History ActionDad / Film

* JohnWayne spends the majority of ''BigJake'' tracking down and in the end blasting seven hells out of a bunch of bandits who kidnapped his grandson. ''[[BadassGrandpa Grandpa Wolf]]'', indeed.
* Universal's 1934 movie ''TheBlackCat'' gives us Dr. Vitus Werdegast (as played by Creator/BelaLugosi), who takes revenge [[spoiler:on Poelzig for killing his daughter (among other things, but that was what sent him over the edge). by ''skinning the man alive on his own embalming rack''. And what's worse is that only a few moments earlier, he had been given hope that his daughter was actually alive after thinking that she had been dead since he's been sent to the prison camp.]]
* ''TheBlindSide'': Coach Cotton has a PapaWolf moment after the OpposingSportsTeam deliberately kicks Michael when he's down and after the play has already ended, and the referee not only ignores the kick, but penalizes the Wingate Crusaders.
* ''ComingToAmerica'' provides a nonviolent example in Cleo [=McDowell=], an amiable and slightly BumblingDad who's eager to marry his daughter Lisa off to a rich boy. He's therefore over the moon when he discovers her suitor [[KingIncognito Akeem is actually a prince]]. But when Akeem's father King Jaffe upsets Lisa, [=McDowell=] drops the bumbling act and angrily threatens to "break a foot off in your royal ass."

* [[BadassPreacher Sam Childers]] (Creator/GerardButler) in ''MachineGunPreacher''. If you threaten or harm the children of Sudan or Uganda, he will make sure that you pay. The best part: this film is based on a true story.

* Stacker Pentecost and Hercules Hansen in ''PacificRim''. Both have piloted Jaegers since their inception and destroying Kaiju is their number-one priority in life. Pentecost is also Marshal of the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps and former pilot of Coyote Tango; Hansen is the oldest Jaeger pilot still on active duty and drifts with his son, Chuck, in Striker Eureka.
* Benjamin Martin in ''ThePatriot'' is firmly against a war for independence and submissive towards the over-the-top villain...until his farm is burned down, one of his sons is killed, and another is arrested and taken away to be hanged. Then he goes after the Redcoats with muskets and hatchets...

* Creator/MelGibson in ''{{Ransom}}''.

* Charlie Anderson in ''{{Shenandoah}}'' insists that the Civil War doesn't concern his family, even saying that his sons don't owe their state anything because the state "never came around here with a spare tit." But when some Union soldiers mistake his youngest for a rebel and take him prisoner, he starts taking the war personally.

* Subverted by Keyser Soze in ''TheUsualSuspects''. In a tale told in universe, some Turkish mobsters break into Soze's home and brutalize his family, holding them hostage. When Soze returns home, he promptly pulls a gun on the mobsters... then turns the gun on his ''family'', saying he'd rather they die than live another day.

* Stacker Pentecost and Hercules Hansen in ''PacificRim''. Both have piloted Jaegers since their inception and destroying Kaiju is their number-one priority in life. Pentecost is also Marshall of the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps and former pilot of Coyote Tango; Hansen is the oldest Jaeger pilot still on active duty and drifts with his son, Chuck, in Striker Eureka.

* Stacker Pentecost and Hercules Hansen in ''PacificRim''. Both have piloted Jaegers since their inception and destroying Kaiju is their number-one priority in life. Pentecost is Marshall of the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps and former pilot of Coyote Tango; Hansen is the oldest Jaeger pilot still on active duty and drifts with his son, Chuck, in Striker Eureka.

* Creator/CharlieChaplin's Tramp character in ''TheKid''. When an official from the local orphanage takes the [[DoorstopBaby boy he found and raised]] away, he goes into RoofHopping {{Determinator}} mode.
** His SpiritualSuccessor, Sonny Koufax in ''BigDaddy'', is no slouch himself. He at first takes a boy as his own son to raise out of undisguised selfishness, but thanks to BecomingTheMask, ends up declaring: "I would die for this kid, just so he wouldn't have to feel a moment of sadness."

