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Real name: Mars
Occupation: War god
Marital Status: Multiple consorts
Known Relatives: Great Zeus (father), Queen Hera (mother), Strife/Eris (sister), Venus (consort/cousin), Eros (son), Queen Clea (niece), Janus (half-sister), Vulcan/the Smith (brother), Athena/Minerva (sister), First Born (elder brother), Princess Diana - Wonder Woman (younger half-sister), Harmonia (daughter), Hercules (half-brother), Deimos and Phobos (sons), Apollo (half-brother), Hell (uncle), Queen Hippolyta (distant cousin), Poseidon (uncle), Thrax/General Destruction (deceased son), Virbius Rex (younger cousin)
Base of Operations: astral moon of Mars, Areopagus
Group Affiliation: Olympian gods of Greece and Rome
Height: Tall
Eyes: Yellow fire or black shadows
Hair: Bronze-like helmet
First Appearance: Wonder Woman #1 (1942)
"Mars" art/story: Charles Moulton and H. G. Peter, Wonder Woman #2 vol. 1 (Fall 1942, DC Comics); Joe Kubert, original art for Wonder Woman: Secret Files And Origins #1 (1998, DC Comics)
"Additional Story and Art" below
Created by: Charles Moulton and H. G. Peter
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Mars first appears in Wonder Woman #1, published in the summer of 1942, written by Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston. His first, few panels introduce him as 'Ares', though the story goes on to note that he is "now called" by his Roman name, Mars.
"...There was a time, in the Forties, when Wonder Woman's most enduring enemy...ran his divine business out of a network of smoke-ridden, fire-belching, metal fortresses, on the surface of the fabled Red Planet, named for him.
His cosmic agents, his 'Court' of Injustice - Duke of Deception, Earl of Greed, Lord Conquest and General Destruction - were little more, than armored buffoons, back then, and were never particularly awesome or terrifying, ..but, they were every bit, as ugly and weird, as the Joker. They existed in a fiery, steampunky world - an industrial hell, like Jack Kirby's Apokolips - blackened by the smoke of burning metals ..and of burning human souls, enslaved to Mars...
They were demonic beings in Roman-styled armor, with grotesquely grinning faces and bloated, distorted physiques, ..who traveled to Earth and back to their world, as phantasms ..or in futuristic rocket ships, like what we've seen, in Flash Gordon movie serials! They were cosmic beings, who stalked the Astral Plane and the unseen realms of our nightmares, waited on by half-naked slave girls, ..while acting out the war god's insidious plots, through the captive, unconscious minds of select, strategically valuable mortals..." from "DUNESTRUCK: WONDROUS, LURID AND APPALLING MEMORIES OF DR. MARSTON'S MARS!", 2021 Wondabunga
A master of nearly limitless power to control worlds and manipulate events, when Mars is angry, conflict increases across the globe - even the cosmos!
From his Iron Palace on Mars, the war god's numerous campaigns to defeat the Allied forces in World War II find him repeatedly thwarted by the Amazon adventurer, Wonder Woman. His liegeman's, the Duke of Deception's, best and weirdest efforts to defeat Wonder Woman fail abysmally, despite his supernatural cunning and futuristic technology!
After the destruction of his first Martian fortresses and still another on Earth, beneath Mount Olympus - all at the hands of Wonder Woman - Mars creates a new, even more formidable fortress on one of the Red Planet's "astral" moons, ..invisible, intangible Areopagus.
Infrequently, for the 45 years after World War II, the war god would continue to be known as Mars, until creative team George Pérez and Greg Potter reintroduced him under his Greek name - his original name - Ares, as part of their reboot of the Wonder Woman comic book in 1987.
Faces of Mars
"...As the narrative continuity of Wonder Woman comics has been adjusted by different writers and artists throughout the years, various versions of Mars/Ares (with various personalities and physical appearances) have been presented, though most have been depicted wearing Greek hoplite or Roman gladiator armor. The character's longest-running look, designed by George Pérez, is that of a red-eyed Greek warrior clad in black and indigo battle armor, face hidden by an Attic helmet. After DC's continuity was rebooted in 2011 (an event known as The New 52), the character cycled through several divergent visual interpretations (including one inspired by the physical appearance of then-writer of Wonder Woman, Brian Azzarello..." from Ares (DC Comics), Wikipedia.com
Now, the Roman god of war manifests as a smoldering apparition of an empty, dark bronze, Roman-styled helmet and mask, crowning a large suit of bronze armor!
At times, when he has devoured his sons Deimos and Phobos, glowing green snakes have grown out of Mars's armored chest and been projected as powerful energy beams, while his living shadow, an ominous black spectre of varying sizes has attacked his opponents separately from Mars, himself.
