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!!'''''ComicBook/{{Ares|DC}}'''''
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* RatedMForManly: While he's unimpressive when Diana encounters him, Ares was insanely masculine in his younger days, being 8 feet tall with sculpted muscles and ManlyFacialHair as opposed to a gentleman's mustache. He also had a habit of snarling in the heat of battle.
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* DoesNotLikeShoes: Wore ankle wraps in his ancient god form.
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* AnAxeToGrind: He used a big axe to fight the Apokoliptian invasion of Earth.
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Dewicked trope, both of them
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* AnAxeToGrind: His WeaponOfChoice during the invasion of Apokolips.
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[[WMG:[[center:[-''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'' '''[[Characters/DCEXtendedUniverse Character Index]]'''\\
'''Antagonists'''\\
[[Characters/DCEUSupermansRoguesGallery Superman's Rogues Gallery]] ([[Characters/DCEUGeneralZod General Zod]], [[Characters/DCEULexLuthor Lex Luthor]]) | [[Characters/DCEUGothamUnderworld Gotham Underworld]] | [[Characters/DCEUTaskForceXTargets Task Force X - Targets]] | [[Characters/DCEUWonderWomansRoguesGallery Wonder Woman's Rogues Gallery]] ('''Ares''') | [[Characters/DCEUApokolips Apokolips]] ([[Characters/DCEUSteppenwolf Steppenwolf]]) | [[Characters/DCEUShazamsRoguesGallery SHAZAM's Rogues Gallery]] | [[Characters/DCEUOtherSupervillains Other Supervillains]] ([[Characters/DCEUOceanMaster Ocean Master]]) | [[Characters/DCEUMinorVillainsAndCriminals Minor Villains and Criminals]]-]]]]]
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!!'''''ComicBook/{{Ares|DC}}'''''
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ares_3.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"You will help me destroy them, Diana... or you will die!"'']]
[[quoteright:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see him during the invasion of Apokolips.]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ares_4.png ''"Only a god can kill another god."''[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as "Sir Patrick Morgan".]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/patrick_morgan_dceu_6.png ''"My dear, I don't want to fight you. But, if I must..."''[[/labelnote]]]]
!!!'''Species:''' Olympian god
!!!'''Affiliation(s):''' Olympian Gods, The Defiance
!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/DavidThewlis (''Wonder Woman'', ''Zack Snyder's Justice League'' [[note]]DigitalHeadSwap in the latter[[/note]]), [=Nick McKinless=] (''Justice League'' [[note]]both versions, but as a body double in Snyder's version[[/note]])
!!!'''Voiced By:''' Creator/MartinSoto (Latin-American Spanish), Gabriel Le Doze (European French), Benoît Rousseau (Canadian French)
!!!'''Appearances:''' ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'' | ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'' | ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague''
->''"I am not the god of War, Diana. I am the god of Truth."''
The Olympian [[WarGod God of War]] and a long-standing adversary to the Amazons. Millennia ago he stond along side his father Zeus, humanity and the Amazons against the invading forces of Apokolips, but over time he became disillusioned with his allies. Ares then fought against the gods, but was struck down by Zeus and hid in the shadows for the next several thousand years.
Diana of Themyscira believes him to be responsible for the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Great War]] and follows Steve Trevor in Europe in the hope of confronting him to put an end to the conflict.
----
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:A-F]]
* AdaptationalBadass: Unlike most versions of Ares, this one does not [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly require War in order to have his power]]. He was also able to kill Zeus and the rest of the Pantheon, presumably on his own which puts him leagues ahead of his own mythological counterpart, who was [[TheWorfEffect frequently subjected to asskicking from even mortals]]. His ability to use the Lasso of Truth against its wielder is also a new addition. In the Snyder Cut, he and Zeus are able to take down ''Darkseid''.
* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: Ares in most incarnations not only draws power from War but directly conspires to create and prolong wars being proud of being the God of War. Here he is polite to Diana even after revealing himself, not even seeing himself as the God of War but as the God of Truth wanting to create peace by destroying mankind. He also stated that while he put the idea of weapons in humans' minds, he did not make them use it.
* AdaptationalUgliness: In the early comics and the ''Justice League Unlimited'' cartoon, Ares is an attractive young man with blond hair. Even at his most demonic, he still looked quite virile. In ''Wonder Woman'', he resembles a plain-looking man in his 50s. Could also be considered AdaptationalAttractiveness in comparison to his New 52 look, who was so decrepit that his eyes had rotted away.
* AffablyEvil: He remains polite to Diana even after getting rid of his Sir Patrick identity. By all accounts he doesn't even want to kill her despite having no qualms slaughtering anyone else, due to Diana almost reaching the same conclusion he did about humanity.
* AllMythsAreTrue: Ares does exist; he isn't just the stuff of the stories Hippolyta told to Diana when she was young, nor is he a legend like Steve is led to believe until he sees him with his own eyes.
* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: He's a WellIntentionedExtremist whose methods put him at odds with his fellow Olympians. He has the power to control metal with his thoughts, wears a helmet with narrow openings for his face and his embittered view of humanity comes from their actions during a World War. He's the DC equivalent to [[Film/XMenFilmSeries Magneto]].
* AnAxeToGrind: His WeaponOfChoice during the invasion of Apokolips.
* AntiVillain: Ares claims to be this in regards to annihilating humanity, and claims their inherent wickedness has to end in order to achieve peace. Keep in mind, he admits this while under the control of Diana's lasso, so he genuinely believes this.
* ArmoredVillainsUnarmoredHeroes:
** During the climatic confrontation in ''Wonder Woman'', he dons a dark plate armor formed from military debris that fully covers his body against Diana, who wears much less armor.
** The reverse happened when he defended the Earth against Steppenwolf's invasion in the theatrical version of ''Justice League''. He leaped on Steppenwolf {{shirtless|scene}} with his war axe, whereas the New God wore much more armor.
** It's a bit more even when he attacks Uxas/Darkseid during that same invasion in ''Zack Snyder's Justice League'', as the New God is shirtless too.
* AttackBackfire: He tries to kill Diana with a powerful stream of lightning, only for her gauntlets to absorb ''the entire attack''. She then [[HoistByHisOwnPetard fires the lightning back at Ares in a concentrated blast, obliterating him.]]
* AnAxeToGrind: He used a big axe to fight the Apokoliptian invasion of Earth.
* BackToBackBadasses: Back when the Olympian pantheon was still united (and still around) during the first Apokoliptian war, Ares and Zeus gave ''Darkseid'' a serious asskicking and very nearly killed him with some creative teamwork. Zeus softened him up with some lightning blasts while Ares put down the hurt with his battleaxe.
* TheBadGuyWins: ''Technically'', the goal he set out to achieve happened exactly as he wanted. [[spoiler: The armistice that ended the Great War did, in fact, only inflame tensions, leading to [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII another more deadly war]] that threatened to consume all of humanity.]] While he failed to completely break Wonder Woman's faith in humanity, his words left an impact on her that led her to withdraw from human affairs as a superhero for nearly 100 years.
* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Ares once fought alongside the gods and humanity against an impending invasion, using brutal methods to achieve victory. He has since turned on both gods and humans, using trickery to destroy the latter.
* BeenThereShapedHistory: Subverted. Diana thinks Ares is behind World War I. He tells her humans are cruel enough to generate war by themselves, he just lends them a hand to find new ways to annihilate each other. However, by his own admission he had a ''hand'' in how things developed and has done so for ages -- it's just that [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humanity never fails to put his whispered advice to "good" use]]. He also seems to often have a hand in negotiating fragile peace agreements in his mortal guises.
* BigBad: Of the first ''Wonder Woman'' film. He's set up as a major enemy to the Amazons and Diana suspects the Great War is of his doing. While Ares is shown to be active during this time, his role in the war is minimal until Diana confronts him.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: His human disguise is Sir Patrick Morgan, who seems to be both a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, supporting Steve and Wonder Woman going after Ludendorff, and the BigGood supporting the armistice. In reality he's only sincerely affable to his fellow god, Diana, and he desires the extinction of humans.
* BlackSheep: As the Olympians are all related to each other, Ares fits the bill, being a god whose idiom revolves around combat while others represent forces whose combat potential is secondary to their main usage. Even before his HeelFaceTurn his appearance was more intimidating than the other Olympians with his horned helmet, warpaint and armor.