** Parodied in ''Film/LastActionHero'', where the movie from which Arnold's cop character is lifted includes a face-off with the BigBad who abducted his kid.
* Stacker Pentecost and Hercules Hansen in ''PacificRim''. Both have piloted Jaegers since their inception and destroying Kaiju is their number-one priority in life. Pentecost is Marshall of the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps and former pilot of Coyote Tango; Hansen is the oldest Jaeger pilot still on active duty and drifts with his son, Chuck, in Striker Eureka.
* LiamNeeson's [[RetiredBadass Ex-Special-Forces commander Bryan]] of the film ''Film/{{Taken}}'' (see page quote) shows the organization that kidnapped his daughter the exact reason why you don't screw around with an ex-CIA operative's kids. In a particularly brutal example of this trope, he is willing to go as far as [[spoiler: threaten to kill a CorruptCop and former friend's innocent wife AFTER winging her with a bullet to show he's serious]] to save his daughter from being sold into prostitution. The entire movie is effectively a paean to the PapaWolf trope.
* Liam Neeson's character in ''Film/{{Nell}}'', who winds up very protective of the borderline WildChild (wild adult, by then) he and another doctor have been observing since her mother's death. A reporter who sneaks up trying to get a picture of the rumored "wild woman" gets thrown down the front steps of Nell's cabin and his camera broken for his troubles. Neeson's character does admit he overreacted, only to chase the reporter away when the idiot keeps asking questions.
* The [[DirectToVideo Direct to DVD]] StevenSeagal movies ''Film/BellyOfTheBeast'' and ''Film/OutOfReach''. In the latter, he isn't actually even the girl's father, making it all the stupider.
** OTOH, he also plays more than one real PapaWolf out there.

* JohnWayne spends the majority of ''BigJake'' tracking down and in the end blasting seven hells out of a bunch of bandits who kidnapped his grandson. ''[[BadassGrandpa Grandpa Wolf]]'', indeed.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Darth Vader. More of a ''Dark'' Action Dad, really, considering he's battling Luke throughout the original trilogy [[spoiler:until his HeelFaceTurn to save Luke's life.]]
* Benjamin Martin in ''ThePatriot'' is firmly against a war for independence and submissive towards the over-the-top villain...until his farm is burned down, one of his sons is killed, and another is arrested and taken away to be hanged. Then he goes after the Redcoats with muskets and hatchets...

* The premise of ''Film/TheLastHouseOnTheLeft'' is about a group of people who get trapped inside a house with a PapaWolf and a MamaBear after they brutalize and rape the couple's daughter. Three guesses as to what happens next.
* An ActionDad score for Denzel Washington is ''JohnQ'', where to make sure that his IllBoy son Michael will [[BillyNeedsAnOrgan get a heart transplant]] which is being denied to him because insurance doesn't cover it, John Quincy Archibald actually ''takes a full hospital hostage'' and claims he won't back off until Michael is given priority. [[spoiler: John goes as far as improvising a ThanatosGambit so his heart will be harvested and given to his child, but it fails. In the BittersweetEnding, however, John is still trialed and incarcerated, but Michael is saved.]]

* The daddy T-rex in ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark''. Teamed up with his ActionMom to shove two connected RV's off a cliff after their hatchling was taken. Being a T-rex, he was already a {{Badass}}.
** Later went on a rampage across San Diego just to find his baby. It doesn't help that he was high on amphetamines.
* John [=McClane=] in ''Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard'' - After he gets involved in the terrorists' Scheme, the BigBad decides to kidnap his daughter Lucy to try to control John. Big mistake.

* Though it's too little and too late to do any good, [[spoiler:Will's father Bootstrap Bill Turner]] in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'' snaps out of his brainwashing, and attacks Davy Jones in a moment of PapaWolf fury.
** Captain Teague, Jack's father in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides''.
* ''Film/LoneWolfMcQuade'': You can beat him, shoot him, bury him alive, and shoot his dog and maybe survive, but if you hurt his daughter, you will open the whole can of ChuckNorris whoopass.
** The badguy who gets his ass kicked is played by David Carradine. If he couldn't stop Chuck, what chance would anyone else have? Likely something involving a 13 digit negative number.
* Chingachgook from ''Film/LastOfTheMohicans''.
* James Potter in ''Film/HarryPotter''. He decided to take on Voldemort on this own, knowing it almost certainly meant death (he even said to Lily "I'll hold him off", indicating he knew he stood no chance) because it gave his wife and son a chance of escaping.(He wouldn't have had a chance against the Dark Lord anyway, but on top of that, he wasn't holding a wand. It makes this into a ''HeroicSacrifice''.)
* ''Film/DeathSentence'': Nick Hume's older son gets killed by a gang member and he learns that the gang member will only receive a few years in jail, he forces the case to be dropped so that he can kill the bad guy himself. In doing so, he is forced to kill another member of that gang. However, the gang's head doesn't take kindly to this and swears vengeance on Nick's family. Nick being an ActionSurvivor rather than a hardened {{Badass}}, he fails to stop the gang. Though [[spoiler:his younger son survives and]] he gets back at the gang successfully, it's quite clearly shown that Nick ends up far from the man he used to be. Not all positively.
* [[spoiler:Dr. Tenma]] in the 2009 ''WesternAnimation/AstroBoy'' film. After he [[spoiler:[[HeelFaceTurn accepts Astro for who he is]], it's made clear that he's willing to face the military, its angry Commander in Chief, and its scary indestructible robot to protect his boy. Makes you wonder what would happen if you threatened Astro while there was a chance Dad might get his hands on you.]]
* Pops from ''Film/SpeedRacer'' puts his Greco-Roman {{wrestl|erInAllOfUs}}ing skills to work while protecting his family from ninjas, er, ''non''-jas.
-->[[Awesome/SpeedRacer "Terrible thing, what passes as a Ninja these days."]]
* ''ComingToAmerica'' provides a nonviolent example in Cleo [=McDowell=], an amiable and slightly BumblingDad who's eager to marry his daughter Lisa off to a rich boy. He's therefore over the moon when he discovers her suitor [[KingIncognito Akeem is actually a prince]]. But when Akeem's father King Jaffe upsets Lisa, [=McDowell=] drops the bumbling act and angrily threatens to "break a foot off in your royal ass."
* Universal's 1934 movie ''TheBlackCat'' gives us Dr. Vitus Werdegast (as played by Creator/BelaLugosi), who takes revenge [[spoiler:on Poelzig for killing his daughter (among other things, but that was what sent him over the edge). by ''skinning the man alive on his own embalming rack''. And what's worse is that only a few moments earlier, he had been given hope that his daughter was actually alive after thinking that she had been dead since he's been sent to the prison camp.]]
* Anthony Hopkins in ''Film/TheWolfman2010''. He shoots on those who want to catch his son, [[spoiler:and later tries to kill Lawrence. And he already killed his brother. And he ''is'' a werewolf.]]

