- In 24, do not mess with Jack Bauer's daughter. You will regret it. For example, at the end of season one, when Kim has escaped from her captors, but the villains still want to lure Jack in, so they have The Mole tell him that his daughter's body had been found. Jack comes in, all right — both guns blazing — and doesn't leave a single one alive, even emptying an entire magazine into the surrendering Big Bad.
- Ace Lightning's Simon Hollander is a mild mannered accountant — until you insult his son.
- The Adventures of Superman: As in the comics, it's a really bad idea to mess with Jimmy, unless you want Superman to come after you. (Even if that is your plan, you won't like the result.) During one story when a couple of villains kidnapped him, they were met at the door by a grim-voiced Superman, who demanded to know, "What have you done with Jim Olsen?"
- Ahsoka:
- Baylan Skoll may be a fallen Jedi who’s given into hatred but he still cares greatly for his Padawan Dark Action Girl Shin like any other master would and the only time we ever see him lose his cool is when Ashoka uses the Force to hurtle Shin into a rock, which royally pisses Baylan off and leads to Ahsoka getting brutally defeated and cast off a cliff into the ocean.
- Anakin in the Afterlife Antechamber appears to keep Ashoka’s drowning mind alive and force his Padawan to keep fighting and not just give up and die. It works.
- The A-Team: The other members of the team may be capable, gutsy grown men with dozens of battles under their belts, but that doesn't mean Hannibal will not take it personally if he feels they're in actual trouble. This shows up in "Deadly Manuevers"note and in "Mind Games"note .
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Coulson shows off his Team Dad status by doing this, particularly for Skye. He pistol-whipped the guy who shot her, and, in general, threatening her in his presence is almost always an awful idea.
- Much to the chagrin of Cal who, as a Papa Wolf towards Daisy himself, eventually set out to explicitly bring Coulson down, mostly out of jealousy.
- Jack Bristow of Alias is a Papa Wolf extraordinaire for his Action Girl daughter Sydney, despite being absent for much of her life due to his job with the CIA. Some of the more memorable instances include the very first line he says in the series being him asking about Sydney's safety (deliberate on the part of the writing staff); breaking another agent's fingers in a vise after finding out he's a traitor, then shooting him in the head after he confesses to exposing Sydney's cover; and entering a fatally radioactive room to ensure her escape.
- This is all nothing compared to his retaliation against his own wife, Irina Derevko. In "Dead Drop", he believes Irina isn't genuine in her desire to help the CIA, so he rigs the safe house Sydney has gone to on Irina's intel to blow, which makes Sydney believe her mother lied to her and meant her harm. As we see in "Search and Rescue", he even executed Irina — or, a double of Irina because he believed she ordered a hit on Sydney.
- Mama Bear and Papa Seahorse became proud parents of this trope on Alien Nation, when pregnant Newcomer George Francisco broke with his usual self-controlled civility to utterly cream a thug in defense of the fetal Newcomer in his belly-pouch.
- Alphas had a baby, Adam, whose power was to induce this sort of response in people. While under the effect, Gary became very protective of Adam and (rightfully) expressed suspicion of the supposed parents.
- In Andromeda threatening a Nietzschean's wives and children is one of the easiest ways to get them mad at you. Of course this is part of their Social Darwinist values, they are trying to preserve their genes.
- Alvaro Cueva, Mexican critic of Alta Definición fame, HATES seeing children being treated as idiots by some shows, and exploited (made fun of or worse, making kids dance in ways pedobear would approve) by others.
- Angel:
- Lampshaded: Lorne comments on Angel's strong "Mama Bear Vibe" when he becomes aggressively over-protective of his newborn son. The trope was shown in its full glory when Angel almost smothered Wesley to death after Wesley unwittingly made Angel lose his son.
- Then there was this conversation with Lilah:Lilah: Look, Angel, I know you've been out of the loop for a while, but I'm still evil. I don't do errands. Unless they're evil errands.
Angel: I think you'll do this one.
Lilah: Why? What's in it for me?
Angel: Just this once, I'll ignore the fact that you're within fifty yards of my son. Just this once. - And of course, there was his little speech to Linwood in "Dad" where he promised to inflict upon him any pain Connor experiences, even when Wolfram & Hart couldn't have possibly had anything to do with it.
- The most touching example is in an argument with Cordelia, who rightly points out Angel as a vampire has limitations on what he can do for Connor like getting him to hospital when he’s sick in the middle of the day. Angel in reply makes it clear there is nothing he would not do for his son.Cordelia: You’re a vampire. And even if you weren't, you can't do everything for him.Angel: [puts his arm into the sunlight and it starts to burn] If he has to get to the hospital at noon on the sunniest day of the year, he'll get there - even if I don't.
- Fred’s father Roger (who up to this point has no idea about anything supernatural), attacks a giant demon cockroach yelling for it to get the hell away from his daughter.
- Michael has a Papa Wolf moment in Arrested Development when trying to get back with a girl he was dating. He stops his sister and mother from physically attacking her in a restaurant for writing an unflattering article about the family. Then he hears that she told his son to stop getting in the way of Michael's happiness. He steps out of the way and tells the girl she's on her own. She promptly gets her ass kicked.
- In Arrow, Robert Queen outright murders a particularly tough-looking survivor of the shipwreck, and then takes his own life, to make sure that Oliver will survive and not be threatened.
- On Spike TV's Bar Rescue, host John sends undercover employees into the failing bars to pretend to be customers; he watches on hidden cameras as they experience the food, beverages, and customer service. On the episode set at J. Murphy's bar, his daughter is one of the undercover workers - and she nearly gets food poisoning from food prepared by a chef who didn't wash her hands after handling raw chicken. John breaks his own protocol and calls off the undercover stint, tears into the bar to stop her from eating the food, and then goes into the kitchen, where he gives the chef possibly the most vicious dressing-down in the history of the show.
- The Barrier: Hugo is generally a quiet and mild-mannered man, but being the most obvious obstacle between him and his daughter Marta's well-being, or worse, actively harming her, tends to be the best way to put one's physical integrity in jeopardy. Damage is usually limited by the presence of Julia, his sister-in-law who's pretending to be his wife while they are at work, or occasionally other members of the family.
- In Battlestar Galactica, Commander Adama has shown time and again that he's a very caring Team Dad even with those not related to him by blood, such as Boxy and Starbuck.
- In the 2003 version, Adama has repeatedly referred to his crew as a family, he's also come dangerously close to sparking off a civil war between the Battlestars Galactica and Pegasus in order to get "[his] men" back.
- The scene where he threatens Admiral Cain is both a Moment of Awesome and example of Awesome Music. "Prelude to War" is a masterpiece and it fits the scene so well. It makes Adama's Papa Wolf-ness that much more badass.
- Earlier than that, in the first season episode "You Can't Go Home Again", when Adama puts the fleet and resources in serious jeopardy before giving up on a hopeless rescue operation to recover Starbuck. When his son, who has something of an inferiority complex with regards to the Commander's and Starbuck's relationship, asks if the Commander would have stayed so long if it had been him down there, Adama asserts that if it were him, they would never leave.
- Deconstructed by George in Being Human, who grows paranoid for the safety of his daughter after his partner Nina is beaten to death by vampires, and his overprotective behaviour, which includes refusing to allow her outdoors and standing watch over her crib for long periods of time, is portrayed as having a negative impact on both of them. Also a literal example, since George is a werewolf.
- Josh is quickly becoming this as of Season 3 in the American remake. Which is hilarious considering he's no longer a werewolf.
- Big Love: Bill Hendrickson is presented as the typical sitcom dad—bumbling, clueless, etc. But when his daughter's boyfriend tells him that The Dragon of his nemesis has been stalking her, the next thing we see is Bill arriving at the man's hotel room. The only hint of what's about to come is him removing his watch. The man opens the door, Bill pushes his way in, and all we hear are blows landing and Bill yelling, "Don't you EVER go near my daughter again!"
- Red Reddington from The Blacklist is this towards Elizabeth Keen. There is no limit to what Red will do to protect her from harm's way, and Red quickly drops any form of civility when faced with someone who has put her life in danger, regardless of the circumstances. Among his more notable courses of action have been to push someone into a corrosive chemical bath or off a plane mid-flight.
- Blue Bloods:
- Police Commissioner Frank Reagan unhesitatingly shoots and kills the rapist/killer who was threatening his Assistant DA daughter, Erin; who had prosecuted the guy a few years earlier.Frank: "Get your hands off my daughter."Reed: "Hey, "Dad". You just try it—"Frank: (Boom, Headshot!)
- Henry certainly applies. When Frank was shot, the entire family spends the night in the waiting room. After revealing that he has a gun, Henry sits in front and the show proceeds to time-skip a few hours. You don't think much of it, until you realize that Henry is the only one who's relatively alert. Meaning that he was guarding his family, as the only way to get to them was to go through him.
- And then there was the time Henry pulled a gun on an EMT to save Frank from meningitis.
- Danny feels this way when his immediate family is harmed, as notably shown in "The Job" after a suburban dad-turned vigilante shoots at him.
- Danny's reaction when his niece Nicky is abducted by a serial killer is as angry and terrified as if she were his daughter instead of niece.
- It's also discussed earlier, as when Jamie is under an Internal Affairs investigation, Frank resists the temptation to tell IA to let him slide. Henry helps out by letting him know that the same thing happened to Frank when he was Commissioner, but he let IA go through because he knew Frank would be cleared. He was, and so is Jamie.
- In "Loose Lips," Henry causes a public relations nightmare when a recording of one of his old war stories goes on YouTube: A cop was put under threat by a criminal gang and Henry ordered his men to lean on every crook in the city to get the word out that the cop was protected; it worked and the cop never knew. Frank calls Henry on this, only for Henry to reveal that Frank was that cop.
- Deconstructed in "Personal Business". James Reed, an off-duty sergeant at the 31st Precinct, is shopping with his daughter at a bodega when armed gunmen rob the place, fatally shoot the cashier, steal from the register, and flee. It's a stinker because the sergeant was busy shielding his daughter the whole time, and the press are critical of his failure to stop the robbery.
- Police Commissioner Frank Reagan unhesitatingly shoots and kills the rapist/killer who was threatening his Assistant DA daughter, Erin; who had prosecuted the guy a few years earlier.
- Agent Booth from Bones won't hesitate to hurt or kill if anyone tried to get too close to Brennan. He is fiercely protective of her, escaping from the hospital despite his injuries in order to save her from a crazy ex-FBI agent.
- Booth wasn't happy when Howard Epps escaped from prison. But when Epps got close to Booth's son Parker, he went full-on Papa Wolf. He extends it naturally to his kids Christine and Hank later.
- He's also willing to give up a promotion, a raise and a trip to Hawaii to keep his little brother from being dishonourably discharged.
- Matt Brennan, aka Max Keenan (father of Bones) once killed, gutted, and then burned the corpse of someone who was hired to kill his children. In an earlier episode, it's mentioned that despite being a career criminal, he tried to avoid violence whenever possible. Killed, gutted, then set on fire.
