Ares's History
Ares is the God of War in the Greek pantheon. He is the son of Zeus, the ruler of the Greek pantheon, and his wife Hera. He is an enemy of his half-sister/granddaughter Wonder Woman.
Early Existence
Ares was born eons ago in the dimensional plane called Skyland. Skyland was situated in the Sphere of the Gods, a plane of existence outside the Multiverse. He was the son of Zeus and his wife Hera who were the patriarch and matriarch of the Greek pantheon, a group of gods who resided on Mount Olympus in the Skyland. He had many siblings that made up the bulk of the Gods of Olympus. He fell in love with Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and the two had many children together. Among his children were the twin sons Phobos and Deimos, who were the gods of fear and terror respectively. He was also the father of the Amazons, although instead of fathering them with Aphrodite either Harmonia or Otrera was the mother.
Ares grew savage and was driven mad as time went on, due to his role as the God of War. The Gods of Olympus all agreed that Ares was to be incarcerated before he could do any damage. The gods had Hephaestus, the god of craftsmanship, forge shackles that would bind the fury and power of Ares. Aphrodite was set the task of binding Ares with the shackles, against expectations Ares willfully conceded to the shackles without fighting. He was imprisoned in a pocket dimension on the secret island of Themyscira, accessible only through a tree on the island. The Amazons were given the eternal task of guarding their father's prison, ensuring that Ares would never again release his wrath on the Multiverse. The tree would only become visible to those whom Ares wished to see it. The gods would wipe the minds of anyone who would leave Themyscira because if no one had the knowledge to get there, then Phobos and Deimos wouldn't be able to free their father.
Imprisonment
As time went on Ares witnessed Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, give birth to a little girl named Diana. Ares foresaw that Diana would grow up to leave the island, and that the gods would hide the location of Themyscira from her like they did all others. One day when Diana was on a horse ride around the island Ares opened the tree to her. Taking the form of a snake, Ares bit the young princess. This bite was a gift as it allowed Diana to visit Ares directly without ever needing to find Themyscira, although Diana never remembered the encounter. Eventually Diana would leave Themyscira and become the super-hero Wonder Woman. Fearful that Diana would still find a way to return to the island, the gods gave her false memories to convince her that she had already rediscovered Themyscira.
Ares watched as Diana lived real memories with the Justice League. On one occasion Ares watched his twin sons masquerade as him. Phobos and Deimos attempted to lift the location of Themyscira from her brain, however this failed as Diana no longer knew the location of the island. The twin brothers then employed the help of billionaire genius Veronica Cale to discover the location of Themyscira and their father. In order to secure a bargaining chip with Cale, the sons banished her daughter Izzy's soul to the prison of Ares. Eventually Cale was able to use Wonder Woman's connection to Ares to open a portal which allowed her and Diana into the prison. When the pair found Ares, he explained everything to them. Phobos and Deimos finally breached the prison thanks to Cale but were halted by Diana, who used her Lasso of Truth to subject them to the love of their mother. Wonder Woman then left with Cale as the twin brothers were finally dealt with.
Sometime after his meeting with Cale and Wonder Woman, Ares was greeted by the arrival of Grail. Ares learnt through his clairvoyance that Grail was the daughter of the New God Darkseid, the ruler of the realm Apokolips. Grail and her father had been defeated by Diana, and so Grail was left to suffer in the prison by the Amazons.
Reborn
While he shared his prison with Grail, Ares realized what should he really become as God of War: a symbol of Justice, a fighter for the weak. He then utilized his power to influence Grail, making her kill him with the Godkiller sword. This caused Themyscira to collapse, maybe bringing the rest of Olympus along with her, without Ares realizing it. He reappeared in Durovnia, where he became the local leader of the rebels against the nation's government. He thought that the Durovnian government held its people in tyranny, and so it was his duty to free them. As Durovnia was an ally of the United States, Steve Trevor and Etta Candy were deployed there to help the government, and so Diana got involved as well.
Ares welcomed Diana with open arms, explaining to her what he did and what he wanted to become. Soon though, Diana realized that Ares still wasn't able to grasp the concept of justice, as she watched him redirect a missile on a village allied with the government, potentially killing several innocent people. While Ares kept struggling on understanding what he should do to be better than before, Diana found Steve and an unexpected ally, Aphrodite, for some reason in exile from Olympus. Thanks to her help, Diana was able to stop Ares from his idea of destroying Durovnia's government. Understanding his mistakes, he spoke once again with Diana about his new mission, hoping she would counsel him for what he should do next. After the discussion, Ares decided to seek out Athena, goddess of Wisdom, so that maybe he could find out how to act to become the god he wanted.
