| “ | Ha! Has thou spent all thy time in arena and none in the temple? Truly thou art after my own heart! Little one I be an Olympian! I be the settler of dispute. I be blood! I be guts! I be iron! I BE WAR! | „ |
| ~ Ares. |
Ares is a mighty Greek god of war and a villain in DC comics universe, specifically an implacable arch-enemy towards his younger half-sister Wonder Woman, the Amazon peacemaker. He serves as one the main antagonists of the Wonder Woman franchise alongside Circe.
He appears in the 2017 film Wonder Woman as the main antagonist. He was portrayed by David Thewlis.
History
Ares, whom the Romans call Mars, is the god of war. He is a member of the Olympians, an extra-dimensional race once worshiped as deities by the people of Ancient Greece. He represents the physical or violent aspect of war. He is the son of Zeus the king of the gods and his wife Hera.
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.
Ares did his best to destroy the Amazons, using Hercules against them, but Diana was born and raised just in time to fight Ares as Steve Trevor's plane, driven by one of Ares' 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 disappearance, with Ares having no one to worship him.
Although Ares abandoned his plans that time, he managed to possess an unimportant criminal, Ari Buchanan. Possessing Buchanan's body, he changed his name to Ares Buchanan. 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. Lyta has been shown to possess a great amount of magic, which she is still learning to wield. However, Ares didn't care much about Donna, shooting her while she was pregnant. Circe, as Donna, later tried to help Diana out of a trap laid by Ares. She used the last of her forces to shoot a gun, which produced a sort of mini-black hole that absorbed Ares. She, Diana, and the child survived.
As opposed to ancient times, the role of various gods were have altered somewhat according to modern practices and beliefs. Because of this, the actual faith-based power Ares' 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 time under this name proved to be short-lived, as the god Hades was also overthrown and Ares was all too eager to take up the mantle of God of the Dead at the same time his sister Athena with whom he had an alliance took over Olympus.
Family Reunited
Realizing that a crossroads for the Gods of Olympus was soon to be reached, 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' family bonding with Cassie, he blessed her with a powerful lasso able to expel Zeus' 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." The Teen Titans were thrown ten years into the future, where Cassie had inherited the mantle of Wonder Woman after Diana's death. She was also referred to as "Ares' champion."
Ares appeared to Cassie for apparently the final time, where he revealed that the gods were leaving this plane and Zeus was taking the power he had granted Cassie as well. In exchange for acknowledging their relationship as siblings 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 and she has retained all of her former powers.
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 story line, their presence is yet unknown.
Cassie is confronted by Ares' son, Lord Lycus, whom Ares has sent to interfere with Cassie's powers.
Death
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' 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' head, splitting his helmet in two. The then dead Ares falls to the floor uttering in his last breath, "Amazon what have you done?"
Post-Mortem
Ares has since appeared to Diana, now sans helmet, his head crudely stitched together, to reveal he has gone to some level of the afterlife reserved for the gods, where he is being tortured by all those who have died in all the world's wars.
Despite being gone from the mortal world he reveals he is still manipulating events to lead to the end of the Amazons. This new 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.
Injustice: Gods Among Us
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| “ | Behold the God of War! | „ |
| ~ Ares in Injustice: Gods Among Us |
In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Ares first appears fighting Superman in the main reality until he is defeated by Superman. He is presumably imprisoned after that in one way or another. In the alternate reality, he is an enemy of Superman's regime since Superman's reign has practically eliminated conflict, something Ares needs in order to live. Ares is implied to be an ally of Batman's insurgence surviving as Batman's tactician.
He first appears to Aquaman during a combative skirmish in Atlantis against his evil counterpart. Sensing conflict, Ares seeks the source and after fighting Aquaman, takes him to the insurgency. Later, he takes Wonder Woman to Themyiscara where after being defeated by her in a fight he reveals that her evil counterpart is preparing to wage war on the rest of the world.
Ultimately, Ares and the rest of heroes are victorious as Superman is defeated. However, in his ending, it is revealed that the heroes helped build a utopia in the aftermath. Near death, Ares captured Brianiac 5 and forces him to create a time loop beginning when the heroes arrive in his world and end when with Superman's defeat, so Ares can feed on the conflict in the period.
Powers and Abilities
- Godly Physiology: As the son of Zeus, he has all the attributes of a demigod alongside his unique abilities of war and death.
- Superhuman Strength: As a demigod, he has nearly unmatchable strength. this only increases as warfare grows.
- Superhuman Mobility: As a demigod, he is far more agile and faster than normal Amazonians or humans.
- Superhuman Resilience: He can withstand virtually limitless amounts of physical trauma with only mild to moderate injuries.
- Healing Factor: As long as his head is still attached, he will always regenerate from fatal wounds quickly.
- Nigh-Immortality: He is an ageless being as the passage of time only makes him stronger. However, it seems that he can still be revived if he is to be killed.
- Necromancy: He can create his minions out of deceased beings and even give them powers.
- War Empowerment: As a war grows, so does his physical power.
- Energy Blasts: He gains an ability to fire magical energies.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: His armor is almost impenetrable.
- Advanced Strength: His natural superhuman strength increases while wearing his armor.
- Hand-to-Hand Combatant: As the god of war, he is a master of hand-to-hand combat.
- Warfare Mastery: As the god of war, he is a master of every tactic and strategy used in any type of war. He is also a master of swordsmanship and marksmanship.
Quotes
| “ | All any mortals is good for is to slaughter one another. To fight and fight, until the bones of your enemies are strewn arose the battlefield. Only to rise again in the next generation, like a well-tended crop. | „ |
| ~ Ares in Justice League Unlimited |
| “ | You dare? I'm a god. | „ |
| ~ Ares in Injustice. |
Gallery
Trivia
- Ares appears as the main antagonist of the 2017 DC Extended Universe film Wonder Woman. He was played by David Thewlis.
- Ares was the first main villain of the Wonder Woman series the second is Circe.