History AbusiveParents / WesternAnimation

* [[EvilutionaryBiologist Dr. Mar Londo]] from ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes2006'' manages to be physically and emotionally abusive towards his only son Timber Wolf. For starters, he performed illegal genetic experiments on [[GuineaPigFamily his son]], transforming him into a werewolf-like monster, and in Season 2, he [[spoiler:implants nanites into his son's brain, [[BrainwashedandCrazy driving him insane]] and using him to kill a clone of his just so that he can get Timber Wolf to work with him again]]. The sad thing is, the photo Dr. Londo shows to the Legion in Timber Wolf's debut episode seems to imply that he wasn't always abusive.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'', Doughy Latchkey has extremely immature parents who still act like teenagers. They frequently kick him out of the house so they can have sex and sometimes threaten him with violence if he doesn't stop bothering them.
** Clay Puppington often takes his son into his den and belts him whenever his exploits causes hilarity to ensue before giving out a SpoofAesop based off of bigoted 1950's beliefs. He gets even worse as time goes on. In one of those, he instinctively reaches for his belt even though Orel hadn't done anything wrong and had to (innocently) have this pointed out.
** The show gives him a particularly disturbing FreudianExcuse for being the person he is by showing how as a kid he accidentally caused his mother to die of a stroke, at which point his father became so emotionally distant that him slapping Clay was his only form of emotional acknowledgment to the point that he provoked his father whenever he could. Clay himself states in a drunken rant that he believes that the true meaning of "family" is constant suffering for people you despise for the sake of being a "good person".
*** This knowledge is required to fully understand why he cries in "Sacrifice" after giving a massive ReasonYouSuckSpeech to everyone in the bar and failing to provoke a violent reaction.
** The abuse gets very horrifying without being sexual. Just watch the two-part episode "Nature". It speaks for itself.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond''
** "Hidden Agenda" featured a student whose mother had unbelievable standards for him. When he got a [[TheBGrade 2391 out of 2400]] on the annual exam, second best in the school, she told him flat out he was a horrendous failure ("That just makes you the winning loser") who would never get ahead in life. Any sympathy is lost, however, when he's revealed to be a rather psychotic leader of a gang of Jokerz. Then again, his mother may have caused his psychosis, as evidenced by the fact that many of his acts as gang leader are to try and get rid of the one person who is academically better than him.
** In "Hooked Up", one of the teenagers addicted to the VR has a father who mistreats his wife, and doesn't care at all about his son, and the fact that he's gone from their home.
** Willie Watt consistently suffers ridicule from his father for being a "wimp" who can't physically stand up to the bullies at school. Then, Willie gets a hold of his father's construction {{golem}}, develops a psychic link to it, and uses it to trash a party after one more humiliation causes him to snap. When his father, tracking the golem's disappearance, finds Willy and berates him once again, Willy proceeds to turn the golem on ''him''. Batman saves the day, but the end result shows that the father is still a major JerkAss.
---> '''Mr. Watt''': Well, at least he ain't a wimp no more. ''(Batman gives him a disgusted glare before leaving)''
** In the next episode featuring Willie, it's shown that Willie is detained in a high security juvenile center and is in fact [[PrisonsAreGymnasiums very muscular and aggressive]] (what his father always wanted him to be). The guard who escorts Terry tells him that many in fact fear Willie and says that not even his father has visited him and that Terry is his first visitor.
** The King and Queen of the Royal Flush Gang also fit the bill. They're clearly more concerned about Ten pulling her weight in the gang above everything else, with King outright berating her and Queen emotionally manipulating her into staying. In their second appearance, they faked their own kidnapping just to see how far Melanie would go to prove her loyalty. To be fair though, Queen at least is willing to speak to Melanie using her real name, and in their third appearance, she's still upset about Melanie leaving for good. That said, King isn't any better towards Jack, backhanding Jack in their debut and final appearances for a smart-alack remark and mentioning Ten respectively. Their final appearance also has him leave Jack behind.
** Derek Powers exiled his own son Paxton to do his grunt work and taught him to care about nothing but seizing power. The episode in which Paxton is introduced demonstrate the consequences of raising a son this way.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', before he became Robin, Tim Drake's father worked for Two-Face and often left his son (who was under 13-years-old) alone to fend for himself for long periods of time. When he double-crossed Two-Face, he abandoned his son to run away, only to be found killed outside of Gotham.