- Not just once. He did the same thing to The Man Behind the Man. Said man behind the man was a Deputy Director of the FBI. Papa Keenan is both thorough and frighteningly unfettered when it comes to protecting his children.
- And grandchildren. He fought off a deranged killer out for revenge and saved Hank and Christine despite a risk to his weakened heart that ended up killing him as a result.
- Booth’s grandfather, Hank, took in Booth and his brother Jared after he found out that their father (his son) was beating them.
- Booth wasn't happy when Howard Epps escaped from prison. But when Epps got close to Booth's son Parker, he went full-on Papa Wolf. He extends it naturally to his kids Christine and Hank later.
- Eric does this a few times in Boy Meets World. Mostly he is a Ditz and sometimes he is a Woobie. But he can be a Papa Wolf to Cory and when he stood up to a bully bigger than him it was a Moment of Awesome.
- In The Boys (2019), Homelander is this to his son Ryan because Even Evil Has Loved Ones and he's the only family he has. Butcher ends up becoming this to Ryan as well because he's Becca's son who he promised to protect, which becomes another source of conflict between the two as they fight over who should raise him. In the season 3 finale, they even have a brief Enemy Mine after he's injured by his Gruesome Grandparent Soldier Boy, and Homelander melts a protester's head for accidentally hitting him with a water bottle.
- Breaking Bad: Walter White is not too fond of people making fun of or hurting Walt Jr. or Jesse. If you do either of those, prepare to PAY for it, and pay it dearly.
- Jesse is this for children in general, as Saul and Todd find out the hard way.
- D.I. Alec Hardy from Broadchurch is extremely protective over his daughter Daisy, especially since he missed most of her growing up when he and his wife divorced. When he finds out some boys from Daisy's school have been spreading nude photos of her, he goes off.Hardy: Any of you come near - no, you even talk to - no, no, you even talk ABOUT my daughter, ever again, let alone do anything to make her unhappy, I will find you, and I will cut your tiny little cocks off.
Boy: You can't say that to us, you're the police!
Hardy: I'm a father. And I will do whatever is necessary to protect my daughter. - Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
- Team Dad Giles. The welfare of the Scoobies is this normally quiet and reserved librarian. In "I Was Made to Love You", Spike comes by asking about Buffy. The Scoobies tell him he's not welcome, and when he doesn't get the message, Giles picks him up by the throat and menacingly warns him away from Buffy. All this time, Giles looks about ready to chuck Spike right into the sunlight. There's also "Graduation Day Part 1" where the Mayor nonchalantly mentions his plan to eat Buffy and Giles, without blinking, picks up a sword and stabs him through the chest. Unfortunately, since he's nearly-demon it doesn't do much.
- Giles partially becomes this to Faith in Season 8.
- The Mayor is this himself to his Dragon Faith, with whom he shares an oddly touching father/daughter relationship. When Buffy puts her into a coma, he first tries to smother Buffy in a Tranquil Fury, then has a miniature Villainous Breakdown, dropping his usual Affably Evil persona:Angel: Don't do that!
Mayor: Oh, I will. I'll do worse! Murderous little fiend! Did you see what she did to my Faith?!
Angel: I got no plans to weep over that.
Mayor: Yeah, well, I'd get set for a world of weeping! I'd get set for a world of pain! Misery loves company young man, and I'm more than willing to share that with you and your whore!
- Team Dad Giles. The welfare of the Scoobies is this normally quiet and reserved librarian. In "I Was Made to Love You", Spike comes by asking about Buffy. The Scoobies tell him he's not welcome, and when he doesn't get the message, Giles picks him up by the throat and menacingly warns him away from Buffy. All this time, Giles looks about ready to chuck Spike right into the sunlight. There's also "Graduation Day Part 1" where the Mayor nonchalantly mentions his plan to eat Buffy and Giles, without blinking, picks up a sword and stabs him through the chest. Unfortunately, since he's nearly-demon it doesn't do much.
- In Burn Notice
- Michael Weston grew up with an abusive father, and so he has a very big soft spot for protecting children. He is usually very controlled and calculating, but underneath his emotions are boiling. He once didn't realize he was being tricked by a "mother" who used a fake sob story about an abusive ex who has taken her child to get Michael to help find a cooperating witness who went into hiding.
- Eventually made literal when Michael and Fi become adoptive parents to Michael's nephew Henry after his father and grandmother are dead and his mother is in jail.
- Several of Michael's clients are as well.
- In "Do No Harm", on seeing a con artist who sold fake medicine that made his son's health worse, the father jumps out of a car, chases the guy down and beats the crap out of him. Michael has to pull the father off the scum so they can interrogate him.
- In "Question and Answer", client Howard's son has been kidnapped. When Michael has Howard demand proof-of-life to a meeting so they can tail Santora, the criminal, she comes with the proof but beats up Howard, who is apparently alone. Santora strikes the man to see if there are any cops around, but Howard holds firm, stares down Santora and repeatedly demands for his son's release. This trope is lampshaded by Michael's narration on watching the scene:"Behavior in a combat situation is unpredictable. Sometimes trained soldiers go screaming for the hills. Sometimes guys who've never fired anything bigger than a cap gun... turn out to have ice in their veins."
- Castle: Rick Castle. You do not mess with his daughter. Not even if you are Mr. Macho Cool Slaughter, who can get away with saying plenty of risqué things about Beckett (who Castle is normally quite protective of as well, if the situation calls for it. Not that the situation often calls for it) but earns a punch in the nose for even thinking about talking that way about his daughter.
- Crops up again near the end of season 5 when Alexis is kidnapped. Castle successfully tries out the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique on an injured man to get information. You don't see the actual violence, but the Tranquil Fury beforehand is truly terrifying.
- In Charmed (1998), Leo spent the first half of Season 6 in Papa Wolf mode after both his sons were put in danger.
- All three detectives — Voight, Olinsky, and Dawson — on Chicago P.D. have shown their ability to become downright terrifying when their kids are in danger.
- Cobra Kai:
- Both Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence are this towards their students and their children (especially Samantha and Miguel respectively; they also share this towards Robby), one of several similarities they share. Messing with their kids when they're around is a VERY bad idea and it's one of the few things that can get them to put aside their rivalry and work together.
- John Kreese of all people has shades of this towards Tory, a troubled young girl and his best student. When he discovers her creepy landlord is sexually extorting her, he immediately visits him and makes damn sure he learns to keep his hands to himself. Additionally, it's revealed he has always felt this way about Johnny and, in his own twisted way, is fiercely protective of him.
- Aaron Hotchner of Criminal Minds is without a doubt Team Dad to the entire team. And he is not a dad you want to mess with. Although, considering his workaholic tendencies and his eventual divorce as a result, he's often a better dad to the team than he is to his actual son. He even plays Papa Wolf to children involved in their cases.
- Dave Rossi reaches Papa Wolf status in "Masterpiece" when Henry Grace goes after the team to get to him. He spends the entire interview convincing Grace he's got the power, then, in one line ("Did you get all that?") Out-Gambits Grace by revealing he's been playing Grace the whole time, slamming Grace's head against a window for going after his team.
- Hotch and Rossi's co-parental status is lampshaded when team super badass/older brother Derek Morgan asks, "Where's Mom and Dad?" to which team organizer/big sister JJ responds, "Hotch and Rossi are still at the conference." No mention of which is which, but it's worth noting that Hotch's status as Team Mom has been a running gag in fandom since season 1.
- Hotch invoked this trope all over the recurring villain who came after his own family. Like Fin Tutuola, above, he wouldn't — and didn't — stop at "half".
- There is another episode where the kidnapper of a girl turns out to be just a lustful teenager, and the girl's father turns out to be a retired mafia hitman. Hilarity Ensues.
- Dave Rossi reaches Papa Wolf status in "Masterpiece" when Henry Grace goes after the team to get to him. He spends the entire interview convincing Grace he's got the power, then, in one line ("Did you get all that?") Out-Gambits Grace by revealing he's been playing Grace the whole time, slamming Grace's head against a window for going after his team.
- On CSI, Grissom (who is just about as mild-mannered as they come, and at this point had few moments in which he lost his temper) gave Catherine's abusive ex an Oh, Crap! moment by letting out a very loud "Hey!" and looking all the world like he was going to charge down the hallway when Eddie tried to bully her.
- There's also this memorable rant, showing that you do not fuck around with kids on Gil Grissom's watch:Gil Grissom: Let me tell you something, Humbert. You're twice the age of these kids, and half of them couldn't find their own ass with a map. You prey on innocent children, concocting God-knows-what from God-knows-where, selling Russian Roulette in a bottle and you think we came all the way out here to bust you for possession, you dumb punk? I'm gonna get you for murder. Cool?
- D.B. in the season 12 opener. Grandpapa Wolf you could call it in that case. He kept enough control not to do anything stupid, but Brass still yelled at him during the search for his granddaughter.
- Conrad Ecklie just kind of goes quiet and upset when his daughter, CSI Morgan Brody, gets into danger when their relationship is early in the healing stages. Once they truly repair there relationship and Morgan lets him in, this changes, as shown when Morgan is abducted by a serial killer after Ecklie allowed her to go undercover. He is supremely pissed, actually punching a suspect in the face despite being the sheriff.
- There's also this memorable rant, showing that you do not fuck around with kids on Gil Grissom's watch:
- Ditto with CSI: NY's Mac Taylor...it's shown up several times with Lindsay in particular. In the ep where the lab was shot up, Mac crashed through his half broken office window to pull her out of the line of fire after she basically had a panic attack.
- Deconstructed in Dennis the Menace. In one episode, Dennis is dealing with a bully and comes home with a black-eye. His dad and Mr. Wilson encourage him to stand up for himself and fight back. They then end up worrying about having to deal with the bully's very angry father when Dennis gives him a black-eye in return. Things change however as it's revealed that the bully lied about a few things such as saying that Dennis was a foot taller than him ("Look at the way his hair sticks out in back"), and conveniently left out the fact that he hit Dennis first. The bully's father then turned his anger on his own son upon discovering this.
- In Dexter, Dexter Morgan intentionally breaks his rules for the first time in order to protect his girlfriend's daughter from a pervert, despite not having any proof that the perv is a murderer. He even compares himself to a wolf directly in the Season 3 finale, as he prepares to smash the bones in his hand in order to make his escape from King, and live to be a father to his unborn son. In general, he seems to hold a particular antipathy for any of his victims who victimize children.
- In Season 5 he beats the snot out of an abusive stepdad (whose stepdaughter was friends with Astor, Dexter's own stepdaughter) and runs him out of town, partly to help out the girl being abused, but also to ensure the abuser never goes near any member of Dexter's family.
- In Season 6, Dexter considers letting the police catch the Doomsday Killer, but then he kidnaps his son.
- Diagnosis: Murder. Do not mess with anyone Mark Sloan has taken under his wing, or the kindly old doctor will destroy you. In one episode, the villain knocks Steve Sloan down a flight of cement stairs, while Mark is standing at the top. Mark immediately high-kicks the guy down those same stairs with an impressive Death Glare. When asked if it was karate, he casually replies, "Fred Astaire."
