Papa Wolf / Western Animation

• Aaahh!!! Real Monsters:
  • The Gromble acts this way towards his students (especially if they were being bullied for something they didn't deserve) and genuinely seems to care about their education and is willing to implement 'tough love' if he thinks their ego needs to be knocked down a peg or two. Though when push comes to shove you can guarantee that If anyone dares try to harm or endanger his students he'll be there to defend them. As he demonstrated when he punished a parasite who invaded Oblina's body, defended Ickis to the other students when his spontaneous combustion made him into a social pariah and where he berated a scientist who called his top student, Oblina a 'subject' instead of his 'student.'
  • Slickis also deserves mention as he saves his son Ickis' life at the risk of his own against a giant tank.
• In the Adventure Time episode "Simon and Marcy", Simon went to extra-ordinary lengths to protect young Marceline even when she had a cold by trying to find some Chicken Soup. He was determined to protect her (at the cost of worsening his already unstable mental condition) by putting on the crown and using his powers to freeze the threats (or in one case knock out a mutant with his crown and another with a pillow). Needless to say it's not a good idea to harm Marcy when she's with Simon, because as demonstrated in the episode he would do anything to protect her.
• Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: Zachary Foxx is normally A Father to His Men or Team Dad. If you threaten his biological kids, or push him to the Let's Get Dangerous! point by hurting his Rangers, he can and will use you for target practice... with his Arm Cannon.
• Aladdin: The Series: Despite the Sultan being bumbling and childish, mess with his daughter and he WILL come after you. When she is kidnapped by Amazon like warriors, he insists on going after them despite Aladdin's protests and he defeats them.
• Two examples on the heroes' side in The Amazing Spiez!. Cal Clark, the main team's biological dad and Jerry (carrying over from Totally Spies!). Messing with any of the Clark kids when either of these men could find out is a bad idea.
• American Dad! also does this. "Surro-Gate" is a good example, as it shows Terry, who previously solved fights with dance moves out of West Side Story, punching out Stan in one hit after he kidnaps his daughter. Then he files a restraining order on Stan.
  Stan: That's not campy. That's not campy at all.
  • Stan despite his Jerkass tendencies certainly has traits of this with his children as well, should we ever forget what he did to his own boss for insulting Hayley.
• In American Dragon: Jake Long the dragon trait skipped a generation, so Jake's mother can't protect him from the supernatural threats he encounters — instead it's Jake's grandfather who does so. Never mind that he even stands up to the Dark Dragon's minions when his entire family is threatened... and obliterates them single-handedly.
  • Jake's dad OTOH, despite being an ordinary human, gets a couple good moments. He manages to save his son from the Jersey Devil during a camping trip, and later saves him again from a bunch of vampires (who were under the guise of important businessmen).
• Arcane:
  • Vander choose to abandon an uprising he led to focus on getting the sisters Vi and Powder to safety. He becomes their father, along with two other boys and devotes his life to keeping the peace to protect them, even willingly having an understanding with the same Enforcers who ruthlessly massacred his rebellion if that's what it takes. He'd give himself up to take the heat off them. Put his kids in danger though and he'll go toe to toe with a Shimmer boosted thug. Even dying, he takes Shimmer to save Vi, spending the last of his life getting her out of a burning building.
  • Even Silco becomes this to Jinx. He prioritizes her safety over his criminal empire and threatens to kill Singed when he doesn't see his adoptive daughter after the operation. He even attempts Vander's trick of offering himself up to protect his own child.
• Archer's way of handling folks who threaten his daughter... Well, maybe he can explain it better:
  Archer: So here's the thing, Farooq. I don't know about any stories, but whatever badass shit that you heard I did? You really need some context, because pretty much my whole life, pretty much right up until this minute, my default setting has been half-assed. (cracks knuckles) But that was before I had a child. A child you threatened to harm. A child, I just realized, who's probably on her way up to the roof so Aunt Pam can swat at biplanes! So imagine, as I literally beat you to death — Hang on… Yeah, literally - that a giant hand has turned my dial from half-assed to quadruple-assed!
• Avatar: The Last Airbender
  • Though his birth father hates his guts and has actively tried to kill him, Zuko is fortunate enough to have a replacement in his uncle Iroh, who accompanied him throughout his banishment and raised him as his own son (making him an Uncle Wolf as well as a Trickster Mentor of sorts). When Azula tries to kill Zuko with lightning after a botched attempt to imprison them both, Iroh steps in at the last second, redirects the lightning into a nearby cliff, and then kicks her overboard.
  • Hakoda also has some signs of this. Even though Katara is a very powerful Waterbender and Sokka becomes a great warrior, he will stay behind and be captured by the Fire Nation in order to let them escape. There is also his reaction to Katara's announcement that someone was threatening Kya in "The Southern Raiders." When he hears his wife is in danger, it is obvious that if that Fire Nation sailor doesn't haul his ass out of there double time, he will find out just why the Water Tribe hasn't been overthrown yet.
  • Fire Lord Azulon could be seen as a much darker version of this to his older son, Iroh. When his younger son Ozai tries to usurp Iroh's right in succession, Azulon is so enraged he orders Ozai's innocent son Zuko be executed to teach Ozai a lesson. Fortunately, Zuko had a Mama Bear of his own to prevent this.
  • Even Avatar Roku is shown looking out for a certain troubled great-grandson of his. At the Fire Temple, Aang channels his spirit to pwn the evil Fire Sages, Zhao, and his soldiers... and then Roku melts the chains holding the good guys and Zuko, letting them all escape before he destroys the temple.
  • Tenzin in the Sequel Series The Legend of Korra is definitely this. In the season finale, Amon threatens to take away his children's bending. When Tenzin gets loose, he sends Amon flying off the stage.
  • Tonraq is this as well, especially towards Zaheer who has nearly killed him and his daughter on a few occasions
  • Zuko is also this in regards to Zaheer with his own daughter, Izumi. Once Zaheer kills the Earth Queen, Zuko leaves Zaofu almost immediately to go back home to make sure it doesn’t happen to her. Even though she’s a grown woman with two grown children of her own.
