The chain of command. Rules of engagement. This Geneva Convention thing. Medical evac. Supply lines. The white flag. The Red Cross. Worrying about evacuees and refugees. Taking prisoners. Losing the battle but winning the war. Cursed diplomats. The proper standard of grooming. Sensible things like having enough bullets before you go into battle. That's the dung my sister cares about. I'm the other God of War. 
- —Ares, the God of War
History
Ancient History
The son of Zeus and Hera, Ares was worshiped as the god of war in ancient Greece and Rome. Ares' dissatisfaction with Zeus' rule of Olympus began after Zeus' decree that worship of the Olympians should be allowed to die out.
On three times he attempted to conquer Olympus, twice in league with his uncle Hades, god of the Olympian underworld, but each time he was thwarted through the efforts of his half-brother, Hercules, and Hercules' allies. Ares hated Hercules ever since he had killed Ares' monstrous Stymphalian birds in the days of ancient Greece.
Middle Ages
Ares fought the French during the Battle of Agincourt[2] in 1415, leading the English.
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Ares circa 1951
20th Century
Like many Olympians, Ares accepted the rule of Aphrodite during an apparent leave of absence from Zeus. Olympus was relocated to the planet Venus and most of the Olympians adopted their Roman names. Ares took up the name Mars during the time. In 1949, Mars was among the various Olympians gathered by Aphrodite (now calling herself Venus) as potential subjects to make her mortal lover Whitney Hammond jealous. In the end Samson was chosen over the others.[3] In 1951, Mars was summoned by Jupiter to assist Venus along with the Asgardian thunder god Thor to assist Venus in defending New York City from the insane inventor John Dark and his mechanized army. Mars attempted to appeal to the pride Dark felt when he previously served in the United States Army, but this did not succeed and Thor was forced to slay Dark.[4] After this Ares resumed using his Grecian name and withdrew from interacting with the mortal world once again.
Modern Era
In recent years, Ares tried to set two of Earth's nations at war with each other. The conflict threatened to spread over all of the Earth, until Ares was forced to put an end to it by his half-sister Venus, whom he has long sought in marriage, and the hero known as the Sub-Mariner. Venus and the Sub-Mariner extracted a pledge from Ares not to engage in further warmongering on Earth.[5]
This did not stop Ares from joining with Hera in order to torment Hercules personally, when Ares briefly possessed the mortal Thunder God |Eric Masterson to battle his half-brother.[6]
Ares was forced to help his fellow Olympians when his son Alexander was captured by Mikaboshi. With the help of Zeus, Alexander was freed, and the Kami assisted the Olympians against Mikaboshi.[7]
Still insistent that his son have a mortal upbringing, Ares returned to his life as a construction worker in Dover, New Jersey where he worked during the enactment of the Superhuman Registration Act. Immediately following the super hero Civil War over its legislation, Iron Man and Ms. Marvel traveled to Ares' construction site to recruit him for their new Avengers team. Agreeing that the heroes had ruined his civilian cover, Ares eventually agreed to join the team after Iron Man threatened to deport him to Olympus if he did not register with the U.S. government and promised a salary similar to that of his construction job.[8]
He immediately proved himself by playing a big role against an Ultron infected Iron Man, assisting against a symbiote mutated city, arresting Doctor Doom, and taking part in the battle against the Hulk and his Warbound. Ares was in charge of punishing his half-brother Hercules for aiding the Hulk.[9] He however, failed to contain and recapture Hercules after he escaped and even lost to him in single combat. His final act in the Mighty Avengers was aiding them against an enormous Skrull invasion.[10]
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Ares in battle as an Avenger
Although Ares was able to get along with most of the Mighty Avengers, his morals and tactics on saving the Earth for the greater good differed. After the invasion, Ares remained a registered superhuman and accepted a place in Norman Osborn's Avengers alongside Mighty Avengers teammate Sentry. He did not understand his former team leader Carol Danvers' (Ms. Marvel's) reluctance to work for Osborn. He viewed his new alliance with the ex-villain simply as continuing the fight that the original Mighty Avengers had started on terrorist-level superhuman, and natural threats against America and even the entire planet.[11]
Misled into believing Asgard's presence on Earth and Thor's exile from that same kingdom were a part of an evil plot begun by Loki (who he was also led to believe was leading the Asgardians), Ares was charged with leading the assault on Asgard. While many of his Dark Avengers teammates and members of the Hood's forces posing as Initiative teams took on Thor, Ares found himself in battle with Balder. Though he believed Balder to be under Loki's influence, the arrival of an injured Heimdall and the truth he shared, led Ares to realize his mistake. Enraged at having been manipulated, he confronted Iron Patriot and vowed to rip his head off. Before he could launch his attack, however, Iron Patriot signaled for the Sentry. Newly possessed of a need for more power, he silently began his assault on Ares and after several powerful blows he grabbed Ares by both arms and ripped him in half, killing him.[12]
Ares was next sighted after Alex's (Phobos) death on the fields of Elysium. He asked his son if he did all he could and then stood proudly with him. Chaos King later brought Ares back to life to fight him. Ares fought well but was overtaken by the unlimited power of the Chaos King and later returned to Elysium.[13]
Rebirth
After discovering the material known as Isotope-8 in the Battlerealm, the Collector waged in a tournament against the Grandmaster, a game known as the "Contest of Champions," in which both Elders used summoners as consultants to bring players from across the Multiverse and have them fight for the Iso-Sphere. In order to showcase the power of the Iso-8, the Collector, on advice of his summoner the Maestro, used it to bring into the contest even people from the afterlife, thus he pulled Ares from Elysium back to the land of the living.[14]
After surviving numerous battles, Ares returned to his home reality when one of the contestants, Outlaw, managed to seize control of the Iso-Sphere from the Maestro, who in turn had taken it from the Collector earlier. Outlaw used the power of the Iso-Sphere to return the contestants to their homes. Ares returned with Outlaw to England, and together with the contestants native of his universe, appeared interested in the idea of forming a team.[15]Attributes
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Powers
Superhuman Strength: Ares possesses superhuman strength greater than that of the vast majority of Olympians and can lift approximately 70 tons. Among the Olympians, his strength is equaled only by Pluto and Neptune and exceeded only by Hercules and Zeus.
