AEW star Adam Copeland revels in the 'joy' of war god Ares in Disney+'s 'Percy Jackson'

Who better to play the mythological god of war than a guy who’s seen his share of battles, cage matches and tussles filled with tables, ladders and chairs over three decades?

Pro wrestler Adam Copeland debuts as the fearsome and abrasive Ares on the new episode (streaming now) of Disney+’s fantasy adventure series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” based on the popular Rick Riordan book series. Percy (Walker Scobell), son of Poseidon, and his friends Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries) and Grover (Aryan Simhadri) are on a cross-country trip to find Zeus’ stolen Master Bolt when they run into Ares on a highway outside St. Louis.

Ares verbally spars with the youngsters in a diner over cheeseburgers and gives them a mission to find his shield at a trap-filled amusement park. This contemporary warmonger "gets his kicks throughout the day trying to get people inflamed on social media," says Copeland, 50, who loves the comedic bent that makes Ares “more than just a big, scary god of war."

"That has to be in there, don't get me wrong. But if it's just that, ugh, that would get old. If you can be sarcastic, smarmy, acidic, and then all of a sudden there's this anger bubbling up that shows you're really dangerous, too, now it's more than just one note. Those are big emotions that I can pull from my wrestling career.”

Copeland is a part of a starry supporting cast of gods including Lin-Manuel Miranda and Megan Mullally, and it’s a return to TV where he’s dabbled over the years with roles in “Haven,” “The Flash,” “Vikings” and other series. Now, “I think I've accepted that I'm an actor,” he says. But Copeland has his biggest following with his day job: He joined All Elite Wrestling in October and currently appears on weekly shows like “Dynamite,” “Rampage” and “Collision” after spending 20 years known as “Edge” in WWE.

The veteran grappler, who doesn’t get starstruck in his lines of work but admits “I might have an issue” if he ever ran into Paul McCartney, talks with USA TODAY about his new “Percy” role, wrestling and which one his daughters Lyric, 10, and Ruby, 7, prefer.

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Q: Ares shows up on a motorcycle with a duster coat, boots and leather everywhere. Was that a fashion nod to some of your wrestling outfits over the years?

Adam Copeland: I got this compendium where they show pictures of the character, and he's wearing shades and a big leather jacket. That was just a happy accident, to be honest. I told our costumer, “Hey, I got some trench coats if you want to get the measurements. I don't know if that helps at all.” That was all really Rick's vision of what this character was in a modern-day world.

You took your family to the New York “Percy” premiere. Are your daughters bigger fans of that or the wrestling stuff? 

Well, I think they put up with the wrestling. They enjoy it to an extent but they also see sometimes how I wake up in the morning, so they know there's a very real physical toll. I got a bit of a shiner right now. That makes it harder for them to enjoy that even though they know I'm playing a character and that what we're doing is entertainment. With ("Percy"), they love the subject matter and that it's based around young adults: To see how invested they've gotten into this series so far, before my character even comes into play, was exciting to me.

I can see the joy kids are getting from this. When I go in the walker line at school to get the girls, all the little boys are coming up and it's so much fun to see something that, especially in today's climate, pretty much all kids can watch. There might be a couple of scary aspects, but the Minotaur is wearing briefs to make it still digestible for a younger person that might be afraid of that element. 

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Since you started taking on roles, and peers like Dwayne Johnson, Dave Bautista and John Cena have risen as movie stars, do you find Hollywood’s more accepting of wrestlers as performers?

Yes, and not just for "Oh, we need someone to do a big fight scene." Dwayne, John and Dave have really broken down some boundaries, without a doubt. Especially the choices that Dave's making: That's a guy who's built like the incredible Hulk but can still play an endearing, compassionate character. They all can.

Hollywood's starting to understand that we're trained to do a lot of different things that come in very, very handy. I also think movies like “The Iron Claw” (help), hearing the actors in that movie understand, for lack of a better term, the art form that professional wrestling is. All the plates you're keeping in the air while doing your own stunts and possibly having to fill 10 minutes of time on live television with a microphone, that's a skill set.

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You mentioned the black eye. Is it sometimes more enjoyable those days where you’re bantering with young actors over burgers on a set than being smacked in the face in the ring?

For sure. I realize the wrestling is a window that's not open forever so I'm trying to get all of the experiences I can out of it while I can. The great part about acting is you can get into a different stage where you're going for different roles and it doesn't always have to be based on your physicality. I can be the big guy that swings the sword but, man, if there's a scene like that ("Percy") diner scene or if on “Vikings,” I can be this manipulative, power-hungry Viking, now that's fun.