25 Worst Fathers in Comic Books

#7: RA’S AL GHUL

Batman’s immortal enemy Ra’s al Ghul believes the world’s greatest threat is overpopulation and is willing to take drastic measures to reduce it. He allows his daughter, Nyssa Raatko, and her children to be killed by Nazis in Batman: Death and the Maidens. Nyssa strikes out in world after becoming disillusioned with her father’s vision. She starts a new family, which is put in a concentration camp during WWII. Nyssa’s children are killed and she is sterilized. Ra’s visits her at the camp but refuses to free her. He calls the Holocaust a “necessary evil.” She eventually escapes and vows to get revenge. Nyssa brainwashes her sister Talia to kill their father but he slays her without hesitation. He explains she would never be ready to take his place. Ra’s tells Nyssa that she is ready to be his heir having seen firsthand that the world is sick. Nyssa submits and kills him to take his place as the Demon’s Head.

Ra’s sought to transfer his mind into his grandson Damian Wayne, the son of Batman and Talia, in Batman: The Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul. Damian was grown in a test tube to be obedient but had since grown “headstrong” from his time with his father. He refuses to be Ra’s next host and Ra’s has to resort to using his other son, Dusan AKA White Ghost, who was never considered as a possible heir as an albino. Dusan was unable survive the body swap into his father’s old and damage body. Only in death does Ra’s finally acknowledges him. “Off all my offspring, only he never faltered,” Ra’s declares. “He whom I called the Flawed One…the Unworthy One.”

#8: KANG THE CONQUEROR

Nathaniel Richards AKA Kang the Conqueror uses his mastery of time travel to conquer the world but it’s all for the benefit of his son, Marcus, as revealed in Avengers #54 “Kang Dynasty”. Unexpectly, Kang kills Marcus after he saves him from rotting in prison. His son previously betrayed him and he explains that while he was content to die and allow his heir take over, he now that he’s still in charge he can not abide traitors. Kang divulges that Marcus is not only a clone but the 23rd clone to fail his expectations.

Kang sees mutants as a threat to his rule so he kidnaps the Apocalypse Twins, Uriel and Eimin, and raises them to hate humans. He teaches the twins that peaceful coexistence is impossible by dropping them in a mutant concentration camp run by the Red Skull in Uncanny Avengers #12. Kang stands by and watches as Uriel is forced to blind Eimin for seeing an opportunity to escape.

#9: ZEUS

Zeus was nearly eaten by Cronus to prevent him from usurping his father as King of the Gods. Like father like son, Zeus orders the death of his son when a witch prophesied he would take his throne as revealed in the First Born origin story featured in Wonder Woman 23.2. The witch leaves the baby in wild to give him a chance at the behest of Zeus’ wife, Hera. The First Born is raised by hyenas and fathers a hybrid army, which he marches to Mount Olympus to take the throne he was denied. Zeus tells him that only if and when he dies may his son have a chance to assume the throne. The earth open and swallows the First Born, who spends the next 7,000 years to climbing out. He emerges to learn Zeus died but was reincarnated as his Last Born child. The First Born’s sister, Wonder Woman, pushes him back down the hole and calls it “tough love.”

#10: VANDAL SAVAGE

Vandal Savage was a caveman, who became immortal after exposure to radiation from a mysterious meteorite. Savage lives up to his name. He conquers the world under numerous assumed identities including the Genghis Khan and Vlad the Impaler. Vandal flees to a remote village after a failed coup in Brazil. He rapes the women including the mother of his daughter, Scandal Savage. Her mother gets revenge by making him falling in love with her then committing suicide, unbeknownst to her daughter. Vandal then tells his nine-year-old daughter he will kill her mother unless she runs the gauntlet in Secret Six Vol. 2: Money and Murder. Scandal is brutally beaten with sticks and doesn’t make it through the gauntlet. Vandal gives her a second chance after arming her with the Laminas Pesar or “Lamentation Blades,” which her mother used to kill herself.

Vandal has many descendants but insists on an heir from Scandal as her mother is the only woman he ever loved. She refuses to based on the fact that she’s lesbian but he doesn’t take no for an answer. Vandal tries to strong-arm her by sending assassins after her friends in Secret Six: Six Degrees of Devastation. Vandal threatens to have her raped if she doesn’t willing consent. “I don’t need your cooperation for this,” he tells his daughter. “Merely your reproductive organs.”

#11: GREEN GOBLIN (NORMAN OSBORN)

Long before Norman Osborn AKA Green Goblin became Spider-Man’s archenemy, he tormented his own son, Harry. Spidey distracts the Green Goblin by getting the megalomaniac to explain his origin in Amazing Spider-Man #40. Norman gives a delusional narration of a flashback showing him neglecting his son then buying him off with gifts. He was focused solely on working to become rich and powerful, which he did in part by getting his business partner arrested. Norman used the opportunity to steal his partner’s formula, which blew up and transformed him into the Green Goblin. The formula was sabotaged by his son who was tired of being ignored, Harry later revealed in Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #14.

