Archnemesis Dad: Difference between revisions

{{quote|"''If you're going to take [[Big Bad|me]] on, [[Lex Luthor|son]], you're going to have to bring your game up to a whole different level.''"|'''Lionel Luthor''', ''[[Smallville]]''}}

 

 

This trope is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]: a father or father figure who also happens to be a prime candidate for the title of a character's [[Arch Enemy]]. He could be anywhere on the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]], but whether he's [[The Big Bad]], [[The Dragon]], or something else entirely, any story featuring him is likely to be emotionally charged at the least. Normally this will be a case of [[It's Personal]], and may well include offers of [[We Can Rule Together]], but not always: particularly cold-hearted fathers may declare [[I Have No Son]] and treat the child in question as just one more problem to be solved.

This trope's [[Distaff Counterpart]] is the [[Evil Matriarch]]. The inversion is [[Antagonistic Offspring]]. See [[Evil Uncle]] for when it's not dad but his [[Cain and Abel|brother]] who goes out of his way to ruin your day.

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* In ''[[Code Geass]]'' this is pretty much Emperor Charles zi Britannia's raison d'etre. He has children by 108 different wives and believes the best way to choose a successor to the throne is to pit them all against each other, encouraging backstabbing and assassination at every turn, [[Social Darwinist|so that the last one standing will be the strongest and most fit to lead.]] [[Prodigal Hero|Prodigal]] prince Lelouch blames the death of his mother and the crippling of his sister on the Emperor's ruthless parenting style, and he launches a worldwide [[La Résistance|rebellion]] against Brittania so he can put an end to this system of sibling rivalry forever. Though, for most of the series, the Emperor doesn't consider Lelouch much of a threat and takes a hands-off approach towards dealing with him.

* The Fourth Kazekage from [[Naruto]]. He [[Sealed Evil in a Can|placed a known dangerous tanuki-demon into his unborn child Gaara]] to create a [[Tyke Bomb]] for his ninja village. He used his own wife as a [[Human Sacrifice]] to complete the act, all (of course) without her consent. When he couldn't train the aforementioned [[Tyke Bomb]] to control his powers well, he [[Offing the Offspring|tries to kill Gaara]].

 

 

** This is also played with in [[Ultimate Spider-Man]], where Osborn's military research (including pieces of Peter's parents' research) leads directly to Peter gaining his powers. And Miles Morales, the new Ultimate Spider-man, got his powers from a stolen spider from Osborn's lab. Osborn keeps unintentionally birthing spidermen.

* A similar situation exists between ''[[Batman]]'' and Ra's Al Ghul. He, too, sees Bruce almost like the son he never had, and he actually plans on making him both his heir and his son-in-law by marrying him to his daughter Talia, something both Bruce and Talia are seriously tempted to do.

 

 

* Bruce Banner's father, David, in the 2003 ''[[Hulk (film)|Hulk]]''. After performing dangerous tests on himself, some of it was passed on genetically when Bruce was conceived. He attempted to murder Bruce but failed, striking down his wife in the process. Thirty years later, following his release from prison, he tracks down Bruce and attempts to rebuild their relationship while {{spoiler|secretly plotting to drain Bruce's powers and alter-ego in order to rebuild his own decaying cellular structure and gain his revenge on the military}}. A very, very bad dude, though not without his sympathetic moments.

* Dreverhaven in the Dutch movie ''Character'' has such an antagonistic relationship with his son that said son is the prime suspect when Dreverhaven is murdered.

 

 

* In ''I Am A Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President'', Oliver Watson describes his father as his "archnemesis (a.k.a. Daddy)".

* One could hardly be a worse father than Georges Leon, the quasi-immortal gambler of [[Tim Powers]]' ''Last Call.'' He schemes to live on by [[Grand Theft Me|stealing other people's bodies]], including that of his son and the book's hero, Scott Crane. {{spoiler|Scott's older brother Richard has already fallen prey to Georges.}}

 

 

* John Locke's father on ''[[Lost]]'' abandoned him until well into his adult life, at which point he {{spoiler|stole his kidney}}, {{spoiler|re-abandoned him}}, {{spoiler|used him as a courier}}, {{spoiler|abandoned him again}}, and {{spoiler|pushed him out of an 8-story window}}.

