We here at SuperHeroStuff.com revel in our crazy little world. When you're surrounded by all sorts of super hero related gear, we realized that your mind begins to wander. So seeing that this coming weekend is good old Father's Day, we decided to give you, the ravenous public, some food for thought when milling around with your father! Today's little thought bubble is something along the lines of the worst fathers in the superhero world. We had developed quite a list, but decided to boil it down to just a few to keep the conversation focused. I suppose in the creative world, when looking for less then reputable fathers all one must do is to toss a rock in any direction and chances are you'll hit one.
Our very first contestant is that cold blooded, stone cold badass Darkseid. One could argue that he is literally evil incarnate, he killed his own mother and sired a couple of children with a couple different ladies. Not only that, but he decided to trade sons with the opposition – the Highfather. Darkseid even commanded the Anti-Life Equation, ripping one of the DC Worlds out of time and space and threatening the very existence of the multiverse. Ironically, his traded son Orion was fated to bring down the tyrannical father, but the poor 'Dog of War' only set his father back a bit. Darkseid after being resurrected could only think of getting revenge on his own son, and managed to fire a gun backwards through time to strike a mortal blow. Fortunately for us, the Green Lantern John Stewart and the Batman figure out a way to use the very same bullet used to kill Orion to put Darkseid out of commission. Imagine if you had Darkseid for a father, a tyrant who can only think of suppressing all free will and using his devastating Omega power to abuse and manipulate. Something tells me that your weekends might be a little shot.
Magneto has always been a man with a plan. Whether he's trying to make the world safe for mutant kind, or maybe just sweeping away the normal human beings, Magneto has got to be doing something involving grand, arcing world schemes. It is kind of sad though, because all of that aggression scared off his wife to go give birth to Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch on Wundagore. Not like Magneto paid special note of it, really, and had only come to realize the connection years after the fact. Magneto's fault is his own focus, and he even manages to save the twins, which reluctantly indebts them to their father. Magneto doesn't even realize that the two are his own kids – pretty dense if you ask me! Magneto's problem was ignorance. Those two kids really could have used Magneto's guidance, look at all the problems the Scarlet Witch had to deal with!
The next stop on the hate train would be our dear family friends, the Osborns. Not the tripped out, hard rocking iron man Osborns, but the ones of Spiderman renown. Norman Osborn just wanted to help the military make a better solider, and by testing his serum on himself, proved that he could. Pity that the concoction made him insane while granting him super human strength – how dose that phrase go? The apple doesn't far from the tree? Norman's mind continued its downward trend, all the while his own son Harry fell into a great precipice of mindless self indulgent drug use. After the first Green Goblin's fall, Harry swears revenge against Spiderman and his own mind fractures exactly like his own father's. Somebody really should've offered the two some family therapy. With great power comes responsibility and all that. The sins of the Father…..
Well, in the middle of all of these superheroes and villains, where would we be without our obligatory Star Wars reference? Darth Vader, the universe's most misguided father, just wanted to protect his wife and unborn children. Wow, did he totally fall off the deep end. I guess that's what happens when you follow the path of the dark side. You think you're getting one thing, and you totally get it switched on you, laying on the side of some magma river slowly burning to death. Well, after you brutally slap around the galaxy for like 20 years, you may find yourself trying to corrupt your son and slicing his hand off when he doesn't want to comply. That's a bit harsher then just getting grounded or not having any ice cream after dinner. Darth Vader was more then ready to turn over his own son to the Emperor (who wanted Luke to kill Vader anyways, silly rule of two) or kill him if he had refused. We all know how this story ends, and it is proof that even the worse dads may not be completely past redemption.
And of course last, but not least, Corsair, the rogue father of Havok and Cyclops. Corsair and his wife made the altruistic move to save both of their children while being pursued by aliens, but when they were teleported into deep space, Corsair never looked back. Talk about a dead beat dad; he's taking it to a whole new level! Corsair was more concerned with his little game of galactic rebel, and only apologized to Cyclops after Cyclops was killed and resurrected. Corsair almost missed his chance at forgiveness twice! Corsair shares the same problem with Magneto, a focus that makes one lose sight of what is truly important.
What do you think? Who did we miss? Check back in on Sunday to see our best fathers of the Superhero Universe!