* BloodbathVillainOrigin: Appropriate for a war god. His HeelFaceTurn was marked with the absolute genocide of the Olympians.
* BlowYouAway: At the start of the FinalBattle, Diana attacks Ares with the Lasso of Truth and he counter-attacks by summoning a wind that blows strong enough to keep the lasso at bay.
* CainAndAbel: He's Diana's main opponent during World War I, and her half-brother as both of them are children of Zeus.
* TheCameo: In both versions of ''Justice League'', a pre-villain Ares appears as one of the leading forces who helped repel the first Apokoliptian invasion of Earth.
* CanonCharacterAllAlong: He is initially introduced as Sir Patrick Morgan before TheReveal toward the end of the film.
* ChainPain: He snares Diana's arm with a chain and projects her away with it during the FinalBattle.
* CompositeCharacter: He is based on his comic book version as the God of War, but incorporates traits from his kids Eris (god of strife and chaos) and his aristocratic disguise from his three agents the Duke of Deception, the Earl of Greed and the Count of Conquest. [[spoiler: And his spitefulness towards humanity is based on the First Born, a son of Zeus who was jealous of his father's creations and sought to kill them all; Ares was never so vindictive in the comics, seeking only to perform his job of spreading conflict and war.]]
* CoolHelmet:
** During WWI: He uses metal debris to shape a whole suit of plate armor onto himself, and carves the eye-slits on his horned helmet by melting parts of it with his fingers.
** During Ancient Times: Ares wore a helmet that resembled a ram's skull.
* TheCorrupter: Subverted. Diana believes that Ares is the direct cause of the war by corrupting humans, and once he's dead and his influence is gone, the war will end. Her idealism takes a hit when Ares reveals he doesn't force mankind to go to war, he merely acts from the shadows, whispering in their ears new ways to fight and kill each other. Then he sits back and lets humans decide whether or not they'll use his suggestions. [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Mankind does not disappoint him]], though in all fairness to the entire species, he does pick the very worst of humanity to influence and refuses to see any good in the rest of them.
** Ares does play this trope straight when it comes to Diana. He waits until she's lost faith in humanity to reveal himself and reinforces this view. When [[spoiler: Steve Trevor dies and Diana goes on a despair-induced rampage, Ares offers her Doctor Poison as an easy kill to fully cement her turn to villainy.]] Diana comes to her senses and rejects his temptation.
* CreateYourOwnHero: Ares rebelling against his fellow Olympians spurred Zeus into conceiving a child with Hippolyta, setting up a final showdown between the last two children of Zeus millennia later.
* DarkIsEvil: Unlike comic Ares this one lacks necromancy and a shadowy face, but he more than makes up for it with his mortal disguise, which [[EvilWearsBlack wears black]], reveals to himself to Diana in the middle of the night and ultimately dons a dark metal armor.
* DespairGambit: Ares tried to convince Diana that his way was right simply by letting her see the horrors of the Great War. He almost succeeded, but got cocky and started bragging in Diana's face about it, which convinced her not to resist.
* DoesNotLikeShoes: Wore ankle wraps in his ancient god form.
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: Up until his reveal it was assumed that Ludendorff was Ares in disguise, seeing as his lust for violence was in-character for a war god. Diana couldn't have guessed the most violent of the gods would have actually been one of the most pacifistic members on the allie's side.
* DontMakeMeDestroyYou: "My dear, I don't want to fight you. But if I must..." (zaps Diana)
* TheDreaded: Ares was able to slay all of the Olympians, which makes him the stuff of nightmares for the Amazons.
* DualWielding: He attacks Diana with two swords in the final battle of ''Wonder Woman''.
* DuelBoss: He's the first enemy that Diana fights on her own, as well as the most powerful until her resurgence in the 21st century.
* ElementalMotifs: Fire. When Ares is hit with explosives he absorbs the flames and uses them to mold metal debris into a suit of armor. Back when he was still part of the Olympian pantheon he also had glowing red hands.
* EternalVillain: As the god of war, Ares has been present throughout all of human history. Most notably, he was present during the invasion by Apokolips and resurfaced during the Great War.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** He is legitimately disgusted at mankind and their actions, though he will enable them if it leads to their self-destruction.
** Even he didn't want the New Gods to invade Earth.
* EvilBrit: He pretends to be a British nobleman to ensure a terrible peace that will provoke the next World War, evoking the QuintessentialBritishGentleman to complete the image. Even when we find out that he's actually a Greek god, he still speaks with an English accent.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Ares is so convinced that humanity is inherently evil, he absolutely ''refuses'' to see the good in them, even twisting Steve's HeroicSacrifice as him leaving Diana. It's so bad that he killed the other gods for not siding with him, and ultimately snaps and attempts to kill Diana as well when he fails to convince her.
* EvilCounterpart: To Diana, and the Amazons in general. Both originate from Greek mythology and are adept at combat. While Diana actively participated in the war, Ares stood back and pulled the strings. While Diana is an idealist, Ares is a bitter misanthrope who believes the best thing for the world is humanity's extinction. They both want peace, but Diana wants it through the end of the war, whereas Ares also wants it through the "end of war"... via the annihilation of mankind.
** In ''Zack Snyder's Justice League'' we even see them using the same moves to take down two New Gods by leaping into the air and swinging their blades down on an enemy's neck. Ares did this to Darkseid but failed to kill him, while Diana successfully beheaded Steppenwolf.
* EvilEvolves: Implied; Ares at his most heroic never relied on any mystical powers in combat. When he appears before Diana his powers include telportation, levitation, electro-kinesis and telepathy.
* EvilSoundsDeep: The moment Ares began to fault his power, the deeper his voice became.
* EvilVirtues: Ambition (bring an end to humanity's recklessness), Honesty (he reveals his entire plan to Diana with no deceptions), Patience (was able to hide among humanity for millennia before making his move), Respect (he's very courteous to Diana despite the two being enemies) and Wisdom (it's implied Ares was able to overthrow his fellow Olympians by familiarizing himself with their powers and skills).
* FaceHeelTurn: At some point, Ares stopped caring about protecting humans (like he did during the Apokoliptian invasion) and started corrupting them into waging war with each other.
* FallenHero: In the novel, he mentions once having saved mankind, but later coming to realize they were not worthy of salvation. He's likely referring to the war against the Titans, which is also mentioned in the novel. The events of ''Justice League'' suggest this is actually referencing the war against Apokolips
* TheFinalTemptation: When [[spoiler:Steve Trevor's death]] breaks Diana, she unleashes her full wrath on any soldier unlucky enough to be in her path. Ares presents her with Doctor Poison, who despite being a cruel person is completely outmatched against even a regular combatant. Ares persuades Diana to kill his offering so she can cement her standing againt humanity. Diana refuses, being able to see that Maru and herself were both manipulated by Ares.
* FlyingBrick: He's capable of flight, has strength on par or exceeding Diana's, and is durable enough to survive massive explosions at pointblank range.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Patrick Morgan goes out of his way to make sure Steve and Diana get to the front lines despite this being risky for their armistice. This is because he wants Diana to know the true horrors of war and lose faith in humanity.
** When Doctor Maru laments her book of formulas falling into the hands of the enemy, a slight breeze causes a random piece of notepaper to drift into her hands, giving her a new formula that's far more dangerous than what she'd originally worked with. As Ludendorff was in her lab when this happened, it's a hint that Ares is hiding in the shadows.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:G-M]]
* GeniusBruiser: Ares has the incredible strength you'd expect from a god, and can use the power of suggestion to instigate a war.
* GodInHumanForm: He's a Greek god, so this is a given. Back when he was still affiliated with the Olympians he was taller and had glowing hands.
* HatedByAll: Ares has made enemies of his own kin, Apokolips and the Amazons. [[spoiler: His death was motive enough for the German soldiers to lay down their arms and surrender.]]
* HeroicBuild: To portray Ares in ''Justice League'', [=Nick McKinless=] went through months of intense training to get to ''6 per cent'' of body fat, and it shows given how ''jacked'' he is in his (brief) scene in the history lesson.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Diana's bracelets absorb and concentrate the lightning shot by Ares into a powerful beam that kills him.]]