• Ant-Man II from The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes mainly uses his powers and abilities to ensure the safety and well-being of his young daughter. In the episode in which he officially became the new Ant-Man, he punished Crossfire for kidnapping her by kicking him in the face, then covering him in ants.
  • Though they have their issues, Odin still looks after Thor, his son. In The Ballad of Beta Ray Bill, when Bill takes Thor's hammer he is summoned to Asgard by Odin who meant to summon Thor back. This angers Odin who becomes worried Bill may have hurt Thor, to which he delivers this bone chilling statement: "If you have harmed my son, you will pay with your life." Keep in mind this is the All-Father, the most powerful Asgardian.
• Batman: The Animated Series:
  • Again, Batman's one principle is to never take a life, but if you dare to enslave innocent children to steal for you like The Sewer King did, you better damn well pray that he does hold onto it.
    Batman: I don't pass sentence. That's for the courts. But this time, this time, I am sorely tempted to do the job myself.
  • In "Over The Edge", we see just how far Commander Gordon will go out for Batman if Barbara is ever killed in the line of bat-duty.
  • Harley's Holiday has General Vreeland. Upon learning that his daughter Veronica has been accidentally kidnapped by Harley Quinn, his first instinct is to demand SWAT Team deployment from Gordon. His second instinct? To commandeer a tank and rescue Veronica himself.
  • Batman's reaction in the infamous flashback in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker... when he was beating the heck out of The Joker after the latter revealed that, he not only kidnapped, but subjected Tim Drake to three weeks of electrocution-based torture as well as truth serum, and then turned him into a grotesque miniature version of the Joker. He even chillingly states "I'll break you in two!"
• The cartoon version of Beetlejuice is typically an easy-going prankster whose main interest is driving the rest of the Neitherworld crazy. But on those rare occasions when Lydia is in serious danger, Beetlejuice will show just how he got the title of Ghost With The Most. Insulting or humiliating Lydia is also a bad idea, as Claire Brewster found out the hard way on more than one occasion.
• Ben 10 may be well able to protect himself thanks to the Omnitrix, but on one occasion, his father ended up attacking a High Breed with a BFG for threatening him. Considering how powerful the High Breed had been up to that point, doing that is pretty dang impressive. Ben's grandpa Max has also shown traits of this. Ben himself grows up into one in at least one timeline. Kevin 11,000 hurts Ben's son Ken. Cue Ben going Way Big and pummelling Kevin into the ground in an Unstoppable Rage.

  Ben: HOW DARE YOU!

  • Rath, the badass Crazy Is Cool Large Ham extraordinaire became this in his debut. After warming up to a Triffin Prince that's supposed to help end a war, he finds out that the prince ends the war by being eaten. Rath didn't take this kindly ("Eating babies is NOT! COOL!")—he jumped into the mouth of the alien who ate the prince and came back out the same way, threatening to knit a sweater out of the alien's organs should he declare war. It worked.
• Bob's Burgers: God help you if you mess with or insult one of Bob's kids. It serves as a contrast to his rival Jimmy Pesto, who doesn't seem to care that much about his sons Andy, Ollie, and Jimmy Junior.
  Bob: What did you say about my kids?
• Zeus himself in Blood of Zeus spends the first half of the season fiercely protective of his son Heron and mortal lover Electra. He saves them from getting killed by Electra’s abusive husband King Periander and further safeguards them hiding them in a village covered by a cloud so that they would escape Hera’s jealous fury and lives with his lover and son disguised as an old man. Even when the village is invaded, Zeus telepathically gives guidance to his son when he’s getting attacked by Seraphim, and is utterly distraught when Electra is killed (thanks to Hera’s meddling) and Heron captured, Zeus even tries to stop it personally but is stopped by his brother Poseidon and is helplessly Forced to Watch. This is all in stark contrast to Classical Mythology. Where Zeus just rapes women whom he is attracted to, who give birth to the Greek heroes and being a Jerkass God he rarely lifted a finger to help his kids afterwards and especially not their mothers.
• In one episode of Bojack Horseman, Bojack ends up having to take care of a baby seahorse and he becomes fiercely protective of it while trying to track down its dad.
  • In Season 4, we are introduced to Hollyhock, a teenage girl horse who shares DNA with BoJack. Despite her being Happily Adopted by a family of 8 dads, BoJack ends up being incredibly protective of her. Ultimately subverted. Turns out Hollyhock isn't BoJack's daughter; she's the result of an affair between Butterscotch (BoJack's dad) and a maid. This makes Hollyhock and BoJack half-siblings, and his protectiveness of her Big Brother Instinct.
  • Speaking of Hollyhock's eight dads, after she's hospitalized with an amphetamine overdose (later revealed to be from drugged drinks) they are all furious with BoJack and blame him for this, cornering him and demanding that he never contact their daughter again; even when he later visits with Hollyhock's mother's contact info they won't let him see her in-person. They also don't take kindly to any suggestion they aren't her real family.
• Captain Planet and the Planeteers:
  • Yes, the eco-villains, by all means, try to kill the five kids who are more or less the adopted children of an immortal Earth spirit. Granted, it's implied that Captain Planet, like his team, is not allowed to kill, but if people dare mess with his Planeteers, they'd better RUN when he shows up — his tactics vary from scaring the daylights out of the aggressor with his powers to kicking him off the Earth.
  • "Smog Hog" revealed that recurring Eco-Villain Hoggish Greedly, a Fat Bastard and Corrupt Corporate Executive to the extreme, is this to his son Hoggish Jr. When Greedly discovers that one of his evil schemes has poisoned Junior, to the point of putting him in a coma, he immediately starts cooperating with the Planeteers, even begging them to call Captain Planet. Villain though he be, no one messes with Greedly's kid.
• In Castlevania Season 4 Trevor Belmont having gotten his girlfriend Sypha pregnant finds himself on the receiving end of beatdown from Final Boss Death and is on the brink of losing, until Death makes it clear that once Trevor dies, he’ll kill Sypha (and her unborn child) next. In response, Trevor instantly recovers and decimates Death with the Morning Star whip and then finishes Death off with a Godzilla Threshold suicide ritual knife. Best of all, Trevor went into the fight fully knowing he was probably gonna die and force Sypha and their child to have to live on without him, but for the sake of making a peaceful world for his kid to grow up into, Trevor clearly thought it was worth it. Though he manages to survive anyway.
