The Children of Ares are several fictional characters appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as recurring adversaries of the superhero Wonder Woman. Primarily based on eponymous Greek mythological figures, they are malevolent progeny of Wonder Woman's nemesis, the war god Ares. Three in particular – Deimos, Phobos and Eris – have emerged as enduring characters, appearing in every era of Wonder Woman's comic book adventures since debuting in 1969's Wonder Woman #183. Beginning in the Silver Age of Comic Books, these three characters have often been presented as Ares' principal legates in his campaigns for universal conquest, and have also confronted Wonder Woman on their own, individually as well as with one another, as antagonists independent of their father.
As the narrative continuity of Wonder Woman comics has been adjusted by different writers and artists through the years, various versions of Deimos, Phobos and Eris (with various personalities and physical appearances) have been presented. The trio's longest running incarnation, co-devised by writer Greg Potter and writer/artist George Pérez, was as grim classical deities with gruesome features, clad in fantastical Greco-Roman armor. In DC Comics' current post-Rebirth continuity, they are presented as more human figures with more contemporary personalities.
Several other of Ares' progeny – Eros, Harmonia, Hippolyta "Lyta" Milton and the Crow Children – have featured in the Wonder Woman mythos at various points in its history. Of these, only Eros has spanned multiple continuities, appearing in the Bronze Age, Modern Age, New 52 and post-Rebirth eras. Harmonia, Lyta Milton and the Crow Children are all specific to the post-Crisis period of DC's Modern Age continuity, and have not appeared outside of it.
Context Nomenclature There is no group known as "the Children of Ares" in any DC Comics continuity; the term has never been used as an in-story proper team name, such as "Justice League" or "Suicide Squad". However, during DC's post-Crisis continuity, the trio of Deimos, Phobos and Eris were designated as "Ares' Children" in an illustrated encyclopedic entry by that title in 1999's Wonder Woman Secret Files and Origins #2. Several years later, a similar entry titled "Children of Ares" grouped the same three characters in Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide to the Amazon Princess, a Wonder Woman encyclopedia published in 2003 in conjunction with DC Comics. Though Wonder Woman uses the phrase "children of Ares" to address the Crow Children in 2010's Wonder Woman (vol. 3) #41, she is not naming them properly but rather indicating her knowledge of their parentage and fealty.
Golden Age progenitors Though Deimos, Phobos and Eris have functioned as a coterie of generals in service to Ares in Wonder Woman comic books dating back to the Silver Age of Comics, they are, in fact, the second trio characters to do so. The convention began in Golden Age stories written in the 1940s by Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston, who penned three other figures to serve as the chief operatives of the war god: the Duke of Deception, Lord/Count Conquest and the Earl of Greed. A fourth figure, General Destruction, makes a single background appearance as Mars' aide-de-camp in Wonder Woman #2, but is never seen again.
The Duke of Deception would strike out on his own to become one of Wonder Woman's principal mid-century foes, though Lord/Count Conquest and the Earl of Greed would reappear to complete the triumvirate for minor appearances in both the Silver and Bronze Ages.
Deimos and Phobos
Deimos is based on the eponymous Greek mythological god of terror and Phobos on the eponymous god of fear.Beatty 2003, p. 132 They are brothers, both sons to Ares and Aphrodite, and have been paired as a collaborative duo for most of their DC Comics appearances. Since 2017, they have been presented as identical twins, always in one another's company.
This Deimos is a distinct character from the villain of the same name.
Publication history Silver Age
Deimos and Phobos debuted in a Silver Age story written and illustrated by Mike Sekowsky in 1969's Wonder Woman #183. Aiding their father (who was then known in DC Comics' continuity as "Mars") alongside Eris (presented here as their aunt)Jimenez 2010, p. 108 the brothers led a powerful demonic army known as the "Beast Men" in a bid to conquer the Amazons of Paradise Island and extract from them their secret of interdimensional travel. Attired in Greco-Roman robes and bearing human features, the somewhat sinister looking pair served as Mars' battlefield proxies. The brothers would make a reprise appearance in 1972's Wonder Woman #198.
Modern Age: post-Crisis on Infinite Earths After DC Comics rebooted its continuity in 1985 (in a publication event known as the Crisis on Infinite Earths), Wonder Woman, her supporting characters and many of her foes were re-imagined and reintroduced. Deimos and Phobos were among the first of the hero's adversaries to be updated for her post-Crisis adventures, appearing in revamped forms in 1986's Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #2, written by George Pérez and Greg Potter, and illustrated by Pérez. Designed with grotesque physical appearances, and possessing more defined personalities than their Silver Age incarnations, the Modern Age Deimos and Phobos posed a more menacing threat to Wonder Woman and her allies than in the prior continuity. Strategizing at Ares' hest from the war god's other-dimensional stronghold of Areopagus, the snake-bearded Deimos was presented as coolly calculating, while the hulking, troll-like Phobos was rash, petty and deceitful. Phobos' jealous desire to win the approval of his father led him to create the nightmarish demon Decay,Beatty 2003, p. 101. one of the first overt threats the Post-Crisis Wonder Woman faced after leaving her home on the island of Themyscira.
