Who plays Ares in Percy Jackson? WWE star explained

Percy Jackson has just pulled another Greek god into the ring, but Ares has definitely seen the ring before…the WWE ring.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians is more than midway through its freshman run on Disney+. The official synopsis of Season 1, which follows the plot of the first book, Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief, reads: “12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson, is coming to terms with his newfound divine powers when the sky god, Zeus, accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt; with his friend’s help, Percy must restore order to Olympus.”

Fans have been loving the new series so far, mainly due to it being far more accurate to the books than the 2010 Logan Lerman movies were, with a lot more involvement from author Rick Riordan.

One aspect of accuracy is the character of Ares, who is a major character in the book, but never appears in the movies. But who is Ares, and who plays him in the Percy Jackson show – and what’s he got to do with the WWE? Let’s get into it, but first: Spoiler warning for Percy Jackson & the Olympians!

Who is Ares?

As one of the Twelve Olympians, Ares is the God of War, and as a son of Zeus and Hera, he is technically Percy Jackson’s much older cousin in the series.

He has a great adoration for violence and war, overseeing conflicts throughout history, and clearly has no reservations about fighting Percy and the other demigods if needs be. He believes a war among the gods is inevitable, because they’re all a messy family, and he loves them for that.

Although his relationship with the other gods can be fickle. He and Aphrodite were lovers – which plays a major part in Episode 5 – while he holds resentment towards Athena, which can come across as sibling rivalry.

Like many of the gods, he has his own demigod children. However, he makes it clear that he doesn’t like children, mainly due to how innocent they all are. This even extends to his own children, who he admits he only likes slightly more than other kids. With his lack of parental care apparent, it’s easy to understand why his children, namely Clarisse, the bully of Camp Half Blood who battled Percy in Episode 2, acts the way she does.

Who plays Ares in the Percy Jackson Disney+ series?

In Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Ares is played by Adam Copeland, otherwise know as Edge, previously in the WWE and now found in AEW.

In the movies, Ares was regulated to a small cameo with no dialogue. But here, Ares first appears in Episode 5, and as we state in our 4-star review, Copeland “manages to be both threatening and brutishly funny, making him a great obstacle for a show like Percy Jackson.” The scenes between him and Grover are particularly fun, as Grover manipulates Ares prideful need to be outsmart Athena in order to get information from him about who may have stolen the lightning bolt.

Adam Copeland is well known for his time in the WWE as Edge, and like other fighters, such as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Dave Bautista, he has since begun a career in acting. Most notably before Percy Jackson, he could be seen in the 2017 series Vikings.

Check him out in the Percy Jackson trailer below:

Check out our other Percy Jackson coverage here, how and when you can watch it here, and the rest of our Movies & TV coverage here.