• In Code Lyoko, while his ability to actually make offensive moves was very limited, Franz Hopper tried his hardest to protect Aelita to the best of his ability. In fact, that was a key part of XANA's plan through much of the fourth season; he directed William to capture Aelita and hurl her into the Digital Sea because he knew Hopper would rescue his daughter, forcing him to reveal himself and leave him open to an ambush by XANA's forces.
  • PE teacher Jim has even less tools at his disposal but he's incredibly protective of his students and was heartbroken when his attempts to find out what the core cast was up to landed Jeremie in a hospital bed.
• Cracked (2016): Ed will do anything to keep his eggs safe, even if it means risking his life to fight predators, letting himself take blows that would kill him in real life, and even sacrificing his own body parts. And the best part is that he always succeeds in saving his eggs.
• Danny Phantom:
  • Ever seen a Bumbling Dad battle and win against a 50-foot-ghost monster? Congratulations, you have just been pwned by Jack Fenton. Now leave his kids alone.
    Jack: Drop my kid, you jurassic jerk!
  • Hell, even being in an Alternate Timeline where he never had children doesn't curb his parental instincts in the slightest. Upon seeing undeniable proof that Danny is his and Maddie's son in the mainstream timeline, he quickly jumps to his defense when Vlad tries to kill him.
    Jack Plasmius: Get away from my son!
• Darkwing Duck, whose Tomboy daughter Gosalyn has a habit of getting into trouble like making a Deal with the Devil or releasing an evil trickster spirit. He even finds himself unable to leave the Mirror Universe without merging the two because he can't help thinking of Gosalyn's counterpart as his own daughter. And yes, he has worried about his enemies using her to get to him. In general, threatening Gosalyn is an easy way to make him quickly get over his ego and kick your ass five ways at once.
• DuckTales (1987):
  • The only thing Scrooge McDuck loves more than money are his three little Nephews: Huey, Duey and Louie. If you thought he is a dangerous badass when he is pursuing treasure, whoa boy you have not seen how terrifying he can be if you hurt one feather on their heads. Well, there had to be a reason that Donald entrusted them to Scrooge... this is that reason.
  • Launchpad may be a ditz, but he will put his own life on the line rather than let anyone harm the kids and given his reasonable competence as a fighter (and the fact that it's a Disney story), it won't be him who gets the worst of it if a villain chooses to test that determination). Episodes that especially show off his protective instincts include "Where No Duck Has Gone Before"^note saving the boys from hostile aliens "Hero for Hire"^note facing down the Beagle Boys to rescue Doofus and "A DuckTales Valentine"^note drawing the attention of a large Threatening Shark to distract its focus from Webby and the boys. Bottom line, don't mess with the nephews, Webby, or Doofus Drake.
• DuckTales (2017)
  • Donald Duck is as firmly within this trope. Threatening the triplets' well-being is the absolute quickest way to turn him into a One Duck Army aimed squared at you. And he is more than comfortable risking his own well-being if it means they stay safe. The premiere episode showcases him using a metal shield and his bare hands to hold back numerous fire traps to protect Dewey from death. There's also this line he delivers after diving into a group of evil shadows and beating them back.
    Donald: Get away from my kids!
  • The episode "Whatever Happened to Donald Duck?!" has Webby and Dewey discover Donald's therapist who explain that Donald feels nobody understands him and the whole world is out to get him which results in uncontrollable rage. Donald went to the therapist because, after becoming the surprise parent of three infant nephews, he wanted to be as great of a parent as possible, and thus the therapist helped him channel his anger into paternal protective instinct.
    Jones the Therapist: He loves you so much the thought of anything bad happening to you INFURIATES HIM!!!
  • Scrooge, much like his 87 counterpart is also very protective of his family. This is best shown near the end of the first season when it's revealed that he nearly drove himself into bankruptcy trying to find his niece Della after she was lost in space, only stopping after ten years because his board of directors physically prevented him from continuing.
• The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants: Just like in the books and the movie, while they're not even his biological kids, if George and Harold are in danger, Captain Underpants will do everything in his power to get them out of it. There are moments in the show where he briefly but visibly panics if he sees them in trouble. In short, if you don't want to be utterly thrashed by a man flying around in nothing but underwear and a cape... leave George and Harold alone.
• El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera: Despite their differing alignments, both Rodolfo and Granpapi will respond poorly to threats to their family. Rodolfo once punted El Oso across the city without the Bronze Boots of Truth because he threatened Manny, and Granpapi will pause his criminal activity if his son and grandson end up in danger.
  • Still, they both pale in comparison to Frida’s dad, Chief Emiliano Suarez. Just ask the Mustache Mafia after they dared to harm Frida in front of him. In short, they got beaten into next week… for eight hours straight, and he was going easy on them!
• Even Peter Griffin on Family Guy is capable of this now and then. An episode centered around him becoming more protective of Meg after she almost drowned in a flood, even going so far as to smash stuck-up Connie d'Amico's face into a fire extinguisher 18 times for making fun of her. In another episode, Stewie gets nabbed by Disney World employees who force him to sing for the customers, and Peter manages to save him and outrun a dangerous security guard. Stewie even hugs him for it at the end.
  • And in the episode when Meg dates Quagmire, he gets really suspicious and angrily asks Quagmire if he slept with Meg.
  • This is Zig-Zagged in an early episode, where, at a soccer game, a mother insults Chris in front of Peter. The latter demands an apology, but loses it when she smacks his beer can out of his hand.
• In The Fairly OddParents!, even a Manchild Bumbling Dad like Mr. Turner is capable of fighting with teeth and paws to defend Timmy. Just watch the episode where Timmy wishes he could merge with dad's Cool Car, then Vicky steals the car, and he believes Timmy is stuck in it...
  • Both of Timmy's parents, despite being comically irresponsible enough to leave him with an evil babysitter, have gone to crazy lengths to protect Timmy. This came to the fore when Timmy wishes they had superpowers, and he ends up using this to his advantage when convincing them to give up their powers.
