The title of ‘God’ is thrown around a lot in the comic book world. And by a lot, we mean a lot. Every story seems to have some involvement by a character who is said to be a god. The Justice League has one, Avengers have one, and pretty much every other superhero team-up comprises of one.
Gods in the comic book universe are essentially entities who have powers to such degrees that no mortal could ever hope to even come close to them (maybe Franklin Richards could be the exception). This makes these beings tower over simple Earthlings and thus are termed as Gods for those who are lower in existence.
Any character could be argued to be a ‘God’ if they fit the general requirement of possessing a couple of super abilities. Usually these abilities comprise of Immortality (although they can be taken out), Super Strength, a unique power intrinsic to them, and some measure of omnipotence. Now that you’ve read the requirements, you probably have more than a dozen examples in your head of characters that fit the bill.
Most of the time, these supreme beings are left as supporting characters due to their far-reaching powers. Those heroes that are more grounded in reality and have to work to defeat their foes are more appealing to consumers. This doesn’t mean they don’t have parents who are normal beings.
The following are 25 characters who have Gods for parents. For this list, we’re considering beings of higher existence such as Eternals, primordial entities etc to be in the region of a ‘God’.
25 Thanos
Thanos may seem like your average purple humanoid from the planet Titan but the Mad guy isn’t a normal being of his race. It may have seemed in Avengers: Infinity War that Thanos was one of millions of Titans that had inhabited the planet, but he was in fact part of a race known as the Eternals. These were cosmic beings.
Thanos is the descendant of the Celestials. These all-powerful beings commanded the universe using the Infinity stones. Thus, it seems like a family duty of his to hunt down these stones as he may be the heir apparent to rule to universe.
24 Wonder Woman (DCAU)
In a twist from your usual knowledge of Wonder Woman, her father isn’t Zeus as you may have expected. In the DC Animated Universe, the title of Wonder Woman’s father belongs to Zeus’ brother Hades.
In this continuity, Hades brought life to Diana alongside Hippolyta.
Of course, the process wasn’t the manner you might be thinking of; instead, Hades and Hippolyta sculpted Diana together and brought shape to the person who would become Wonder Woman. Although she isn’t certain Hades was telling the truth of him being her father, Wonder Woman stated she didn’t care either way. The idea of Hades being her father is more intriguing than Zeus taking up that mantle.
23 Lady Sif
In some ways the Marvel Cinematic Universe didn’t do Lady Sif justice. We know nothing about her past and all those ship teases with Thor led to nowhere as she was absent from Avengers: Infinity War (according to the directors, she perished in the snap from Thanos).
In Norse mythos, Lady Sif is the daughter of Nine Goddesses of the Vanir. This race, along with another, are those who formed together to create the Asgardians. In the MCU, her origins may be similar because we have no clue where she came from or if she’s a resident of Asgard at all.
22 Hercules
This was no-brainer to those aware of Hercules. The mythological figure is in fact known as Heracles, but is still consistently known as a son of Zeus. Although Disney may have led you to believe Hera was Hercules’ mother, that wasn’t true in mythology.
In any case, Hercules stands as Zeus’ offspring and he exists in both DC and Marvel universes (you can’t copyright mythological figures exclusively) where he flip-flops between being the good or bad guy. Hercules has rivaled both Wonder Woman and Thor in terms of strength level while remaining one of the most powerful figures in all comic book universes.
21 Hela
We could put up Hela in this list twice seeing that in both the Marvel comic universe and cinematic universe she has a God for a father. Of course, in the MCU her full name is Hela Odinsdottir, where she is the true Queen of Asgard. Considering that both Asgard and Hela herself were destroyed by Surtur, that title doesn’t mean anything anymore.
In the comic book universe, Hela’s father is Loki. This may come as a surprise to the MCU fans who had the impression she was Loki’s elder sister, but the Earth-616 version maintains that her father is the God of Mischief.