* HopeCrusher: Ares tries to convince Diana that humanity should be abandoned by letting her witness the deaths of innocent people at the willing hands of Ludendorff and his soldiers.
* HornsOfVillainy: Ares prefers helmets with horns on them. In his younger days he had a large pair that made him look bestial. After turning to villainy his horns become smaller.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: His essential belief. However, while there's truth to that, Diana counters that [[HumansAreSpecial they are much more than just that]]. As she'd already befriended a group of mercenaries that were less than ideal, her view of humanity was already becoming more nuanced by this point.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Criticizes humans as warlike creatures who slaughter each other, while being a warlike creature who slaughtered the other Olympian gods. Also, while admittedly not directly responsible for their capacity towards conflict, it doesn't help that [[ManipulativeBastard he conveniently found the worst among them and planted the idea into their heads]], [[OpportunisticBastard all just to justify his double standard actions]].
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: He doesn't seem to regret his murder of his own family, claiming they couldn't see humanity the way he did, so he offed them.
* InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves: [[spoiler:Since he sees mankind as inherently evil and destructive, he influences wars by merely giving people ideas on how to kill each other, then he watches as they act on his suggestions so mankind can end up destroying itself.]]
* InstantArmor: He summons an armor on himself instantly with his MindOverMatter powers, using nearby metal debris once his [[spoiler:Sir Patrick Morgan]] clothes are of no use anymore and get burned.
* {{Irony}}:
** First case in point was DramaticIrony. Diana believed Ares's influence was ultimately causing the war, but he was just influencing people and letting human politics play out on its own in a bloody war. [[spoiler:Despite being a patron deity of war, he hated the matter and preferred a peaceful state of affairs, and decided that [[WellIntentionedExtremist the only way to bring permanent peace]] was [[KillAllHumans to ensure that humanity wasn't around to be waging wars]].]]
** The God of War would rather [[BreakThemByTalking have civil discourse]] with his enemies than fight or kill them. Of course, this version of Ares detests his name being synonymous with violence.
* IsThatTheBestYouCanDo: Says "Is that all you have to offer?" to Diana during the final fight as he overpowers her.
* JerkassGods: He planned several conflicts amongst humankind with the intention of having it all wiped out.
* KickTheDog: The moment [[spoiler: Steve sacrifices himself to prevent a genocide on London]], Ares scoffs at his memory.
* KillTheGod: Ares specialises in this. He once fought during the Apokoliptian invasion, being able to seriously injure the enemy's leader. Afterwards he killed all of the Olympians and left Zeus fatally wounded.
* LargeHam: He really goes all out on Diana when she refuses his WeCanRuleTogether offer. [[BaitAndSwitch He also throws a crap ton of lightning at her]].
* LaserGuidedKarma: After slaughtering his own family, Ares is vanquished by his youngest sister, who was conceived for the purpose of defeating him.
* LastOfHisKind: By the time Diana meets him, Ares is the last full-blooded Olympian god.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'' makes it no secret that Creator/DavidThewlis plays Ares, as his face is visible during Diana's recount of the battle against Apokolips. Even the theatrical release credits Thewlis as Ares despite being played by his body double Nick [=McKinless=].
* LetNoCrisisGoToWaste: Ares states that the Great War was humanity's idea and he's repulsed that they would do such a thing, yet he fans the flames so that they can suffer the consequences of their actions.
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:General Ludendorff got his war plans from him and Dr. Poison got her new gas from him.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: The Amazons teach that Ares turned humanity against itself in war with his powers. And he did... kinda. [[spoiler:He acts as a defacto patron to the most warlike and dangerous individuals like Ludendorff and Dr. Poison, providing them with inspiration and formulas to create greater weapons of war, and practices reverse psychology to make an armistice a tool for even more war and to get Steve and Diana to go where he wants them to.]]
** There is also a noticeable shift in the demeanor and actions of soldiers after he is defeated, implying he ''was'' influencing them in a direct manner (though that could be a result of PowerIncontinence).
* MindOverMatter: Hurls everything in the battlefield onto Diana (and at times, towards himself to create weaponry and armor) without even touching it.
* MisanthropeSupreme: Ares '''despises''' humanity (moreso than ''Zod'' ever did) [[spoiler: but in a twist, he claims it's ''because'' mankind is warlike and destructive. He wants to purge the planet of mankind because he believes it's the best way to protect the world from them and ensure peace]].
* MoleInCharge: [[spoiler: Through his Sir Patrick Morgan disguise, he infiltrated the World War I Allies' high command.]]
* MoreThanMindControl: Diana thinks that humanity is BrainwashedAndCrazy under his influence and this is why they are fighting; in reality, and as Ares argues himself, humans are more than capable of fighting and killing each other all by themselves. Ares gives them a "push" in the right direction in order to make wars happen in times and ways of his choosing and certainly influences events and people through the power of suggestion, but the world isn't automatically going to become a better place just because he isn't there to cause problems.
* MotiveRant: Ares explains his motivations throughout the FinalBattle between Diana and himself.
-->''"I am not the God of War, Diana. I am the God of Truth. All I ever wanted was to show my father how evil his creation was. But he refused. Mankind stole the world from us. They ruined it, day-by-day. And I, the only one wise enough to see it, was left too weak to destroy them myself. All these years, I've struggled. Whispering into their ears...Ideas. Inspiration. For weapons. Formulas. But I don't make them use them. They start these wars on their own. All I do is orchestrate an armistice I know they will break, in the hope they will destroy themselves. But it's never been enough. When you first arrived I was going to end you, Diana. And I knew that if only you could see what the other gods couldn't...All the suffering. All the pain and destruction they create...You would join me. We could return the world to the paradise it was before them. And there would be absolute peace, Diana. Forever."''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:N-T]]
* NatureLover: A villainous example. Ares' most consistent trait is that he'll fight tooth and nail against anyone that would threaten Earth's ecosystems. He was on the front lines during the Apokoliptian invasion and decided that humanity must be purged after witnessing their disregard for nature, which could only have been exacerbated by the rise of the Industrial Age.
* NearVillainVictory: Ares would have successfully decimated humanity if he'd been able to prevent Zeus from conceiving Diana or at the very least allowed Diana to turn to his side on her own.
* NeverMyFault:
** [[spoiler:While he has a point in humans choosing to act evil of their own free will, he conveniently ignores the fact that he is the one placing wicked ideas in decidedly evil individuals with the expressed purpose of manipulating them and the war to wipe humanity out. This doesn't seem to dawn on him as he explains this while under the influence of the lasso of Truth, meaning he is [[BelievingTheirOwnLies entirely convinced of his position]].]]
** He killed the rest of the Olympians because they refuse to accept his belief that humans are evil. So it's their fault he had to kill them.
* NoBodyLeftBehind: Being [[spoiler: blasted by his own lighting]] reduces Ares to dust.
* NotMeThisTime: Ares takes full credit for slaughtering his fellow gods, but denies pushing humanity into violence as he belives they're inherently violent when left to their own devices.
* NotSoSimilar: Ares and Diana are both children of Zeus who have dual identities and become disillusioned with humanity, but the similarities end there. Ares continuously indulges humanity's worst impulses so he can prove himself right while Diana ultimately decided to encourage humanity's better side. Additionally when it comes to dealing with Apokoliptians, Ares was negligent enough to leave Darkseid wounded while Wonder Woman went straight for Steppenwolf's head.
* ObviousVillainSecretVillain: The Secret to Ludendorff's Obvious.
* OmnicidalManiac: He is out to KillAllHumans and plans to do it by [[spoiler: manipulating them into killing each other]]. He also killed the other Olympians.
* OutOfTheInferno: During the FinalBattle against Diana, he stands in the fire caused by an explosion, his [[spoiler:Sir Patrick Morgan]] clothes burn off and he summons his armor on himself in said inferno, then attacks Diana from it.
* OutsideContextVillain: Up until his big reveal, ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'' was simply just a war movie with a superhero in it. Once Ares unveils his scheme and goes on the offensive, he starts using magical abilities that he was assumed to have lost when he was cast down from Olympus.
* {{Patricide}}: He mortally wounded his father Zeus when he killed all the other gods of Olympus during the War of the Gods.
* PetTheDog: He shows sincere respect toward Diana, [[spoiler: even after he reveals himself, and doesn't think about killing her at first, even though he knows that she could destroy him]].