** {{spoiler|And even then, Locke was too much of a wuss to actually kill him when he had the chance}}.

 

 

* [[Satan Is Good|Satan]] and [[God Is Evil|God]] are sometimes portrayed this way.

* In Greek mythology, Cronos had his children fed to him in order to ensure that a prophecy which stated one of his sons would overthrow him would never come to pass. Until Cronos wife fed a stone to Cronos instead of baby Zeus. Zeus then proceeded to free his brothers and sisters from Cronos stomach and promptly kicked Cronos ass.

 

 

* [[Tekken|Every generation of the Mishima clan starting with Heihachi has this issue]]. Jinpachi was a nice enough guy, but Heihachi hated him anyways, so I guess you could count him too if you wanted. In fact, pretty much the entire main plot of the [[Tekken]] series exists because the Mishimas all hate and fight their fathers [[He Who Fights Monsters|until they turn corrupt themselves]].

* In ''[[Psychonauts]]'', the final boss of Raz and {{spoiler|Coach Oleander}}'s minds are their grotesque antagonistic fathers. In Raz's case, {{spoiler|[[Just for Pun|it's all in his head]] -- his dad shows up and [[Papa Wolf|helps him defeat the monster]]}}.

 

 

* [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] on [[Gaia Online]]; {{spoiler|Labtech X}} is an Archnemesis ''Son'' ([[Cloning Blues|sort of]]).

* In [[Less Than Three Comics|LessThanThreeComics]]' Brat Pack, Firestorm's father abused him through his entire life, but the rest of the world only knows him as Napalm, one of America's greatest superheroes.

 

 

 

* The [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Tenjho Tenge]]'' is [[The Hero|Souichiro Nagi's]] father Sohaku. The guy stole his ex-wife's (Souichiro's beloved mother) eye for its power and chopped off her arm when she tried to stop him and later implanted his ''own'' eye into Souichiro as part of his plan to [[Grand Theft Me|take over Souichiro's body and powers]]. That's not even getting into his other victims -- it's a long list.

 

 

* [[Star Wars|Darth Vader]] is an archetypical example toward both Luke and Leia, though he does, eventually, [[Redemption Equals Death|get better]].

 

 

* {{spoiler|Andrew Ryan}} from ''[[BioShock]]'', but it comes as a surprise to him too and he stops trying to kill you when he finds out.

* [[I Wanna Be the Guy|The Guy]].

* [[Xenogears]] has a few of these.

** {{spoiler|Miang, revealed to be the mother of}} ''{{spoiler|all humanity}},'' {{spoiler|is also the story's [[Big Bad]]. And as a [[Body Surf|BodySurfer]] who can awaken in any human woman, one of Miang's incarnations was Fei's own mother Karen. Fei and Karen were not technically adversaries, but Miang's consciousness was in control most of the time. Karen resurfaced in the end to be a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save young Fei's life. Miang simply surfed to another new body somewhere else in the world}}.

* In [[Jade Empire]], {{spoiler|not only is Master Li your character's father figure, it's also possible to find out that he's Dawn Star's father. In a subversion, absolutely nothing changes with his reactions to Dawn Star}}.

** {{spoiler|Ashnard}} was this for {{spoiler|Soren}} in ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius|Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance]]''. He never does find out, though.

 

 

 

 

* In ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'', {{spoiler|Numbuh One Nigel Uno}} is quite understandably freaked out when he realizes that [[Big Bad]] Grandfather is ''his'' grandfather. This also makes [[Arch Enemy|Father]] his [[Evil Uncle|uncle]]. Inverted with his father who was once the legendary KND operative Agent Zero.

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': Zuko and Ozai. And during the eclipse, when Zuko renounces trying to be the son Ozai wants, Ozai reveals that he projected to kill him when he was not even in his teens.