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The opposite number to the Team Mom, more often than not the disciplinarian, lead-by-example-kind of character in contrast to the warm, nurturing tendencies of a Team Mom. The Team Dad is almost always the oldest member of the team and if he isn't the leader, then he's definitely the mentor, and in family-based teams, he is the father (or maybe the brother) of at least one member. He tends to be strict and gruff, but he never hesitates to put his life on the line for his team members and sometimes the facade might even crack and he'll show undisguised pride over his "kids".
Like the occasionally non-female Team Mom, Team Dads aren't Always Male, but the rare female ones are almost always the exception.
If a team has a Team Mom and a Team Dad, expect them to either play a Good Cop Bad Cop routine on the rest of the team or come in conflict over their "parenting" philosophies. Cue " Mom and Dad are fighting" jokes from the "kids" if Team Mom and Team Dad aren't a couple, quickly followed by "We are NOT a couple, so STFU" from them (but they're very likely to end up together, anyway).
Compare Papa Wolf, A Father To His Men.
Examples:
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Anime And Manga
- Axis Powers Hetalia - Even after The American Revolution, England can't fully get his former protegé America off his back. And even more after the Allies are formed and he often has to be the Only Sane Man... if you stretch the "sane" part a bit.
- Cowboy Bebop: Jet Black, who also is the male Team Mom.
- Cyborg 009 - Dr. Isaac Gilmore. Chang Changku aka 006 has traits of both this and a male Team Mom (hilariously lampshaded in an episode of the 2001 series).
- Digimon Savers - Captain Satsuma/Sampson, who is also a Badass Longcoat and very dangerous when need be.
- Kaleido Star - Kalos Eidos. So much that he's pictured above.
- Macross and Robotech - Captain Henry J. Gloval.
- Dragon Ball - Master Roshi, at least until the Saiyan arc. Piccolo also qualifies in the Cell and Boo arcs.
- Mobile Suit Gundam - Bright Noah. Who ends up married to the local Team Mom, Mirai Yashima.
- One Piece : Franky towards his original Nakama before he left, and now, as confirmed by Word Of God, towards Luffy's crew.
- Ouran High School Host Club - Tamaki Suoh is the self-proclaimed Team Dad, but the rest of the team pretty much just play along because they feel like it; when they boycott him, Tamaki throws tantrums about why they're being so disobedient. This gets even more complicated once Tamaki starts developing feelings for Haruhi that he keeps handwaving as "fatherly concern".
- Despite declaring himself the father, Tamaki is more of a Team Mom than a Team Dad, and Kouya, who was declared "the mother" is more like the Team Dad.
- Brock in the Pokemon anime, who like Jet Black does double duty as both the Team Dad and the Team Mom.
- Romeo X Juliet - Conrad.
- Science Ninja Team Gatchaman - Kozaburou Nambu, also The Professor.
- Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle - Kurogane, to go along with the overwhelming sea of Ho Yay between him and (male) Team Mom Fai. This becomes particularly visible around the Wham Chapters in which everything goes to hell and Kurogane does quite a bit of stepping up and taking charge in order to keep the team together.
- This trope is quite common in sports anime, with the captains and/or coaches acting as if they were the fathers of their teammates or pupils (and possibly working alongside a Big Brother Mentor):
- Captain Tsubasa - Roberto Hongo (Nankatsu Elementary), Kouzou Kira (Meiwa Elementary), Takashi Furuoya (Nankatsu Junior High) and Makoto Kitazume (Tohou Junior High).
- Tatsuo Mikami and later Gamo Minato are Team Dads to the Japanese National Squad. To a degree, so is Munemasa Katagiri, but in a slightly more distant way.
- Hajime No Ippo - Genji Kamogawa (Kamogawa Gym), also a Badass Grandpa. Sendoh's trainer Yanaoka (Naniwa Gym), Ozma's coach Hachinohe (Hachinohe Gym; Ozma does nickname "dad" in canon), Volg's trainer Ramuda and Eiji Date (Nakadai Gym) after he retires are quite younger versions of the trope.
- The Prince Of Tennis - Captains Kippei Tachibana (Fudomine) and Kunimitsu Tezuka (Seigaku), alongside vicecaptain Genichirou Sanada (Rikkai), are Team Dads for their school tennis teams. If we check on coaches, the best example is Ojii from Rokkaku, whereas Taro Sakaki from Hyoutei and Osamu Watanabe from Shotenhouji are younger versions.
- Also Mikiya "Banji" Banda from Yamabuki, though he's more of a Trickster Mentor.