- Doc: "Doc" Clint Cassidy, his friend Officer Nate Jackson, and Nate's wife Beverly end up looking after a boy, Raul, after his mother dies. When Raul's father Hector Gonzales shows up, Doc is suspicious, given that he wasn't around and that Raul's mother claimed her son would have no one if she died. A sting reveals that Hector would have been perfectly happy to have a drug addict take custody of his son, as long as he got a hefty payment out of it. Seething, Nate gets in his face. He and Doc settle for running him out of town with the promise that they won't prosecute for extortion if he disappears, though Nate would have preferred arresting him.
- Doctor Who:
- When finding Sarah strapped to a rock and tortured in "The Sontaran Experiment", the Doctor utterly blows his tactical righteous cool and starts swearing and trying to beat up the Sontaran leader. This does not go well for him, which he would've known if he weren't blinded by rage.
- The cliffhanger to episode 3 of "The Caves of Androzani" is exhibit A.
- Also "Because NOW, Detective Inspector Bishop, there is no power on this Earth that can stop me!" when Rose's face/consciousness is stolen in "The Idiot's Lantern". It's fairly safe to say that you just don't mess with the Doctor's companions. Ever.
- About 5-10 minutes or so after the Doctor finally accepts Jenny (his female clone) as his daughter, in "The Doctor's Daughter", she takes a bullet for him and winds up dying in his arms. The next minute is one of the only times in the series where we see the Doctor holding someone at gunpoint.
- "Forest of the Dead": "You just killed someone I like, and that is not a safe place to stand. I'm the Doctor and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up."
- The Eleventh Doctor acts as a Papa Wolf for all of humanity to the Atraxi with a little history lesson in "The Eleventh Hour". Safe to say, his speech solidified Matt Smith as the Doctor for those who weren't already convinced.Atraxi: You are not of this world.
The Doctor: No, but I've put a lot of work into it.
...
The Doctor: Okay! One more, just one more... is this world protected?
[cue montage of aliens who have attacked or threatened humanity]
The Doctor: But you're not the first lot to have come here. Oh, there have been so many! And what you've got to ask is... what happened to them?
[cue montage of the previous ten incarnations of the Doctor, ending with Eleven stepping through the image of Ten]
The Doctor: Hello. I'm the Doctor. Basically... run. - In "Amy's Choice", the Dream Lord remarks on the Doctor's tendency to swell in masterful fury when someone he cares about is threatened.
- Turned up to eleven in "A Good Man Goes to War", where the Doctor gathers a literal army to rescue Amy and her daughter. But this is outshone by Amy's husband Rory, who dons Roman centurion armor and a sword and fights his way through an entire Cyberman starship just to ask them a question:Rory: Where. Is. My. Wife?
- In "Closing Time", Craig, previously shown to be an ineffectual loser who needed the Doctor's help to even ask a girl out, manages to resist being converted into a Cyberman and blows the Cybermen's emotional inhibitors when he hears his son crying.
- "In the Forest of the Night": Danny is repeatedly shown to be quite protective about his students, a trait that Clara values.
- Ten claimed to be all out of mercy; Twelve practically personifies this quality (he has "attack eyebrows" after all), and is quite easily the single most intimidating Doctor in a long line of personalities who define Beware the Nice Ones.The Doctor: What Clara said about not taking revenge. Do you know why she said that?
Ashildr: She was saving you.
The Doctor: I was lost a long time ago. She was saving you. I'll do my best, but I strongly advise you to keep out of my way. You'll find that it's a very small universe when I'm angry with you.
- Fred Thursday from Endeavour can count as this towards his children, Joan and Sam, but also towards Morse. This is particularly evident in the episode "Trove", where Thursday beats up the crooks that had attacked Morse in Mr. Pettifer's office.
- From ER, we have a few doctors who would go to far lengths to protect their patients. Dr Kovac once yelled at a father for leaving his young daughter alone in the waiting room for some time while he was working, where there were druggies and other not-so-sane people around. Another time, when he suspected the husband of his patient was abusing her, he went to confront him and was fully willing to put himself in danger (hence getting punched as a result) to prove to the authorities that the guy was a danger to his wife and others.
- Another time, Ray found out his ex-girlfriend had an abusive father. He helped her get away from him and when the father tried to catch the car, Ray flattened him with a punch.
- Don't forget the time when Malucci found out that a little girl he was tending was being sexually abused by her dad. After hearing about the "games" he played with her, the poor guy's mind completely shut off... and then he burst into the operation room where the father was being treated and beat him up while crying and screaming.
- And they're all pale imitations of the original Papa Wolf—Doug Ross, whose anger towards abused children was established from the very first episode when he screamed at an abusive mother, then further cemented a few episodes later when he punched an abusive father. Several episodes after that, we learn that his father was abusive, perfectly explaining not only his reactions, but why he even decided to be a pediatrician in the first place.
- In The Escape Artist, upon finding out that Foyle may be stalking Jamie, Will immediately rushes out to find him. It's very strongly hinted that the reason the climax plays out the way it does is because Will doesn't want to give Foyle a chance to kill his son.
- Sheriff Jack Carter of Eureka. A nice guy who'd rather avoid nuclear anything, much less the radiation that comes with it. However, when his smart house goes crazy and targets his daughter, Zoe, with a destructo raygun, he breaks out his prized World Series autographed bat and wails on the house's nuclear generator in the hopes of knocking off the power... Which theoretically would have killed him and the five people trapped in the house with him. Sorry Boss, Best-Friend, Love Interest, and two mostly innocent bystanders, Jack's daughter ranks above all of you.
- In Everybody Hates Chris, Julius finds out local hoodlum Malvo is bullying Chris. His response?Malvo: (to Chris) So I'm supposed to be afraid cause you brought your daddy out here?
Julius: No, you supposed to be scared cause if you ever put your hands on my son again, you ain't going to jail (raises baseball bat), I'M going to jail. - On Extant John hints at this during his presentation:Femi: How dare you...?
John: (angrily) How dare you ask me 'do I have a contingency plan to kill my son?'! - Carl Winslow from Family Matters is a straight-laced Chicago cop, but an easy way to piss him off is to mess with his kids. Whether it's gang, or a couple of racist cops harassing his son for being black in a predominantly white neighborhood, he'll make sure something is done about it, and done by the books. Even Steve Urkel falls under this protection.
- Firefly's Malcolm Reynolds is a Papa Wolf, and in his case, it applies to anyone on his crew. Threaten someone on his crew, and you are in for an extreme world of hurt.
- In a similar vein, Simon is this way with his long-suffering sister River. He's normally a relatively unassuming and actually quite timid doctor who isn't that good at combat, but when River is in danger, he goes all-out to protect her.
- And while we're at it, don't hurt Kaylee. Jayne will make you pay if you hurt her. For that matter, so will Simon. And Mal. In fact, just don't hurt Kaylee. As Jubal Early can attest, it won't end well for you. Well, he could if he hadn't been shoved into the endless void of space.
- Major Gireyev in the Russian Rescue series Five Minutes Of Silence. It's revealed in the middle of the first season that the paramedic Tatyana is his daughter (she kept her ex-husband's name to prevent an obvious early reveal), but he's shown to be extremely protective of her even earlier. When Grek saves them from a group of escaped convicts against Gireyev's orders, one of whom nearly slit Tatyana's throat, Gireyev rappels with Grek halfway down a cliff, and then cuts the rest of Grek's rope to force him to climb back up, claiming that it's a lesson in following orders. After Grek chooses to go back to his girlfriend Lina, after she reveals that she's pregnant, instead of staying with Tatyana, Gireyev warns him to never even so much as talk to his daughter and flips out when they have a phone conversation. Things get worse after Tatyana is killed by a criminal in season 2.
- In season 5 of The Flash, Cicada is revealed to be one. His meta-killing spree turns out to be a Roaring Rampage of Revenge after his niece, whom he had taken in after his sister's death, ends up being hurt by a piece of meta-tech.
- Barry Allen is usually a very nice, affable kind of person, one who will even give his enemies a second chance if they seem sincere. One of the very few things that makes him drop the Nice Guy attitude is threatening his children.
- Another Simon, this time the Magnificent Bastard from FlashForward (2009). While definitely not a Nice Guy, he is very protective of his family, especially his younger sister Annabelle.
- Aaron Stark also qualifies. Don't try to hurt Tracy. Ever.
- Ed Lane from Flashpoint is normally The Stoic but he is fiercely protective of his team, especially his closest friend Greg Parker. When he had enough suspicion that an investigator was specifically targeting Parker to ruin his career, he immediately went to warn Parker, breaking rules and even death-glaring a cop that stood between him and Parker.
- He's also this to his own children. In the series finale, he's seen digging through a pile of broken concrete with his bare hands to reach his son Clark, who is trapped in his car in a destroyed parking garage.
- Forever: In "Skinny Dipper" Henry is not at all interested in fighting his stalker when he appears in the basement lab with a sword, but when he hears his son Abraham coming home upstairs, Henry fights tooth and nail (and letter opener) to keep the killer away from him.
- Philip "Uncle Phil" Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is known for his anger, but in the episode "Mistaken Identity," when a racist police officer arrests his son Carlton and nephew Will, he sees right through
an obvious Engineered Public Confession. When said cop refuses to let them out of their cell, Uncle Phil unleashes a verbal ass-whoopin' the likes of which the poor bastard had never seen.Uncle Phil: I've got a few questions for you: When you got this alleged confession from these two young men, did they have a lawyer present? No, because I'm their lawyer. Did you inform their parents? No, because we're their parents. So, officer, don't tell us to wait, and don't tell us to sit down - just open that damn cell and let those boys out. or I'm gonna tie this place up in so much litigation that your grandchildren are gonna need lawyers!- Another example of Uncle Phil's Papa Wolf badassery is when the parents of Ashley's school bully advise that they seek psychiatric help for her. Long story short, shit gets real.
- A few occasions where he threw Jazz out of the house was after the latter made unflattering advances at Hilary. One of which occurs when he begrudgingly allows Jazz to substitute for a sick Geoffrey. When he and Vivian confront Jazz about destroying his briefcase, Hilary, who’s crying over an unrequited love, runs to Vivian’s arms. Jazz then takes it upon himself to ask Phil to take Hilary off their hands, which pushes Phil over the edge. Cue Jazz being jettisoned from the house with a cardboard cutout of Bill Cosby.
- Being unrelated by blood does not exempt Will from Phil's protection, and that's maybe nowhere else best seen than in the episode in which Will's father Lou makes a return to his life. As Lou is preparing to leave without Will and asks Uncle Phil to let him know... Phil tells him to sit down, and what commences is both a furious and passionate speech made to try to impart Lou with some paternal responsibility and Phil's most thorough verbal beatdown since "Mistaken Identity". And it's glorious.
- He also out-hustles a pool hustler who tried to cheat Will out of thousands of dollars!
- In the first season, Will meets one known to everyone in their social circle as Dr. No because he's so overprotective that he instantly says "No" to any boy who tries to ask his daughter out, brutally rapid-fire interrogates the kid, and when the hapless and intimidated boy of course can't answer him, declares, "You disgust me, boy. Get out of my sight."