  • Don't forget the end of Abra-Catastrophe!, where Papa Wolf dad and Mama Bear... Mom double-team Mr. Crocker for abusing their son. Much ass kicking ensues.
    • Actually, Mr. Turner technically could be counted as a literal "Papa Bear" at that point. (Mr. Turner had recently had his hands turned into bear's claws after saying he'd tear someone apart with his bare hands.)
  Mrs. Turner: I'll go for his teeth.
  Mr. Turner: And I'll claw out his eyes!
  • In one episode, Timmy gets tired of his overbearing parents and wishes they couldn't care less about him. When this backfires per the norm and results in Timmy's Godparents being trapped in the sewers with a Sewer Gator, Timmy racing to the sewers to get them back causes worries his parents so much it overrides the wish.
  • While he doesn't get to show this off as often, Cosmo can be a Papa Wolf under the right circumstances. That "care less" wish above? It applied to him too.
• Final Space: We have Avocato, A Badass Adorable Cat Folk fellah who fights tooth and claw to get his imprisoned son back.
• Both Goliath and David Xanatos of Gargoyles have gone to great extents to protect Angela or Alexander, respectively. And in Goliath's case, he's also Papa Wolf to the whole clan.
  • Halcyon Renard and his daughter Fox don't have the best relationship. Halcyon Renard is quite old and paralyzed from the waist down. None of this stopped Halcyon Renard from flying a gigantic airship with an army of robots to save her from losing her new baby to a nigh-unstoppable super-fairy (It Makes Sense in Context).
  • The Emir probably also counts. He used magic to subdue Anubis himself, all in an attempt to resurrect his young son.
• Agent Six in Generator Rex is this to Rex. Heck, just watch him in "What Lies Beneath" or his fight with White Knight.
• Primarily inverted in Godzilla: The Series, where Godzilla, Jr. will go to crazy lengths to protect his adopted father Nick Tatopoulos.
  • But also played straight with Nick. If you are human and you do something that harms Godzilla, Jr., Nick will end you.
• Goof Troop:
  • Pete, oddly enough. Most of the time he's, at best, distant and bumbling, and frequently a downright abusive Jerkass to his son, PJ. But the minute he discovers PJ may be in real danger? He's going on high speed chases through the town, freaking out, and getting extremely angry at the people who got him into those messes. And when his daughter, Pistol, is in danger, he's just as protective of her, if not more so. Usually his Papa Wolf behavior towards PJ is mitigated by either quickly reverting or having the real or imagined danger be entirely his fault in the first place, but his behavior towards Pistol is downright heroic.
  • Goofy himself can be a Papa Wolf to his own son, Max. In one episode "Date with Destiny", in which Max has to stay over at Pete's house, thanks to the Goof household being disarray, Goofy's acute dog ears picked up the sound of Max scream the night of the stay-over and dashed straight over to check up on him.
• Grunkle Stan from Gravity Falls is an Ambiguously Evil old skinflint and con artist, but there's no doubt he cares for his great-nephew and great-niece enough to take on a horde of zombies with a baseball bat and a pair of brass knuckles. And even more enough to pull a temporary Heroic Sacrifice by trapping Bill Cipher inside his mind while Ford uses the mind eraser gun to erase Stan's mind (thus destroying Bill in the process), and ultimately destroys Bill by punching him and causing him to shatter.
  Stan: Hey, look at me. Turn around and look at me you one-eyed demon! You're a real wise guy but you made one fatal mistake, you messed with my family.
• Most evident example in Ice Age is the event when Manny and Diego are defending from Guanlongs Ellie giving birth to her daughter in the third movie.
• Normally, Inspector Gadget is a combination of Inspector Oblivious and Too Dumb to Live. But on those extremely rare occasions when he notices that Penny and Brain are in real danger, Gadget turns into a hyper-competent badass who uses his gadgets to rescue them with astonishing skill. This helps fuel an Alternate Character Interpretation of him where he's intentionally bumbling around while Penny solves the real crime.
• General Molotov on Jimmy Two-Shoes is very much this. When he got a call from his son exaggerating how horrible babysitters Jimmy and Beezy are (Beezy was kind of a douche to him, but he was never going to eat him), Molotov is FURIOUS and goes on a mad rush all the way back home to beat the tar out of Jimmy and Beezy.
  Molotov: I. WILL. PULVERIZE THEM!!!
• Hugh Test in Johnny Test. Normally a bumbling dad obsessed over meatloaf, he is extremely protective of his kids, even confronting a wrestler more than three times his size to ensure their safety.
• Race Bannon from Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures is pretty protective to his only daughter, Jessie. Also, to her friends Jonny and Hadji, as is Dr. Quest.
• Aquaman in the Justice League TV series chopped off his own hand to save his infant child's life and get out of a Death Trap. And then he returned home with the baby tucked under his good arm, had his people put a hook on his stump, came back to action and helped the Justice League kick the culprit's ass. To drive that point even further, the villain was his own brother, Orm. And Aquaman didn't give a single thought about beating him and letting him die. Conclusion? Do NOT mess with Aquaman's kid. You'll be VERY, VERY SORRY.
• Kaeloo: Ursula is stated to have an overprotective father, to the point where her boyfriend Stumpy isn't even allowed to visit her house.
• King of the Hill: Hank Hill. Whether it's a Jerkass boss putting Bobby in danger at his job, or a Jerkass football coach abusing Bobby and his teammates after losing, they quickly learn the hard way just how dangerous an angry Hank can be. One would think they'd know not to mess with someone who's so into propane. And propane accessories. (Otherwise, though, Hank is something of a "Well Done, Son" Guy.)
  Thug: "I thought that old guy inside was your daddy."
  Bobby: "No, no! This is my daddy! This one right here, the one with the golf club!"
