Ever since Tony Stark said of his father, “He was cold, calculating, never told me he loved me, never even told me he liked me,” parent-child relationships have been an integral part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Almost every hero in the MCU has a significant and complicated bond with one or both of their parents.
Most of these relationships are marked by terrible parenting – e.g. Gamora and Nebula’s dad, the genocidal warlord, or Peter Quill’s dad, the genocidal planet – but there have been some pretty great parents in the MCU, too. So, here are the 10 Best Parent-Child Relationships In The MCU.
T’Challa & T’Chaka
When T’Challa’s father T’Chaka was alive, all he wanted to do was impress him. And then, T’Chaka was killed in a bombing attack (the scene in which T’Challa cradles his dying father is heartbreaking, played powerfully by Chadwick Boseman), making T’Challa the new King of Wakanda by default, with a huge responsibility on his shoulders.
Even from beyond the grave, he looks to his father for advice. And the fact that T’Challa isn’t afraid to confront T’Chaka in the Ancestral Plane and criticize him for his previous mistakes and demand an explanation shows that they have a very open relationship.
Peter Quill & Yondu
What Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 does really well is showing Yondu’s regrets about his past mistakes without letting him off the hook for them. It’s a movie about fatherhood (most MCU movies are, really) as Peter Quill meets his biological father after fantasizing about who he might be for decades, and is heartbroken to discover that he’s an evil megalomaniac.
At the end of the movie, as Yondu swoops down to save Quill’s life, sacrificing his own, Quill realizes that he knew his true father all along. Quill’s subsequent eulogy, in which he compares Yondu to David Hasselhoff (“I had a pretty cool dad”), never fails to resonate emotionally.
Clint & Lila Barton
Clint Barton has a great relationship with all of his kids, but he has a particularly special bond with Lila. She’s the one who takes an interest in archery, as we see Clint training her in the prologue of Avengers: Endgame (although she won’t become his successor in the upcoming Hawkeye series on Disney+; instead, Kate Bishop will).
She’s also the kid whose name Clint calls out when he tests Tony Stark’s “Time-Space GPS” and travels back in time to when his family was still alive. Losing his family sent Clint over the edge, and now, he’s worried he might not be able to come back.
Janet & Hope Van Dyne
Hope Van Dyne’s relationship with her father, Hank Pym, has always been strained. Hope was the obvious choice for the job in the first Ant-Man movie. She was more qualified, she knew the tech, and she had access to the building. But Hank was too protective to let her do it, and instead insisted on using Scott Lang.
Hope’s relationship with her mother, Janet, on the other hand, is much healthier and more loving. When she finally returned from the Quantum Realm and saw what an accomplished scientist and superhero her daughter turned out to be, Janet was extremely proud.
Maria & Monica Rambeau
Carol Danvers’ best friend Maria Rambeau is a single mother, raising her daughter Monica in Louisiana. Monica’s safety means everything to Maria. She immediately jumps into action when Skrulls infiltrate her house and impersonate her in front of Monica.
When Carol asks Maria to help her in the final battle, Maria is hesitant, because she has to think about Monica and her future, and being there for her. But the way Monica sees it, evil is coming, and Maria has the means to help stop it, so she has to join this fight. And Maria, wanting to make her daughter proud of her, gladly agrees.
Tony & Morgan Stark
We didn’t get to see Tony spend a lot of time with his five-year-old daughter Morgan, since she was introduced in the first act of Avengers: Endgame, and after her dad agreed to help with the “Time Heist,” she wasn’t seen again until his funeral. But in the time they did spend together, it was clear that Tony loved Morgan more than anything in the world – or, to use Morgan’s words, he loved her 3,000.
There was an overriding sense of finality in Endgame, and Tony’s final conversation with Howard in 1970 allowed him to let go of his fears of becoming his father and accept that he was a better parent than his own.
Rocket & Baby Groot
Groot was sort of a father figure to Rocket in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, but their roles were reversed in the sequel after Groot sacrificed himself and was reborn as a baby. Rocket was always looking out for Baby Groot’s safety, such as rushing over mid-battle to stop him from eating a fly.
James Gunn has revealed that when a teenaged Groot said, “I am Groot,” as he turned to dust following Thanos’ destructive finger-snap and reached out to take Rocket’s hand, the English translation in the script was “Dad.” It adds another layer of emotional anguish to an already-devastating moment.
Thor & Frigga
Five years after the universe-wide genocide that Thor indirectly allowed to happen by basking in his own ego a little too long when he confronted Thanos, we find that the God of Thunder has spiraled into deep, dark pit of depression. He’s become an alcoholic, he’s lost all faith in his abilities, and even in the middle of the crucial “Time Heist” operation, his self-doubts get in the way.
When he and Rocket travel to Asgard in 2013, on the day of Thor’s mother Frigga’s death, it takes a heart-to-heart with his mom for Thor to get his groove back and regain his confidence.
Peter Parker & Aunt May
Aunt May isn’t technically Peter Parker’s biological parent, but she is his legal guardian. Since Peter’s parents died when he was young, May has raised him like he was her own son. Her whole life revolves around Peter. If he’s out late, she wants to make sure he’s okay. If something’s bothering him, she wants him to tell her so that she can help him work through it.
She’s even supportive of Peter’s career as a superhero, encouraging him to take his Spider-Man suit to Europe in case he needs to fight any bad guys (which, of course, he does).
Scott & Cassie Lang
Scott Lang’s daughter Cassie – or “Peanut,” as he affectionately calls her – is the most important part of his life. Whenever he makes a major decision, like whether or not to join Hank and Hope on a new adventure while he’s under house arrest, he thinks about how it’ll affect Cassie. And he’s always trying to do right by her.
She loves the fact that her dad’s a superhero, and encourages him to spring into action when the world needs him to. When he emerged from the Quantum Realm and realized something terrible had happened to half the population, he rushed to a memorial site and searched desperately for Cassie’s name to see if she was all right.