- Another example of Uncle Phil's Papa Wolf badassery is when the parents of Ashley's school bully advise that they seek psychiatric help for her. Long story short, shit gets real
- Walter from Fringe was literally willing to destroy the fabric of the universe in order to save the parallel universe version of his son.
- Full House: DJ, Stephanie, and Michelle have not one, not two, but three of these in their biological father Danny, their uncle Jesse, and Joey. The three men (minus Jesse, who starts the series as a lead guitarist in a rock band and a motorcyclist) aren't inherently tough or dangerous-looking (Danny is a cleaning-obsessed talk-show host and Joey is an aspiring comedian), but if the girls need them, they will drop everything to come to their aid.
- Jesse takes this one step further when he becomes a father to Nicky and Alex. Touch, insult, or do anything bad near his kids and you'll have to deal with him personally.
- To a lesser degree, DJ's boyfriend Steve. He clearly loves DJ and her family, to the point that if her sisters need his help, he's willing to give it in a heartbeat, even to protect them from a legendary summer camp monster.
- Game of Thrones:
- Eddard Stark. It's not only a pun on his House's sigil, the direwolf, but when his daughter Arya isn't brought to him first after Joffery gets mauled, Ned shoves his way through the Lannister soldiers and even raises his voice at his king and best friend (not that the King minds). He's also willing to tarnish his honourable reputation by proclaiming Joffrey as the true heir and be banished to the Night's Watch if it will save Sansa. Unfortunately, Joffrey has him killed anyway.
- Say what you will about Stannis Baratheon; he may be a cold and ruthless man with all the charisma of a brick, but he loves his daughter Shireen deeply and will not let any more misfortune befall her if he can help it. Despite the fact he doesn't get to see his daughter much, Stannis reacts with Tranquil Fury when his wife suggests beating Shireen. It's enough to make her immediately drop the subject. When Melisandre tells him that they need to sacrifice Shireen to ensure his victory, he reacts with cold fury and outright refuses to carry on her advice. Unfortunately, this gets cruelly and gut-wrenchingly subverted when Stannis is pressed by Melisandre to sacrifice Shireen and eventually relents and has her burned at the stake so he can become king, and his men won't freeze to death on their way to Winterfell.Stannis: I was told you would die. Or worse. The grayscale would go slow. Let you grow just enough to know the world before taking it away from you. Everyone advised me to send you to the ruins of Valyria to live out your short life with the Stone Men, before the sickness spread to the castle. I told them all to go to hell. I called in every maester on this side of the world. Every healer, every apothecary. They stopped the disease and saved your life. Because you did not belong across the world with the bloody Stone men. You are the Princess Shireen of House Baratheon. And you are my daughter.
- Somewhat tragically, Jaime Lannister displays this when Joffrey is poisoned at his own wedding, shoving people out of the way to get to his son and try and save him, shouting his first name. Sadly (for Cersei and Jaime, anyway) it's too late. He also has a small but quite sweet moment with Tommen when he crosses paths with him in Joffrey's crypt, telling him he'll make sure he's all right. Of course, Tommen is unaware Jaime is his father, but still. However, perhaps his biggest Papa Wolf moment has come in Season 5 when Jaime personally travels to Dorne with only Bronn for backup to rescue Myrcella from the wrathful Sand Snakes, and even if he is doing it partly to appease Cersei and still calling himself Myrcella's "uncle", it's obvious he'll do whatever it takes to get his daughter back.
- Robb states to Talisa he must be this for every man, woman, and child of the North, as their king.
- Rickard Karstark comes within inches of striking Catelyn because she refuses to let him kill Jaime for killing his son, who was guarding the cell Jaime was in.Karstark: I lost one son fighting by you son's side. I lost another to the Kingslayer, strangled with a chain. You committed a treason, because your children are prisoners? I would carve out my heart and offer it to the Father, if he would let my sons wake from their graves and step into a prison cell!
- Tywin Lannister, to Jaime at least. When Amory Lorch accidentally sends a letter bearing valuable information to a House allied with the Starks, Tywin goes (by his standards) berserk and tells him that should any more harm befall Jaime as a result of this, Amory will be in a world of hurt. He intentionally defies it with Tyrion, admitting that he only went to war after Tyrion's capture to defend House Lannister's reputation and being annoyed when Tyrion turns out to still be alive.
- Rhaegar Targaryen sent his two most skilled Kingsguards, Sers Arthur Dayne and Gerold Hightower, to protect his wife Lyanna and their newborn child—the now-legal heir to the Iron Throne by marriage, on the off-chance Robert Baratheon sent anyone after them. Averted with his children from his previous marriage, who he left behind with his mad father and were eventually brutally killed because of it.
- Comprehensively averted with Balon. When Ramsay sends a part of Theon with a letter threatening him to back off else he will send more organs, he pretty much tells Yara that since Theon can't advance the bloodline, he is dispensable. Even Yara pretty much tells him to fuck off.
- Davos Seaworth is this to pretty much every young character he comes across, particularly Shireen Baratheon. He very nearly kills Melisandre then and there when he finds out she had Shireen burned at the stake.
- Sandor Clegane displays this for Sansa and Arya Stark, mostly notably in the Long Night, when all it takes to get him to keep fighting is seeing Arya in trouble.
- Get Shorty: Katie reminds the good-natured mob enforcer Miles of Rusty, the family dog. Miles loved Rusty, and when Rusty bit him, Miles excused his behavior without antipathy. But when Rusty bit their daughter, barely more than a nip, Miles took the dog away and secretly killed him. She brings this up to make him appreciative of how his current business dealings are also putting their daughter in danger.
- Reed Strucker from The Gifted (2017). His Establishing Character Moment is threatening to sue his son's school into oblivion unless they deal with his son being bullied fast.
- Luke from Gilmore Girls, Rory's father figure, goes Papa Wolf quite a few times, one of these even leading to Lorelai proposing to him.
- Glee: Kurt Hummel's dad Burt may not understand his son's obsession with musicals and dancing but when Kurt is refused a solo on the grounds of being of the wrong sex for it, he goes to the school and shouts at the principal and the teacher until Kurt is given a chance.
- Papa Wolf status confirmed when he rips Finn a new one and throws him out of the house for calling Kurt a fag. Also a Moment of Awesome."What did you just call him?!"
- Then there's what he's inches away from doing to Karofsky before Kurt pulls him off. Which is not too long after suffering a serious heart attack and week-long coma to boot...so, simply put? Do not mess with Kurt Hummel; you won't like the results. And he didn't even know the real reason Karofsky was threatening Kurt...
- Papa Wolf status confirmed when he rips Finn a new one and throws him out of the house for calling Kurt a fag. Also a Moment of Awesome.
- Good Behavior: Javier may be a contract killer, but you wouldn't guess it from his usual behavior. He's a father figure to his girlfriend's son, Jacob, and a pretty chill guy. All that changes as soon as Jacob is threatened, and we are reminded of just how scary he can be. Teo holds Jacob hostage and quickly discovers this the hard way. Javier shoots him, ties him up, and leaves him for dead inside a prepaid motel room for a week.
- In Gotham, Alfred Pennyworth is fiercely protective of his charge Bruce Wayne, not in the least because Bruce is still too young and inexperienced to properly look after himself yet. At the slightest hint that Bruce is in danger, Alfred will do anything from bribery to threatened murder to protect him. It helps that this Alfred is a badass Battle Butler former marine.Ivy: What are you supposed to be, his bodyguard?
Alfred: If need be, miss, yes. - In the episode "Sledgehammer" of Grey's Anatomy two girls who were in love attempted to commit suicide after the mother of one of the girls discovered their relationship and intended to send her to a gay conversion camp. After a brawl with the doctors, she angrily tells them she is going to sue all of them, the father finally has enough and stands up for their daughter, saying they are not sending her away and that he doesn't care if she's gay but if she's loved and happy. The daughter hears this and smiles, moving the doctors to tears.
- Danny "Danno" Williams in the Hawaii Five-0 reboot. Moving to the other side of the continent is the least he'll do for his daughter Gracie.
- Half of the episode "E Malama" is basically Danny being this. Never endanger the life of his daughter.Danny: If you ever bring a gun into the same zip code as my daughter again, I will put a bullet in your head.
- Also, while not her father, Steve has the same mentality about Grace as Danny, taking his job as Honorary Uncle very serious.Danny: If I found somebody taking pictures of Grace like this, I'd go to their house and I'd kill them.
Steve: Yeah... me, too.
- Half of the episode "E Malama" is basically Danny being this. Never endanger the life of his daughter.
- In Heroes, the uber-example is Noah Bennet aka "Horn Rimmed Glasses/HRG", Claire's adoptive father. For one thing, when Claire Bennet was shot shortly after losing her powers (primarily to protect her dad), and was also slowly and painfully dying due to not having ever been sick in her life prior to this, he attempted to get revenge on Sylar by shooting him and went on a manhunt. His protectiveness of Claire Bennet and unwillingness to hurt her or let her get hurt was also what caused Claire to immediately deduce that the sniper who was gunning down the carnival members was not actually HRG, as the sniper managed to graze her in the arm, something that HRG would never have done even if he did attempt to gun down the carnival.
- This is also true for Dr. Mohinder Suresh and Matt Parkman, the surrogate parents of Molly Walker. They're white hats, though, so they're not as extreme in their protective measures as Mama Bear Jessica or HRG.
- Future!Sylar becomes a Papa Wolf. He's gone from a homicidal psychopath to a cuddly, waffle-making single father because he keeps his murderous instinct in check for his son's sake... and when said son in killed in the crossfire of a battle between Peter and the Company, Sylar literally goes nuclear and takes out the entire city.
- Nathan Petrelli is also a Papa Wolf for his daughter, Claire Bennet, and brother, Peter Petrelli, going to great lengths to protect them, but despite his efforts, still … kind of messes stuff up.
- With regard to Guerrero in Human Target — there is one man, a highly professional assassin, who mentioned his son once, and is still alive. There is a CIA boss who mentioned the danger the son might be in — he is not.
- House of the Dragon:
- First and foremost, we have King Viserys I Targaryen. This man defied centuries of tradition to instill his beloved daughter Rhaenyra onto the Iron Throne, personally stood up to other lords and enemies of the crown to ensure her position and personally vowed to have the tongue of any man who spoke ill of her and his grandsons cut out. Even in his final days (where he was so ill and frail he could barely move and had undergone some extreme Body Horror due to his affliction), he was still able to defend his daughter's rights as his heir and was ready to carve out Vaemond Velaryon's tongue for denouncing his grandchildren as bastards and Rhaenyra a whore. He may have been small and frail, but the smallest and frailest dragon is still a dragon.
- Secondly, we have Prince Daemon Targaryen, the Rogue Prince and younger brother of Viserys. Wild Card he may be, but do not mess with his family. He's extremely protective of his niece/wife Rhaenyra and immediately kills Vaemond when he insults her and his stepsons, ensures his daughter Baela's rights are instilled in the royal court and draws his sword on Otto Hightower when he dares ask him to have his two young sons squire for King Aegon II.
