Ares

Ares is the Olympian God of War. Son of Zeus and Hera, Ares' strength is bolstered by violence, anger, hate, death, and bloodshed and as such is frequently seeking ways to incite these acts on Earth so that he may overpower the other Olympian Gods and rule Olympus.

Background
Aphrodite was only just married to Hephaestus, the god of the forge, when she had a passionate affair with Ares. The union of love and war spawned multiple gods of destruction, including Deimos, Phobos, and Eris.

Despite being Zeus's son, Ares never fit in with the other gods of Olympus and created his own realm, the Areopagus.

When the Olympian goddesses championed the creation of the Amazons of Themyscira, a race of women who would promote to mankind Gaia's principles of peace, love and unity between the sexes, Ares felt his domain threatened and did his best to destroy the Amazons, using Hercules' madness, induced by his step-mother, Hera, to convince him that the Amazons were mocking him, which resulted in Hercules infiltrating and enslaving the Amazons; forcing them into exile to escape a world that hated them thanks to Ares' lies.

While his campaign against the Amazons was successful, Ares still desired more power and over the centuries devised numerous schemes that incited war and destruction across the globe. When his latest plot was to incite nuclear war by firing missiles between the United States and Russia, the other gods began retreating into oblivion after discerning that a nuclear holocaust world destroy the planet. As newly elected champion of the Amazons, Princess Diana left the island of Themyscira to confront Ares with the Amulet of Harmonia. Managing to make him see how this chaos would lead to his own destruction (due to if war destroyed everyone on Earth there would be no worshippers to ensure his existence and power), Ares agreed to abandon his plans for nuclear war and furthermore tasked the Amazon with continuing the Amazons' centuries-old task of promoting peace and unity in the world.

Some time later, Ares possessed an unimportant criminal called Ari Buchanan, changed his name to Ares Buchanan, and began climbing the business ladder by providing hi-tech weapons for gang wars. As Buchanan, Ares also pursued a relationship with his lawyer, Donna Milton (who was Circe in disguise), conceiving a daughter with her named Lyta. However, Ares did not care much for Donna and shot her while she was pregnant. In retribution, Donna helped Diana out of a trap set by Ares and created a mini-black hold that absorbed Ares.

In an attempt to prevent the Godwave from destroying all creation, the New God Highfather conceived of a plan to enter the heart of the Source to seal the breach and stop the Godwave. Needing the strength of multiple gods, Highfather called upon Zeus, his Roman counterpart Jove, and the "Old God" Odin before Ares, too, volunteered his services. As Highfather explained his plan to the other gods, he used the power of his staff to combine all five gods into a composite being simply called "the One". Aided by the New God Metron, the One was able penetrate the Source Wall leading into the heart of the Source, however, as the gods split from each other while within the source, Ares attempted to gain the power of the Source for himself and slew Highfather in mortal combat.

Some time later, as Zeus' power waned due to less and less people worshipping him on Earth, Aphrodite, Ares and Athena assumed more prominent roles in the pantheon, fueled by the changing face of mankind's faith. Every spark of conflict and aggression gave Ares power and purpose. After Athena took control of the throne of Olympus, Aphrodite stood at her side while Ares changed his title to God of Conflict however, after Hades was also overthrown, Ares was all too eager to take up the mantle of God of the Dead and act as Athena's offside.

Realizing that a crossroads for the Gods of Olympus was soon to be reached, Ares confided in his half-sister, Cassandra Sandsmark, about a future war and bestowed upon her additional powers to act as his potential champion; giving her the Lasso of Lightning that emitted Zeus' lightning. He then traveled to Themyscira and kidnapped his daughter Lyta, who was at the time under the protection of the Amazons. Discovering this fact, Circe confronted Ares but agreed to remain as his consort and to raise their daughter Lyta in the Underworld.

On the eave of the Infinite Crisis, when the Olympian gods were again withdrawing from the world, Ares appeared to Cassandra to offer her his power to aid in the conflict after Zeus took his away from her.

Trivia

 * Ares first appeared in Wonder Woman #1 (January, 1942).
 * Hippolyta was Ares' daughter before her murder and later reincarnation as an Amazon.