- Slam Dunk - Coach Mitsuyoshi Anzai and captain Takenori Akagi from Shohoku, as well as coaches Moichi Taoka from Ryounan (who specially shows his Team Dad ID by counseling freshman!Uozumi when he almost leaves the team due to his upperclassmen's bullying) and Riki Takato from Kainan.
- Eyeshield 21 - Youichi Hiruma may be somewhat of a subversion (with the threats and screaming and shooting and swearing) but beyond that, he fits this trope rather well.
- Hatake Kakashi, Maito Gai and Sarutobi Asuma in Naruto, especially towards those that have no parents of their own (though Asuma might be the best example, despite his team having involved parents of their own).
- Jiraya eventually becomes this to Naruto. The similarity of their relationship to that of a father and son is even recognized at one point by Naruto (Jiraya, meanwhile, points out that he is NOT a kid anymore and tells him to get back to training). Iruka Umino, being actually responsible for most of the pre-ninja training of the kids, bounces between Team Dad and Team Mom.
- Let's not forget that Hiruzen Sarutobi aka the Third Hokage was the Team Dad for the whole Konoha.
- Mahou Sensei Negima has some odd examples. Takamichi Takahata seems to fill this position in the early chapters, but the position eventually gets passed to Chamo. Later on, Jack Rakan, of all people, seems to fill this position.
- Evangeline sort of counts as a female example.
- Captain Jushiro Ukitake in Bleach acts more like a father than a captain towards his subordinates.
- In a huge subversion, so did Sousuke Aizen... before he faked his own death and then was revealed to be the Big Bad
- In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Kouzou Fuyutsuki and Gendo Ikari would be the Team Dads... if the series was, well, NOT Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- X 1999 - Wind Master Aoki Seiichirou is both this and the Team Mom.
- Johann Trinity is this to his siblings Michael and Nena in Gundam 00. Among the Gundam Meisters, Lockon Stratos (the first one) is arguably a mix of this and Big Brother Mentor.
- In Gintama Gintoki acts as a father figure towards Shinpachi and Kagura.
Comic Books
- X-Men - Charles Xavier/Professor X, played by Patrick Stewart (who plays Jean-Luc Picard) in the live action version, possibly to invoke this trope.
- Batman to his whole extended Bat-family, particularly to the Robins, who are his adopted sons. Alfred, the Wayne family butler, also has a bit of this going on (tends to be a lot more empathetic than Bruce).
Film
- The Incredibles - Robert "Bob" Parr, aka Mr. Incredible (also a literal/biological father).
- The Goonies - Brand, as the oldest, tries to be the Team Dad. He makes a point of trying to take charge of the younger kids, but this doesn't work out so well.
Literature
- The Little Men of Plumfield has Franz — oldest student, part-time teacher, President of The Club, and their mentor's and Team Mom's nephew.
- And there's also Dr. Alexander Mackenzie Campbell, aka Uncle Alec, from Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom.
- Jake in Animorphs, also the team leader. Marco teases him about this mercilessly, especially since the Team Mom, Cassie, is his girlfriend.
- Arguably, Remus Lupin was somewhat like this in Harry Potter And the Prisoner of Azkaban.
- In Uncle's Tom Cabin, main character Tom takes up this role pretty much towards everyone in the places he works at. Yes, even at Simon Legree's horrible manse, where he helps the other slaves and they call him "Father Tom" - even the local Broken Bird, the cynical and arrogant Cassie.
Live Action Television
- Battlestar Galactica - William Adama.
- The Bill - Sgt. Bob Cryer (for uniform branch) and DCI/Supt Jack Meadows (for the CID).
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Giles, particularly with respect to Buffy. ("Wish I could play the father, and take you by the hand." - Once More With Feeling)
- Charlies Angels - Charlie; in the TV series, he is just Voice With An Internet Connection and acts as Mission Control, but the movies emphasize the relationship he has with his "Angels".
- Criminal Minds - Gideon and Rossi, the latter's status as Team Dad being lampshaded by one of the team asking ''"Where are Mom and Dad?" "Oh, Hotch and Rossi are still at the conference."
- Crossing Jordan - Dr. Garret Macy.
- Dead Like Me - Rube.
- Firefly - Mal Reynolds.
- The Grissom Verse almost always has a Team Dad:
- House, M.D. - Dr. Gregory House, with Wilson and/or Cuddy as his Team Mom. Wilson and Cuddy also often act strikingly like they're House's parents.
- Law And Order - Jack McCoy; previously, Adam Schiff was his Team Dad.