20 Raven
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies may have erased any idea that the Titans themselves have pretty tragic beginnings thanks to the film’s slapstick delivery; however, it is true that the heroes haven’t always had a bunch of laughs.
Appropriately so, Raven, the hero with a Goth persona found mostly in teens, has in her the DNA of an actual demon. Raven’s father is Trigon, who sought to subjugate the world. Having a demon as your father is definitely going to mess you up and a look at Raven can tell you her parentage did quite a number on her personality.
19 Mephisto
Mephisto doesn’t have a father or a mother, technically. He is a being that predates most of all that exists in the universe and this came about, according to his admission, due to a God having taken his own life.
Once this came to pass, Mephisto was formed.
His evil nature has been so due to the fallen God never having intended Mephisto to be created in a benevolent light. To this end, Mephisto claims he has it in for evil acts solely due to him being conditioned to do so. Sounds to us like he’s making up excuses for his bad deeds but who are we to judge?
18 Nightcrawler
Going from what we’ve seen of Nightcrawler in the X-Men film series, he’s quite the sweetheart. Both X-2: X-Men United and X-Men: Apocalypse left it ambiguous whether Mystique was the mother of Nightcrawler. In the comics, this is the case.
His father, however, is the true matter of interest here.
Azazel was seen in X-Men: First Class where he was essentially a villainous red version of Nightcrawler, but he’s supposed to be a Neyaphem. These mutants go centuries back and are considered equivalent to pagan deities. It’s unclear how Azazel could be the father of Nightcrawler in the movies as he didn’t have any interactions with Mystique to suggest the conception.
17 Gamora
Who could ever forget Thanos’ most famous child? Guardians of the Galaxy films may have had Peter Quill at the forefront, but the continuing story always featured Gamora’s status as the daughter of Thanos. She could even be considered a main protagonist in Avengers: Infinity War as much of the first half consists of Thanos’ search for her and her mission to take him out.
In the comics, too, Gamora was taken in by Thanos as an orphan. She may not be related to him by blood but Red Skull did announce her as the daughter of Thanos upon her arrival at Vormir, making Thanos pretty much her true father after all.
16 Thane
Thanos’ children aren’t limited to simply the Black Order we saw in Avengers: Infinity War. At least in the comics, Thanos keeps pretty busy at times and has a number of offspring in the universe. Although his most treasured children tend to be those not biologically related to him, Thanos does have Thane to fulfill the requirement of having a true child.
Thane is an inhuman.
Inhumans was a lousy TV series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the comics delve deeper into them. Thane is the product of an association between Thanos and an Inhuman tribe member. To his credit, Thanos did seek out this mysterious son of his once he found about Thane’s existence.
15 Darkseid
Those aware of the continuity within DC comics will know of the fear Darkseid commands in that universe. He is the ruler of Apokolips and is not only a main antagonist of Superman, but of the Justice League as a whole. He was supposed to be the villain of Justice League – Part Two but those plans have changed.
His father brought fear in Darkseid’s blackened heart.
Yuga Khan was an even more powerful deity than Darkseid and made short work of his son when he returned to Apokolips to confront Darkseid. Yuga Khan was the original worshiped deity of Apokolips and trumps his son in every department.
14 Orion
Not much will be known of Orion for fans of today. The character hasn’t been integrated in DC movies as of yet and the DC Extended Universe is looking to distance itself from team-up films after the box office disaster that was Justice League. The planned sequel may have given us Darkseid and his son Orion. He can be found in the DC Animated Universe.
Orion is that son of Darkseid who wasn’t a total failure (look for Kalibak below). He has a conscience as well and joined the Justice League to take out foes - mainly his father. Orion holds no love for Darkseid and despises his parentage.
13 Ares
We’ll re-familiarize you with the God of War as seen in Wonder Woman. It wasn’t all too obvious that Ares was the brother of Wonder Woman in the film until the latter called him as such during their final duel. Ares is also supposed to be the son of Zeus in mythology as people should be well aware of considering the character has been seen in a lot media over the years.
