Dark Avengers: Ares

[ibsisomis]

I don't see Ares qiute that strong. I think they just gave Herc a power boost just now too (as far as right at the end of Civil War).

 

[TheCorpulent1]

If the Sentry maxes at the Galactus level, or even just below it, Rune Thor is by far dead.

I wouldn't say that. Rune Thor is more powerful than Odin was. Plus, the idea that the Sentry is at Galactus' level is unproven and totally without context, taken solely from an offhand comment from another character. For all we know, it could refer to the Sentry fending off a nearly starved Galactus, which regular ol' Thor has done himself. So far, the most impressive feats I've seen from the Sentry or the Void (whose power is implicitly equal to the Sentry's) are practically killing Terrax with one hit and shattering all of the Hulk's bones, both of which are well within Rune Thor's power given the way he handled Mangog.

 

[Ahura Mazda]

If the Sentry maxes at the Galactus level, or even just below it, Rune Thor is by far dead.

I would not completely discount Rune Thor against Galactus. He did everything with great ease.

 

[Silicon Surfer]

One thing to remember about Terrax, his powers are not at the levels they were when he was a herald. Galactus took those powers away. Doom gave him a weaker version of his former powers. Thor even at his normal power level defeated Galactus.

 

[Doombringer]

Im gonna side with Ares. I really think that now currently Ares could beat down Herc. Yeah Herc is the god of strength and whatever but as shown in Oemings run, Ares is just more ruthless to get whatever he has to do done. Gods get their titles for a reason. Ares is the god of War because he is the best at it, whether it be weapon or unarmed combat, knowledge of military and fighting strategy, and all levels of tactical operations, etc. So for that reason alone i think that yes he can take down hercules, IMO fairly easily.

If Herc or any other god was better than him at combat they would get coined the term god of war or something similar and not Ares. Hercules strength surpasses Ares sure, but Ares is just a level under him pretty much so whenever he connects you know hes gonna deal damage, especially with his Olympian weapons. He tossed Herc right over after being in a full-nelson from the god who invented. And i really dont think he fears his little half brother in the slightest at all (which big brother does?) after this ownage line from the Oeming run-"shut up. you lord over arm wreslting and such. You know little of warring, which is why you're failing so miserably." I mean the guy actually set himself a blaze and catapulted himself in the middle of an undead samuai army takin them out by his lonesome. Granted this was indeed all in an Ares book so bias will indeed leak through a bit but nevertheless...

Against Thor... that all depends on how Thor's gonna turn out when we see him. I would lean more towards Thor due to the raw power Thor wields in mjolnir, but no at all easily. Just my 2 cents anyway...

 

[Silicon Surfer]

Hercules has always been more skilled as well as stronger. Ares has been typically afraid of Hercules except when something gives him an edge such as when he got hold of the Ebony Blade. He attacked the Promethian Flame and incapacitated the other gods and stripped Hercules of 1/2 his strength.
With that advantage and two Yellow Crested Titans as henchmen he felt courageous enough to confront Hercules. From what I remember of Greek Mythology that version of Ares wasn't very brave either. When fighting in the Trojan War he got wounded by a mortal and promptly quit the war and ran home to Olympus to be healed.

 

[The Question]

I wouldn't exactly call it cowardess. Ares thinks in very tactical, militaristic terms. If he's going to atack someone, he's going to make sure he has the upper hand. And if he's in a possition where he can't win, I'd think he'd opt for a tactical retreat.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

I wouldn't say that. Rune Thor is more powerful than Odin was. Plus, the idea that the Sentry is at Galactus' level is unproven and totally without context, taken solely from an offhand comment from another character. For all we know, it could refer to the Sentry fending off a nearly starved Galactus, which regular ol' Thor has done himself. So far, the most impressive feats I've seen from the Sentry or the Void (whose power is implicitly equal to the Sentry's) are practically killing Terrax with one hit and shattering all of the Hulk's bones, both of which are well within Rune Thor's power given the way he handled Mangog.

Agreed. We DO know there was a confrontation, and I did make the mention that Sentry might be basically surviving Galactus, rather than flat out punching out Galactus prior. Given the entire context of that mini though, it would be slightly contrived and grasping at the idea of it altogether, rather than thinking his power levels operated in the extreme measure.

