Ares is a fictional character, a deity appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is based on the Greek god of the same name. He first appeared in Thor #129 (June 1966) and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Ares has commonly appeared as an enemy of Thor and Hercules, starring in his own self-titled series in 2006.
Ares, the Greek God of War, was initially depicted as a supervillain, opposing Thor, Hercules and the Avengers. Early on, his influence on Earth was less direct as he created an organization known as the "Warhawks" to create war on Earth. In 2006, the character was recast as an antihero who simply lived for battle, any battle, joining the Avengers as one of their "heavy hitters" with his own "Warriors Honor" codex, versus the one-dimensional villain he had been portrayed as in the past. He would join Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers, believing that he could put his powers to good use, before being killed by Sentry during Siege. He is later resurrected, before returning to villainy and being killed again by the Punisher.
Contents
Publication history
Ares first appeared in Thor #129, 1966, written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby. He would often appear as a villain in both Thor and The Avengers over the next 30 years.
A 5-issue limited series, Ares, written by Michael Avon Oeming and drawn by Travel Foreman, was published in 2006 and focuses on this character. Since the release of the Ares miniseries he has been portrayed as an antihero.
Following "Civil War", Ares was invited to join the official, S.H.I.E.L.D.-sponsored The Mighty Avengers, led by Tony Stark, and appeared in that title. He was one of only two members to remain on the team after Norman Osborn took Stark's position, as part of the Dark Reign storyline and appeared in the first Dark Avengers series throughout its run. Ares subsequently starred in a three-issue Dark Avengers: Ares miniseries written by Kieron Gillen. He appeared as a regular Dark Avengers character from issue #1 (March 2009) until his death in Siege.
During "Chaos War", Ares appeared in a one-shot comic titles Chaos War: Ares.
Fictional character biography
Ares is the son of Zeus and is the Olympian God of War. Ares reveled in war and combat in all its forms, not caring about sides or victims, supporting Troy in the Trojan War. Ares has hated Hercules ever since Hercules killed Ares' pets, the Stymphalian birds, and his hatred increased when he noticed Hercules being favored by their father, while he was shunned for his brutal behavior. Further adding to his hatred is that in modern times, war is shunned and disliked, whereas Hercules is still beloved by the masses despite his own history of death and destruction. As the Romans took on the worship of Greek gods and renamed them, Ares is also the deity Mars.
After Zeus allowed the worship of the Greek/Roman gods to cease, the dissatisfied Ares held a deep grudge and would try to overthrow Olympus more than once. He refused to battle against Pluto on behalf of Hercules, and aided Pluto instead. Hercules teamed up with the Asgardian god Thor to defeat Ares, leading to Ares' retreat. Ares fought a duel with Hercules, forming an alliance with the Enchantress to make Hercules her slave and ally against the Avengers using water from the Spring of Eros, which led to Hercules being exiled from Olympus for a year.
Ares organized the Warhawks, which included Satyrs whose pipes caused violence in humans, and with them battled the Avengers. He dispatched Kratos and Bia to capture Hercules. After allying with the Enchantress again, he used the Black Knight's Ebony Blade to quench the Promethean Flame and conquer Olympus, by turning all the other Olympians to crystal, although Hercules was not transformed, but exiled to Earth with amnesia, due to being brutally beaten by Ares' henchman the Yellow-crested Titans and drifting between Olympus and Earth for six days and nights. Ares sent the two gods, Kratos and Bia, after Hercules, and despite the Avenger's efforts Hercules was captured and taken back to Olympus. Ares again battled the Avengers who had come to rescue the captive Hercules, and was defeated by Thor and the Black Knight.
Ares also battled Namor and Venus. He formed another alliance with Pluto, and kidnapped Krista in an attempt to foment war between Olympus and Asgard. He also plotted with Pluto and Ares' daughter Hippolyta to marry Hercules and Venus to Hippolyta and himself.
It was revealed that in ancient times, he took part in the Trojan War. Alongside Zeus, Ares struck an alliance with Odin against the Eternals, and battled the Eternal Ikaris.
Powers and abilities
Ares belongs to a race of inter-dimensional deities known only as the Olympians. He possesses the base superhuman physical attributes of an Olympian, including superhuman strength, speed, agility, durability, reflexes, regenerative healing factor, and virtual immortality, though some of his powers are substantially greater than most other Olympians.