- Ser Harwin Strong is a Knight in Shining Armor who is very protective of his trainees and sons Jacaerys, Lucerys and their baby brother Joffrey, the children of Rhaenyra, trying to teach them good morals and chivalry but also NOT standing for any harm coming their way. He even goes as far as to attack Ser Cristen Cole when he bullies them in the training grounds and all but outs him as their biological father.
- In the Dark: Josiah kills the men threatening his two kids the first chance he gets.
- Admiral Chegwidden the Badass Team Dad on JAG, and even more fierce when his daughter Francesca is kidnapped by La Cosa Nostra. His response? Get a whole lot of ordinance from a navy ship and blow the hell out of the mobsters.
- In Jekyll, Tom Jekyll and Hyde are both this in regards to Tom's family.
- Just the Ten of Us: Graham Lubbock has four hormone-addled daughters that go to an otherwise all-boy school, so this comes up a lot. He is only too happy to remind students that he is a madman who will react very violently to anyone getting out of line with his daughters. It's not an act, either; he enforces strict rules and has quite literally chased guys away. He once even put a guy in a headlock after overhearing lewd comments about his daughters; Elizabeth had to stop him from choking the guy to death. On one occasion, a date got grabby with Cindy, despite her repeated protests. When told of this, an enraged Graham was fully prepared to go find that jerk and break his arms. (He surprised and delighted to learn that Cindy had already done that, though.)
- Kamen Rider: Tendou Souji (Kamen Rider Kabuto) is a extreme case of this, insult him mock him he won't care. But if anyone - be they face stealing alien or human alike — threatens his sister in reality his cousin, but treats Juuka as his sister Hiyori is his Realy sister or Hiyori and he will beat you or if your said alien kick you into oblivion. A special note of this also goes to Kazama Daisuke (Kamen Rider Drake) and will go full on Papa Wolf if you even look at Gon in any way.
- A villainous example is featured in Kamen Rider Wizard. The end goal of the Big Bad is to revive his deceased daughter, no matter how many lives are lost in the process and was close to killing all of Tokyo. However, his goal receives no sympathy because he is constantly ignoring his daughter’s pleas to not sacrifice innocent people for her sake, both before her death and after she’s temporarily resurrected.
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Elliot Stabler's. He once almost beat a pedophile half to death for posting pictures of his (underaged) daughter on an internet site.
- Odafin "Fin" Tutuola also counts: he points out that if it had been his kid, there would have been no "half" about it.
- Often, a female victim's father learns the identity of the individual who hurt/killed his daughter, and he goes and takes his own revenge on the perp.
- Elliot was also rather protective of Olivia. A couple of times he even bit Munch's head off for thoughtlessly bringing up her past.
- Stabler's replacement, Nick Amaro, was likewise extremely protective of his daughter. When some thugs shot up his living room while his mother and daughter were in it, Amaro had to be restrained from going after them with a baseball bat. His first act after finding out that he had fathered a son while undercover years before was to save the kid from being used as a drug mule by his stepfather.
- In one episode, where a woman in the military was gang-raped, one the rapists was her own CO, who started insulting her to her father, a decorated admiral. The admiral knocked the rapist flat on his back with one punch.
- Let the Right One In: Mark will do anything to help his daughter Eleanor, even putting himself in danger and killing people for blood so she can feed.
- Dr. Cal Lightman of Lie to Me may be a Bunny Ears Deception Expert who has kind of a bad-boy vibe going on. But should you so much as threaten his daughter Emily (whether you're a punk kid or a cop or a federal agent), Cal will destroy you.
- Should you happen to be in a coma, whether you're listening to Life on Mars or Ashes to Ashes don't mess with anyone under Gene Hunt's protection. Don't.
- Little House on the Prairie: Several times, Charles playing watchdog over his daughters. More than once, Laura's husband-to-be, Almanzo, would be on the wrong end of Charles' wrath... until Charles sees that "Manly" has pure motives. Indeed, Almanzo and Laura (despite their 10-year age difference) were a life-long couple, the (real-life) marriage ending only when Almanzo suffered a fatal heart attack in 1949, aged 92.
- Lost: Ben, of all people, goes all Papa Wolf on Keamy's ass — but with disastrous consequences, and too late to do any good.
- Very darkly used when Walt is taken away by the Others, and his father Michael not only betrays the group under their orders, but also kills Ana Lucia and Libby, all while attempting to protect his son.
- In Luke Cage (2016), James Lucas beats the crap out of a thug for shooting his son. Never mind that Luke's Immune to Bullets, it's the principle of the thing!
- Malcolm in the Middle: Hal may be the bumbling sitcom dad's poster boy, but if he finds out his kids lives are in danger, he's going to be much more like Walter White.
- The Mandalorian:
- Din Djarin, the titular character immediately develops this instinct toward The Child a.k.a. Grogu when they first meet killing anyone who threatens his safety. As the series progresses the Mandalorian goes up against the entire bounty hunters guild and even an Imperial remnant all to protect his adopted son from harm.
- The IG-11 unit becomes this when it gets reprogrammed into Grogu's nursemaid (after Mando shot it in the head to protect the baby). IG-11 still puts its deadliness to good use, seen when two Scout Troopers abduct Grogu and one of them actually punches him, resulting in IG-11 swiftly and brutally murdering both of them.
- This appears to be a Mandalorian virtue, as seen in Din's backstory where his village was destroyed by Separatist droids when he was a child and a squad of Mandalorian commados pulled him out of the middle of the battle. And seen later in the series when other Mandalorians jump to The Child's aid without hesitation. In chapter 20 another of the Covert's kids is carried off by a Giant Flyer and half a dozen Mandalorians jet after it, with the boy's father rushing heedlessly into the nest and into danger.
- In Married... with Children, Al Bundy is hardly a model dad, but he will stand up for his children when needed. A Running Gag is that he'll discover a sleazebag making out with his daughter, drag him to the front door and slam him against it before tossing him out of the house. In one particular episode, Kelly spots her boyfriend with another girl. She simply tells Al, "Daddy, beat him up," which he promptly does. In another, after Bud confides in him that he's dating his 40-year old teacher, Al shows up at the school the next day, blasts the woman as a "cradle-robbing pervert" and brings in the cops to arrest her. It's the wrong woman, unfortunately, but the right reaction.
- Merlin:
- Uther Pendragon. For all of the man's flaws, it really is not wise to mess with either Arthur or Morgana. He will kill you dead.
- Gaius displays this towards his protege Merlin, throughout the early series. Gaius will do anything to protect his student’s magical abilities from being discovered by Uther and others including risking his own life to safeguard Merlin multiple times.
- In The Middle, Mike has this towards his children; especially towards his daughter, Sue. An example of this would be in Season 1's "Valentine's Day".
- Despite Modern Family's Cameron being overly dramatic and somewhat effeminate, when he thinks there's a stranger in Baby Lily's room he jumps out of bed, grabs a baseball bat, and charges in with a Pre Ass Kicking One Liner.
- Mork from Mork & Mindy. Don't make fun of his son Mearth. Just... don't.
- Sterling Woodlot from Motherland: Fort Salem, the male witch assigned to guard detail to Vice President Blanton Silver, is not a father himself, but he acts this way toward Silver's daughter Penelope. When Sterling learns that Silver conspired to have his daughter injected with an infectious strain of a lethal plague that only affects witches simply so he could become President, he delivers a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to the man at the first opportunity. Sterling later gets to be there to see him get his comeuppance.
- Mr. Belvedere: Not only did George play this with Heather once, he also got to play it with youngest son, Wesley, on one occasion:
- The time with Wesley came in the memorable 1988 episode "The Counselor," where Wesley reveals that his camp counselor had attempted to molest him. The scene ends with George (along with Mr. Belvedere and Marsha) closing in on the creepy counselor as it is apparent he's trying to bluff an explanation, dissolving into a scene where Mr. Belvedere and Wesley return from talking to the police and George and Marsha comfort their son. (As it turns out, he's shaken but admits he's more interested in getting back to pulling pranks on the girls.)
- Heather had her Papa Wolf protect her in the 1989 episode "Homecoming," where her homecoming date, Keith, a popular jock and the school's football star, tries to rape her in his car while the two are parked at a Makeout Point type destination. George – a sportscaster and huge sports nut – is buddies with Keith, and is naturally enthused by his athletic abilities and even wants to do a feature on him and all the college offers he's getting. Needless to say, that all changes when Heather reveals that Keith (who is at the Owens' and looking through George's sports memorabilia) tried to rape her; Mr. Belvedere, who found Heather's torn dress in an attic trunk while doing some cleaning and got Heather to reveal what happened, hints to George that something very bad happened. Once the truth is spilled, George asks Heather to leave the room, quickly grabs Keith by the shoulder, angrily tells him that he's a loser, kicks him out and then warns him never to come near his family again or else he'll regret it.
- NCIS
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs WILL hunt you down if you ever harm his team or Forensic Specialist Abby... not that she usually needs rescuing. He has aggressively enforced this before, and at one point allowed a murderous drug dealer who had threatened Tony, Ziva, and McGee to be shot by the latter's people.
- Gibbs' own backstory involves him hunting down and executing the Mexican drug lord responsible for the death of his first wife and their daughter.
- In the episode "Twisted Sister", McGee goes Papa Wolf in his effort to clear his little sister.
- Sniper Gibbs shoots a terrorist holding Ziva captive in a Somalian prison, from 1,000 yards, in the seventh season episode "Truth or Consequences". Ziva's partners Tony DiNozzo and Tim McGee deliberately allow themselves to be captured and interrogated to give Gibbs a chance to set up the shot and rescue Ziva. In the seventh season episode "Good Cop, Bad Cop," Gibbs sends a message to Ziva's father, the Mossad director, who sent her on a suicide mission and then left her to die in Somalia, that "She is off limits!" No one messes with Ziva on Gibbs' watch.
- In the fifth season episode "Requiem", Gibbs beats up a man who is harassing his dead daughter's childhood best friend, Maddie Tyler, and later rescues her from her kidnappers.
- In one episode there is a Flashback in which young Gibbs is in a fight with a bully and his dad comes out and fires a shotgun in the air. Which would indicate that it's In the Blood.
- In the Season 11 episode "Devil's Triad", FBI Agent Tobias C. Fornell is shown as this towards his daughter Emily. When she's kidnapped by a money launderer to get back the money which was confiscated by the NCIS, Fornell gives said kidnapper the following warning.Fornell: Okay, but just so we're on the same page; if you so much as touch a hair on my daughter's head, so help me God, I will find you, and I will rip the eyes out of your face and shove them so down far your throat that you'll need a proctologist to read the evening paper.
- That being said, Gibbs does cross the line into Knight Templar Parent occasionally, which was the reason why Abby didn't tell him about her crazy stalker ex until the latter became involved in a case, as she, in her words, only wanted said ex to be restrained instead of "bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat".
