Honestly, I'm almost bursting at the seams with excitement regarding the aforementioned pieces of news I may or may not have to deliver. I wish I could tell you, but I've learned never to announce something until it's done or confirmed.
I hope to have them confirmed soon, though.
Now, as this blog post is being typed while listening to Marvin Gaye, a god of music, I think this topic is rather fitting!
The Mast's 30 Days of Comicdom (Day 17): Who Is Your Favourite God?
THOR...is what you're probably all thinking. YOU'RE WRONG.
Well, not really.
He's tied first, but he probably gets all the praise, so I'm gonna show some respect to someone who, over the more recent years, has become increasingly badass and has been further embraced by the comic reading community.
Of course, my favourite god is...
Ares.
The literal Greek god of war, you'd be TERRIBLY hard-pressed to find a more masculine figure in Marvel than Ares.
He was never a major player in Marvel, but when Norman Osborn came into power and decided to for the Dark Avengers, he needed a god. The Avengers have a god, so he needed one.
He's not on the level of Thor, but nevertheless, he is an utter beast in combat as you can imagine. This brings me to the story that solidified my adoration of Ares. Kieron Gillen wrote a mini-series in three parts entitled Dark Avengers: Ares. In it, Ares was requested, by Norman Osborn, to take a group of H.A.M.M.E.R.'s best soldiers and turn them into soldiers worthy of fighting with the god of war.
Ares testing the group's awareness and reflexes by swinging at them mid-speech was truly hilarious. His training methods were brutal and his speeches were rousing.
Ares does things like this:
The man is training his men by firing a chaingun at them...with one hand, without looking. Why isn't he looking? He's drinking beer.
No big deal, really.
It's all the sadder, then, that Ares found himself unknowingly dragged into the Siege of Asgard for the wrong reasons, even though he was suspicious. He told Osborn he would cut his head off if he had forced him to fight his deity brothers (Greek gods and Norse gods share a friendship I believe) for undue reasons.
He did. When Ares realised this, he charged as Osborn. What followed was a battle with The Void/The Sentry, ending in him being completely ripped in half. It was honestly a shocking moment, simply because he had been so liked and hyped in recent times.
Rest assured, Ares will be back because he is a god, but that was a testament to the death scene. We knew he'd be back as it happened and it was still a shock.
I'm not one who goes for the whole idea of what typically makes a man, but Ares is a real man where I DO agree with it. Ares has a son and his son is Phobos, the god of fear. Phobos was a member of Nick Fury's Secret Warriors and Ares did not agree with this at first. After confronting Fury, Ares decided he would trust his son's judgement. Not necessarily great parenting, but where he lacks parenting skills he has overwhelming desire to love and protect his son from anything.
Of course, the greatest Ares quote comes IN Dark Avengers: Ares #1. When speaking to his supposed troops, he says:
"The chain of command. Rules of engagement. This Geneva Convention thing. Medical evac. Supply lines. The white flag. The Red Cross. Worrying about evacuees and refugees. Taking prisoners. Losing the battle, but winning the war. Cursed diplomats. The proper standard of grooming. Sensible things like having enough bullets before you go into battle, that's the dung my sister cares about. I'm the OTHER God of War."
He embodies what war is at its heart. It's a fight. Ares simply believes you should be there to win at all and any cost or you should fuck off.
It's for these reasons that Ares, god of war, is my favourite god.
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Thank you for reading, I had a fun time doing this one. It's always nice to talk about the more unsung of your favourite characters, really.
As always, I'm back tomorrow with yet another installment.
Until next time, peace.
-The Mast