Though Phobos' personality was that of an insecure and scheming malcontent, he would prove to be the brother with more initiative, and the character with more staying power. Though Deimos was apparently killed in battle by Wonder Woman in Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #5, Phobos would survive and go on to make multiple appearances as a foil for the hero. He returned in 1988's Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #23-24 with the Gorgon Euryale and the colossal Ixion the Assassin as his accomplices, only to be defeated by Wonder Woman and the Olympian god Hermes.Jimenez 2010, p. 326. Resurfacing again as a key figure in DC Comics' 1992 company-wide crossover event The War of the Gods, Phobos this time allied himself with Eris (who, in the Post-Crisis continuity, is presented as his sister) and the sorceress Circe in a treacherous plot to kill Ares.Beatty 2003, p. 70. He would return yet again in 2000's "Gods of Gotham" storyline in Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #164-167, reunited with the whole of his malevolent family: a resurrected Deimos, Eris and Ares, to battle not only Wonder Woman, but Batman, Wonder Girls Donna Troy and Cassie Sandsmark, Nightwing, Robin Tim Drake, the Huntress, Artemis and Oracle. Here Phobos would again come to the fore as a vexingly deceitful figure, betraying his siblings and father by possessing Batman's body and becoming an all-powerful fear deity. He was only defeated by the combined might of the Wonder Woman and Batman families, as well as Ares himself.
Modern Age: DC Rebirth
In 2017, as part of DC Comics' Rebirth continuity reboot, new versions of Deimos and Phobos were introduced to the Wonder Woman mythos by writer Greg Rucka in Wonder Woman (vol. 5) #16. Now identical red-haired twins dressed as steampunk dandies, the airish pair blackmail pharmaceutical tycoon Veronica Cale into helping them locate the hidden island of Themyscira, where their father Ares is imprisoned by the Amazons. Presented as elevated, patronizing and smilingly cruel, this Deimos and Phobos also precipitate the circumstances that turn Cale's best friend Dr. Adrianna Anderson into the post-Rebirth Doctor Cyber. However, Cale and Cyber turn the tables on Deimos and Phobos, enlisting the sorceress Circe to transform the twins into doberman pinschers, whom Cale subsequently keeps as pets and guard dogs.
The twins are eventually freed from their canine forms and reappear, this time as key figures in the origin of the Rebirth-era Wonder Girl, Yara Flor in several issues of Joëlle Jones' 2021-2022 series Wonder Girl (vol. 2). Clad in shadowy Greco-Roman helmets and armor, they assist their brother Eros in murdering Yara's mother Aella. They later appear as power-brokers for their grandmother Hera in Wonder Woman #787-790, assisting Doctor Psycho in forming a new incarnation of Villainy Inc.
Eris
Eris is based on the eponymous Greek mythological goddess of strife and discord. Her familial relationship to Ares has varied as DC Comics continuities have shifted and evolved, but she has been consistently portrayed as having a strong, if complicated, association with him. She was presented as his sister in her Silver Age debut, however beginning in 1989 with her post-Crisis reformulation and continuing into subsequent continuities, she is portrayed also as his daughter. Presumably the result of an incestuous union between Ares and his mother Hera, Eris is the monstrous half-sister of Deimos and Phobos. She wields the Golden Apples of Discord, powerful magical toxicants that can corrupt the minds and emotions of her victims, and undermine events and relationships. She is a master of manipulation, capable of subtly maneuvering others toward extremely destructive actions.
Publication history Silver Age Like Deimos and Phobos, Eris debuted in 1969's Wonder Woman #183. A sorceress in violet armor with a formfitting black wimple and cloak, she aids Mars in an attempt to conquer the Amazons of Paradise Island. At his behest, she casts an ancient spell on Queen Hippolyta, cursing her into a tortured coma from which she could not be awakened. She would reprise this appearance several years later in 1972's Wonder Woman #198.
Modern Age: post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Eris made her first post-Crisis appearance in 1989's Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #37 and served as the principal antagonist in a four-issue story arc co-written by George Pérez, William Messner-Loebs and Mindy Newell. Designed by Pérez as an imposing female figure in blue Greco-Roman armor, the post-Crisis Eris bears more than a passing visual resemblance to her father Ares, and is presented as the antithesis of her benevolent half-sister Harmonia. With a mane of slate-colored hair and shadowy skin (rendered by different colorists at different times as dark gray, pitch black or deep crimson), this Eris is a dour and imperious deity who manipulates events from beneath the tree of the Golden Apples of Discord, located in a night-shrouded nether-realm. When Wonder Woman's mother Queen Hippolyta agrees to open the island nation of Themyscira to the outside world, Eris uses her cursed Golden Apples to sabotage its first diplomatic summit with the United Nations. Journalist Lois Lane, covering the summit for the Daily Planet, deduces Eris' plot and rescues Wonder Woman, who has fallen under the goddess' thrall. Together, the two are able to defeat Eris, and though the ordeal severely damages Themyscira's burgeoning international reputation, Wonder Woman and Lois succeed in forming a newfound mutual friendship.