Ares (Marvel Comics)

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 monstrous 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 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 in order 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 demigod 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 demigods, 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 the Sub-Mariner 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.

Alongside his fellow Olympians, Ares battled the Avengers at Zeus' behest.

Ares was defeated by Namor, and forbidden to set foot on Earth again by Zeus.

He frequently battled teams and individuals while working as a villain, and continued to battle heroes like the Avengers.

Ares' uncle Pluto sought to overwhelm Mount Olympus with an army of the dead, leading to a stalemate that the gods and demigods (including Hercules and Achilles) were unable to break.

In desperation to end the siege of Olympus, Zeus called upon his son Ares who defeated Hades' army almost single-handedly.

Hoping that this would allow him to join his kind in Olympus, Ares was disappointed to hear his parents and the other gods disparage his "crude" and "dishonorable" nature.

He abandoned his brethren to live amongst mortal men, but did not completely give up his god nature yet.

Ares tired of his own warmongering when he realized that was why the other gods despised him and decided to live a normal life.

He gave up his position as god of war, but maintained his skills, weaponry, and immortality.

On Earth, he set himself up as a builder/carpenter. He would later father a son with an unidentified mother.

The 2006 Ares miniseries begins with Ares living a relatively peaceful life with his son, Alexander.

This life is interrupted when Hermes visits Ares with a request... help Olympus fight off a new threat from the east, Amatsu-Mikaboshi (the Japanese god of evil).

Taking advantage of the chaos left by the fall of Asgard and the Norse pantheon, Mikaboshi planned to extend his influence by capturing Olympus and crushing the Olympian gods.

With the Olympians defeated, Mikaboshi hoped to cow all the other pantheons into surrendering.

To this end, Mikaboshi laid siege to Olympus, which was very close to succeeding.

Ares, still bitter about the treatment he received from the other Olympians, refuses to raise a finger to help them.

Desperate for his aid and wishing to goad Ares into action, Zeus has Alexander kidnapped and brought to Olympus where he is placed under the care of Achilles and his Myrmidons.

On Earth, Ares wages an assault against police forces, who have found his social security number to be false.

One of the policemen states that the New Avengers have just formed as a team.

With the tide turning against them, Achilles goes to Earth to fetch an enraged Ares in an attempt to get him to speak with Zeus, but Ares' only concern is his son.

Relenting, Achilles transports them both to Achilles' stronghold where they were keeping Alexander, only to find the fortress destroyed and Alexander missing.

While Achilles was away, Mikaboshi's forces managed to destroy the Myrmidon fortress and steal Alexander away to his own stronghold in the eastern lands.

Mikaboshi slowly begins to warp Alexander's mind in an attempt to turn him against his father by revealing the brutal history and patricides committed by the Greek gods.

Mikaboshi hopes to turn Alex into the new god of war, one that could be used against the Greek gods and, more importantly, Ares himself.

Finding out his son is in the hands of Olympus' enemies, a furious Ares begrudgingly agrees to join in the fighting, but only to rescue his son.

He succeeds, but Zeus is killed by Mikaboshi although Alexander is released of Mikaboshi's control and slices him apart with the Grasscutter sword.

After the events of the Civil War storyline, Ms. Marvel and Iron Man recruited Ares as part of the new Mighty Avengers, citing their need for "a Thor and a Wolverine" as their reasoning and Ms. Marvel knows someone who is a "Thor and Wolverine in one".

Ares says he did not get involved in the Civil War as "it was just a slapfight", choosing instead to live a peaceful life as a civilian with his son, while working as a construction worker, up until the Avengers blew his civilian cover.

In order to provide compensation and secure his services, Iron Man offered him a higher salary than what he was making as a construction worker if he joined the Avengers—after which Ares revealed that it would have to be higher than $44/hour.

Ares liked the fact that Iron Man would not back down from a fight with him, and seemed to appeal to his sense of pride by implying how great he is as a warrior.

He claims that he did not like the movie Troy.

As an Avenger, he seems often at odds, either vocally or internally, with the team's methods of combat, and particularly chafes at orders to stand down when he feels that the battle should continue.

This seems to show when Iron Man's robotic helper offered the team aid; instead of letting them listen to it, Ares brutally destroyed the robot thinking it was a trick much to the dismay of the others.

He plays a major part in defeating Ultron by getting the idea of and using the Ant-Man serum to shrink down, then releasing a virus inside the body, despite the defense system.

He is almost killed, but the Wasp gets him out before the transformation.

He is also more likely to resort to violence first, as his "infiltration plan" for getting into Castle Doom is ramming the Quinjet into the castle walls.

During the events of World War Hulk, Ares was easily defeated by the Hulk, after the Mighty Avengers face the Green King (Hulk) and his Warbound.

However in the aftermath of World War Hulk, the Hulk had been stopped and Ares' brother, Hercules, who supported the Hulk's cause, was captured.

