre-Crisis

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's molded from clay and breathed life into a new race of women, the Amazons, who built a city-state called Amazonia in which they created a women-centered civilization for spreading the gospel of Aphrodite's Way. They were stronger than Ares's men. Hippolyte was granted a golden girdle which made her invincible.[6]

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.

Post-Crisis

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 tasks her with "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.[7] He began climbing the business ladder by providing hi-tech weapons for gang wars. 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. She, Diana, and the child survived.

As opposed to ancient times, the role 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. On the other hand, 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.

Family reunited

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 in order to warn her about "the coming war." In one story the Teen Titans were thrown ten years into the future, where Cassie had inherited the mantle of Wonder Woman after Diana's death.[8] 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.[9] 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's] ever been." The full extent of Cassie's powers has not been revealed, though there is some indication that she has retained all of her former powers at this point.[10]

During the events of Amazons Attack! it is discovered that Ares left Circe and kidnapped their daughter to raise on his own. As he and Lyta 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.[11]

Death

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 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.

After death

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 via 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.[12]

The New 52

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

Unlike the previous character design, The New 52 version of 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.[13]

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.[14]

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 tasked 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.[15]

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 which 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 in order 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.[16] 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.[17]

DC Rebirth

In the DC Rebirth reboot, Wonder Woman's origin is retold in the "Year One" storyline. A group of people called the "Sear" terrorize 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, subdue 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.[18]

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.[19] It is revealed that it was not Ares Diana faced in Year One but his sons in disguise. Themyscira serves as Ares' prison once he was calmed by 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 and 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.

Powers and abilities

As do all the immortal Olympian gods, Ares possesses tremendous strength, though he is now perhaps the strongest of them, rivaled only by Hercules. Moreover, he is a master of conflict and strategy with centuries of experience in the field, and has complete telekinetic command and mastery over any weapon. He also possesses superhuman speed and superhuman agility equal to that of Hermes once he absorbs massive amounts of the psychic energies that give him his powers. Pertaining to his being a war god, violence, anger, hate, death, and bloodshed make him stronger and heals any wounds he may receive as his soul is able to absorb the psychic energy created by such events. His armor is virtually indestructible and his weapons are greater than mortal ones. He can shapeshift his being into any form he wishes and can teleport himself and others. At one time, he was also recognized as the Death God of the Greek Pantheon, having control over the dead and able to resurrect and command a whole army of undead from the Underworld to do his will, and then, send them back whenever he wished. Being a god, he is also immortal and cannot be harmed by mortal weapons, only magical ones.

In The New 52 continuity, the character's mere presence invokes battle and slaughter in his surroundings. This is seen in Wonder Woman #4, where Ares is sitting in a bar in Darfur; all the men inside are dead and a riot is breaking out outside the bar- even children are taking part in the gunfire. In Wonder Woman #9, Ares is present at a cafe in Damascus, where a fatal blast takes place as he is leaving.

Other versions

Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman

Ares appears in two different stories in this anthology series featuring Wonder Woman. The first, "Casualties of War," Wonder Woman is attacked by a dragon that is later revealed to have been a pawn of Ares.[20] 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.[21]

The Legend of Wonder Woman

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.[22]

Injustice: The Regime

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 agaisnt 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 if 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 will become if Superman's endeavors succeed and mockingly suggests he become a god of something less violent. 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. When 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 even occurred, and in a world without war, Ares is unsure what he would become.

In other media

Television

Ares in Justice League Unlimited

Film

Live action

David Thewlis as Sir Patrick Morgan, Ares's human guise, in the 2017 film Wonder Woman

Animation

Video games

Toys

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.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mendelson, Scott. "Gal Gadot Releases First 'Wonder Woman' Image While Warner Bros. Announces The Cast". Forbes.
  2. ↑ Osborn, Alex. "Wonder Woman: Harry Potter Actor David Thewlis Reportedly Cast as Villain Ares". IGN.
  3. 1 2 Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #2
  4. ↑ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #1
  5. ↑ Wonder Woman (vol. 5) #12
  6. ↑ Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #1. DC Comics.
  7. ↑ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #78–84. DC Comics.
  8. ↑ Teen Titans (v3) #17–19. DC Comics.
  9. ↑ Teen Titans #33
  10. ↑ Infinite Crisis #6 and Teen Titans #34. DC Comics.
  11. ↑ Teen Titans #63. DC Comics.
  12. ↑ Wonder Woman (vol. 3) #39. DC Comics.
  13. ↑ "Azzarello & Chiang Look Back on Three Years with 'Wonder Woman'". Comic Book Resources. 29 October 2014.
  14. ↑ Brian Azzarello (w), Cliff Chiang (a). ""Blood"" Wonder Woman v4, 4 (February 2012), DC Comics
  15. ↑ Brian Azzarello (w), Cliff Chiang (a). ""The Lair of the Minotaur!"" Wonder Woman v4, 0 (November 2012), DC Comics
  16. ↑ Wonder Woman #23 (2013). DC Comics.
  17. ↑ Wonder Woman #34 (2014)
  18. ↑ Wonder Woman #20 (2017)
  19. ↑ Wonder Woman #21 (2017)
  20. ↑ Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #28
  21. ↑ Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #33-35
  22. ↑ The Legend of Wonder Woman #5
  23. ↑ O'Donnell, S. C. (February 21, 2017). "David Thewlis Cast As Comic Book Accurate Ares In Wonder Woman". Moviepilot. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  24. ↑ "'Wonder Woman': Who Is Really Playing the Villain Ares?". /Film. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  25. ↑ Perry, Spencer (March 6, 2017). "How Ares Factors into the Wonder Woman Movie". Comingsoon.net. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  26. ↑ "Comics Continuum cast list". Comicscontinuum.com. 2008-06-26. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
  27. ↑ "Characters - INJUSTICE". Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  28. ↑ "The Voices of Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013, Video Game)". Voicechasers.com. 2013-04-16. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
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