All of the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are cut from the same cloth and share the same DNA. Whether it's pop culture-referencing one-liners or casting comedy actors in lead roles, Marvel Studios has carved out a winning formula that works almost every time.
However, there's another trademark that runs through most MCU movies, which is that most of the superheroes have exceptionally horrible fathers. And no matter what awful things the fathers do, the heroes still strive for their approval. Gamora's dad is a genocidal maniac, Star-Lord's dad is literally a planet, and Captain America: Civil War had multiple father-related issues in one film. There are a surprising amount of MCU movies based around daddy issues.
Thor (2011)
The plot in The Avengers too.
Realistically, Odin was never a decent person, and he jeopardized his son's life and threw him into situations that could have easily been avoided. That has essentially been the catalyst in every Thor movie. And even though Odin is seemingly gone for good, he could somehow end up as the catalyst in the Thor: Love and Thunder as well.
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Thor could do with a therapist, as he's had the toughest upbringing and torturous adult life because of the way he has been treated by his father, or rather, not been treated by his father.
Thor has been constantly neglected by Odin time and time again, but that doesn't stop the hero from endlessly trying to impress his father. And just like in the first movie, in Thor: The Dark World, the eponymous character has to settle things with Malekith the Accursed and clean up what is essentially Odin's problem, just as Loki was his problem in Thor.
Ant-Man (2015)
Hope van Dyne isn't quite a superhero yet in Ant-Man and the Wasp. However, she was completely involved in the action and the heist, but that wasn't without some hesitancy.
Hope and Hank Pym didn't exactly have a great daughter-father bond. The bulk of the movie sees Hope constantly criticizing Hank and accusing him of being responsible for the death of her mother. However, Ant-Man and the Wasp was almost the complete opposite, as it followed the two of them finding out that Janet van Dayne is, in fact, alive.
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
While Captain America: Civil War is full of great characters, whether it's Spider-Man or Giant-Man, Black Panther stole the movie. However, King T'Challa also gets it rough in the film, as he struggles to live up to his father's achievements, and what's worse is that his father was murdered before T'Challa was able to make up with him.
The character then has no time to grieve his death before getting involved in a seemingly menial "civil war" between superheroes he doesn't even know. He's then stuck in a moral dilemma when it comes to his father's killer, as T'Challa clearly wants to get vengeance on Zemo by killing him. The 2016 film similarly deals with Tony's relationship with his father and how he was murdered too.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
When it comes to daddy issues in the MCU, Star-Lord's relationship with his father is the biggest head-wreck. Not only did he have daddy issues to begin with, as he never knew his father, but it gets so much worse when his father introduces himself only to reveal that he is a literal planet and wants to destroy all of human life.
There are a lot of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the biggest being that he never took human form and he was never Peter Quill's father. However, it was a refreshing (if a little bizarre) take on the character, and it made for one of the best cameos in the MCU, as Ego briefly transforms into David Hasselhoff to try and gain Peter's approval.
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
For a third time, Thor is once again trying to process his relationship with his father, and in Thor: Ragnarok, it's more complicated than ever. Loki exploits Thor's daddy issues, makes fun of them, and arguably even makes them worse, as he literally takes the form of Odin without Thor knowing.
What's worse is that it's played off for laughs, as something like that could totally traumatize anybody, even in adult life. And to top it off, Odin once again neglected to tell Thor about Hela. However, at least Thor finally gets closure, as he reconciles with Odin and makes amends with him before his death, which was a brief moment of real feelings in the 2017 space odyssey.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Gamora has the worst daddy issues of any MCU character, as her father is literally a genocidal maniac. While Gamora's relationship with her father, Thanos, had been hinted at in several movies leading up to Avengers: Infinity War, the bulk of the 2.5-hour movie is spent on their broken relationship.
There's even a montage of Thanos manipulating child Gamora as he slaughters her entire race, and it leads to him sacrificing her on Vormir in order to gain access to the Soul Stone. Infinity War is the best Avengers movie, and that's partly thanks to Gamora's deeply haunting past and relationship with her father.
Black Widow (2021)
2021's some Redditors think the movie is pointless. However, it sheds light on Natasha Romanoff's upbringing and her family, particularly her father, Alexei Shostakov, a.k.a. the Red Guardian.
As much of a fun character that Red Guardian is, it turns out that he's not all that much of a great guy, and he's an even worse father. In the 2021 movie, fans learn that Natasha hadn't seen her father for years. In fact, it was because of her dad that she ended up being subjected to intense training in the Red Room at such a young age, and she was forced into becoming a super-assassin.
Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (2021)
Just as was the case with Guardians Vol. 2, the hero's father is the main antagonist of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. In the movie, Shang-Chi stayed away from his father for as long as he could, running away to San Francisco when he was just a teenager. The character had to live with the trauma he got after being raised by his father, as Wenwu taught him martial arts and how to kill at such a young age.
Wenwu even forced Shang to assassinate an enemy when he was just 14 years old. And if that wasn't bad enough, Shang has to stop his father from slaughtering hundreds of villagers and unleashing hell when he believes that his deceased wife is being held captive behind a wall that holds all kinds of mythical creatures.