* In ''[[Film/BackToTheFuture Back To The Future Part II]]'', Marty gets chased out of the "dark 1985" version of his house by a baseball bat-wielding PapaWolf, who is enraged to find Marty in what, in the altered timeline, is the bedroom of the PapaWolf's young daughters. Based on what he's screaming, it's not the first time people had broken into his home.
* An unusual although understandable example would be Walt from ''GranTorino'', who is Papa Wolf toward his neighbors once he gets over some racial tension, but not toward his "own spoiled-rotten family" who treat him more like an invalid than a worthwhile individual. When he comes to Sue's rescue:
-->'''Walt Kowalski:''' Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have fucked with? ''(spits on the ground)'' That's me.
* ''Film/TheProfessional'': Léon becomes a surrogate father to the orphaned Mathilda and protects her on her quest for vengeance, taking on the entire NYPD in the process.
* Coach Jones of ''Radio'' becomes this on several occasions for Radio. In one instance, he slammed the JerkJock that tricked Radio to enter the girls' locker room into the trophy case display, after the eye-opening words of, "Son, it's times like these I wish I wasn't a teacher so I could do what I really want to do to you."
* Charlie Anderson in ''{{Shenandoah}}'' insists that the Civil War doesn't concern his family, even saying that his sons don't owe their state anything because the state "never came around here with a spare tit." But when some Union soldiers mistake his youngest for a rebel and take him prisoner, he starts taking the war personally.
* ''Film/TheGodfather'': Vito Corleone.
* There's an excellent case for Mr White fulfilling this trope in ''Film/ReservoirDogs'' in his protectiveness over young protégé Mr Orange, to the point where he takes a bullet for him. He really, really doesn't like it when you accuse Orange of being a rat. [[spoiler:When Orange indeed turns out to be the rat, Mr. White has to put the bullet to him in probably the most emotional moment of the entire movie]].
* Invoked in ''AwayWeGo'' when the expecting parents are discussing their future daughter.
-->'''Verona:''' [Do you promise] that her fights will be your fights?
-->'''Burt:''' I do.
* In ''Film/LChangeTheWorld'', L becomes this towards Maki and Near.
* In ''Film/RomeoMustDie'', Isaak finds out [[spoiler: that Mac was the one who murdered his son]] and proceeds to strangle said person without any hesitation.
* Creator/MelGibson in ''{{Ransom}}''.
* [[BadassPreacher Sam Childers]] (Creator/GerardButler) in ''MachineGunPreacher''. If you threaten or harm the children of Sudan or Uganda, he will make sure that you pay. The best part: this film is based on a true story.
* In the classic film ''Ma and Pa Kettle,'' [[ApronMatron Ma,]] [[HenpeckedHusband Pa,]] and their [[MassiveNumberedSiblings large family]] move into an ultra-modern house Pa had won in a sweepstakes. Eventually Pa gets fed up with all the newfangled gadgets in the house, and moves back into the family's old home: a decrepit shack in the middle of a swampy junkyard. Meanwhile, [[MamaBear Ma holds the police at a standoff with a shotgun]] after she learns the contest was a cruel publicity hoax. It takes the intervention of the Kettles' adult eldest son to bring her out of her rampage. Just as the woman who orchestrated the hoax decides not to press charges and offers Ma her most sincere apology, here comes Pa Kettle with the family wagon and a dozen or so of his Injun friends.
--> '''Pa:''' THERE THEY ARE! ''SIC 'EM, BOYS!!''
* In ''North Country'', Josey's dad. He was initially aloof about his daughter for reasons relating to her first pregnancy (where she was apparently promiscuous), although he eventually stood up for her at the union rally when she tried to expose the sexual harrassment problems at the mine she works at, also calling out his coworkers on this fact. However, the biggest example of his being a PapaWolf comes in later: During the trial, Josey is forced to reveal what truly happened during her youth and the ''real'' reason she became pregnant with her son after one of the co-workers (who she also went to school with) exposed the knowledge of who the father of her first child was: It turns out that her teacher had in fact committed statutory rape on her after serving Saturday detention for skipping class and kissing said future co-worker, of which the only witness was said co-worker and he failed to stop him. As soon as the father learned the truth during the trial, he walks over to the teacher and then proceeds to go ballistic and attack him for raping Josey, resulting in him being forcibly removed from the courtroom.
* The butler Cadbury in ''Film/RichieRich'' is something of a second father to Richie. The scene where Ferguson mandhandles Richie in the beginning of the movie says it all.
--> '''Ferguson''': It's my job to protect him.
--> '''Cadbury''': I know Mr. Ferguson, but touch him that way again and it is YOU who will need protecting.
* As opposed to the king in the original fairy tale, in ''Film/SnowWhiteATaleOfTerror'' Frederich goes out into the storm on his horse to find Lilli when he hears she's missing.

