Paid-for Family: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

Something like [[The Paid for Harem]], this is when a character pays people to act as though they were his warm and loving family. A rather extreme form of [[I Just Want to Be Normal]], if the character in question is incapable of founding a "normal" family, or a way to show said character's [[Freudian Excuse]]. Sometimes played for laughs, such as for keeping a [[I Want Grandkids]] parent at bay. See also [[The Beard]], for when the character pays someone to act as his [[Love Interest]].

 

== Film ==

** Because labyrinthine scheming is encouraged in that household over telling people who care about you what you really feel. (This storyline was presumably inspired by the original early Batman story where Dick Grayson's real uncle turned up and sued for custody, but only so he could force Bruce to bribe him to give it up. This was back when Alfred was a humourously incompetent fat man, and he accidentally saved the day with one of the Penguin's old umbrellas.)

* ''[[The Authority]]'': In a decidedly creepy variation, in one story that has [[The Authority]] replaced by [[Heroic Sociopath]] [[Captain Ersatz]]-es, the Engineer has all her nanomachines removed and is brainwashed, then placed in a "family" of evil children and an abusive husband (all actors), that she will be conditioned to never leave or go against despite the abuse they heap on her. Her escape is a definite [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

* ''[[The Flash]]'': Captain Boomerang in one appearance, pays two elderly con artists he knows to play his aged parents. They testify to Boomer's good character to deflect Barry Allen's suspicions.