- NCIS: New Orleans's Dwayne Pride's. He gets really angry after his daughter is attacked while out for her run. It gets even worse when he learns it wasn't a random attack, but an attempt to get at him. He pretty much beats the crap out of one of the guys who was stalking her after the guy provokes him by making sexual comments about her.Thug: Your little girl sure looks good in her running shorts.
Pride: (grabs ahold of him) WHAT did you say?! - In Noah's Arc, Ricky actually fits in this regards to Noah at times, despite not being his father. Ricky introduced Noah to much of the gay scene, and shows increasing protectiveness of him as the series goes on, doubling as a friend and mentor at times. Whenever he feels Noah is in danger, he immediately goes into Papa Wolf mode.
- NUMB3RS: You do not ever hurt Don's team. And you especially do not hurt Charlie. Because when that happens, Don stops caring what the rules say.
- Obi-Wan Kenobi:
- The eponymous Jedi of the show himself, is this to little Leia Organa in a Badass and Child Duo. Obi-Wan tears his way through various scum and villainy, Stormtroopers and practically the entire Inquisitor HQ to save Leia and even uses the Force for the first time in years to save her from falling to her death. While Obi-Wan’s protective instinct is mixture of obligation to her surrogate father Bail and guilt for how he failed Leia’s biological parents Anakin and Padame, he does admit to Leia he genuinely wishes he could’ve had a daughter like her, if he wasn’t a Celibate Hero.
- Uncle Owen in a case of Adaptational Badass from the original trilogy displays this towards Luke, going toe to toe (with an admittedly wounded) Imperial Inquisitor Reva to protect Luke alongside Mama Bear Beru when the fallen Jedi attacks the moisture farm. This could a reference to an old EU comic Old Wounds where it was Darth Maul who attacked their home and Owen killed him with a blaster.
- In The Office, Stanley goes after Ryan pretty hard when he thinks he may be "sniffing around" his daughter.
- Rumpelstiltskin of Once Upon a Time, especially before he gets his powers: a friendless cripple whose wife ran out on him years ago, his son is the only thing he's got left, and if you threaten that son, he will happily burn down his duke's palace, kill an evil wizard to usurp his powers, and then merrily kill every soldier he gets his hands on. He's also shown displaying Papa Wolf-ish tendencies towards other people's children — he speaks of wanting to protect all the children who've been conscripted to war, not just his son, and is visibly angered by Cinderella's casual offer to sell her other child. In season 2, he murders his own father to protect his grandson. And in season 6, he declares war on the Black Fairy-his own mother-because she kidnapped his newborn son, Gideon. She then brought him to her Dark Realm and spent the next twenty-eight years doing everything she could to turn him evil. (Including killing his only friend right in front of him) He eventually kills her by disintegrating her with her own wand.
- In the first season finale, Jefferson/the Mad Hatter. When Regina keeps him from reuniting with his daughter, Grace, one too many times, Jefferson decides he's done taking Regina's abuse. He rescues Belle, Rumpelstiltskin's True Love, from where Regina locked her up, all but puts her on Rumpel's front porch, tells her to go inside, and tell Rumpel that in was Regina who locked her up.
- In season 3, Killian Jones/Captain Hook gets one: When Zelena/the Wicked Witch of the West sends some of her flying monkeys to kidnap twelve-year-old Henry, Killian doesn't even hesitate to tell Henry to run, pull out his sword, and pull You Shall Not Pass!! to by him time to escape.
- In season 5, Regina's father, Henry, makes it clear that he's perfectly happy to literally to go to Hell if it ensures Regina's safety.
- Prince Charming as well. He fought of several guards in the pilot episode with only one hand while he carried his newborn daughter in the other, and in season two he bursts into Regina's home, sword in hand, and demands she hand over his grandson.
- Said grandson Henry, becomes one himself in season 7. He won't hesitate to pull a You Shall Not Pass!! on an entire coven of Dark Witches to by time for his eight-year-old daughter, Lucy, to get to safety.
- Dan Scott on One Tree Hill may be a Jerkass, but try to hurt Lucas or Nathan, and you WILL be sorry, the best example is when he saves Nathan from a gang of Russian mobsters.
- Nanny Carrie certainly learned you do NOT touch Jamie and expect to walk away breathing.
- Only Fools and Horses; Del Boy Trotter, a womanizing, chain smoking, gambling, borderline alcoholic who has at various points in his life bribed officials, sold both stolen and smuggled goods and is guilty of both tax and VAT fraud on a massive scale. But if you ever try and threaten his family — Del will be unhappy.
- Orange Is the New Black: Get your hands off Cesar's kids, you motherfucker!
- Cruelly subverted in Oz. When Vern Schillinger's son Andrew arrives in Oz, Tobias Beecher, Ryan O'Reily and Chris Keller seize the opportunity to get even with Vern. They help Andrew kick his drug addiction while implying to Vern that it's all a ploy to make Andrew their prag. Vern tries to warn Andrew, but it backfires. Vern eventually concludes that he'd rather kill Andrew himself than to see him subjected to a Fate Worse than Death. When the trio hears of Andrew's death, they just quip: "It worked."
- In the Parks and Recreation episode "Gryzzlbox", Gryzzl, a leading technology and Internet company, data-mines the devices of the citizens of Pawnee and sends out gift-carrying drones that cater to people's personal lives based on their Internet and phone activity. Earlier in the episode, Leslie is sure that Ron, who values privacy about all else, is going be furious at hearing about this, but he is completely ambivalent, partly because he feels that the citizens of Pawnee are at fault for not reading the company's product agreements. At the end of the episode, however, Ron shows up at Leslie and Ben's house...Ron (carrying a gun and a destroyed drone): We need to talk.
Ben: What is that?
Ron: This is a flying robot I just shot out of the sky after it delivered a package to my house.
Leslie: I thought you didn't like to pass judgment on-
Ron: The package was addressed to my son. Who is four years old and does not own a Gryzzl doodad. Somehow the robots looked at Diane's computer and learned something about my child and then brought him a box of presents. So I destroyed the robot. No one is safe from these bastards. Tell me what to do, Leslie. (lightning flashes) I wanna help you take 'em down. - In the "I Plunge to My Death" from Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2023) it was Poseidon who saves Percy from his plunge off the Gateway Arch courtesy of Echidna and the chimera. A difference from the books where Percy saved himself. Keep in mind that this is after Percy sent Medusa's head to Olympus with his own name on the package, an act that the other Gods found so disrespectful that Athena let Echnida into her temple to kill her own daughter for even allowing Percy to do that.
- Peaks in the final episode of the season. When Zeus was about the strick down Percy for being called out on his dysfunctional family and how nobody truly likes him, Poseidon steps in. He surrenders the pointless war which feeds into Zeus's ego and allows him to gloat, and all he begs for in return is for Zeus to not hurt his son. Keep in mind, Poseidon is still a Greek God. He still chose protecting his son over his pride.
- Power Rangers:
- Scorpius, the original Big Bad of Power Rangers Lost Galaxy goes on a rampage when he thinks the Rangers have kidnapped his daughter Trakeena. It ends badly for all involved.
- Ransik, the Big Bad of Power Rangers Time Force won't tolerate anyone who physically and/or emotionally hurts his daughter Nadira and will defend her if someone does.
- In Power Rangers: Dino Thunder, Tommy doesn't take kindly to his students being threatened. In one episode, Zeltrax taunting him with their deaths results in Tommy seriously wounding the cyborg.
- A very literal example is Leanbow in Power Rangers Mystic Force given that he is the Wolf Knight, when he becomes the red Wolf Warrior, he protects his son and his friends in a truly awesome battle. The same largely applies to his counterpart from Mahou Sentai Magiranger, save that all the core rangers are his children in that version.
- Prison Break: Linc to his son LJ, Michael to his nephew LJ. Alex to his son.
- Linc, who is ready to tear Alex apart at the first opportunity, in season four finds out Alex's son is dead... and not only buries the hatchet but promises to help him go after the people responsible.
- Psych: Henry may find his son a disappointment and isn't even afraid to admit it to Shawn, and can't even tell him that he loves him, he still has his Papa Wolf moments in cases where Shawn is in danger. Everyone loves a good concerned!Henry fic. 'Shawn takes a shot in the dark' anyone?
- Raising Hope: Burt Chance loves his family. When his rock hero insults his wife, son, and granddaughter all at once, he gives the jerk a guitar to the back of the noggin. He even got a youtube mix out of it!
- In Rizzoli & Isles, Maura Isles' biological father Paddy Doyle stabbed a rival mobster in the heart with an icepick to prevent him from killing Maura the way he'd already killed Doyle's son. On the dead man's chest was a blood-stained photo of Doyle holding Maura as a baby, pinned there with the icepick. Doyle's message: "Don't mess with my family." Doyle told Maura to call him with the murderer's name and he'd "send the man a message" but Maura couldn't do it, even if it meant she would be murdered. It's strongly implied that another Papa Wolf, Jane Rizzoli's ex-partner Vince Korsak, called Doyle to protect Maura.
- Averted in Republic of Doyle. Malachy could care less about Jake.
- In The Sarah Jane Adventures, Alan Jackson is none too pleased when aliens abduct his daughter and try to Ret-Gone her.
- In Scream Queens (2015), Wes Gardener is shown he's willing to go this far. He practically moves into his daughter sorority house and wants to take down the person that could potientally harm his little girl.
- In See, Baba Voss is a Papa Wolf to his wife's twin children. His name even means Father Wolf. When the kids are exposed as sighted people, which is taboo in their society, he closes to leave the superstitious tribe to keep them safe. Later he defends his adoptive kids from his own brother and even from their own biological father.
- In Severance (2022), Dylan's innie is fairly content with his life of constant work and quarterly rewards, but when Mr. Milchick screws up and lets him see that his outie has a son, he attacks and bites Mr. Milchick in a fit of rage and commits to breaking out of Lumon.
- Ray Campbell in Sister, Sister had one of these moments when the twin daughters (well, technically Tamera only, Tia only went after it became apparent that Tamera snuck out of the house in an attempt to get her back home, but her plan ended up backfiring) attempted to meet Verique, who despite his identity on the web, was actually a sex offender who often lures women into posing for dirty pictures. As soon as Ray and Lisa found this out (as well as where he lives due to directions), after the twins attempt to escape but fail, Ray and Lisa appear behind him and punches Verique in the face after Lisa shouts "What's love got to do with it, ya punk?!"
- Clark Kent on Smallville, whenever children are in harm's way. Also Jonathan Kent and later on, Lionel Luthor.
- Jonathan Kent was actually pretty legendary in this regard. One memorable scene was when Lionel tried to blackmail him again, or he'll expose Clark's secret to the world. He chose to beat seven shades of crap out of Lionel, nearly killing him, until he was struck with a heart attack, and died. He literally sacrificed his life to protect his adopted son.
- Granted, the situation was not quite what he thought it was (Lionel was actually on the way to a Heel–Face Turn at this time, and himself took Clark's secret to the grave two seasons later), but given Jonathan's history with the Luthor family, his overreaction is understandable (and Lionel even admitted his fault in Jonathan's death).