Mars's Court of Injustice
Mars's herald, Cassandra of Czar, was once an enslaved dancer on a Martian moon, whom he gave the choice to spare her world annihilation or share his awesome power. She became his Silver Swan of Destruction, replacing Mars's own son and World War II aide-de-campe, General Destruction (Thrax) - destroying her civilization, with her first Swan-scream! The Swan has nearly indestructible wings and armor, the power to change her appearance at will, a voice which can disintegrate matter and warp energy over great distances, ..and still other superhuman abilities, similar to Wonder Woman's! From her giant hovercraft, she manipulates the minds and bodies of humans, transforming them into powerful monster-men, enslaved to Mars's Crimson Centipede army, forever!
The war god boasts his devoured sons, Deimos and Phobos..."are always with him" - Phobos in his living shadow and Deimos in the energy snakes grown into his chest armor.
The other Injustice Courtiers have also served him, since ancient times. They include: the playfully sadistic Minister Strife, ..the mastermind of Mars's most insidious plots on Earth - Duke of Deception, ..the Earl of Greed, who fattens and grows powerful on the hunger-energy of oppressed mortals, ..and Deception's rival, the decidedly untitled Conquest - cast-out First Born of Zeus - whose raw strength, speed and other superhuman powers rival Wonder Woman's! Each tasked by Mars with tormenting Diana and manipulating her friends AND enemies in symbolically bizarre, quirky ways, they attack humanity with futuristic flying machines and weapons that create apocalyptic conflict on Earth!
In battle, they become commanders of Mars's elite, newly enhanced cyborg army, the Crimson Centipede, ..a techno-astral organism powered by a hundred enslaved demons! With it, Mars can manifest projections of the Crimson Centipede in the north, south, east and west, waging war in different parts of the world or beyond ..and all at the same time.
---------- P O W E R S | W E A P O N S ----------
Powers and Abilities: His superhuman strength and speed, equal or superior to Wonder Woman's, his telekinesis and other powers seem limitless! From his steam-punky, industrial fortress and base camp on the Martian astral moon, Areopagus, ..his quirky, Dune-ish COURT OF INJUSTICE attacks mankind, ..through dreams, ectoplasmic creatures/monsters, demonic possession of human beings and futuristic machines.
Among his most dreaded powers are his sons, Phobos and Deimos! Deimos is the living energy SNAKES he projects from his chest - his Deimos Strike - disintegrating beams which cannot be escaped and also teleport targets through space-time. Phobos is his living SHADOW - he unleashes him in the form of a giant, destructive, black energy monster, capable of capturing and returning any energy he's assaulted with, back at his opponents!
Mars's newly enhanced Crimson Centipede is a techno-astral organism powered by a hundred enslaved demons! Through energy refraction (stolen from Janus), Mars can manifest projections of the Crimson Centipede on a HUNDRED multiple fronts, waging war in a hundred different parts of the world or beyond ..and all at the same time! While the Injustice Courtiers may command individual manifestations of the Centipede, only Mars can "astrally link" these manifestations, enabling only him to move his monster across vast distances in the blink of an eye, ..or to direct its mass and energy to any place in the universe he chooses, ..until his target is conquered or destroyed.
Against the awesome cosmic power and futuristic weapons of Mars, deployed against mankind since ancient times, ..even Wonder Woman, the Amazons and their Fourth World enemy Darkseid have often proven outmatched! Is there nowhere in the universe or beyond, one can long be safe from the ambitions of Mars?
Additional Story and Art
''Secret Files' cover art and story: H. G. Peter (original Mars design), Joe Kubert (original Mars/Ares design for cover), Mel Dyer (photomanipulation)
Duke of Deception" art: Jose Delbo and Bob Smith, Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe vol. VII (September 1985, DC Comics)
"Strife" art/story: Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang, Wonder Woman #2 vol. 4 (December 2011, DC Comics)
"Silver Swan" art/story: Roy Thomas and Gene Colan, Wonder Woman #290 vol. 2 (April 1982, DC Comics)
"Crimson Centipede" art: Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, 300 #3 (July 1998, Dark Horse Comics); Mel Dyer (photomanipulation)
"First Born" art/story: Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang, Wonder Woman #14 vol. 4 (December 2012, DC Comics)
'Fantasy Secret Files' by Wondabunga
WONDER WOMAN, QUEEN HIPPOLYTA, MARS, STRIFE, FIRST BORN, DUKE of DECEPTION, SILVER SWAN, AMAZONS, DARKSEID, FOURTH WORLD are TM and © 2023 DC Entertainment.
Mel Dyer, without his fine, coyote-hatin' Goldiweiller, Kirby (now moved on to that big, coyote-hatin' hate group in the Sky) continues a somewhat bleaker, dogless existence in the Capitol Hill area of Washington, DC. He has been an active member of the Latino Culture Council of the Capitol Area (El Consejo de Cultura Latina – La Zona del Capitolio) and the Kiwanis Club of Capitol Hill.
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