- Law And Order Special Victims Unit - Captain Donald Cragen; his role in the show is more that of Mission Control, but his relationship with his subordinates is Dad-like. At one point, Fin lampshades the trope by greeting Stabler and Benson with "Dad's mad." When he's temporarily reassigned after the nightmare that was Season 8, he bids the team farewell with, "Try to behave yourselves."
- Leverage - Part of Nathan's Character Development is his growth from mere Mission Control to surrogate father for a Ragtag Bunch Of Misfits.
- MASH - Colonel Potter.
- NCIS - Jethro Gibbs, especially to Abby, whom he sees as a daughter-surrogate; she even calls him "dad" on at least one occasion.
- Numb3rs (Don Eppes. He cultivates a slightly less authoritarian manner than Gibbs - not quite first among equals but not as forbidding. Kind of "team big brother".)
- Scrubs - Dr. Cox,
mostly unwillingly.
- Stargate SG-1 - O'Neill and Hammond both qualify.
- As well as Landry in the last two seasons.
- Star Trek The Next Generation - Jean-Luc Picard.
- The character "Competitive Dad" from The Fast Show takes the concept and blows it up to a ludicrous extreme.
- Jeff Tracy in Thunderbirds is literally and figuratively the daddy of the team.
- Torchwood: Captain Jack Harkness.
Close Live Action Television
Video Games
- Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword and The Sealed Sword - Marcus the Paladin, though in the latter he's more of a team granddad given his old age.
- Orwin the Knight is a bit of a Team Dad towards Hector (who lampshades the trope slightly by calling him "old man"), Matthew and Serra (whom he can marry through supports).
- Also, Seth the Silver Knight from Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones. Bonus for being a Paladin too.
- In Path of Radiance, the Greil Mercenaries had their leader, Greil, who was also the biological father of Ike and Mist. However, Mist only really became part of the team after Greil's death.
- Metal Gear Solid - Big Boss, while he wasn't exactly the world's greatest dad to his clone-sons, has improved the lives of just about everyone who works for him by giving them sanctuary at Outer Haven. Then Solid Snake showed up in a cardboard box.
- Solid Snake himself becomes Team Dad after adopting Sunny (and having acted as Raiden's mentor).
- Super Robot Wars Original Generation - Kai Kitamura; his deceased mentor Kar-Wai Lau must've rubbed on him a lot. Captain Daitetsu is more like the Team Grandpa, but otherwise fits.
- For a good-aligned party in Baldur's Gate II, Keldorn can come across very strongly as a Lawful Good, evil-smiting paladin Team Dad. His age helps-his daughter is about the same age as most party members, including the protagonist.
- This trope is mentioned outright in Wild Arms 5, with Greg being referred to as the team dad.
- Literally in Tales of Symphonia with Kratos. When he leaves the party later on, Regal eventually joins and fulfills the role to a lesser, if more traditional, degree.
- Captain Basch von Ronsenberg in Final Fantasy XII becomes quite warm and fatherly towards Vaan and Penelo. Some would say creepily so. He maintains a rather odd indifference towards Ashe for most of the game, however.
Webcomics
Western Animation
- Avatar The Last Airbender has Prince Zuko — Kids, you can have your beach party after you save the world! The team unanimously follow him when The Hero disappears. They seem to be emphasizing this trait in the new
 ◊ comics◊.
- Bionic Six - Jack Bennet aka Bionic-1. The Bionic 6 are made up of him, his wife and Team Mom Helen, and their children - biological and adopted.
- Gargoyles - Goliath (also Action Girl Angela's father) and Hudson. Who really is the father of Broadway.
- The Secret Saturdays - Solomon "Doc" Saturday (also a literal/biological father).
- Transformers Animated - Optimus Prime. Most version of Optimus could count (especially Primal), but Animated Optimus is the most explicitly dad-like.
- This would make Ratchet the grumpy grampa who demands you get off his lawn.
- Skeleton Warriors have Ursak, who is actually an uncle of other three heroes.
- Dungeons And Dragons: Hank the Ranger.
- Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers - Zachary Foxx is not only raising his two children after his wife met A Fate Worse Than Death at the hands of the series Big Bad, but often acts as a father figure to his team, especially Shane and Niko.
- Brock Samson from Venture Brothers, despite being a macho brute of a badass action hero, has quite clearly taken up the role of Hank and Dean's parental figure; he's responsible for the feeding and clothing of the kids (and their father) and in one episode can be seen checking the boys over for head lice as he outlines a combat plan to one of his colleagues. Hank, at least, also looks up to him and asks him for advice.
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