  • Dale, too, even after learning that Joseph is "part-alien". He once heard his son screaming in his sleep. What does he do? He kicks the door to his bedroom open, brandishing two pistols, ready to blast the threat to kingdom come. When Joseph says he just had a bad dream, Dale says, "Oh. How about I read you a story?" Turns out this even extends to other kids, as Dale unhesitatingly saves Bobby from the swarm of fire ants he planted on Hank's lawn by taking them onto himself, instead of taking the opportunity to run away from an angry Hank—equal parts atoning for his outrageous antics and saving an innocent boy from harm.
• In the animated series Kissyfur, Gus, Kissyfur's dad is this to his son as well as to the other children. Simply put, if you put them in danger, you'd better be prepared to be thrown halfway across the swamp. You would think that Floyd and Jolene, the two gators on the show, would have learned their lesson.
• Looney Tunes
  • The 1955 cartoon "Pappy's Puppy" has Butch the bulldog become a father. Butch actually trains his son (a tiny bulldog puppy) to attack cats, leading the pup to attack Sylvester. Anytime Sylvester tries to harm or drive off the puppy, Butch intervenes. This happens throughout the cartoon; you'd think Sylvester would wise up and leave the pup alone.
  • Sylvester himself gets the chance to be a Papa Wolf in "A Mouse Divided" when a drunken stork accidentally delivers him a baby mouse. Sylvester initially wants to eat it, but his heart melts when the little thing calls him "Daddy"; he spends the rest of the cartoon protecting his rodent son from other cats, with dynamite if necessary.
• Charles Ofdensen, the band manager in Metalocalypse, is seen by some fans to be the Papa Wolf of metal band Dethklok. He is extremely protective, preparing and executing elaborate security measures and counter attacks for their concert in the first season finale; going against assassins twice his size in hand-to-hand combat; having Rockzo the clown beaten and tortured on two occasions for being a bad influence on the youngest member of the band; and warning another manager attempting to take over his position that he would have to kill him to keep him away from the band. And then killing that man himself. In a swordfight.
• In Polish animated series Między Nami Bocianami (Between Us Storks), storks can drive away even a wolf (the only one in the forest), for example Czarny (Black (stork)) defending children of his friends. If you compare with Ice Age, you realize that in modern times, when big carnivores are eradicated, storks are relatively safe, like once mammoths.
• In Mike Tyson Mysteries, don't threaten or even offend Yung Hee, as her adopted father is Mike Tyson himself and will punch anyone who does the above. And that includes Satan himself.
• Mike Chilton acts as this towards his True Companions, the Burners in Motorcity. First noticable in "The Duke of Detroit" episode.
• Mr. Bogus, of all people, actually shows shades of this, in regards to watching over his younger cousin, Brattus. If you even dare to pester or threaten Brattus, then may God have mercy on your soul!
• Max LeBlanc of Night Hood may have a very bad habit of getting into trouble. But if you try to so much as hurt one hair on his head, count on Lupin and/or Grognard to come to his rescue...and you'll be sorry indeed.
• Lord Garmadon from Ninjago may be a full-blown megalomaniac, but his one redeeming feature is that he cares dearly for his loved ones, and he ends up allying with the Ninja for the sole purpose of saving his son Lloyd. Even after reclaiming the role of Big Bad and learning Lloyd is The Chosen One destined to fight him, he refuses to even consider killing his son, instead trying to target the other Ninja to stunt his training. And when he's possessed by the Overlord, his sheer love for his son allows him to briefly regain control of his body. This trait carries over after he's redeemed; he chooses to break his pacifistic vow when Lloyd gets kidnapped by the Overlord. It's to the point that when his evil side is resurrected in Season 8, it's a major dramatic moment when it's shown that he isn't one anymore.
• Chameleon Sr. from OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes. He first appeared in "My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad". He did NOT want to talk things out with Carol because K.O was zinging his son, Chameleon Jr. and he would NOT let that slide.
• Private of The Penguins of Madagascar has shown this. When the penguins are tasked with taking care of an egg in shifts, Private is so horrified by the other penguins' rough handling that he steals the egg away and snaps at Skipper.
• Dr. Doofenshmirtz of Phineas and Ferb may be an incompetent villain, but don't even try to hit on his underage daughter unless you want to quickly be teleported to another, monster-filled dimension.
  • Perry the Platypus, especially when it comes to Phineas and Ferb. There was one time when Friendly Enemy Doofenshmirtz indirectly threatened Phineas and Ferb with his latest scheme, Perry quickly beat him up, handcuffed him, and called for backup all within ten seconds.
    • Happens again in the movie Across the Second Dimension. Perry didn't break his masquerade even when a robot punched him across the room. But when the robot was ordered to do the same thing to Phineas and Ferb, he immediately jumped up and punched the robot just as hard.
    • God help you if you try and kill Perry when Doofenshmirtz is around (and vice versa) for he will go nuts at you; he is the only one allowed to kill Perry. Likewise, for Perry, he is the only enemy Doofenshmirtz is allowed to have. Got that Peter the Panda?
• In the Popeye cartoon "Goonland", Popeye goes looking for his father, Poopdeck Pappy, on Goon Island. Even though Poopdeck Pappy is cantankerous and wants to be left alone because he doesn't like annoying relatives, when Popeye gets captured by the Goons and the spinach is knocked out of his hands, Poopdeck Pappy eats some of the spinach, makes a jailbreak and knocks a huge boulder back onto the Goons. Popeye and Poopdeck team up to fight off the rest of the goons, and it ends with a happy reunion between father and son.
• The Powerpuff Girls usually don't need Professor Utonium to protect them, but the rare times they do, he definitely qualifies. (Or at least he tries.) One episode of the original series, "Powerprof.", in which Utonium tries to join them on their adventures, embarrassing them to no end, is resolved by them exploiting this; they let Mojo Jojo kidnap them and let Professor Utonium fight him one-on-one to save them, knowing he'll tire himself out and call it quits, but even then, the girls were surprised that the Professor put up such a good fight.
• The Real Ghostbusters:
  • When Egon was literally paralyzed with fear by the Boogey Man, he found the strength to escape his bonds when the Boogey Men threatened the Junior Ghost Busters, a trio of children he had been mentoring.