- Lionel is really more of a Subversion. Sure he shows tendencies of this towards Lex and Clark, but in the backstory he had zero regard for his daughter Tess, abandoning her at an Orphanage of Fear before shipping her off to an abusive adoptive home, all for no apparent reason other than the fact that the poor kid was apparently The Unfavorite. No wonder the woman's the way she is.
- Jonathan Kent was actually pretty legendary in this regard. One memorable scene was when Lionel tried to blackmail him again, or he'll expose Clark's secret to the world. He chose to beat seven shades of crap out of Lionel, nearly killing him, until he was struck with a heart attack, and died. He literally sacrificed his life to protect his adopted son.
- Floyd Henderson in Smart Guy doesn't actually get a chance to demonstrate his Papa Wolf potential, but in the episode Strangers on the Net, after TJ admitted to Floyd that a man posed as a kid on a kid's chatroom and later has the guy arrested (who also turned out to have been arrested for this sort of thing before and placed on prohibation), and was unlikely to be getting out of jail anytime soon due to breaking prohibation, Floyd remarks "Lucky for him" when hearing this, implying that he intended to do far worse to him as soon as he got out.
- The Sopranos: Tony Soprano may not be the most morally upstanding of men, but one of his most consistently humanizing features is his sincere love for his children, Meadow and AJ. They may not always get along with their dad, but god help you if you insult, harass or endanger them. Additionally, one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the series is Tony's soliloquy in Dr. Melfi's office when he concludes that AJ has inherited his depression.
- Squid Game: After some serious Character Development, deadbeat father Gi-hun actually becomes this for the young Broken Bird Sae-byeok, whom he bonds with as the competition is whittled down to just three, with other person being his childhood friend Sang-Woo (who Jumped Off The Slippery Slope). When Sae-byeok is mortally wounded by a shard of glass from the previous game, Gi-hun desperately tries to save her but just as he's distracted banging on the sealed door trying fruitlessly to get help, Sang-Woo slits her throat. Upon seeing what his former friend has done, Gi-hun lunges at him with his own knife and has to be restrained by the Workers. As they prepare the final game, Gi-hun does nothing but give Sang-Woo a Death Glare and make it clear at this point, he doesn’t even care about winning the massive cash prize, only about making Sang-Woo pay for his actions and makes good on his word. Compared to the cowardly and non-violent loser Gi-hun was prior, the change is startling.
- Stargate SG-1: General Hammond is usually the level-headed, occasionally obstinate commander of Stargate Command. But when you threaten his people (especially SG-1), you'd better run.
- When SG-1 was captured by a System Lord, he sent four teams to rescue them, and when they were captured as well and his superiors ordered him not to risk another rescue mission, he went offworld to gather help to rescue them himself. He and Teal'c end up piloting a fighter through the damn Stargate, while Hammond shows his Texan heritage with a hearty "Yeehaw!"
- When SG-1 was sent back to 1969 in a freak accident, Hammond sent a note with them, which said only "Help them." His thirty-years-younger self found the note and indeed decided to help SG-1 escape custody, solely on the basis of recognizing his own handwriting.
- When SG-1 was nearly killed while trying to uncover an Ancient weapon to save the planet, it was Hammond who saved them at the last minute, by personally taking command of Earth's lone spaceship and giving them enough time to save the world...again.
- Star Trek: The Original Series: Kirk is A Father to His Men who makes a habit of punching out any entity, super-powered or no, that messes with anyone in front of him. Do the math on whether messing with anyone under him is a good idea. In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Kirk's reaction to his only son David's getting stabbed by a Klingon sums up this trope as Shatner nails the grief and anger. Kirk does get revenge later though he has to sacrifice the Enterprise to achieve it.Saavick: Admiral, David is dead.
Kirk: [stumbling back, falling to the deck in front of his chair] Klingon bastard! You killed my son! Ohhh... [voice breaking as he sobs] Y-you Klingon bastard! You killed my son!— [he gets up] You Klingon bastard! - Star Trek: The Next Generation:
- Worf occasionally shows Papa Wolf tendencies for crew members serving in his department. Despite being a superior officer and having previously admitted that Data is capable of easily overpowering him, Worf still warns him against abusing Lt. D'Sora, who had shown romantic interest in him. Data, however, is oblivious to Worf's implied threat:Worf: ...However, Lieutenant D'Sora serves under my command. If she were mistreated, I would be very displeased—[Beat]—sir.
Data: I understand. - Worf's Papa Wolf tendencies for his own family his lover K'Ehleyr and thier son Alexander are even fiercer. First seen in "Reunion" when K'Ehleyr is mortally wounded by Duras and Worf along with Alexander hold K'Ehleyr's hand while she dies and reveals who her killer is. Worf lets out the Klingon's Skyward Scream, tells his son to "look... and always remember" before removing his Starfleet badage, grabbing his bat'leth and goes on Unstoppable Rage killing Duras in single combat. There's also "New Ground" when Alexander is trapped inside a burning biolab underneath a massive girder that would usually require Data's Super-Strength to lift. Worf rushes in along with Riker and they struggle to lift the beam off Alexander but while Riker goes off to find a lever, Worf calls upon all his Klingon strength and lifts the girder off his son and carries him to safety.
- Picard, much like Kirk, is a A Father to His Men and takes any insult, injury or death of any of them very personally — it's one of the few ways to make him drop his calm gentlemanly attitude and make him genuinely angry. Picard cares especially for younger crew members, whether it be Wesley Crusher, the children on the ship, or Simon Tarses from the "The Drumhead", a young crewmate he hasn't even met but whom he is willing stake his entire reputation on when the latter is wrongly prosecuted in a Witch Hunt. Not even Q, a Physical God, is free from his wrath when his crew is endangered.
- Data himself has a good showing of this towards his "daughter" Lal in "The Offspring", most notably towards to end when Lal learns how to express emotions and her artificial brain cannot cope and breaks down. Data and cybernetics expert Vice Admiral Haftel (the guy who was trying to take Lal away) try desperately to save Lal but ultimately fail. Haftel, close to tears, expresses the grief Data cannot and tells crew how furiously Data worked in the final moments to save his daughter.Haftel: His... hands were moving faster than I could see, trying to stay ahead of each breakdown. He refused to give up. He was remarkable. Just... wasn't meant to be.
- Worf occasionally shows Papa Wolf tendencies for crew members serving in his department. Despite being a superior officer and having previously admitted that Data is capable of easily overpowering him, Worf still warns him against abusing Lt. D'Sora, who had shown romantic interest in him. Data, however, is oblivious to Worf's implied threat:
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
- Both Quark and Rom are this to Nog. Rom goes so far as to threaten to burn the bar when Quark tampers with Nog's examinations for Starfleet Academy. Despite appearances, Quark is also fiercely protective of Nog, going so far as to gun down Jem'Hadar for him.
- Sisko, same as Kirk and Picard, cares deeply for his crew, but somehow he's even quicker to anger and violence when his crewmates are threatened in any way. Sisko even cooks for his crew and teaches them baseball. Being a literal father probably helps a good deal.
- There's also O'Brien, who won't hesitate to kick ass when his daughter Molly and son Kirayoshi are in danger.
- Star Trek: Voyager: Neelix is this for both Naomi Wildman and the Borg children later on.
- Step by Step: Frank was often the bumbling dad, much to the chagrin of eldest stepdaughter Dana ... especially when his attempts to play Papa Wolf result in (comical) failure. However, by the final act, when Frank plays things straight ... he is a very effective in warding off boys with undesirable ulterior motives. He never did this too much for younger stepdaughter Karen, as most of the sitcom dynamic was reserved for Dana's distaste with Frank. However, toward the end of the series, Frank played Papa Wolf for Al.
- Stranger Things:
- Police Chief Jim Hopper. Losing your own daughter to cancer tends to cause this trope. Hopper is very protective of the main group of kids and no covert government agency or Eldritch Horrors can stop him. By the end of Season 1, he managed to bring Will Byers back to life with resuscitation and all of Season 2 is him caring for Eleven, including warding off some lesser Demogorgons with an assault rifle to protect her; though Hopper veers into Knight Templar Parent by locking Eleven up for the majority of the time. To be fair, she is a psychic kid and being hunted by the people who made her that way in the first place.
- Tragic subversion with Bob Newby, Joyce Byers' boyfriend. The advice Bob gives Joyce's son Will to help his PTSD causes the kid to get absorbed by a Eldritch Abomination, and though he helps Joyce and Will escape the hospital, he gets killed by a Demogorgon in the effort.
- A twisted variation with Dr. Brenner. From what we see of his home life in Season 4, he has no children or family and so genuinely sees the Psychic Children he created as his own, showing affection to a great deal of them like Ten but most of all Eleven. When Eleven is brutally bullied and hurt by Two, the response from Brenner is swift and merciless. Even Brenner's last moments, as selfish and morally bankrupt as they were, are spent cradling Eleven and carrying her to "safety" as the military attack the underground base and when he understands he's lost Eleven, Brenner does do the right thing for a change and releases the collar around her neck. While bleeding out on the ground, he tries make El understand he only ever did what he thought was best for her and wants her to acknowledge that. Though all Eleven says is, "Goodbye, Papa".
- Played straighter in the same season with Science Hero Dr. Owens, who cares about Eleven in a non-manipulative manner, truly hates lying to her and tries constantly to spare El the mental and physical trauma of the Nina project. When Eleven wants to go home to Hawkins, Owens agrees happily and is only stopped by the intervention of Brenner and his henchmen. When General Ripper Sullivan (who believes Eleven is responsible for the deaths in Hawkins) has Eleven at the mercy of one his snipers, a handcuffed Owens begs to at least be allowed put El in a coma but Sullivan tells his sniper to take the shot, at which the usual calm Owens wastes no time bellowing curses at the Lt. Colonel douchebag.
- A Tear Jerker example in the Season 4 epilogue. Eddie's uncle Wayne, despite seeming like a distant and non-caring man, is looking desperately for his nephew (whom the town believes is a psycho freak who killed three teenagers) in the wake of the mass destruction of Hawkins, tearing down graffitied copies of Eddie's missing person posters and putting up clean ones. When Dustin tells him that his nephew is dead but even in his final moments never stopped being himself and died protecting everyone like a hero, Wayne sobs his eyes out.
- Overlapping with Big Brother Instinct but Steve displays this towards to the younger kids as Team Dad (or Team Mom depending on which fan you ask), especially Dustin. Jonathan is like this not only to his little brother Will, but the rest of the kids, having to pull a Steve in Season 4 and look after his group in California. There's also Eddie, who fiercely protects Dustin in the Final Battle, even giving his life to make sure Dustin is okay.
- Clark Kent, from Superman & Lois, is pretty much the archetypal Nice Guy. But anyone who tries to hurt his sons is in for a world of hurt from someone who hits like a locomotive.