However, we've never seen Sentry or the Void exert themselves ever, much like Rune Thor. We know Sentry's never even come close to tapping his power potential, and we know the Void is characteristically weaker than the Sentry. All we know is that even at those levels, he was capable of standing solo against Galactus. And if those were to be taken in case (with his powers being held at lower reserves) it stands to reason he did more than just hold off Galactus or survive Galactus. At that point, Galactus was being written as the guy who would launch extremely massive attacks at his opponents, rather than his first appearances, where he'd barely decimate buildings. And in all truth, Spidey probably would've said something like, "led the fight against Galactus" if Galactus were weakened, giving the idea of "Fought Galactus to a standstill" that nobody else was capable of the task itself. Much like Thor or Rune Thor would be regarded as, as both would have taken on Galactus' brunt solo, rather than in any form of team due to his power and durability.

What we also know is that the Sentry's powers are not merely physically based, and has shown powers that go above and beyond his own "punch and kill" abilities we most often attribute to him. Given that his powers are chronological, and can even rearrange matter quite easily without any form of direct contact (to the point he doesn't actually have to be there), his vast variety of powers, and upper levels are probably far far far FAR above anything we've seen him do.

What we DO know of the Sentry, is that the Marvels seem to regard him as some sort of ungodly huge powerhouse that people normally don't go around messing with unless they probably wish to die. (And though it was just a cheap cop out to explain why there's no Sentry villans) the ONLY Sentry villan to even still be around is the Void, out of the few dozen villans he most likely had. Most regard him as their ace, and definitely most who DO remember him, walk around him with eggshells due to his power levels. It's probably why his power is alluded to a million exploding suns. We don't see him hurt, ever. Not even in his minis, do we see him hurt at all. Even when he was in the middle of those nuclear explosions and the station explosion, the worst is his cape is in tatters. We even know the Sentry can even fend off the power of a cosmic cube without any injury.

So, all we POSITIVELY know is that currently, the Sentry has only had to deal with Earthly problems at the moment (most of which provided by Bendis basically, and nothing much in his minis except for how easy it is for him to take care of enemies entire teams have problems with) which wouldn't even begin to test his upper eschelons of power (or even his mid ones) much like how we're stuck with Rune Thor's power levels of unknowing.

I would not completely discount Rune Thor against Galactus. He did everything with great ease.

Galactus doesn't usually put much effort into anything himself.

One thing to remember about Terrax, his powers are not at the levels they were when he was a herald. Galactus took those powers away. Doom gave him a weaker version of his former powers. Thor even at his normal power level defeated Galactus.

Actually, Terrax is still a power cosmic powerhouse easily capable of planetary destruction and such.

And as for defeating Galactus? Umm... When?

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

I wouldn't exactly call it cowardess. Ares thinks in very tactical, militaristic terms. If he's going to atack someone, he's going to make sure he has the upper hand. And if he's in a possition where he can't win, I'd think he'd opt for a tactical retreat.

Agreed. Fighting someone who simply outclasses you is more or less idiocy. Falling back and awaiting until terms are favourable, and then utilizing a tactic would be much smarter. Simply because Ares doesn't want to fight Hercules head on doesn't make him a coward any more than you refusing to run into the way of an oncoming car makes you a coward.

 

[Silicon Surfer]

Thor defeated Galactus in the classic Rigellian/Black Galaxy storyline that introduced Ego and was the first depiction of the "godblast". I don't remember there being anything said about him being particularly weak or starving either.

 

[Rasmon Redux]

How much y'wanna bet this isn't the REAL Ares, just an LMD, or better yet, a reincarnation of Gilgamesh, the forgotten one (remember him?)

silence wench! behold my *****in' helmet!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Interview with writer Kieron Gillen

Sounds fun. I especially liked this bit:

As fans know, Norman Osborn has a long history of insanity, and though Ares and the former Green Goblin have struck an alliance for the moment, one never knows what the future holds in store.

"[Their alliance is] as steady as any Ares has struck in his long life," posits Gillen. "He really just views Osborn as the latest of a long line of mortals who are 'In Charge.' He currently offers Ares the best opportunities for what he enjoys doing. If the Dark Reign came to an end tomorrow, he'd probably expect to remain an Avenger. The move from [Tony] Stark to Osborn was a minor thing for Ares. The move from Osborn to anyone else would be equally minor. These are just mortals. They come and go, and soon their bones will be picked clean by time. So [they're] on steady ground as long as Osborn doesn't do anything that Ares finds offensive."