Ares goaded Hercules into rebuilding the fallen Stark Tower as his punishment for aiding the Hulk during the war.

However, Hercules refused Ares' offer, attacked him, and escaped his enemies.

Ares, Wonder Man, and Black Widow then headed off to track and follow Hercules and Amadeus Cho, though Ares showed preference for attacking and defeating Hercules in battle as opposed to simply arresting them, going so far as to knock Wonder Man unconscious when he counsels restraint in dealing with Hercules.

During the Secret Invasion storyline, Ares was among the Mighty Avengers who were fighting heroes from the Skrull ship.

His son Alexander was recruited for Nick Fury's Secret Warriors, by Daisy Johnson, to oppose the Skrull invasion of New York City.

During the Dark Reign storyline, Ares has joined the Dark Avengers, Norman Osborn's personal team of Avengers.

Writer of the Dark Avengers series, Brian Michael Bendis, described Ares' role: "Ares is going to be a big part of this book.

He's really going to step up and use his War God brain."

In the most recent run of War Machine Osborn pitted Ares against the iron clad Avenger, only for the two to realize their goal was one and the same, and Ares declared Rhodes as his "champion."

Despite this Ares unleashed a top secret weapon just for the fun of it.

During The Dark Avengers' first mission, "Venom-Spidey" is turned into a monster by Morgan le Fay.

Venom (under her control) attempts to eat Ares.

He is spit back out but is turned to stone shortly thereafter by Morgana.

He returns to normal when Morgana is defeated by Dr. Doom in her own time.

Ares later receives a truancy notice in the mail regarding his son.

Deciding to investigate as best he can, he sends Alex to school, only to see him board Daisy Johnson's scooter on the way to a new base for the Secret Warriors.

Ares tails them on his motorcycle and rampages his way in through the wall.

When Hellfire tries to attack, Ares easily dispatches him and in their own silent way, Nick Fury and Ares ask for a private audience with one another.

Ares then uncharacteristically declares himself a horrid father, but only aims to raise Alex differently than he and his father were raised.

He then peacefully leaves the place behind, allowing Alex the opportunity to not have to hide his allegiance anymore.

Ares appears to have a new respect for Fury, since he simply let Fury walk into Osborn's office and threw off helicopters attempting to chase Fury.

When the Dark Avengers and H.A.M.M.E.R. go to San Francisco to quell the riots, Ares was stomping out a group of pro-mutant activists.

Gambit challenged him but was easily dispatched.

Rogue tried absorbing his powers which prove too much for her but nonetheless she manages to weaken him.

Danger, fearing that Rogue might injure herself threw an energized manhole at Ares, pushing him away from Rogue.

She gained half of Ares' power as a result.

The trio then hijack a H.A.M.M.E.R. tank and leave a bleeding Ares behind.

Ares, having recovered from his injuries, is seen next during the Dark Avengers' assault on the X-Men's new base Utopia (which was made from the remains of the first Asteroid M).

There he fights with several X-Men until he is confronted with the once more empowered valkyrie Danielle Moonstar.

The two fight and are evenly matched with Dani quickly gaining the upper hand due to having borrowed some power from Hela the Asgardian death Goddess.

Eventually both he and his team of Avengers are forced to retreat.

Molecule Man turned Ares into stone during his fight with the Dark Avengers, though the Sentry later restores him.

Before the Siege begins, Osborn is seen trying to convince Ares to come up with a plan to invade Asgard, saying Loki has taken control of it.

Even though Osborn promises Ares that nothing is wrong, Ares tells Osborn that if he is lying, he will 'cut his head off, armour and all'.

Once the Siege of Asgard begins, as the battle intensifies, Ares finds himself battling Balder and learns from Heimdall about Osborn's deceptions.

When Osborn dispatches Daken to find Maria Hill, he is struck down by Ares, who vows to kill Osborn for his lies.

However, Ares is suddenly attacked by the Sentry and a brutal battle ensues, in which Ares is wounded while barely doing any damage to Sentry.

The battle then comes to a violent conclusion when the Sentry rips Ares in half before the horrified eyes of the combatants on both sides.

Alexander, after finding out about his father's death, recalls a time when he asked Ares if they would always be together, Ares responded that, as they are gods, they can be killed, but they "will never truly die" and tells him that he has experienced "this many, many times", having been "to Hades and through the Underworld to awaken in the fair Fields of Elysium...".

Ares tells Alexander that he would one day die, but promises him that he will always find him again.

During the Chaos War storyline, Ares is among the dead people released by Pluto in order to defend the Underworld from the forces of Amatsu-Mikaboshi, but is ultimately defeated and enslaved bodily by the Chaos King along with his fallen parents Zeus and Hera.

Despite the combined attacks of the newly assembled God Squad, Ares is unscathed and engages Hercules in direct combat as Zeus and Hera battle Galactus and the other members of the God Squad.

Ares ultimately returned to the underworld with the rest of the dead.

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