Originally Posted by
Alpha
I get why people enjoy that, and I even appreciated the ending of Rucka's Rebirth run. But I feel that there's a lot of untapped potential in Ares that probably should just be used in another villain. Because for the god of war, he seems too detached and poetic about it.
I was just watching The Wire and Sopranos and I suddenly realized that Ares should create the same feeling as some of the characters on that show. The ultimate version of toxic masculinity but under the basis of survival. I really want Diana to be faced with a villain with the same mentality of those gangsters from the Wire in particular. Characters like Bodie and Avon (The Wire) and Paulie (Sopranos) are like rageful Rottweilers that only see the world through violence. They think war is always inevitable and that someone is always coming for them and for what they want, and they exist through hostility. The only way to survive on the streets is by making everyone around you fear for their lives, and humiliate them everytime you can while proping yourself up as the baddest demon in town. They even make sure that their allies hate them so that their rage leads them to become the monsters they need to be.
Ares should create the same feeling that we must be hostile at all moments and create misery wherever we go. Because ultimately, gang culture is the opposite of Diana's peace ideals. It's fear and preemptive violence and humiliation. Diana should have a villain like that that embodies the most extreme form of toxic masculinity. Someone that creates the immediate urgency oof being attacked by a rottweiler. Not an actual gang leader, but someone that acts like one.