* Being a show about [[FreudianExcuse supervillains]], this trope appears throughout ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'' and is played for both [[PlayedForLaughs laughs]] and [[PlayedForDrama drama]].
** Harley's parents were emotionally abusive throughout her younger years, [[spoiler: and [[OffingTheOffspring try to kill her in the present day]] [[ParentalBetrayal for a bounty]].]]
** ComicBook/PoisonIvy's father was emotionally and physically abusive, belittling her for not having any friends during her OnePersonBirthdayParty on at least one occasion and killing her "pet" ficus before beating her after she [[PrimalScene caught him sleeping with the maid]].
** Doctor Psycho's teenage son Herman angrily lists off the things he did to make his life a living hell such as locking him in the basement, murdering his friends, and [[EmbarrassingFirstName naming him Herman]]. However, the two of them make up after Psycho explains that he did it all [[FreudianExcuse in order to make him a better supervillain]] out of love.
** The Joker, being [[MultipleChoicePast the Joker]], keeps his past a mystery but during a group therapy session at Arkham being asked about his family was enough to [[BerserkButton make him murder the psychologist]] working there before Harley. When Harley questions him on this, he steals Ivy's maid story above but replaces her plant with a ferret (much to Harley's annoyance after discovering this in the present day, as she had bought him ferret paraphernalia for years).
** Kite Man's parents resent him for [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent not being born with superpowers like them]] and talk down to him at every opportunity. He put up with their verbal abuse his whole life but finally learns to stand up for himself through Ivy's encouragement.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', Norman Osborn ''barely'' conceals his [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent contempt]] for his [[TheUnfavourite son, Harry]]. This manifests in [[CompassionateCritic snide criticisms]] about his son's issues, hobbies and successes, and also in blatant, stunningly passive-aggressive displays of ParentalFavoritism towards Harry's best ''friend'', Peter Parker, when both boys are present. That is, when Norman isn't dismissing Harry and ignoring him entirely in favor of [[CorruptCorporateExecutive his job]]. Harry's mother does this too, not even verbally acknowledging him when he greets her. As a result, Harry has... ''[[WellDoneSonGuy issues]].''

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': Arguably, the best thing [[SatanicArchetype Trigon]] ever did for his daughter was staying out of her life for as long as he did, and while he never actually lays a finger on her, he threatens her friends instead. Thus, [[spoiler:Raven's]] dad convinces her to essentially commit suicide in a ritual that will let him break out of his prison dimension and [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt turn the planet into slag and lava]], [[spoiler:which works for [[StatusQuoIsGod a staggering three]] episodes]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'':
** From what we see of Robin's life prior to forming the Titans, the show's version of Batman could give ''[[ComicBook/AllStarBatmanAndRobinTheBoyWonder ASBAR]]'' Batman a run for his money as a bad guardian. Robin's bedroom at Wayne Manor looks like a dungeon, despite being the adopted son of the one the wealthiest men in the world he lives in PerpetualPoverty, he recalls Batman forcing him to give him a foot massage and when the Titans mess up the Batcave, Robin has what looks like a PTSD episode where he acts out Batman berating and even striking him. It's all played for BlackComedy, but if the show was just a little more serious and Robin was a little more sympathetic, it would be one of the darkest takes on the character.
** This continuity's take on the ComicBook/DoomPatrol [[CompositeCharacter makes the Chief Beast Boy's adoptive father]] in lieu of the AdaptedOut Mento, in addition to [[RelatedInTheAdaptation making Beast Boy adoptive siblings with Robotman and Negative Girl]]. It is established that the Chief created Robotman and Negative Girl by putting his oldest adoptive son's brain into a robot body so he'd beat a rival at a dance competition and using a ray to permanently transform his adoptive daughter into a negative energy being so she could beat an arcade game and win enough tickets for a teddy bear she wanted, his children only consenting to the procedures because they were offered solutions to their problems and didn't fully know what they were agreeing to. When asked why he couldn't have taken the more mundane options of teaching dance lessons or sharing his plentiful tickets, he excuses that [[HeroicComedicSociopath permanently altering his adoptive children's bodies was more fun]].

