Archnemesis Dad: Difference between revisions
m
clean up
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (examples template) |
m (clean up) |
||
Line 2:
{{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]]''}}
Some fathers just really don't do well by their kids, at all. Some are aloof, remote, and [["Well Done, Son" Guy|offer scant praise for their children's achievements]]. Some expect their kids to act like adults from an early age and [["What the Hell?" Dad|offer no guidance whatsoever]]. Some will [[Parental Abandonment|abandon]] [[Disappeared Dad|their kids]]. Some will come to [[Parental Betrayal|betray their children at a crucial moment]]. Some are just downright [[Abusive Dad|abusive]]. Some will even go so far as to try [[Offing the Offspring]]. A few, however, will go the extra mile to take every action and every opportunity to foil their children's plans and ruin their lives and become an
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.
Line 9:
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.
{
== Non-Spoiler Examples ==
Line 32:
** Played straight and then subverted in the ''Black Glove'' story arc, where it is implied that the eponymous villain is actually Bruce's dad Thomas, who was really an evil psychopath. Neither allegation turns out to be true, though the real Black Glove, one [[Complete Monster|Doctor Simon Hurt]], nonetheless claims to be Thomas Wayne to both Bruce and Alfred's face, even though both men obviously knew he wasn't. It is implied that Hurt is actually [[Satan]] himself, though for a moment Batman accuses him of being an actor who used to impersonate his father, which would make this yet another inversion. Hurt denies this and claimed to have killed said actor and ''wore his skin'' to a party. So it's a triple subversion, with Hurt being a guy pretending to be a guy who pretended to be Bruce Waynes dad, ''and'' pretending to be Bruce's Wayne's dad. Phew!
*** ''Return of Bruce Wayne'' suggests that Hurt ''is'' Dr Thomas Wayne. Just not ''[[Identical Grandson|that]]'' Dr Thomas Wayne...
* In ''[[Fables]]'', the Adversary is revealed to be {{spoiler|Geppeto}}, thereby making him {{spoiler|Pinnochio's}}
* The android superhero [[Red Tornado]] and his creator T.O. Morrow have this dynamic. Several storylines revolve around Morrow's attempts to destroy/manipulate/reprogram his prodigal son.
* Hank Pym (aka Giant-Man/Ant-Man) and his creation, Ultron, have this relationship with a twist: the son is the villain and the father the hero. Ultron, in a classic case of [[AI Is a Crapshoot]], is a genocidal maniac bent on wiping all humanity from the face of the earth. Pym, of course, has informed him that this will happen over his dead body, and has spent years of his life foiling Ultron's schemes and destroying his various incarnations. [[Depending on the Writer]], Ultron is sometimes [[Big Bad Dad]] to his own artificial "son", The Vision, who was originally designed as [[The Mole]], but [[Becoming the Mask|Became the Mask]] and joined [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]], of which Pym is a founding member.
* The Pride in ''[[Runaways]]'' is made up of six pairs of
* At the end of the war between [[New Gods|New Genesis and Apokolips,]] rulers Highfather and Darkseid exchanged their baby sons as part of the peace treaty. Darkseid's son, Orion, was raised a hero (albeit one with anger issues), who plays this about as straight as possible, sometimes going after Darkseid even against the wishes of his adopted father.
* In ''[[All Fall Down]]'', we have IQ to his son, IQ Squared.
Line 91:
== [[Luke, I Am Your Father|Surprise Twist Fathers]] (here be spoilers)
=== Anime and Manga ===
* 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
| |||