High meta is the safest bet due to some of Ares' lower showings in the past, but modern day Ares has had some good showings. Me personally, I'd put him in the low herald tier at this point. He has wrestled with Hercules and other heralds like Skaar. He has tanked blasts from Galactus. And the Dark Reign files had him power wise alongside characters like the Red Hulk, Hela and Juggernaut. The next power tier were cosmic beings such as the Molecule Man, Sentry, Mephisto, Nightmare and others.
What kinda speaks against Ares are his 70 tonner strength levels from the old days. Even Skyfathers like Odin and Zeus had lower base levels and had to amp their strength with magic. +100 tonner strength levels were almost exclusively reserved for Thor and Hercules.
^ I was under the impression that Apocalypse was made of malleable alloy. His AoA incarnation too. If he is, could that feat apply to someone like Ares?
The impressiveness of the God killing feat in Marvel depends on the way the writer views Gods. For example : (please log in to view the image)
Here X-Man, one of the most powerful PSIs in all Marvel, has no counter to Ares who exists as the personification of War on every plane of reality in the multiverse simultaneously (even past, present, future). Yet Sentry ripped that dude in half, ending him.
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..even the outer hells are indifferent matters for they bow only to potent and archaic Nodens.
^ Given those scenes preceded Siege, you're not exactly wrong. But it's also arguable that Sentry did not tear apart the very concept of war during Siege.
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.