* Found in ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' one episode, where we learn that Tabitha/Boom Boom's father was a con man who routinely pressured her into using her powers to help rob banks and/or run scams.
* From ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010''
** WordOfGod confirms Sportsmaster was both verbally and emotionally abusive to his daughters [[spoiler:Artemis and Cheshire]]. He trained them to be assassins while giving them no sort of emotional love at all, and used to pit them against each other in fights. In addition, when [[spoiler:Artemis is supposedly killed]] in a story arc, he's extremely upset... because she was killed ''without his permission'' and this will damage his reputation.
** Lex Luthor definitely qualifies against [[spoiler:Superboy]]. He's never [[AffablyEvil anything less than polite and considerate]], but that's the same treatment he gives to everyone else, and he won't hesitate to emotionally manipulate and outright set his {{Mook}}s on him. It's never made particularly clear whether or not he even thinks of [[spoiler:Superboy]] as a son and just doesn't care, or whether he just assumes the role to get his weapon back in line.

** [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderFireLordOzai Fire Lord Ozai]] not only had a favorite and an [[TheUnfavourite Unfavourite]] child, but he brutally scarred the latter, Zuko, and [[spoiler:[[OffingTheOffspring has attempted to kill him multiple times]] (though as for this, only ''after'' he joined the revolution against him).]] Zuko found a better father figure in his uncle and mentor Iroh and eventually outgrew the need for Ozai's approval.

** [[spoiler:Pacifica Northwest]] has emotionally abusive parents to an extent, as their ideas of what is important for her is "winning and looks" and go to parties instead of spending time with her. This gets explored in "[[Recap/GravityFallsS2E10NorthwestMansionMystery Northwest Mansion Mystery]]" when it is shown that her parents are ''even worse'' in that regard. [[spoiler:To the point that if Pacifica goes as so much to disobey her own parents in regards to wearing her dress by her own choice or trying to tell Dipper her parents made her hide the truth about the curse to him, her father responds by controlling her with a simple ring of his bell to keep her in line not unlike one of ''Pavlov's dogs'', just to keep their wealthy status- even if it gets other people killed.]]

** Priya parents have forced her to train to qualify for a potential ''Total Drama'' reboot since the moment ''she was born'' literally. As she grew up, Priya was forced to undergo harsh training that involved climbing a wall to escape from a feral bear, fighting with jousting sticks, being catapulted in a catapult camp and being abandoned in a forest for a month without food or water, and even [[spoiler: even after winning, they keep all the money]]. Despite all that, Priya loves them [[spoiler:and gets mad at Millie for writing negatively about them in her notebook]].

** [[Characters/FuturamaBenderBendingRodriguez Bender]] adopted kids to get child support, then neglected them, which also qualifies under neglect unto abuse, and wound up trying to sell them as food to a Chinese restaurant when he worked out he wasn't making any money from them. In the second movie, he ''punts his own son into a vat of molten metal'' as trade for the Robot Devil's army. Even the Robot Devil was impressed.

** [=BoJack=]'s father was a deconstruction of the StandardFiftiesFather, to the point of berating his son for not getting the shape of a heart-shaped Father's Day card right. When [=BoJack=] walked in on his dad having an affair with his secretary, Butterscotch coerced him to share a jack and coke as father and son to drug him, and when he got sick and passed out Butterscotch manipulated him to not tell his mother as she’d be disappointed in him.