Ares

Ares (also referred to as Mars) is a fictional character that appears in DC Comics and associated media. He is the Olympian god of war and a significant recurring antagonist of the superhero Wonder Woman, based on the Greek mythological person of the same name. He has appeared as a persistent antagonist in every era of Wonder Woman's comic book adventures, as well as in many other media adaptations of her stories.

Ares first debuted in Wonder Woman (vol 1) issue 1, penned by Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston and published in the summer of 1942. His name is Ares in the introduction panels, but the narration goes on to say that he is "now called" by his Roman name Mars. For the next 45 years, he was known by that name (with infrequent exceptions) until George Pérez and Greg Potter, as part of their reboot of the Wonder Woman comic book mythos in 1987, reinstated the Greek name, Ares.

Varying versions of Mars/Ares (with various personalities and physical appearances) have been presented as the narrative continuity of Wonder Woman comics has been modified by different authors and illustrators over the years, however, most have been represented wearing Greek hoplite or Roman gladiator armor. George Pérez's longest-running look for the character is that of a red-eyed Greek warrior wearing black and indigo combat armor, his face veiled under an Attic helmet. After DC's continuity was rewritten in 2011 (dubbed "The New 52"), the character went through numerous different aesthetic interpretations (including one based on the physical appearance of then-Wonder Woman writer Brian Azzarello) before returning to his Pérez-inspired warrior style.