* PhysicalGod: As mentioned, he's the literal Greek God of War, with all that comes with it. [[spoiler:The only thing capable of destroying him is his own divine power]]. He does however demonstrate a less tangible presence when he gives Doctor Poison ideas for new chemical weapons.
* PlayingBothSides: During World War I, he whispers new ways of waging war to Ludendorff's and Dr. Poison's ears and, as Sir Patrick Morgan, influences the British War Council.
* PlotIrrelevantVillain: PlayedForDrama. By all objective metrics, the true BigBad of the story is Ludendorff; Ares himself outright states that he didn't make Ludendorff do anything, and that he came up with the superweapon plan on his own and used his own resources to implement it. In fact, Ares claims he didn't do anything at all besides whisper suggestions for weapons in a few peoples' ears with telepathy, and besides his fight with Diana (and a flashback) he doesn't take any action or hurt a single person. This is played as part of the Aesop that humans don't ''need'' an overarching supernatural BigBad to explain their flaws. He's around for less than ten minutes after TheReveal and only really relevant for Diana's CharacterDevelopment, as her rejection of his philosophy and fending him off in the final battle represents her refusing to let go of her idealism. [[spoiler:In the end, the only person he actually killed during the events of the film (either directly or indirectly) was himself.]]
* PowersDoTheFighting: Downplayed. While he does get physical with Diana (and throw a few lightning bolts) he shows a strong preference for simply using telekinesis to hurl things at her for most of the fight.
* RatedMForManly: While he's unimpressive when Diana encounters him, Ares was insanely masculine in his younger days, being 8 feet tall with sculpted muscles and ManlyFacialHair as opposed to a gentleman's mustache. He also had a habit of snarling in the heat of battle.
* SatanicArchetype: Ares tempts humans into warlike actions so as to bring about their destruction, bringing to mind Satan as a tempter, as does his role as being DrivenByEnvy of them. Ares also fights Diana while surrounded by flames, evoking hellfire. In ancient times, Ares opposed Zeus, who created and loved humanity, which is reminiscent of the rivalry between God and Satan in Christianity and Islam. Finally, a flashback shows a defeated Ares lying on the ground after falling from his heavenly battle with Zeus, bringing to mind Lucifer as a fallen angel.
* ScreamingWarrior: He roars in Darkseid's face while driving his battle axe into the New God's shoulder.
* ShadowDictator: Ares manipulated Ludendorff into keeping the war going for the thrill of it, which drove the latter to stage a coup against the German High Command and become the second highest authority in Germany.
* ShockAndAwe: Like his own father, Ares can summon lightning. [[spoiler:It ends up being his undoing when Diana redirects it onto him]].
* ShockwaveStomp: At one point during the FinalBattle, he hits the ground hard enough to send a shockwave at Diana, who dodges it. It's powerful enough to cut a truck in half.
* SincerityMode: [[spoiler: He emphasizes that for all of his influence, humans never go to war and kill one another unless they choose to.]]
* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: Is capable of turning material around him into any weapon he desires in seconds.
* StoryBreakerPower: When Diana finally confronts Ares, she learns the hard way that [[spoiler: the Godkiller sword is completely useless against him]]. Ares spends the entire fight with Diana taking hit after hit and not suffering any sign of injury or fatigue. It takes [[spoiler: his own deflected lightning blast]] to be vanquished.
* SummonToHand: Ares telekinetically draws shrapnel to him which forms into weapons.
* SuperpowerLottery: A ''big'' winner of it. He has SuperStrength on par with or exceeding Diana, SuperToughness sufficient enough to survive gigantic pointblank explosions unharmed, can move massive objects with ease via telekinesis, [[SpontaneousWeaponCreation create weapons out of anything around him at will]], send a ShockwaveStomp, teleport, [[WeatherManipulation manipulate the weather]] and generate cascades of devastating lightning. Justified, as he is literally a god.
* SuperToughness: An explosion doesn't injure Ares one bit. While it does burn his clothes, he just fashions a suit of armor and leaps back into the fight, more energized than ever.
* TakesOneToKillOne: [[spoiler: As a god, he can only be killed by another god. That's why he was able to kill the other gods of Olympus, and why Diana, his half-sister and fellow god, is the only being in existence capable of killing him.]]
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: [[spoiler: You wouldn't expect the God of War to look like an English gentleman.]] In his prime he looked more like a conventional Olympian.
* TinTyrant: In the climax of ''Wonder Woman'', he summons a dark-looking suit armor made of military hardware onto himself. It covers him entirely save for a vertical slit in the helmet.
* TokenEvilTeammate: To his fellow Olympians, since they fought on Earth's side against the Apokoliptian invaders, with Ares dealing the most damaging blow while Zeus and Artemis focused on disrupting the takeover.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:U-Y]]
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Ares tries to persuade Diana to join him in his genocide of humanity by showing her an illusion of Earth before it was ravaged by war. As he'd originally fought to prevent the New Gods from turning Earth into a hellscape, it can be assumed that Ares genuinely cares for nature.
* VillainHasAPoint: The points he makes about HumansAreFlawed, HumansAreBastards and InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves are quite accurate, even though they're not enough to describe humanity, as Diana (and, about a hundred years later, Bruce Wayne) proclaims. He merely left suggestions that would keep the war going (and they did); [[spoiler: he even openly advocated a peace agreement, which was largely ignored]]. With tests like that, it's understandable that he'd see humanity as inherently violent, even without his influence. Even after his death that marked the end of World War I, Diana perfectly understood this as she witnessed a 'century of horrors' through World War II the Cold War and the events of ''Film/WonderWoman1984'' that cost millions of lives, realizing that some humans are just as inherently corrupt in nature.
** Additionally, Ares knows full well that humanity has a Motherbox in their possession, giving them the potential to attain godlike power.
* VillainsNeverLie: While Ares did decieve everyone by disguising himself as Patrick Morgan, his expository speech is has nothing but truth to it. Zeus did conceive a child with Hippolyta in the hopes she would avenge the Olympians, humanity did start the Great War on their own and [[spoiler: Steve Trevor's death was ultimately in vain since World War II happened some years later]].
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: When Diana refuses to kill Doctor Poison by crushing her with a tank, he completely loses his composure and decides to just kill her.]]
* VillainTeleportation: Being a god, Ares can move from place to place at a moment's notice. He can even assume an immaterial form while doing so, which he used while manipulating Doctor Posion and Ludendorff. Contrast this with the New Gods, who use Boom Tubes to move around at the expense of their stealth.
* VisionaryVillain: Ares wants to exterminate humanity so that Earth can return to the paradise it once was.
* WalkingSpoiler: For starters, he is the real BigBad of ''Wonder Woman'', not Ludendorff.
* WarGod: The Myth/ClassicalMythology one. He thrives on violence and is capable enough to slaughter an entire pantheon on his own. [[spoiler:However he sees himself not a God of War, but a God of Truth.]]
* TheWarToEndAllWars: Cynical it may be, but if Ares had succeeded in his plans, the Great War really would have been humanity's last war. Not that this would have any bearings on the Kryptonians and Atlanteans, the former of whom were fighting each other until their dying days and the latter are just itching to wage wars with anything that moves.
* WeCanRuleTogether: [[spoiler:He tries to get Diana on his side during the climax, believing they can restore the Earth to the paradise it was before Zeus created mankind.]]
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Ares wants to purge the world of humanity who he views as polluters and violent warmongers but he also genuinely believes that this is what is needed to make the world into a paradise. This is confirmed by Diana using the lasso of Truth on him which shows he really does believe this to be true and isn't lying]].
* WorfHadTheFlu: In the past, Ares not only took on Darkseid himself but also single-handedly destroyed the entire Olympian pantheon, but he lost to Diana whose power and combat experience are a step below his own. It's implied that Ares lost a considerable amount of his powers in his final battle with Zeus and he hadn't fully recovered even after a few thousand years had past. [[spoiler:In fact, Wonder Woman has to redirect Ares' own lightning against him in order to defeat him]].
* YouAreWhatYouHate: Despises humans as warlike creatures who slaughter each other and destroy the world around them, deeming them unworthy of the powers and favors of the gods. He himself is also a warlike creature who slaughtered the other Olympian Gods and was cast down from Olympus by his own father.