  • It's Peter's turn to play the "protective father" role in "The Grundel". When he hears about the Grundel, he says that no one is messing with a kid in his neighborhood. He keeps trying to talk Alec out of his toxic relationship with the creature even as Alec fires blasts at him. After successfully separating Alec from the Grundel, he fights the creature to get to Alec and his brother before they fall to their deaths.
• The Ren & Stimpy Show: In "A Visit to Anthony," Ren and Stimpy are severely intimidated by Anthony's father. And they have every reason to be. He's very large, heavily muscled, despite his age, and unlike most of the "lummoxes" seen in the show, he is not only healthy looking, but reasonably intelligent. Just getting a threatening speech from him puts the fear of god into you. His silent rage is even more frightening when coupled with his weeping when he thinks his son is in danger, even if it's just of being disappointed.
• You do not want to mess with Morty from Rick and Morty while Rick is around. He doesn't often show it, but every now and again it's clear just how protective he is. The most prominent example is probably in "Meeseeks and Destroy," when Rick comes back through the portal and kills Mr. Jelly Bean, who had tried to rape Morty in the tavern earlier.
  • You can also see it in "M. Night Shaym-Aliens!" when Rick is explaining what's going on.
  Rick: These Zigerions are always trying to scam me out of my secrets. But they made a big mistake this time, Morty. They dragged you into this. Now they're gonna pay.
  • It doesn't stop with Morty, either. When Mr. Needful Zuckerbergs Summer, Rick helps her beat the shit out of him. And when some male Gazorpians grab her through a portal in "Raising Gazorpazorp" and try to rape her, Rick promptly guns them all down in a matter of seconds.
• Raymundo Rocket of Rocket Power is a pretty easy-going guy most of the time but you do not mess with his kids or their friends. When an old "friend" of his encouraged Otto and Twister to surf during a hurricane, which nearly kills them both and scares them both out of their minds, Raymundo beat the crap out of the guy.
• Rugrats:
  • Hard to believe since most of the babies' adventures are caused by Parental Obliviousness, but once the parents find out that the kids have wandered off, they are quick to rescue them from whatever danger is present. Most notable among them are Stu Pickles, Lou Pickles, and Charles Finster. The last of these is particularly protective of his son because, up until the second movie, he is a widower.
  • Drew is no slouch, either - in The Rugrats Movie when he finds out Stu lost the kids, including Angelica, Drew attacked Stu live on TV!
• Mayor Jones in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated usually is anything but this trope to Fred, either being incredibly inept at proper parenting due to his own selfishness or just outright being willing to handcuff or even tell his own son to put his own life at risk for publicity. The Season 1 finale, however, shows that he's ultimately this: In disguise as the Monster of the Week, he nearly leaves Fred to die on a crumbling cliff until he hears him crying out for help, causing him to go back and save him. What's really depressing is that it's implied by Mayor Jones's hesitance right after saving Fred that he didn't know why he saved him, with it's also implied in a reveal later regarding Fred's true parentage that he originally didn't intend to keep Fred around, and it's also later explained in the show that he was afflicted by a curse.
• Squirrel Boy: While Mr. J hates Rodney, in "Wall of the Wild" he protects him against an exterminator, telling him he's fired for trying to kill the squirrel, after all they are technically family.
• The Mask: The Mask due to being a Friend to All Children is this due to the fact that he genuinely cares about the children and while they are in his care he will protect them at all costs even if at one time he went off track which he got himself back on it straightaway.
  Lonnie the Shark: Who in blazes are you?
  The Mask: The Babysitter, and you don't ever want to mess with the babysitter.
• The Simpsons:
  • Homer Simpson may be the personification of the Bumbling Dad, but once he gets it through his thick skull that something's wrong with his kids, he will move mountains to make it right. One example can be found in the episode "Fat Man and Little Boy", since he decided to become nurturing with Bart having taken over the breadwinner role, only to get conned from major profits by his benefactor. Cue one serious Homer:
  Homer: Sir, this is a class 2 plutonium fissure reactor. If I turn this dial, the resulting blast would destroy the entire tri-city area, including that guy who sells those Blu-Blocker sunglasses people sometimes wear. [he waves at Homer, who waves back] Damn him to hell!
  Conman: You can't be serious.
  Homer: Are you prepared to take that chance? [proceeds to turn the knob on said mini fissure reactor just a bit, causing the nearby fake vomit to start bubbling]
  • Bart's one-off pet python "Strangles" from "Stop! Or My Dog Will Shoot" is friendly to and protective of Bart (the one time he strangles anyone is Homer...to defend Bart from being strangled).
• The Smurfs (1981):
  • You don't threaten Papa Smurf's little Smurfs unless you want to be on the receiving end of one of Papa Smurf's potions.
  • Grouchy towards Baby Smurf. If Baby Smurf's introductory episode wasn't any indication, in one episode it was revealed that Grouchy couldn't swim, followed by the other Smurfs trying unsuccessfully to teach him. But the moment Grouchy saw Baby in trouble, all fears left him and he immediately dived into the water to rescue him.
• South Park: "I've got to save mah beh-beh!"
  • Kyle seems to have developed traits of this around his baby brother Ike, more so than most of the brainless parents of the town anyway.
  • Randy and the other dads sometimes do this, though they're so stupid it doesn't really work out very well. One time it did, however, was when Randy joined Cartman in running a giant drill through the crowd of hippies to get Stan out.
  • And the season 15 finale has Kenny, as Mysterion, defending his little sister Karen from a bully at the school they went to when their parents got arrested.
  • A darker example: in "Fort Collins," the entire Internet history of everyone in the titular town is released to everyone else in town. The Troll called MLKKK is quickly found by the father of a disabled girl whom he'd mocked online and gets burnt to death.
• Spirit: Riding Free: Lucky Prescott has her father, Jim and her horse, Spirit to protect her.
  • Jim gets pushed around by his father, who comes to Miradero to celebrate Lucky’ 13th birthday. When Grandpa Prescott grows concerned for Lucky’ Tomboy nature, he decides to take Lucky back to the city with him. Jim finally puts his foot down and firmly interferes with his father’s attempt.
  • For a wild stallion, Spirit is so fond of Lucky that he naturally defends her when needed. To name some examples:
    • Spirit saves Lucky from falling off a cliff.