Like all Olympians, Ares is superhumanly strong, though far more so than the majority of his race. Among the Olympians, his physical strength is equaled only by his uncles, Neptune and Pluto, and is exceeded only by his father, Zeus, and his half-brother, Hercules. Ares' body and metabolism generates almost no fatigue toxins during physical activity, granting him virtually inexhaustible superhuman stamina in all physical activities. Ares' body is also highly resistant to physical injury. He can withstand great impact forces, energy discharges, temperature extremes, and falls from great heights without being injured. However, also like all other Olympians, he can sustain injury; once, after an extensive self-imposed exile on the Earthly plane, Ares was physically vulnerable enough to be injured and downed by mere bullets. At the same time Ares has been shown withstanding being shot at point-blank range from machine guns used by War Machine. Ares is functionally immortal in the sense that he is immune to the effects of aging and has not aged since reaching adulthood. He is also immune to any known terrestrial disease or infection.
While not as accomplished at magic as many of his fellow Olympians, and lacking the ability to fly, project energy and teleport, as an Olympian god Ares has the potential to use magic. Ares can sense the presence of other gods, demons, and the use of magic, call other gods, and transport himself to Olympus and to Earth at will on certain occasions (such as abandoning his station as the God of War to lead a mortal life, or when retreating to Olympus after Hercules wounded him in a fierce battle with Kyknos). However, neither his rudimentary magic nor his Olympian natural abilities were capable of overwhelming the Merlin-tutored Morgan le Fay or preventing the mistress of the mystic arts from easily transmuting him into stone.
He is, as fits his station as the Olympian God of War, a formidable hand-to-hand combatant, possessing fighting skills superior to that of even his father Zeus and his sister Athena; Nate Grey described him as "war personified, on every plane...in every future" and admits that even he can find nothing to counter one such as Ares; when Nate hid himself and Mimic "amongst time", Ares was able to tear through the fabric of time itself to reach and overpower him (claiming that such could not "limit" him), the temporal conflict sending ripples across the stars and disrupting the timestream itself. In another instance, apparently without aid, Ares was able to somehow bring himself and Alexander to another dimension, where many gods of Earth, including the Council of Skyfathers, had convened to judge his son's worthiness as the 'God of Fear'. Ares was also able to somehow create the man-eating Stymphalian birds "as a perfect expression of his own essence" ages ago, and was also able to send his son Monstro from 1805 through time into the mid-20th century as punishment for his renouncing war and change him into a sixty-foot tall giant. Ares can also use his powers to create and manipulate conflicts at will.
Reception
Accolades
In 2012, IGN ranked Ares 39th in their "Top 50 Avengers" list.
In 2019, Comic Book Resources (CBR) ranked Ares 6th in their "Marvel Comics: The 10 Most Powerful Olympians" list.
In 2021, CBR ranked Ares 7th in their "Marvel: 10 Most Powerful Olympians" list.
In 2022, Screen Rant ranked Ares 10th in their "10 Marvel Comics Gods Who Should Join The MCU Next" list, included him in their "10 Most Powerful Hercules Villains In Marvel Comics" list, and included him in their "10 Most Powerful Olympian Gods In Marvel Comics" list.
In 2022, CBR ranked Ares 3rd in their "Black Knight's 10 Strongest Villains" list and 8th in their "10 Scariest Avengers" list.
Other versions
An alternate universe variant of Ares from Earth-26111 who succeeded Victor von Doom as Doctor Doom following his disappearance appears in Fearless Defenders #4.
An alternate universe variant of Ares from Earth-61112 makes non-speaking cameo appearances in Age of Ultron.
In other media
Television
Ares appears in The Marvel Super Heroes episode "The Verdict of Zeus".
Ares appears in Avengers Assemble, voiced by Trevor Devall.
Ares appears in Marvel Future Avengers, voiced by Masami Iwasaki in the Japanese version and JB Blanc in the English dub. This version is a member of the Masters of Evil.
Video games
Ares appears as an unlockable character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
Ares appears as a playable character in Marvel Puzzle Quest.
Ares appears in Lego Marvel's Avengers.
Ares appears as a boss in Marvel Future Revolution.