 

[Kitsune]

Interview with writer Kieron Gillen

Sounds fun. I especially liked this bit:

Spoiler

Ordering his kid killed might end up as offensive to Ares

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Eh, Ares agreed at the end of this week's Secret Warriors. I don't see [blackout]killing his own kid[/blackout] as something that's still entirely out of Ares' ballpark. Although I think he'd stop short of that in the end.

 

[BigSams50]

Ares is just awesome man

 

[sleepwalk]

Eh, Ares agreed at the end of this week's Secret Warriors. I don't see [blackout]killing his own kid[/blackout] as something that's still entirely out of Ares' ballpark. Although I think he'd stop short of that in the end.

I agree that it is not out of the question [blackout]for Ares to kill Alex (or vice versa.)[/blackout] However, as seen in Ares: God of War, Ares' own issues with Zeus and the tradition of deicide/patricide have made him deal with Alex in erratic but more contemporary ways. [blackout] He was pissed when Norman killed "Fury" because Fury was going to do right by Alex in a way that he couldn't. [/blackout]

 

[hippie_hunter]

Eh, Ares agreed at the end of this week's Secret Warriors. I don't see [blackout]killing his own kid[/blackout] as something that's still entirely out of Ares' ballpark. Although I think he'd stop short of that in the end.

Meh, after the latest issues of Dark Avengers and Secret Warriors, I think it clearly shows that Ares would never even think of killing Alex unless it was something like Wolverine and Mariko.

And I think I might check this out. I like the current interpretation that Ares really isn't a villain and Gillen seems to clearly understand this with Ares decision to remain with the government sanctioned Avengers when Osborn took charge.

 

[BrianWilly]

I'll say it: the bits with Alex and Ares in recent issues of Bendisstuff have been the most convincing and well-written material I've read from Bendis in a very, very, very long time.



...it is Bendis, right? I'm not imagining it?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Just Dark Avengers. Secret Warriors is all Hickman.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Actually, Ares seems to really want to do right by his son, and let him live a life away from the blood he himself has. I don't think he'll kill him.

Ares mini activate power go!!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't either. I said so. Ares is still Ares, though, so killing anyone is never entirely out of the question.

He certainly seems willing to chase Alex and the rest of Fury's group, at least. He said as much at the end of this week's Secret Warriors. Maybe he thinks having Alex get caught and stay in prison for a while will teach him a lesson in humility or put hair on his chest or something.

 

[BrianWilly]

Just Dark Avengers. Secret Warriors is all Hickman.

BALLS! I knew it was too good to be true. But I liked the Dark Avengers scenes anyway, so one out of two ain't bad.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, I read snippets of those pages at the shop and I was surprised that Bendis managed to pull off the ironic parental/character growth maneuver so well.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Ares is bad ass. But I'm not familiar with his past. And I haven't read any recent issues concerning Dark Reign.

Who is his son?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Alexander (named for Alexander the Great, of course), a.k.a. Phobos of Secret Warriors. Ares got kicked out of Olympus for being too savage, so he was hanging around Earth these past few years. He fathered a son, Alex, with an unknown woman and decided to raise the boy on his own. Alex was stolen by Zeus in order to blackmail Ares into returning to Olympus and helping the gods against Amatsu-Mikaboshi, a Japanese god who was laying siege to Olympus. Mikaboshi then kidnapped Alex and trained him to be a master swordsman and then sent him to kill his father. Ares saves him but Mikaboshi kills Zeus and destroys Olympus, scattering the remaining gods to Earth.

Somehow, Alex was made to forget all of that and resumed life as a normal (now blonde, for some reason) boy. Eventually, Daisy of the Secret Warriors reveals his divine heritage to him and he begins to develop fear powers (hence: Phobos). He secretly joins Nick Fury's team of "Caterpillars"--people with superhuman potential or heritage that haven't activated their powers or become clear superheroes or supervillains yet--and has been with them ever since. Ares just recently found out in Dark Avengers and gave Fury his blessing, realizing Fury would be a better influence on the boy than he would.