* YouDontLookLikeYou: An action figure and Lego set both show Ares sporting a helmet that resembles a ram's skull and a face that's blackened out except for his eyes. In the film itself, Ares wears a different kind of helmet and his face looks completely human. Also he's of average height, whereas the Lego set showed him being much bigger than a person. Both versions of ''Justice League'' use a similar design, though Ares doesn't have the red eyes and shadowy face.
[[/folder]]
----
'''Antagonists'''\\
[[Characters/DCEUSupermansRoguesGallery Superman's Rogues Gallery]] ([[Characters/DCEUGeneralZod General Zod]], [[Characters/DCEULexLuthor Lex Luthor]]) | [[Characters/DCEUGothamUnderworld Gotham Underworld]] | [[Characters/DCEUTaskForceXTargets Task Force X - Targets]] | [[Characters/DCEUWonderWomansRoguesGallery Wonder Woman's Rogues Gallery]] ('''Ares''') | [[Characters/DCEUApokolips Apokolips]] ([[Characters/DCEUSteppenwolf Steppenwolf]]) | [[Characters/DCEUShazamsRoguesGallery SHAZAM's Rogues Gallery]] | [[Characters/DCEUOtherSupervillains Other Supervillains]] ([[Characters/DCEUOceanMaster Ocean Master]]) | [[Characters/DCEUMinorVillainsAndCriminals Minor Villains and Criminals]]-]]]]]
----
!!'''''ComicBook/{{Ares|DC}}'''''
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ares_3.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"You will help me destroy them, Diana... or you will die!"'']]
[[quoteright:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see him during the invasion of Apokolips.]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ares_4.png ''"Only a god can kill another god."''[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as "Sir Patrick Morgan".]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/patrick_morgan_dceu_6.png ''"My dear, I don't want to fight you. But, if I must..."''[[/labelnote]]]]
!!!'''Species:''' Olympian god
!!!'''Affiliation(s):''' Olympian Gods, The Defiance
!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/DavidThewlis (''Wonder Woman'', ''Zack Snyder's Justice League'' [[note]]DigitalHeadSwap in the latter[[/note]]), [=Nick McKinless=] (''Justice League'' [[note]]both versions, but as a body double in Snyder's version[[/note]])
!!!'''Voiced By:''' Creator/MartinSoto (Latin-American Spanish), Gabriel Le Doze (European French), Benoît Rousseau (Canadian French)
!!!'''Appearances:''' ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'' | ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'' | ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague''
->''"I am not the god of War, Diana. I am the god of Truth."''
The Olympian [[WarGod God of War]] and a long-standing adversary to the Amazons. Millennia ago he stond along side his father Zeus, humanity and the Amazons against the invading forces of Apokolips, but over time he became disillusioned with his allies. Ares then fought against the gods, but was struck down by Zeus and hid in the shadows for the next several thousand years.
Diana of Themyscira believes him to be responsible for the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Great War]] and follows Steve Trevor in Europe in the hope of confronting him to put an end to the conflict.
----
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:A-F]]
* AdaptationalBadass: Unlike most versions of Ares, this one does not [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly require War in order to have his power]]. He was also able to kill Zeus and the rest of the Pantheon, presumably on his own which puts him leagues ahead of his own mythological counterpart, who was [[TheWorfEffect frequently subjected to asskicking from even mortals]]. His ability to use the Lasso of Truth against its wielder is also a new addition. In the Snyder Cut, he and Zeus are able to take down ''Darkseid''.
* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: Ares in most incarnations not only draws power from War but directly conspires to create and prolong wars being proud of being the God of War. Here he is polite to Diana even after revealing himself, not even seeing himself as the God of War but as the God of Truth wanting to create peace by destroying mankind. He also stated that while he put the idea of weapons in humans' minds, he did not make them use it.
* AdaptationalUgliness: In the early comics and the ''Justice League Unlimited'' cartoon, Ares is an attractive young man with blond hair. Even at his most demonic, he still looked quite virile. In ''Wonder Woman'', he resembles a plain-looking man in his 50s. Could also be considered AdaptationalAttractiveness in comparison to his New 52 look, who was so decrepit that his eyes had rotted away.
* AffablyEvil: He remains polite to Diana even after getting rid of his Sir Patrick identity. By all accounts he doesn't even want to kill her despite having no qualms slaughtering anyone else, due to Diana almost reaching the same conclusion he did about humanity.
* AllMythsAreTrue: Ares does exist; he isn't just the stuff of the stories Hippolyta told to Diana when she was young, nor is he a legend like Steve is led to believe until he sees him with his own eyes.
* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: He's a WellIntentionedExtremist whose methods put him at odds with his fellow Olympians. He has the power to control metal with his thoughts, wears a helmet with narrow openings for his face and his embittered view of humanity comes from their actions during a World War. He's the DC equivalent to [[Film/XMenFilmSeries Magneto]].
* AnAxeToGrind: His WeaponOfChoice during the invasion of Apokolips.
* AntiVillain: Ares claims to be this in regards to annihilating humanity, and claims their inherent wickedness has to end in order to achieve peace. Keep in mind, he admits this while under the control of Diana's lasso, so he genuinely believes this.
* ArmoredVillainsUnarmoredHeroes:
** During the climatic confrontation in ''Wonder Woman'', he dons a dark plate armor formed from military debris that fully covers his body against Diana, who wears much less armor.
** The reverse happened when he defended the Earth against Steppenwolf's invasion in the theatrical version of ''Justice League''. He leaped on Steppenwolf {{shirtless|scene}} with his war axe, whereas the New God wore much more armor.
** It's a bit more even when he attacks Uxas/Darkseid during that same invasion in ''Zack Snyder's Justice League'', as the New God is shirtless too.
* AttackBackfire: He tries to kill Diana with a powerful stream of lightning, only for her gauntlets to absorb ''the entire attack''. She then [[HoistByHisOwnPetard fires the lightning back at Ares in a concentrated blast, obliterating him.]]
* AnAxeToGrind: He used a big axe to fight the Apokoliptian invasion of Earth.
* BackToBackBadasses: Back when the Olympian pantheon was still united (and still around) during the first Apokoliptian war, Ares and Zeus gave ''Darkseid'' a serious asskicking and very nearly killed him with some creative teamwork. Zeus softened him up with some lightning blasts while Ares put down the hurt with his battleaxe.
* TheBadGuyWins: ''Technically'', the goal he set out to achieve happened exactly as he wanted. [[spoiler: The armistice that ended the Great War did, in fact, only inflame tensions, leading to [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII another more deadly war]] that threatened to consume all of humanity.]] While he failed to completely break Wonder Woman's faith in humanity, his words left an impact on her that led her to withdraw from human affairs as a superhero for nearly 100 years.
* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Ares once fought alongside the gods and humanity against an impending invasion, using brutal methods to achieve victory. He has since turned on both gods and humans, using trickery to destroy the latter.
* BeenThereShapedHistory: Subverted. Diana thinks Ares is behind World War I. He tells her humans are cruel enough to generate war by themselves, he just lends them a hand to find new ways to annihilate each other. However, by his own admission he had a ''hand'' in how things developed and has done so for ages -- it's just that [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humanity never fails to put his whispered advice to "good" use]]. He also seems to often have a hand in negotiating fragile peace agreements in his mortal guises.
* BigBad: Of the first ''Wonder Woman'' film. He's set up as a major enemy to the Amazons and Diana suspects the Great War is of his doing. While Ares is shown to be active during this time, his role in the war is minimal until Diana confronts him.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: His human disguise is Sir Patrick Morgan, who seems to be both a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, supporting Steve and Wonder Woman going after Ludendorff, and the BigGood supporting the armistice. In reality he's only sincerely affable to his fellow god, Diana, and he desires the extinction of humans.
* BlackSheep: As the Olympians are all related to each other, Ares fits the bill, being a god whose idiom revolves around combat while others represent forces whose combat potential is secondary to their main usage. Even before his HeelFaceTurn his appearance was more intimidating than the other Olympians with his horned helmet, warpaint and armor.
* BloodbathVillainOrigin: Appropriate for a war god. His HeelFaceTurn was marked with the absolute genocide of the Olympians.
* BlowYouAway: At the start of the FinalBattle, Diana attacks Ares with the Lasso of Truth and he counter-attacks by summoning a wind that blows strong enough to keep the lasso at bay.
