Why Isn't Ares More Prominent?

[mathew101281]

They over use him. Ares should be a character that’s so powerful that his appearance should be sparse but extremely impactful. He’s not an “every arc” kind of villain like Cheetah or Circe. They should bring back a lot of his minions, like the Duke of Deception, Deimos and others, and really ratchet up their ability and menace. This in turn will make Ares more menacing because you will have an audience saying any entity that can command powerful minions like this most be incredibly powerful.

He’s the living embodiment of bloodshed and carnage. That’s not something that should be able to be vanquished with a couple punches in a six issue mini. He should be like the Fire-lord in Avatar the Last Airbender. Seen very little but gradually being built up to.

[Mel Dyer]

It's no more ill-defined than the various "take over the world" schemes that various villains use. The way he goes about it will vary (like any other villain) but there is nothing nebulous about it.

P
Yeah...that varying part is where things get nebulous.

"I am coming for you, mortals, and where I tred, lukewarm beverages will run like starving racoons, in my wake...lukewarm drinks, all over the WORLD!!!"

Even that is more clear and defined than what we get with Ares. The concept of.him, the part you're focusing on is sufficiently big and terrible...fine. It's the long, zdark narrative journey to the point, at which the big Ares ideas come into play, where Ares stories typically get dull.

[Agent Z]

P
Yeah...that varying part is where things get nebulous.

"I am coming for you, mortals, and where I tred, lukewarm beverages will run like starving racoons, in my wake...lukewarm drinks, all over the WORLD!!!"

Even that is more clear and defined than what we get with Ares. The concept of.him, the part you're focusing on is sufficiently big and terrible...fine. It's the long, zdark narrative journey to the point, at which the big Ares ideas come into play, where Ares stories typically get dull.

Okay, I think you're confused here. What Ares wants is perpetual war. This will result in humanity being wiped out. How Ares tries to go about creating perpetual war will vary but that is what he wants. There is nothing vague or ill-defined about this. It has been stated in every story where Ares is the main villain.

[Mel Dyer]

Okay, I think you're confused here. What Ares wants is perpetual war. This will result in humanity being wiped out. How Ares tries to go about creating perpetual war will vary but that is what he wants. There is nothing vague or ill-defined about this. It has been stated in every story where Ares is the main villain.

I'm fine that there's nothing nebulous or ill-defined about Ares's schtick to you. I'm not confused about anything.

I find that Ares's threat leaves a writer room for a great deal of interpretation - the varying methods of attack, that you mentioned. I'm in agreement with you, there. Any writer, who wants to use him in a story, has a very wide berth to create in, and that requires imagination. I don't think it helps that he's a magic-oriented super-villain, and, in addition to the broad, nebulous threat of him, a writer has to create a special sort of story to use him with other DCU heroes, ..most of whom are non-magical. There doesn't seem to be a konga line of writers lined up to take on the job, ..and I can't say that I blame them.

Anyway, there's plenty that a writer can do to make Ares interesting, without going imagination bankrupt. There are superficial things that can be changed. It might be time for a new paint job.

[Lex Luthor]

I'm fine that there's nothing nebulous or ill-defined about Ares's schtick to you. I'm not confused about anything.

I find that Ares's threat leaves a writer room for a great deal of interpretation - the varying methods of attack, that you mentioned. I'm in agreement with you, there. Any writer, who wants to use him in a story, has a very wide berth to create in, and that requires imagination. I don't think it helps that he's a magic-oriented super-villain, and, in addition to the broad, nebulous threat of him, a writer has to create a special sort of story to use him with other DCU heroes, ..most of whom are non-magical. There doesn't seem to be a konga line of writers lined up to take on the job, ..and I can't say that I blame them.

Anyway, there's plenty that a writer can do to make Ares interesting, without going imagination bankrupt. There are superficial things that can be changed. It might be time for a new paint job.

I honestly don't see why he cant have normal motivations. I agree that most of his weird vague goals never really work for him which is why I didn't like him in the animated movie. Its really hard to understand why he wants the world to be at war or what he gets out of it.

[DochaDocha]

I've given Ares some thought in recent months, and I think I would like the character to be far less like the Gal Gadot, Injustice, or Justice League Unlimited versions who were largely one-note, unsympathetic bad guys. Rather, I'd rather see that he's a guy who benefits from war, but somehow has to see humanity balance war and strife with peace/harmony/whatever. Why? Because he needs people to live on for generations, and wide-scale war that decimates too much of humanity means less war in the future. Or balance out his character as a guy who otherwise enjoys the normal life of a god but in the end has to "eat" off war because of his nature. You know, just don't make him boring a boring warmonger with no conscience, or at least a guy who has an intricate plan, or is a mixed bag of good and bad.

As for design, I like the Perez version, but make him the old Azz version underneath the armor.

[Koriand'r]

He worked best as Rucka's God of Conflict

ares 1.jpg

Conflict made him far more powerful because it's everywhere. He recognized this and changed from war on his own accord. Being an antagonist rather than a villain made him cunning, unpredictable and dangerous and his design made him sexy.

I'll never understand why Rucka's gods were put off limits by Dan Didio, it's like he was personally trying to hobble the franchise and Gail Simone's run simply out of spite.

[Lukmendes]

I've given Ares some thought in recent months, and I think I would like the character to be far less like the Gal Gadot, Injustice, or Justice League Unlimited versions who were largely one-note, unsympathetic bad guys. Rather, I'd rather see that he's a guy who benefits from war, but somehow has to see humanity balance war and strife with peace/harmony/whatever. Why? Because he needs people to live on for generations, and wide-scale war that decimates too much of humanity means less war in the future. Or balance out his character as a guy who otherwise enjoys the normal life of a god but in the end has to "eat" off war because of his nature. You know, just don't make him boring a boring warmonger with no conscience, or at least a guy who has an intricate plan, or is a mixed bag of good and bad.

As for design, I like the Perez version, but make him the old Azz version underneath the armor.

To be fair, Injustice Ares was somewhat like that, he recognized that allowing Evil! Superman to keep fighting would give him a bigger power boost than ever, but eventualy everyone would die and he'd have nothing, so he actualy helped Good! Diana for that.

Honestly, his dependency on war could easily be used to make him the occasional ally, the problem is that his dependency on war should mean he'd have to be a bigger scale villain... There's also the thing about how he could keep the wars going.

The way I see it, he's a difficult character to use, he's kinda both flexible and limited at the same time, using him to be memorable sounds a lot harder than Luthor, Darkseid or Joker.

[Mel Dyer]

I honestly don't see why he cant have normal motivations. I agree that most of his weird vague goals never really work for him which is why I didn't like him in the animated movie. Its really hard to understand why he wants the world to be at war or what he gets out of it.

I just think some writer has to make his pursuit of his ambitions -the how he gets it done part- more interesting. Ares, being Greek god of war, it makes sense his desire to see Earth drowning in violence and carnage. I would like some imaginative writer to make the journey, more idiosyncratic - weapons, mystical phenomena, etc - unique to this version of Ares.

A blue-skinned giant in Fifties b-movie, Roman armor...meh.

Seriously, folks! I want to hear Ares is loose and get a picture in my head of the weird carp he's going to make happen in the world. No, it's good enough that he has a variety of methods he can use. I want an iconic, mental picture that I uniquely associate, with DC Comics Ares...a signature thing!

That should not be so hard. We should not be debating this in 2018.