The same goes for the DC Extended Universe version of the character who wasn’t all that crazy about his father as seen in the film.
12 Cable
Things always get ridiculously over-the-top when it comes to the comic book landscape, which is why most of us prefer the film version of things as these are more grounded. Cable’s parents were Cyclops (yes that one) and Madelyne Pryor. Miss Pryor was a clone of Scott’s flame Jean Grey.
Jean was fused with the Phoenix Force and upon her departure from the world her powers were siphoned into Madelyne, thereby giving her the powers of a God. This makes Cable the offspring of a god-like being as the Phoenix Force is far above any normal humans. Good thing the films have avoided this rather ridiculous storyline.
11 Thor
Thor always had it going for him in terms of power. He is the son of a powerful witch in Frigga and the groomed prince for Odin, the most powerful king in Asgard. Thor himself is physically a God and this was due to his lineage descending from a number of more powerful gods.
He was still easily schooled by Odin in the titular Thor when his father stripped him of all his powers. This showed just how weak an all-powerful god like Thor would look in front of an even more supreme god such as Odin. There was a reason why Odin was the father and Thor the son.
10 Loki
Loki could very well be placed twice on this list just like Hela and Wonder Woman. Unlike those two characters, Loki has Gods for parents in the same continuity. Odin, of course, is his adoptive father who raised Loki for over a thousand years before perishing.
Laufey was Loki’s true father, who left the child to perish in an abandoned cave. Laufey had no love for his son and never acknowledged his status as the father. To this end, one could argue that Odin is the real father of Loki as despite being on the receiving end to a number of schemes for his son, he parted ways after telling Loki he still loved him.
9 Hellboy
The two Hellboy films got great reception from critics, although the box office collections left a little to be desired, and fans were waiting for more from the series that seemed to be promising more in the future.
We’ll get more Hellboy but in a different setting.
Perhaps in this reboot, Hellboy’s lineage will be explored more. His father was Azzael, a duke of the underworld, who won’t be winning any Father-of-the-Day awards. He forced Hellboy’s mother to give birth and then cut off the newborn’s arm to be replaced with the signature one we know.
8 Kalibak
Orion was seen by Darkseid as a son who failed to follow in his footsteps but still had the respect of his father. Kalibak, meanwhile, was always a failure in his father’s eyes. Although Darkseid did make Kalibak among his chief lieutenants, the former never gave him the respect one would assume from this position.
Kalibak was at times vaporized by his father’s Omega beams only to be resurrected once more because Darkseid felt like it. His paranoia with failing his father always led to his failure. Unfortunately for him, Kalibak never did get the love and respect from Darkseid he desperately craved.
7 Wonder Girl
Judging by the number of offspring Zeus is responsible it would seem as if the guy had nothing better to do in his free time. Regardless, Wonder Girl came into being due to Zeus’ association with Dr. Helena Sandsmark.
Same as Wonder Woman, Cassie Sandsmark went on to add the title of ‘Wonder’ to her alias, becoming the hero known as Wonder Girl. Being one of youth, Zeus gave Wonder Girl the supreme powers she needed, but held a clause in that her mother had the ability to defuse these powers should Cassie start getting out of hand. Maybe that’s how he figures he’ll be a responsible father.
6 Blackheart
Looking at this dude you wouldn't expect him to be anything other than the spawn of Satan, and in this occasion, you would be right, kind of. Mephisto is the creator of Blackheart, having made him out of energy from the vilest of acts.
It’s a surprise, then, that this guy isn’t a villain.
Blackheart is more of an anti-hero and has associated himself with those who can be considered kindred spirits. Names such as Ghost Rider and The Punisher are the group of men Blackheart has teamed up with to fight the forces of...well, whoever it is that stands in his way at the time.
Illustration by Zacmariozero.