Even after Green Goblin died, Norman continued to haunt his son. Harry goes crazy and takes up the mantle to get revenge against Spider-Man. He was eventually cured his evil persona but it re-emerged during Marvel’s Inferno saga, which was trigger by another bad dad. X-Men leader Cyclops walked out his family leading to his wife, Madelyne Pryor, becoming the Goblin Queen and unleashing the demons. Harry started having hallucinations of his father criticizing his parenting skills with his own son, Normie. Peter also appeared as the good angel on his shoulder but the devil won out in Spectacular Spider-Man #180. Harry once again succumbs to the Green Goblin but regains control to save Normie. When he collapses from his use of the formula, his very much alive father fakes his death.

Norman completely gives up on Harry as an heir and attempts to brainwash Peter Parker into becoming the Green Goblin. When that fails, he tries to convince Harry to man up and become an Iron Man knockoff called American Son. His true intention is to sacrifice his son and turn it into a political victory in his rise to power as the superhero Iron Patriot. Harry is reluctant to put on the suit until he learns his father impregnated his girlfriend, Lily Hollister, in Amazing Spider-Man #599. Harry furiously attacks his father and stops only when Spider-Man convinces him not to throw away all his hard work at building his own legacy. Norman tells the baby that Harry is dead to him and he’s his only son now but a genetic test later reveals Harry is in fact the father.

#12: MAGNETO

Max Eisenhardt survived the Holocaust only to become the very thing he hated when his mutant powers manifested. He champions the superiority of mutants as the supervillain Magneto. His family is seemingly killed in an attack by angry villagers but his twin children survived, unbeknownst to him. Wanda Maximoff AKA Scarlet Witch and Pietro Maximoff AKA Quicksilver are raised by gypsies, who are also attacked by angry villagers. Magneto saves the young mutants without knowing their relation until years later (supposedly). They join his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to pay their debt to him. Magneto uses them as pawns. He attempts to entice Namor to join by literally throwing his daughter at him in Uncanny X-Men #6.

Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver eventually grow weary of their treatment and attempt to leave but Magneto imprisons them. Magneto devises a sinister plan to endear them to his cause in Avengers #49. The supervillain claims he no longer wants to dominate humans and simply wishes for mutants to live in peace. Magneto announces the kinder, gentler Brotherhood of Evil Mutants [sarcasm] at a U.N. assembly but shrewdly words it as an ultimatum in order to goad them into an attack. The Master of Magnetism redirects bullets intended for him at the Scarlet causing her to lose her memory and enraging her brother. Eventually, the twins would leave the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants but they would forever live under the shadow cast by the mutant terrorist. An inverted Scarlet Witch attempted to use a spell to kill her family in Avengers and X-Men Axis #7. Magneto was unaffected leading her to believe they are unrelated, to her relief. The High Evolutionary claimed the gypsies were in fact their parents in Uncanny Avengers #3. Be it father, step-father, or just father figure, Magneto was wrong!

A childhood flashback reveals Lorna Dane AKA Polaris is also Magneto’s daughter in X-Factor #243. Her powers manifest during at airplane flight while her parents fight over the identity of her real father. The plane crashes, killing all but the three-year-old girl. Magneto appears and casually comments on the loss of the mother of his child then orders Mastermind to erase Lorna’s memories because she’s not ready to join the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Lorna would subsequently suffer a mental breakdown from the brainwashing.

#13: CYCLOPS

Scott Summers plays it by the book as the X-Men’s leader Cyclops but as a husband he’s not a team player. After Jean Grey seemingly died, Scott marries Madelyne Pryor, a clone of Jean secretly created by Mr. Sinister to birth the ultimate mutant, Nathan Christopher Charles Summers AKA Cable. They both know the only reason they’re together is because of her resemblance to Jean. Scott walks out on his family when he learns that Jean is alive in X-Factor #1. Jean has temporarily lost her telepathy and learns of his marriage secondhand. She criticizes him for not only stringing her along but also abandoning his family. Cyclops defends himself by stating he’s written and called them but got no answer. That’s because their house is destroyed by Sinister! He kidnaps Nathan and nearly kills Madelyne, who is left in a coma. Madelyne awakes and learns she is a clone then accidentally sells her soul and her babies for revenge in what she thinks is dream. Madelyne becomes the Goblin Queen and attempts to sacrifice her baby. Nathan is saved Cyclops and Jean, who absorbs the memories of her clone before she dies. Cyclops accidentally starts to taken Nathan on a mission and Jean just goes with it. She reasons that he’s safer with them but that’s apparently not the case. Apocalypse abducts Nathan to use as a future host. The baby is injected with a Techno-Organic virus that transforms his body into metal. His parents save him by sending him on a one-way trip to a future ruled by Apocalypse. Nathan is cured but cloned as a backup. Apocalypse accidentally abducts the clone, Stryfe, who grows up believing he is the original. Stryfe travels back in time to kill his oblivious parents for abandoning him.