- Supernatural:
- Zig-zagged regarding John Winchester, who seemingly doesn't let his sons' welfare get in the way of his job. On the other hand, John has frequently shown a reluctance to put his boys in danger and even wasted one of the Colt's precious bullets to kill a vampire that was threatening Sammy. Even after he was dead, he climbed out of hell to kick Azazel's ass when he attacked the boys. If anything, John transforms from a badass to the incarnation of the Wrath of God when Dean or Sam are in trouble. There's also the fact that he sold his soul and the only weapon that could kill Azazel (who he'd spent the past 20 something years hunting) to Azazel to make sure Dean would live. The man may not be the most stellar father, but it can't be denied that he does try.
- Dean is not only Sam's older brother, but also a parental figure to him too. Dean's already a badass, so don't mess with Sammy. Sammy be damned. Dean got really down to business when Ben was in danger. Dean tends to get Papa Wolf over any children because, despite his tough and gruff appearance, he's actually a secret family man on the inside. Even though he'll chew Cas out for ditching them at weeks at a time and doesn't seem to concerned when the man starts bleeding from the face, he's been known to blast an angel or two (or four, or ten, or -) back to Heaven for messing with Cas.
- A man named Jimmy Novak is dying, and then is told that his daughter Claire will be the vessel for the angel Castiel. He demands that Castiel use him and spare poor Claire the trauma of seeing everything Castiel has to do, even though it means he'll never see his family again. Castiel accepts, and Jimmy becomes the Soul Jar of sorts for him and the Cas we know. This is after Jimmy - a normal human with no known combat experience - goes crazy on a demon after it threatened to kill Claire. Despite demons being impossible to kill with conventional weapons, he beats it in the face so hard he manages to knock it down and incapacitate it for a couple minutes.
- Castiel himself is also quite Papa Wolf not only Dean, but Sam. Even though he and Dean do share a more profound bond, he's come to care for Sam almost as much.
- While Bobby is a Parental Substitute and not the boys' actual father, he very much embodies this for them.
- In season ten, Castiel decides to look up the aforementioned Jimmy Novak and finds his daughter Claire again. Despite the fact that she's less than pleased to see him (referring to him as a monster who took her father away from her), he tries to help better her life, skirting on the edge of a one-sided Parental Substitute in how he treats her. Then she ends up in the company of a sleazy loan shark who tries to rape her, and Castiel whips out his telekinesis and starts ripping open doors and blasting mooks through the air to get to her.
- Mr Argent from Teen Wolf. Except he wants to protect his daughter FROM an actual werewolf.
- Hehe, Papa "Wolf".
- And Sheriff Stilinski will not hesitate to pistol whip anyone who's stupid enough to hurt his son.
- Coach Finstock yells at his players, and torments his Economics students, but he won't tolerate bullies, and anyone who actually hurts one of his kids had better run.
- Temps de chien: Antoine brings his brother-in-law Jean-Philippe with him to a negotiation meeting with Manon and Dr. Jolicoeur regarding selling the hospital. After Jean-Philippe accuses the latter two of harassing Antoine, Manon taunts the latter by saying:Manon: Just go bankrupt, Antoine. I hope you'll enjoy announcing to your son that he doesn't have a house anymore.
Jean-Philippe: [looking more serious and banging his hand against the table] Don't touch Félix. You're forgetting that I'm that kid's godfather. I won't let them lose their house, OK? I have lawyers working fulltime that I'm paying a very high price and who currently don't have anything to do. It'll be a pleasure for me to keep them busy. - In Tin Man Wyatt Cain beats up, shoots or threatens anyone who comes within an arm's length of DG. Don't hurt the Princess.
- Titus has Ken protect his children, especially his daughter, Shannon, even if he's otherwise abusive, and Christopher becomes one to Erin's niece, Amy, especially when he learns that she'd been molested.
- Torchwood: Team Dad Captain Jack Harkness fits this whenever his team is put in danger... especially when it's perceived to be his fault (directly or not). All you have to see is him charging in to save his team with swishing coat and one heck of a gun in "Countrycide" to realize that you don't mess with Torchwood.
- Somewhat subverted in Children of Earth when Jack sacrifices his own grandson to save millions of other children.
- From Miracle Day: Known murderer and paedophile Oswald Danes is in Gwen and Rhys' house and makes the mistake of laying a hand on their daughter. Rhys spends the remainder of the episode threatening to kill him. Danes even notes at one point that Rhys would probably do it.
- Silver in the recent Treasure Island adaptation on Sky 1. He risks a lot to keep Jim safe, and when Squire Trelawney pulls a sword on Jim at the end, Silver disarms him with only his crutch — while chained to the helm — and threatens to kill him if he does it again.
- True Blood: Bill Compton is one towards his progeny Jessica Hamby.
- Bonnie from The Vampire Diaries uses a spell to put Luka in a trance and get some information. Afterwards, Luka doesn't remember what happened but suspects Bonnie of doing something to him. His father Jonas marches into Jeremy's house to find Bonnie, grabs her around the throat and takes away her powers.
- In The Umbrella Academy (2019) Season 3 Diego! Of all people, finds himself a surprise father to Stanley while he like the kid's mother Lila is far from the most mature or responsible parent and initially thinks a child seriously "cramps his style", Diego does start to genuinely care for his son. Endangering him is not a wise move as the Smug Super Sparrow Academy learned firsthand. It also helps that Diego's own father Reginald Hargreeves set the bar for fatherhood in the show horrifically low, so even Diego's half-hearted attempts at being a good dad make him look like Mafusa in comparison. Subverted, however, as it turns out Stanley wasn't actually his son and Lila was just using the kid she was babysitting at the time as a Secret Test of Character, since she is actually pregnant with Diego's child and wanted to know if he fulfilled this trope. Diego still plays this straight, though, looking after Lila and her unborn child as best he can, even locking Lila in a room at one point while he fights the samurai guardians of the Precursors machine — much to Lila's frustration.
- Veronica Mars:
- Keith Mars, who previously gave off the impression of a Non-Action Guy, goes berserk when the first season's villain tries to burn Veronica alive. He even walks straight through the fire to save his daughter, spending several weeks in a hospital afterwards. Never forget that he used to be the town's sheriff.
- The domineering, abusive and murderous Aaron Echolls seems oblivious that his daughter is being beaten up by her boyfriend, even appearing interested in starring in a movie he wants to pitch. However, at the start of what looked to be a pleasant dinner he administers one of the most comprehensive beatdowns ever seen on TV, before calmly concluding "I've decided I'm not interested in appearing in your movie." It would appear that the same protectiveness doesn't apply to Logan, though.
- Walker, Texas Ranger:
- In Season 4's "Deadline", we have Texas State Senator Warren Hughes. When his daughter, Lindsay is kidnapped by the episode's Villain of the Week, Lyle Eckert, he refuses the help of the Texas Rangers, thinking them ineffective in modern police work. Later, after Walker stops Eckert from escaping and demands to know Lindsey's whereabouts, Hughes wants a piece of the action himself and jumps onto Eckert and begins strangling him. Trivette and an FBI Agent have to keep him under control until Walker finds Lindsay.
- After reconciling in "Redemption", Alex's father, Gordon, becomes this in Season 5's "Texas Vs. Cahill" (after he beat up the villain for insulting her), as well as Season 8's "Wedding Bells" (being injured by the assassins who tried to kill his daughter).
- In the The Walking Dead (2010), Rick Grimes is usually a Nice Guy who's main goal is to provide for the people under his care, be they friends, family, or even strangers. However, there's almost nothing he won't do if he feels his family is being threatened, though even then he'll first try reason.
- In the Season 4 finale, when the Marauders corner Rick, Michonne, and Carl on the way to Terminus and threaten to viciously rape the latter two while also beating Daryl to death, Rick goes absolutely ballistic and literally tears Joe's throat out. With his teeth. And then he viciously guts the pedophile who was attempting to rape his son. The latter's Oh, Crap! expression at what Rick had done is especially satisfying...
- WandaVision has the Vision to his wife Wanda and twin sons Billy and Tommy. While Vision is a peaceful and benevolent Synthezoid by nature, should anyone e.g., a General Ripper and his mooks, a powerful Wicked Witch and the reconstructed Evil Counterpart of himself try and hurt his beloved family, Vision will remind everyone he's an Infinity Stone-powered laser-shooting Flying Brick who can Wipe the Floor with You at high speeds.
- The West Wing. President Bartlett had a very memorable rant about what would happen if something happened to his daughter Zoey, calling it "the nightmare scenario", since "this country no longer has a commander-in-chief but has a father who's out of his mind because his little girl is in a shack somewhere in Uganda with a gun to her head!"
- Played straight on several other occasions, notably when Bartlet believes a reporter has approached his daughter Ellie despite strict rules forbidding them to do this.
- After the Roslyn shooting Jed's first priority is finding out if Zoey, who was also at the event, is safe. When it's discovered that he's been shot and is rushed to the hospital he continues demanding to know where she is even as the paramedics try to examine his wound.Bartlet: I swear to God, if I don't speak to my daughter in the next five minutes I'm going to attack someone.
- Toby is also a straight example before his children are even born:Toby: I'm told that on my sunniest of days I'm not that fun to be around. I wonder what's going to happen when you make my children a part of your life.
- In the episode "The Stackhouse Filibuster" when the White House figures out that Stackhouse is doing this for his grandchild, the entire mood of the episode changes. Suddenly, no one thinks he's going to back down anytime soon, because the power of parents and grandparents is well known.Bartlet: Don't ever, ever underestimate the will of a grandfather. We're mad men. We don't give a damn.
- Wild Bill: Bill was fired as chief of the Miama police after he beat up a teenager who shared naked photos his daughter took and gave to him.
- The Witcher:
- Already a Bruiser with a Soft Center Geralt is naturally this for his "Child Surprise" Ciri whom he is linked through destiny and comes to truly care for. Any Mooks, Monster of the Week, Playing with Fire evil sorcerers or anyone in general who means hurt to Ciri are either getting beaten senseless or diced apart if they're lucky. Even Yennefer, Geralt's One True Love got a sword up against her throat when Geralt learned she had almost delivered Ciri to the Deathless Mother Voleth Meir. Geralt also personally prevented Ciri from becoming a Witcher herself by taking the potentially lethal Super Serum, knowing how traumatic the process was him or how losing most of his humanity wasn't worth it.
- Vesemir is this for the all Witchers he raised, he might've been a Stern Teacher and put them through Training from Hell but he still loves Geralt, Eskel, Lambert and Coën and the rest as his own sons and due to the dwindling numbers of Witchers is fiercely protective of those remaining. Eskel turning into a Botanical Abomination and then the aforementioned Voleth Meir killing several Witchers in Ciri’s body, drives Vesmir to such a Despair Event Horizon that he stabs Ciri even knowing she's possessed.
- In Wolf Hall, Thomas Cromwell's Protestant associates (who don't have a powerful position to protect them) are in constant fear of Thomas More. His nephew Richard says he didn't read the Tyndale letter he's delivering just in case he got arrested and asked questions. Cromwell says that if More came near his family, he'd go and beat More's head against the cobbles until "some of God's love" got in.
- Word of Honor: Wen Kexing, for Gu Xiang. He also has hints of being a Boyfriend-Blocking Dad, as shown by his reaction when he sees Cao Weining talking to Gu Xiang.
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