    • Spirit tries attacking the abusive horse wrangler, Grayson for bullying Lucky.
    • Spirit rams his rival, Smoke as he charges at Lucky.
    • Spirit rescues Lucky from a gang of bandits who kidnap her.
    • Spirit fights a pack of wolves that attack Lucky and her friends.
• SpongeBob SquarePants: SpongeBob of all people has this for his pet snail Gary. He's only stood up to his boss Mr. Krabs on a few occasions, one of which involved him not being himself at the time and two others being him being pushed over the edge by a great deal of abuse the entire episode. However, on one occasion, Krabs used Gary to steal money for him thanks to him somehow being a living change magnet, something that SpongeBob had already told Krabs hurts Gary. When SpongeBob finds out, he instantly chews Krabs out for it without a second thought. On another occasion, SpongeBob became the adopted father of a bunch of baby worms and this part of him awakened once again. He tackled Larry (the strongest guy in town) when he tried to eat them, then disabled a truck by tearing the engine block out of it with his bare hands to stop it from running over them. Also manages an inversion in one episode when his criminal cousin Blackjack apparently kidnapped his parents, overcoming his crippling childhood fear of Blackjack to confront him. Turns out he hadn't kidnapped them, but it still counts.
• Octus / Newton is this to Lance and Ilana in Sym-Bionic Titan. Bonus points in that he pretends to be their father when they're at home.
• Star vs. the Forces of Evil: Hungry Larry invokes this by eating the neighborhood kids, Star, Marco and his mother, leaving only Mr. Diaz unharmed. Mr. Diaz proceeds to unleash Tranquil Fury to save everyone.
  Hungry Larry: There is nothing more terrifying than a man who has lost everything.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars:
  • You do not want to threaten Ahsoka when Anakin's around. Considering the threat of losing someone he cares for is what eventually causes him to turn into Vader, this is understandable.
  • A villainous example with a dash of Moral Myopia with the leader of the Trandoshan Slavers with the death of his son.
• Star Wars Rebels:
  • When the Inquisitor apparently kills Ezra, Kanan reacts predictably.
    Kanan: That was a mistake.
  • The penultimate episode of season 3 shows how much Obi-Wan has become this for Luke; when Darth Maul gets too close to realizing the true reason why Obi-Wan has taken up residence on Tatooine (he deduces that someone is being protected by Kenobi, even if Maul doesn't learn who exactly that is), the Jedi master only needs three movements to cut Maul down.
• In Superman: The Animated Series, where Brainiac is responsible for Jor-El's warnings about Krypton's imminent destruction being ignored, both Jor-El and his father-in-law Sul-Van (the one member of the Council he is able to convince) become this, as Brainiac tries to use the police to prevent him from activating Kal-El's rocket. Mostly Sul-Van, however, who leads the police on a high-speed chase ending in a crash simply to draw them away from the lab and buy his son-in-law time. Knowing that he really has nothing to lose now. In fact, when he's finally caught, just as Kal-El's rocket lifts off, what he says kind of sums it up as a violent quake hits:
  Police Officer: Not another one!
  Sul-Van: No... The last one...
• Antauri from Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!. Being the Team Dad, he is naturally protective towards the entire Hyperforce, so messing with them while he's around would be a very unwise thing to do. Especially when it comes to Chiro. Heaven help you if you hurt Chiro.
• TaleSpin:
  • God help you if you screw with Kit. If Parental Substitute Baloo doesn't punch your lights out, he'll chase you down with his plane.
  • Though obviously not shown to the same extent as Rebecca, Baloo has traits of this around Molly as well (likely to further emphasize his chemistry with the former). Whether she's been kidnapped by bandits, zapped by a microscopic ray, or just wants her Christmas wish to come true, Baloo is pretty insistent she come out of it all with a smile on her face.
• In the Teen Titans (2003) episode "Betrothed," Galfore, Starfire's k'norfka (guardian) is introduced, a huge, hulking, muscular guy who is willing to use violence if someone does anything that even might be a threat towards his ward. This is one thing that Beast Boy learns rather quickly.
  Beast Boy (laughing): You mean this dude's your nanny?
  Galfore: You find that amusing, LITTLE ONE?!!
  Beast Boy: Ah...
  • Being this protective to one's ward may be a common trait for a k'norfka, actually. Starfire herself becomes a Mama Bear towards Silkie after she gives herself this title towards him.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Master Splinter made sure that his adopted sons could take care of themselves, but if you happen to be planning on experimenting on them, you'd better pray he doesn't find out.
  • The 2003 series might be the strongest example, as circumstances caused Splinter to be in combat situations a fair bit in that series. Fair bit of advice to that continuity: If you're beating on, or even just FIGHTING, the Turtles and you hear a gravelly voice growl "MY SONS!," just give up now. It'll be less painful for you.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) takes this up to eleven. Leatherhead has already been on the receiving end of a thoroughly pissed off Splinter. Rat King as well, shortly after Splinter broke free from his Mind Control.
  • And while you might not know it from first impressions, Rise's Splinter is just as protective. Best shown in the Season 1 finale; when his ancestors' scroll suggests leaving the turtles for dead so the final piece of the Dark Armor won't fall into the Foot Clan's hands, Splinter immediately shreds the scroll and declares he will save both the world and his sons.
• Buck Tuddrussel in Time Squad. While known to be a complete Jerkass at the worst of times, and often lets Otto get hurt through blind negligence; Tuddrussel will kick some major ass if Otto is in mortal danger and the thought of losing him to someone else makes him just as pissed. Same goes for the campy robot partner Larry, which crosses into Mama Bear territory.
• Tom and Jerry:
  • We all know Jerry Mouse is no push-over in regards to Tom Cat. But if Tom ever lays a paw on Nibbles / Tuffy, the local Heartwarming Orphan and Jerry's adoptive pup, he's in for even more of a pain in the tail than usual. Nibbles / Tuffy's introductory episode leaves the deal very clear; Tom spanks the little mouse and, after releasing himself from a trap and checking on the other's well-being, Jerry lets out an enraged lion's roar and brutally beats up Tom.
