Who is the worst dad in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
By Sandy C.
Photo Credit: Thanos/Marvel Image Acquired from Wikimedia via Google Creative Commons
Nearly every hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has severe daddy issues. And while it’s easy to blame your parents, most of our heroes really did have a terrible father. But who takes the cake for the worst dad in the MCU?
Tony Stark/Iron Man, Thor, Spider-Man, Peter Quill/Star-Lord, and many more, have daddy issues. We can even step out of the big screen and into the MCU’s small-screen shows, such as Netflix’s many Marvel series’ and Agents of SHIELD, and we’ve got Elektra, Ward and Joy Meachum, Daisy… the list goes on and on.
Why are Marvel dads so lousy? And the heroes who didn’t have bad parents, didn’t have a father at all or the father/father-figure was killed too soon.
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And it’s not just Marvel. Our second favorite hero universe (yes, I said it!), DCEU, also has this problem. Just think of The Flash, Batman, Superman… The connection between heroes and dads is obvious.
Back to Marvel, though.
Before we break down who the worst dad is, let’s give an honorable mention and round of applause to the very few awesome fathers and father-figures in the MCU!
- Uncle Ben — He didn’t only step up and raise Peter to be good and kind, but he also taught us all that “With great power, comes great responsibility.”
- Frank Castle/The Punisher — Frank clearly adored his family. He became the Punisher to avenge his family and kill those responsible. Frank had viewers at home crying as he told Matt Murdock/Daredevil about his family. (One batch, two batch, penny and dime...”)
- Scott Lang/Ant-Man — While he’s not a stellar dad, Scott clearly loves his daughter. And all you need to do is watch the scene below to see how much his daughter loves him back.
- Tony Stark — What? Is it too early to say he’s a great father-figure to Peter Parker? The kid obviously loves Tony and wants to make him proud, as all children do.