Superhuman Speed: Ares' superhumanly strong legs allow him to run and move at speeds greater than the finest human athlete.
Superhuman Stamina: Ares musculature produces almost no fatigue toxins during physical activity. As a result, his body possesses almost limitless physical stamina in all activities.
Superhumanly Dense Tissue: Ares' skin, muscle, and bone tissue has roughly three times the density of the same tissue in the body of a human. This contributes, at least somewhat, to Ares' superhuman strength and his weight.
Superhuman Durability: The tissues of Ares' body are considerably harder and more resistant to physical injury than the body of a human being and most gods. Ares is capable of withstanding great impact forces, exposure to extremes in both temperature and pressures, falls from great heights, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury in a level comparable to Thor. He takes full advantage of his great durability by performing many actions that would normally kill a human being. He has gone as far as Kamikaze feats and even lighting himself on fire and charging against his opponents as a living fireball. However, enchanted godly weapons such as Mjolnir, capable of destroying mountains upon impact, have been shown to injure him.
Superhuman Agility: Ares' agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete.
Superhuman Reflexes: Ares' reaction time is enhanced to a level that is beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete.
Limited Magic Ability: While not as accomplished at magic as many of his fellow Olympians, Ares can sense the presence of other gods, demons, and the use of magic, call other gods, summon weapons from Olympus, and transport himself by teleportation to Olympus and to Earth at will. However, despite his limited magical skill, according to Amadeus Cho, Ares cannot fly,[16] unlike certain others of the Olympian Twelve, such as his half-siblings Athena, Hermes, or Aphrodite. Even though not accomplished at magic, as an Olympian god Ares has the potential to use magic,[17] and recreated Olympus after being wounded in a battle with Kyknos.[18]
Immortality: Like all Olympians, Ares is functionally immortal, more truly so than the Asgardians or Kami, who are merely considered long-lived. He has not aged since reaching adulthood and is immune to the effects of aging. He is also immune to all known Earthly diseases and infections.
Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite his body's high degree of resistance to physical injury, Ares, like all Olympians, can be injured. However, he is capable of repairing damaged or destroyed tissue with superhuman levels of speed and efficiency. However, Ares is not capable of regenerating missing limbs or organs without the aid of outside magical forces.
Warfare Expertise: Ares is an expert in all areas of warfare.
War Manipulation: The ability to manipulate war, strife, combat and other forms of conflict Ares as God of War has the power to influence all forms of conflict including mental, physical, spiritual and conceptual ones, regardless of the area and numbers involved, control how they progress and draw power both from the conflict alone as well as the dying. Ares is naturally, extremely skilled in all forms of fighting, weapons and both strategy and tactics as well as statistics of war. Ares can start conflicts by influencing people or events, rise personal and fanatical armies, control and create weapons of every kind and even grant others extensive abilities of combat. Ares has the incredible power to invoke war and chaos within an enormously large radius, ranging from a city to an entire continent. With this power he has full control over the city or continent that is in war and chaos at the time.Abilities
Master Combatant: Ares is a master of a variety of hand-to-hand combat skills and all of the ancient Greek forms armed and unarmed combat. Also Ares is a master of all Olympian weaponry and most human weapons ranging from clubs to firearms and explosives. Well versed in military tactics, torture, combat engineering, and Ares is one of the most talented and ruthless warriors that has ever fought on Earth.
Expert Marksman: He is extremely accurate in throwing projectiles and sharpshooting.
Expert Tactician: He has a vast amount of military history particularly focusing on battles and wars that involved Greek and Roman (or Italian) soldiers and armies.
Interrogation Expert: Ares is well versed in various interrogation methods including torture.Paraphernalia
Equipment
Weapons
Transportation
Notes
- The general public of Earth, who believe him to be a fictional character of ancient myth, is not aware of Ares' existence.
- Though Ares is often seen with a mohawk, he has to use magic to maintain that hairstyle, as any cutting to his hair would normally be healed as an injury.
Trivia
See Also
- 261 appearance(s) of Ares (Earth-616)
- 19 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Ares (Earth-616)
- 23 minor appearance(s) of Ares (Earth-616)
- 27 mention(s) of Ares (Earth-616)
- 10 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Ares (Earth-616)
- 6 invocation(s) of Ares (Earth-616)
- 202 image(s) of Ares (Earth-616)
- 19 quotation(s) by or about Ares (Earth-616)
- 3 victim(s) killed by Ares (Earth-616)
- 4 item(s) used/owned by Ares (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ Mighty Avengers #1
- ↑ Mighty Avengers #5
- ↑ Venus #4
- ↑ Venus #13
- ↑ Sub-Mariner #57
- ↑ Avengers #349
- ↑ Ares #1-5
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Mighty Avengers #1
- ↑ Incredible Hercules #112
- ↑ Secret Invasion #8
- ↑ Dark Avengers #1
- ↑ Siege #2
- ↑ Chaos War #2–5
- ↑ Contest of Champions (Vol. 2) #2
- ↑ Contest of Champions (Vol. 2) #10
- ↑ Incredible Hercules #114
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #1
- ↑ Incredible Hercules #116
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #8
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #1
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 14