  • You also don't mess with the local neighborhood bulldog Spike's son, Tyke, in any fashion, though that really should be obvious.
  • And if you think ducks can't tear you a new one, just don't even dare harm that mama duck or her duckling in "Little Quacker." Henry will hand you your hindquarters.
  • Tom and Jerry to each other; they are the only ones allowed to chase, attack and beat each other like they do. Do not try and harm one of them... As the other will make you regret it.
• Total Drama: Big Fun Owen is usually happy and cheerful at all times, but he goes ballistic immediately whenever someone threatens Noah or Izzy. His Papa Bear mode is one of the few things that managed to save him from the Scrappy heap.
• Ratchet from Transformers: Animated doesn't like to hear his friend Omega Supreme, who he mentored during the war, being threatened. Of course, Omega is a Person of Mass Destruction built to end the Great War, so this doesn't happen often, but...
  Ratchet: (to the Autobot High Council) Omega Supreme is one of us. An Autobot. A friend. Harm one circuit on him, and you'll answer to me.
  • It should be mentioned for the un-initiated, that Ratchet is both an old man and a medic, with no offensively designed equipment. Yet you still don't doubt that he could very well hand them their asses on a plate if pressed.
  • Ratchet, Optimus and Prowl are this when it comes to Sari. Do NOT mess with her if you know what’s good for you.
• The Transformers:
  • The episode "Prime Target" shows that even Optimus' patience with humans reaches its limit when an Egomaniac Hunter captures several of his troops and puts them in dangerous torture-room situations to use them as bait... To try and lure Prime himself into a trap and claim him as a trophy. A righteously furious Prime effectively tears down the old man's mansion to save his Autobots. In the epilogue we see that Prime has tied the hunter to the nosecone of a Soviet fighter jet that he had stolen earlier in the episode and basically mailed him back to an understandably displeased Soviet Union.
  • Spike Witwicky evolves and becomes this, as well. During the Rebirth arc episodes, he makes it clear to Optimus, who is at this point understandably worried about the whole universe's survival hanging in the balance, what his priorities really are.
    Optimus: Galvatron's probably opened the Plasma Energy Chamber by now. You got to go there.
    Spike: No way, Prime! I gotta get my boy out of here first.
    Optimus: Spike! Listen to me. The energy will kill us! You're the only one who can close it!
    Spike: After I rescue Daniel, Prime!
• In Transformers: Prime, there's Optimus. Go after Jack, Miko, and Raf at your own risk. It's not just to the humans, but to his men; notably, in the finale, when Megatron kills Bumblebee, Optimus attacks him in an Unstoppable Rage, letting out a Big "NO!". Then there's both Bulkhead and Bumblebee, towards Miko and Raf, respectively. Jack has Arcee.
• The Venture Bros.:
  • Brock Samson is the Alpha Papa Wolf whenever someone threatens the Venture family. See Victor. Echo. November. for the naked, murderous evidence.
  • Dr. Orpheus as well to his own daughter and towards the Venture boys.
  • In one scene directly parodying the one in Taken, the Red Death is able to accomplish more with words than Liam Neeson's character could ever hope to.
• Villainous (well, anti villainous) example from Wakfu: Everything Nox does is out of fatherly love. Even the genocide.
  • Sadlygrove is this in the OVA. Do not threaten his kids. Especially not the kids of someone who happens to be the god Iop reincarnated.
• Somewhat off-screen in Winx Club and crossing with Mama Bear is Oritel (Bloom's Dad). After both he and his wife think both their daughters to be dead, they according to one account went completely berserk at the ones responsible; the Ancestral Witches. Considering how high they are in among other's Faragonda's and even Valtor's regard, that says something about the power which was unleashed. Ouch. When Oritel has returned by Magical Adventure, he is fiercely protective of Bloom, banishes Sky from Domino when he thinks Sky has dumped Bloom, and doesn't hesitate to fight the Trix and Ancestral Witches when they threaten Bloom.
  • To explain what happened in that movie: when the Trix attacked the Winx he jumped out of nowhere and, after promising the Ancient Witches he'd make them pay for killing his older daughter, proceeded to kick the Trix' asses single-handly in spite of having no magical power and his sword having been depowered alongside all the fairies; and when the fairies and his sword recovered their power the Ancient Witches possessed Trix (who were easily defeating Bloom and the Winx Club) could barely cringe in fear when they saw him charge before he turned the side of the battle (it was the Winx to wipe out the Ancient Witches for good, but they would have lost without Oritel kicking their ass while they prepared the spell). It's also stated in both movies that it was Oritel and his wife Marion to destroy the Ancient Witches Coven one by one in revenge for the apparent deaths of both their daughters, with the Company of Light being there mainly to cover their backs and finish stragglers, and when they were finished the Three Ancient Witches were weak and bodyless, most of the coven had been wiped out, and of the two survivors Mandragora had been imprisoned with the Ancient Witches, and Valtor (the Big Bad of Season 3, with the power to defeat the rest of the Company of Light alone) had been left barely alive and survived only because they were in a hurry to finish the Ancient Witches.
• Young Justice (2010):
  • Black Manta towards his son Aqualad, despite almost killing him in Season 1, in Season 2 he responds to Sportsmaster's request to kill him with an angry: "No one touches my son." After that, he tries to have Psimon, and later Miss Martian help him. When Sportsmaster and Cheshire attack his sub, he orders his men to help his son instead of him, and later abandons his fight to save him. In addition, when his men set a charge to blow through a door and rescue him, he detonates it prematurely, blowing the soldiers away, wanting to get to his son as soon as possible.
  • J'onn becomes fiercely protective of both his nieces, M'gann and M'ree, when R'ess E'dda, a particularly racist Martian, starts disparaging them in Season 4.
    J'onn J'onzz: I do not appreciate you talking about my nieces in that manner.
• The Zeta Project shows us the DCAU is filled with these. Agent Bennett, the closest thing the series has to a villain, a man who has dropped everything to chase a criminal across the country, promptly drops everything to save his son. He even works with said criminal to get his son back and spends time with him afterwards rather than go back to work. He's very dedicated to the NSA, but touch his kids and he just doesn't give a crap about them.

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