* CainAndAbel: He's Diana's main opponent during World War I, and her half-brother as both of them are children of Zeus.
* TheCameo: In both versions of ''Justice League'', a pre-villain Ares appears as one of the leading forces who helped repel the first Apokoliptian invasion of Earth.
* CanonCharacterAllAlong: He is initially introduced as Sir Patrick Morgan before TheReveal toward the end of the film.
* ChainPain: He snares Diana's arm with a chain and projects her away with it during the FinalBattle.
* CompositeCharacter: He is based on his comic book version as the God of War, but incorporates traits from his kids Eris (god of strife and chaos) and his aristocratic disguise from his three agents the Duke of Deception, the Earl of Greed and the Count of Conquest. [[spoiler: And his spitefulness towards humanity is based on the First Born, a son of Zeus who was jealous of his father's creations and sought to kill them all; Ares was never so vindictive in the comics, seeking only to perform his job of spreading conflict and war.]]
* CoolHelmet:
** During WWI: He uses metal debris to shape a whole suit of plate armor onto himself, and carves the eye-slits on his horned helmet by melting parts of it with his fingers.
** During Ancient Times: Ares wore a helmet that resembled a ram's skull.
* TheCorrupter: Subverted. Diana believes that Ares is the direct cause of the war by corrupting humans, and once he's dead and his influence is gone, the war will end. Her idealism takes a hit when Ares reveals he doesn't force mankind to go to war, he merely acts from the shadows, whispering in their ears new ways to fight and kill each other. Then he sits back and lets humans decide whether or not they'll use his suggestions. [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Mankind does not disappoint him]], though in all fairness to the entire species, he does pick the very worst of humanity to influence and refuses to see any good in the rest of them.
** Ares does play this trope straight when it comes to Diana. He waits until she's lost faith in humanity to reveal himself and reinforces this view. When [[spoiler: Steve Trevor dies and Diana goes on a despair-induced rampage, Ares offers her Doctor Poison as an easy kill to fully cement her turn to villainy.]] Diana comes to her senses and rejects his temptation.
* CreateYourOwnHero: Ares rebelling against his fellow Olympians spurred Zeus into conceiving a child with Hippolyta, setting up a final showdown between the last two children of Zeus millennia later.
* DarkIsEvil: Unlike comic Ares this one lacks necromancy and a shadowy face, but he more than makes up for it with his mortal disguise, which [[EvilWearsBlack wears black]], reveals to himself to Diana in the middle of the night and ultimately dons a dark metal armor.
* DespairGambit: Ares tried to convince Diana that his way was right simply by letting her see the horrors of the Great War. He almost succeeded, but got cocky and started bragging in Diana's face about it, which convinced her not to resist.
* DoesNotLikeShoes: Wore ankle wraps in his ancient god form.
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: Up until his reveal it was assumed that Ludendorff was Ares in disguise, seeing as his lust for violence was in-character for a war god. Diana couldn't have guessed the most violent of the gods would have actually been one of the most pacifistic members on the allie's side.
* DontMakeMeDestroyYou: "My dear, I don't want to fight you. But if I must..." (zaps Diana)
* TheDreaded: Ares was able to slay all of the Olympians, which makes him the stuff of nightmares for the Amazons.
* DualWielding: He attacks Diana with two swords in the final battle of ''Wonder Woman''.
* DuelBoss: He's the first enemy that Diana fights on her own, as well as the most powerful until her resurgence in the 21st century.
* ElementalMotifs: Fire. When Ares is hit with explosives he absorbs the flames and uses them to mold metal debris into a suit of armor. Back when he was still part of the Olympian pantheon he also had glowing red hands.
* EternalVillain: As the god of war, Ares has been present throughout all of human history. Most notably, he was present during the invasion by Apokolips and resurfaced during the Great War.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** He is legitimately disgusted at mankind and their actions, though he will enable them if it leads to their self-destruction.
** Even he didn't want the New Gods to invade Earth.
* EvilBrit: He pretends to be a British nobleman to ensure a terrible peace that will provoke the next World War, evoking the QuintessentialBritishGentleman to complete the image. Even when we find out that he's actually a Greek god, he still speaks with an English accent.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Ares is so convinced that humanity is inherently evil, he absolutely ''refuses'' to see the good in them, even twisting Steve's HeroicSacrifice as him leaving Diana. It's so bad that he killed the other gods for not siding with him, and ultimately snaps and attempts to kill Diana as well when he fails to convince her.
* EvilCounterpart: To Diana, and the Amazons in general. Both originate from Greek mythology and are adept at combat. While Diana actively participated in the war, Ares stood back and pulled the strings. While Diana is an idealist, Ares is a bitter misanthrope who believes the best thing for the world is humanity's extinction. They both want peace, but Diana wants it through the end of the war, whereas Ares also wants it through the "end of war"... via the annihilation of mankind.
** In ''Zack Snyder's Justice League'' we even see them using the same moves to take down two New Gods by leaping into the air and swinging their blades down on an enemy's neck. Ares did this to Darkseid but failed to kill him, while Diana successfully beheaded Steppenwolf.
* EvilEvolves: Implied; Ares at his most heroic never relied on any mystical powers in combat. When he appears before Diana his powers include telportation, levitation, electro-kinesis and telepathy.
* EvilSoundsDeep: The moment Ares began to fault his power, the deeper his voice became.
* EvilVirtues: Ambition (bring an end to humanity's recklessness), Honesty (he reveals his entire plan to Diana with no deceptions), Patience (was able to hide among humanity for millennia before making his move), Respect (he's very courteous to Diana despite the two being enemies) and Wisdom (it's implied Ares was able to overthrow his fellow Olympians by familiarizing himself with their powers and skills).
* FaceHeelTurn: At some point, Ares stopped caring about protecting humans (like he did during the Apokoliptian invasion) and started corrupting them into waging war with each other.
* FallenHero: In the novel, he mentions once having saved mankind, but later coming to realize they were not worthy of salvation. He's likely referring to the war against the Titans, which is also mentioned in the novel. The events of ''Justice League'' suggest this is actually referencing the war against Apokolips
* TheFinalTemptation: When [[spoiler:Steve Trevor's death]] breaks Diana, she unleashes her full wrath on any soldier unlucky enough to be in her path. Ares presents her with Doctor Poison, who despite being a cruel person is completely outmatched against even a regular combatant. Ares persuades Diana to kill his offering so she can cement her standing againt humanity. Diana refuses, being able to see that Maru and herself were both manipulated by Ares.
* FlyingBrick: He's capable of flight, has strength on par or exceeding Diana's, and is durable enough to survive massive explosions at pointblank range.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Patrick Morgan goes out of his way to make sure Steve and Diana get to the front lines despite this being risky for their armistice. This is because he wants Diana to know the true horrors of war and lose faith in humanity.
** When Doctor Maru laments her book of formulas falling into the hands of the enemy, a slight breeze causes a random piece of notepaper to drift into her hands, giving her a new formula that's far more dangerous than what she'd originally worked with. As Ludendorff was in her lab when this happened, it's a hint that Ares is hiding in the shadows.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:G-M]]
* GeniusBruiser: Ares has the incredible strength you'd expect from a god, and can use the power of suggestion to instigate a war.
* GodInHumanForm: He's a Greek god, so this is a given. Back when he was still affiliated with the Olympians he was taller and had glowing hands.
* HatedByAll: Ares has made enemies of his own kin, Apokolips and the Amazons. [[spoiler: His death was motive enough for the German soldiers to lay down their arms and surrender.]]
* HeroicBuild: To portray Ares in ''Justice League'', [=Nick McKinless=] went through months of intense training to get to ''6 per cent'' of body fat, and it shows given how ''jacked'' he is in his (brief) scene in the history lesson.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Diana's bracelets absorb and concentrate the lightning shot by Ares into a powerful beam that kills him.]]
* HopeCrusher: Ares tries to convince Diana that humanity should be abandoned by letting her witness the deaths of innocent people at the willing hands of Ludendorff and his soldiers.
