Marvel movies: The best and worst MCU dads

Best: Tony Stark

We got a small taste of Papa Tony Stark in his final MCU appearance in Avengers: Endgame and, truth be told, he proved to be a great one – which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering that he spent the whole MCU franchise practicing for the role.

Before he had a child of his own, he proved to be a tremendous – albeit stern and occasionally potty mouthed – father figure to Harley in Iron Man 3 and then Peter Parker in the Spider-Man films. His relationship with the former was strong enough that Harley felt compelled to show up to Tony’s funeral in Endgame.

Whether he was a father to children by blood or by choice, Tony always looked out for kids in the MCU the best way he could.

Worst: Howard Stark

It’s kind of astonishing to think that Tony Stark turned out to be such an amazing dad since his actual dad wasn’t the best benchmark to learn the ropes from. Howard is in a similar situation to the aforementioned T’Chaka, only in reverse. Howard was a good guy, but not so much a good father.

As we saw as early in the franchise as Captain America: The First Avenger, Howard, for all his charismatic and womanizing ways – like father, like son, right? – proved to be a genuinely good and kind hearted person. But, perhaps a victim of his own upbringing (again, father like son), Howard was a distant, practically absentee father to Tony.