Winter Rant

In a previous iteration, I realized how the fathers, or father figures, or parents of most comic book heroes end up dead. And went about listing them.

After speaking with my wife about it, I realized that the list did not include some notable instances.

So here I am, with a follow up list.

Mufasa, Simba’s father, dies.

Sherlock and Enola Holmes lose their father, soon after Enola was born.

From X-men, Magneto’s parents died.

In the latest Star Trek trilogy, James T. Kirk loses his dad just after he was born.

Spock’s mom also dies.

Harry Potter’s parents die. They were killed by Voldermort, aka Tom Riddle. Tom Riddle killed his own father. But Tom was no hero.

Harry also loses Lupin, Sirius Black, Snape and Dumbledore – I consider them to be his father figures.

Also: Sirius Black’s parents die.

Let’s turn our attention to Star Wars now.

Luke Skywalker’s dad did not start out dead … but he was Darth Vader, which I suppose is worse than having a dead father. But even Darth Vader dies.

General Organa, aka Princess Leia, aka Leia Skywalker, also lost a father. Darth Vader was her father.

Rey’s parents died. Rey’s grandfather — Palpatine — also dies. But he was already dead. But he dies again. And he was no hero.

Ben Solo kills his father Han Solo. Still not sure what that was about. Ben’s mom – Leia Skywalker – also dies.

Moving to Naruto-verse for a second.

Naruto himself dies.

Kakashi’s father dies.

Sasuke’s parents die. His elder brother Itachi also dies.

Now from the DC Universe…

Aquaman’s parents are notably alive – which begs the question: is he really a hero?

Cyborg’s father dies.

Robin’s parents die as part of his origin story.

Oliver Queen’s father dies in the Arrow TV Series.

Let me take a moment here.

Note the lack of woman protagonists in these lists. I was hard-pressed to find very many. Turns out that pop-culture, has no space for dead parents if you are a woman and a hero. Small mercies.

This is turning out to be a grim exercise. I am going to stop now. Also: I am not going to talk about Game of Thrones for this list.

Anyway. I am signing off.

– vijay, still sipping tea