* HornsOfVillainy: Ares prefers helmets with horns on them. In his younger days he had a large pair that made him look bestial. After turning to villainy his horns become smaller.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: His essential belief. However, while there's truth to that, Diana counters that [[HumansAreSpecial they are much more than just that]]. As she'd already befriended a group of mercenaries that were less than ideal, her view of humanity was already becoming more nuanced by this point.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Criticizes humans as warlike creatures who slaughter each other, while being a warlike creature who slaughtered the other Olympian gods. Also, while admittedly not directly responsible for their capacity towards conflict, it doesn't help that [[ManipulativeBastard he conveniently found the worst among them and planted the idea into their heads]], [[OpportunisticBastard all just to justify his double standard actions]].
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: He doesn't seem to regret his murder of his own family, claiming they couldn't see humanity the way he did, so he offed them.
* InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves: [[spoiler:Since he sees mankind as inherently evil and destructive, he influences wars by merely giving people ideas on how to kill each other, then he watches as they act on his suggestions so mankind can end up destroying itself.]]
* InstantArmor: He summons an armor on himself instantly with his MindOverMatter powers, using nearby metal debris once his [[spoiler:Sir Patrick Morgan]] clothes are of no use anymore and get burned.
* {{Irony}}:
** First case in point was DramaticIrony. Diana believed Ares's influence was ultimately causing the war, but he was just influencing people and letting human politics play out on its own in a bloody war. [[spoiler:Despite being a patron deity of war, he hated the matter and preferred a peaceful state of affairs, and decided that [[WellIntentionedExtremist the only way to bring permanent peace]] was [[KillAllHumans to ensure that humanity wasn't around to be waging wars]].]]
** The God of War would rather [[BreakThemByTalking have civil discourse]] with his enemies than fight or kill them. Of course, this version of Ares detests his name being synonymous with violence.
* IsThatTheBestYouCanDo: Says "Is that all you have to offer?" to Diana during the final fight as he overpowers her.
* JerkassGods: He planned several conflicts amongst humankind with the intention of having it all wiped out.
* KickTheDog: The moment [[spoiler: Steve sacrifices himself to prevent a genocide on London]], Ares scoffs at his memory.
* KillTheGod: Ares specialises in this. He once fought during the Apokoliptian invasion, being able to seriously injure the enemy's leader. Afterwards he killed all of the Olympians and left Zeus fatally wounded.
* LargeHam: He really goes all out on Diana when she refuses his WeCanRuleTogether offer. [[BaitAndSwitch He also throws a crap ton of lightning at her]].
* LaserGuidedKarma: After slaughtering his own family, Ares is vanquished by his youngest sister, who was conceived for the purpose of defeating him.
* LastOfHisKind: By the time Diana meets him, Ares is the last full-blooded Olympian god.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'' makes it no secret that Creator/DavidThewlis plays Ares, as his face is visible during Diana's recount of the battle against Apokolips. Even the theatrical release credits Thewlis as Ares despite being played by his body double Nick [=McKinless=].
* LetNoCrisisGoToWaste: Ares states that the Great War was humanity's idea and he's repulsed that they would do such a thing, yet he fans the flames so that they can suffer the consequences of their actions.
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:General Ludendorff got his war plans from him and Dr. Poison got her new gas from him.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: The Amazons teach that Ares turned humanity against itself in war with his powers. And he did... kinda. [[spoiler:He acts as a defacto patron to the most warlike and dangerous individuals like Ludendorff and Dr. Poison, providing them with inspiration and formulas to create greater weapons of war, and practices reverse psychology to make an armistice a tool for even more war and to get Steve and Diana to go where he wants them to.]]
** There is also a noticeable shift in the demeanor and actions of soldiers after he is defeated, implying he ''was'' influencing them in a direct manner (though that could be a result of PowerIncontinence).
* MindOverMatter: Hurls everything in the battlefield onto Diana (and at times, towards himself to create weaponry and armor) without even touching it.
* MisanthropeSupreme: Ares '''despises''' humanity (moreso than ''Zod'' ever did) [[spoiler: but in a twist, he claims it's ''because'' mankind is warlike and destructive. He wants to purge the planet of mankind because he believes it's the best way to protect the world from them and ensure peace]].
* MoleInCharge: [[spoiler: Through his Sir Patrick Morgan disguise, he infiltrated the World War I Allies' high command.]]
* MoreThanMindControl: Diana thinks that humanity is BrainwashedAndCrazy under his influence and this is why they are fighting; in reality, and as Ares argues himself, humans are more than capable of fighting and killing each other all by themselves. Ares gives them a "push" in the right direction in order to make wars happen in times and ways of his choosing and certainly influences events and people through the power of suggestion, but the world isn't automatically going to become a better place just because he isn't there to cause problems.
* MotiveRant: Ares explains his motivations throughout the FinalBattle between Diana and himself.
-->''"I am not the God of War, Diana. I am the God of Truth. All I ever wanted was to show my father how evil his creation was. But he refused. Mankind stole the world from us. They ruined it, day-by-day. And I, the only one wise enough to see it, was left too weak to destroy them myself. All these years, I've struggled. Whispering into their ears...Ideas. Inspiration. For weapons. Formulas. But I don't make them use them. They start these wars on their own. All I do is orchestrate an armistice I know they will break, in the hope they will destroy themselves. But it's never been enough. When you first arrived I was going to end you, Diana. And I knew that if only you could see what the other gods couldn't...All the suffering. All the pain and destruction they create...You would join me. We could return the world to the paradise it was before them. And there would be absolute peace, Diana. Forever."''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:N-T]]
* NatureLover: A villainous example. Ares' most consistent trait is that he'll fight tooth and nail against anyone that would threaten Earth's ecosystems. He was on the front lines during the Apokoliptian invasion and decided that humanity must be purged after witnessing their disregard for nature, which could only have been exacerbated by the rise of the Industrial Age.
* NearVillainVictory: Ares would have successfully decimated humanity if he'd been able to prevent Zeus from conceiving Diana or at the very least allowed Diana to turn to his side on her own.
* NeverMyFault:
** [[spoiler:While he has a point in humans choosing to act evil of their own free will, he conveniently ignores the fact that he is the one placing wicked ideas in decidedly evil individuals with the expressed purpose of manipulating them and the war to wipe humanity out. This doesn't seem to dawn on him as he explains this while under the influence of the lasso of Truth, meaning he is [[BelievingTheirOwnLies entirely convinced of his position]].]]
** He killed the rest of the Olympians because they refuse to accept his belief that humans are evil. So it's their fault he had to kill them.
* NoBodyLeftBehind: Being [[spoiler: blasted by his own lighting]] reduces Ares to dust.
* NotMeThisTime: Ares takes full credit for slaughtering his fellow gods, but denies pushing humanity into violence as he belives they're inherently violent when left to their own devices.
* NotSoSimilar: Ares and Diana are both children of Zeus who have dual identities and become disillusioned with humanity, but the similarities end there. Ares continuously indulges humanity's worst impulses so he can prove himself right while Diana ultimately decided to encourage humanity's better side. Additionally when it comes to dealing with Apokoliptians, Ares was negligent enough to leave Darkseid wounded while Wonder Woman went straight for Steppenwolf's head.
* ObviousVillainSecretVillain: The Secret to Ludendorff's Obvious.
* OmnicidalManiac: He is out to KillAllHumans and plans to do it by [[spoiler: manipulating them into killing each other]]. He also killed the other Olympians.
* OutOfTheInferno: During the FinalBattle against Diana, he stands in the fire caused by an explosion, his [[spoiler:Sir Patrick Morgan]] clothes burn off and he summons his armor on himself in said inferno, then attacks Diana from it.
* OutsideContextVillain: Up until his big reveal, ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'' was simply just a war movie with a superhero in it. Once Ares unveils his scheme and goes on the offensive, he starts using magical abilities that he was assumed to have lost when he was cast down from Olympus.
* {{Patricide}}: He mortally wounded his father Zeus when he killed all the other gods of Olympus during the War of the Gods.
* PetTheDog: He shows sincere respect toward Diana, [[spoiler: even after he reveals himself, and doesn't think about killing her at first, even though he knows that she could destroy him]].
* PhysicalGod: As mentioned, he's the literal Greek God of War, with all that comes with it. [[spoiler:The only thing capable of destroying him is his own divine power]]. He does however demonstrate a less tangible presence when he gives Doctor Poison ideas for new chemical weapons.
* PlayingBothSides: During World War I, he whispers new ways of waging war to Ludendorff's and Dr. Poison's ears and, as Sir Patrick Morgan, influences the British War Council.
* PlotIrrelevantVillain: PlayedForDrama. By all objective metrics, the true BigBad of the story is Ludendorff; Ares himself outright states that he didn't make Ludendorff do anything, and that he came up with the superweapon plan on his own and used his own resources to implement it. In fact, Ares claims he didn't do anything at all besides whisper suggestions for weapons in a few peoples' ears with telepathy, and besides his fight with Diana (and a flashback) he doesn't take any action or hurt a single person. This is played as part of the Aesop that humans don't ''need'' an overarching supernatural BigBad to explain their flaws. He's around for less than ten minutes after TheReveal and only really relevant for Diana's CharacterDevelopment, as her rejection of his philosophy and fending him off in the final battle represents her refusing to let go of her idealism. [[spoiler:In the end, the only person he actually killed during the events of the film (either directly or indirectly) was himself.]]
* PowersDoTheFighting: Downplayed. While he does get physical with Diana (and throw a few lightning bolts) he shows a strong preference for simply using telekinesis to hurl things at her for most of the fight.
* RatedMForManly: While he's unimpressive when Diana encounters him, Ares was insanely masculine in his younger days, being 8 feet tall with sculpted muscles and ManlyFacialHair as opposed to a gentleman's mustache. He also had a habit of snarling in the heat of battle.
* SatanicArchetype: Ares tempts humans into warlike actions so as to bring about their destruction, bringing to mind Satan as a tempter, as does his role as being DrivenByEnvy of them. Ares also fights Diana while surrounded by flames, evoking hellfire. In ancient times, Ares opposed Zeus, who created and loved humanity, which is reminiscent of the rivalry between God and Satan in Christianity and Islam. Finally, a flashback shows a defeated Ares lying on the ground after falling from his heavenly battle with Zeus, bringing to mind Lucifer as a fallen angel.
* ScreamingWarrior: He roars in Darkseid's face while driving his battle axe into the New God's shoulder.
* ShadowDictator: Ares manipulated Ludendorff into keeping the war going for the thrill of it, which drove the latter to stage a coup against the German High Command and become the second highest authority in Germany.
* ShockAndAwe: Like his own father, Ares can summon lightning. [[spoiler:It ends up being his undoing when Diana redirects it onto him]].
* ShockwaveStomp: At one point during the FinalBattle, he hits the ground hard enough to send a shockwave at Diana, who dodges it. It's powerful enough to cut a truck in half.
* SincerityMode: [[spoiler: He emphasizes that for all of his influence, humans never go to war and kill one another unless they choose to.]]
* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: Is capable of turning material around him into any weapon he desires in seconds.
* StoryBreakerPower: When Diana finally confronts Ares, she learns the hard way that [[spoiler: the Godkiller sword is completely useless against him]]. Ares spends the entire fight with Diana taking hit after hit and not suffering any sign of injury or fatigue. It takes [[spoiler: his own deflected lightning blast]] to be vanquished.
* SummonToHand: Ares telekinetically draws shrapnel to him which forms into weapons.
* SuperpowerLottery: A ''big'' winner of it. He has SuperStrength on par with or exceeding Diana, SuperToughness sufficient enough to survive gigantic pointblank explosions unharmed, can move massive objects with ease via telekinesis, [[SpontaneousWeaponCreation create weapons out of anything around him at will]], send a ShockwaveStomp, teleport, [[WeatherManipulation manipulate the weather]] and generate cascades of devastating lightning. Justified, as he is literally a god.
* SuperToughness: An explosion doesn't injure Ares one bit. While it does burn his clothes, he just fashions a suit of armor and leaps back into the fight, more energized than ever.
* TakesOneToKillOne: [[spoiler: As a god, he can only be killed by another god. That's why he was able to kill the other gods of Olympus, and why Diana, his half-sister and fellow god, is the only being in existence capable of killing him.]]
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: [[spoiler: You wouldn't expect the God of War to look like an English gentleman.]] In his prime he looked more like a conventional Olympian.
* TinTyrant: In the climax of ''Wonder Woman'', he summons a dark-looking suit armor made of military hardware onto himself. It covers him entirely save for a vertical slit in the helmet.
* TokenEvilTeammate: To his fellow Olympians, since they fought on Earth's side against the Apokoliptian invaders, with Ares dealing the most damaging blow while Zeus and Artemis focused on disrupting the takeover.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:U-Y]]
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Ares tries to persuade Diana to join him in his genocide of humanity by showing her an illusion of Earth before it was ravaged by war. As he'd originally fought to prevent the New Gods from turning Earth into a hellscape, it can be assumed that Ares genuinely cares for nature.
* VillainHasAPoint: The points he makes about HumansAreFlawed, HumansAreBastards and InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves are quite accurate, even though they're not enough to describe humanity, as Diana (and, about a hundred years later, Bruce Wayne) proclaims. He merely left suggestions that would keep the war going (and they did); [[spoiler: he even openly advocated a peace agreement, which was largely ignored]]. With tests like that, it's understandable that he'd see humanity as inherently violent, even without his influence. Even after his death that marked the end of World War I, Diana perfectly understood this as she witnessed a 'century of horrors' through World War II the Cold War and the events of ''Film/WonderWoman1984'' that cost millions of lives, realizing that some humans are just as inherently corrupt in nature.
** Additionally, Ares knows full well that humanity has a Motherbox in their possession, giving them the potential to attain godlike power.
* VillainsNeverLie: While Ares did decieve everyone by disguising himself as Patrick Morgan, his expository speech is has nothing but truth to it. Zeus did conceive a child with Hippolyta in the hopes she would avenge the Olympians, humanity did start the Great War on their own and [[spoiler: Steve Trevor's death was ultimately in vain since World War II happened some years later]].
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: When Diana refuses to kill Doctor Poison by crushing her with a tank, he completely loses his composure and decides to just kill her.]]
* VillainTeleportation: Being a god, Ares can move from place to place at a moment's notice. He can even assume an immaterial form while doing so, which he used while manipulating Doctor Posion and Ludendorff. Contrast this with the New Gods, who use Boom Tubes to move around at the expense of their stealth.
* VisionaryVillain: Ares wants to exterminate humanity so that Earth can return to the paradise it once was.
* WalkingSpoiler: For starters, he is the real BigBad of ''Wonder Woman'', not Ludendorff.
* WarGod: The Myth/ClassicalMythology one. He thrives on violence and is capable enough to slaughter an entire pantheon on his own. [[spoiler:However he sees himself not a God of War, but a God of Truth.]]
* TheWarToEndAllWars: Cynical it may be, but if Ares had succeeded in his plans, the Great War really would have been humanity's last war. Not that this would have any bearings on the Kryptonians and Atlanteans, the former of whom were fighting each other until their dying days and the latter are just itching to wage wars with anything that moves.
* WeCanRuleTogether: [[spoiler:He tries to get Diana on his side during the climax, believing they can restore the Earth to the paradise it was before Zeus created mankind.]]
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Ares wants to purge the world of humanity who he views as polluters and violent warmongers but he also genuinely believes that this is what is needed to make the world into a paradise. This is confirmed by Diana using the lasso of Truth on him which shows he really does believe this to be true and isn't lying]].
* WorfHadTheFlu: In the past, Ares not only took on Darkseid himself but also single-handedly destroyed the entire Olympian pantheon, but he lost to Diana whose power and combat experience are a step below his own. It's implied that Ares lost a considerable amount of his powers in his final battle with Zeus and he hadn't fully recovered even after a few thousand years had past. [[spoiler:In fact, Wonder Woman has to redirect Ares' own lightning against him in order to defeat him]].
* YouAreWhatYouHate: Despises humans as warlike creatures who slaughter each other and destroy the world around them, deeming them unworthy of the powers and favors of the gods. He himself is also a warlike creature who slaughtered the other Olympian Gods and was cast down from Olympus by his own father.
* YouDontLookLikeYou: An action figure and Lego set both show Ares sporting a helmet that resembles a ram's skull and a face that's blackened out except for his eyes. In the film itself, Ares wears a different kind of helmet and his face looks completely human. Also he's of average height, whereas the Lego set showed him being much bigger than a person. Both versions of ''Justice League'' use a similar design, though Ares doesn't have the red eyes and shadowy face.
[[/folder]]
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