* Pongo in ''Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians''.

* Although not a biological father, O'Malley from ''Disney/TheAristocats'' fights quite ferociously to prevent the BigBad from shipping the cats to Timbuktu.
* Marlin in ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', because how many fish do you know would risk life and death across an ocean that is infamous for some of the most POISONOUS and DANGEROUSLY VICIOUS creatures of the sea, to find his son? He's not even a shark, he's a goddamn clownfish who's [[CowardlyLion scared of everything]].
* Bob (a.k.a. Mr Incredible) in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles''.
* Fergus in ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}''.

* Bob (a.k.a. Mr Incredible) in ''TheIncredibles''.

* Although not a biological father, O'Malley from ''TheAristocats'' fights quite ferociously to prevent the BigBad from shipping the cats to Timbuktu.
* Marlin in ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', because how many fish do you know would risk life and death across an ocean that is infamous for some of the most POISONOUS and DANGEROUSLY VICIOUS creatures of the sea, to find his son? He's not even a shark, he's a Goddamn clownfish who's [[CowardlyLion scared of everything]].

* Gru from ''DespicableMe'' after his 3 adopted daughters [[spoiler:are kidnapped]]. Among other things, he hopscotches over a group of heat-seeking missiles fired towards him and ''one-punches a shark!''

* In ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'', Hiccup's father is a BadAss Viking who's willing to punch dragons in the face and dent metal with his hammer to protect his boy, and the other is a freaking ''dragon.'' A dragon who attacks and drives off another dragon a little over three times his own size when the other threatened Hiccup.

* TommyLeeJones also played a Grandpa Wolf in ''The Missing''. He was a DisappearedDad and Grandpa hoping to try getting his family's forgiveness... and arrived back home just in time to learn that his eldest granddaughter has been kidnapped and was about to be sold as a child bride. So when his daughter (played by Cate Blanchett) went MamaBear to get her girl back, he decided he wouldn't be less and joined her cause. [[spoiler:So much that he defeated the BigBad via TakingYouWithMe, [[HeroicSacrifice killing himself]] [[RedemptionEqualsDeath in the process]].]]

* ''StarWars'': Darth Vader.

* [[Film/HowToTrainYourDragon Hiccup's father]] is a BadAss Viking who's willing to punch dragons in the face and dent metal with his hammer to protect his boy, and the other is a freaking ''dragon.'' A dragon who attacks and drives off another dragon a little over three times his own size when the other threatened Hiccup.

* The butler Cadbury in ''RichieRich'' is something of a second father to Richie. The scene where Ferguson mandhandles Richie in the beginning of the movie says it all.

* [[BadassPreacher Sam Childers]] (GerardButler) in ''MachineGunPreacher''. If you threaten or harm the children of Sudan or Uganda, he will make sure that you pay. The best part: this film is based on a true story.

* ''Lone Wolf [=McQuade=]'': You can beat him, shoot him, bury him alive, and shoot his dog and maybe survive, but if you hurt his daughter, you will open the whole can of ChuckNorris whoopass.

* There's an excellent case for Mr White fulfilling this trope in ''ReservoirDogs'' in his protectiveness over young protégé Mr Orange, to the point where he takes a bullet for him. He really, really doesn't like it when you accuse Orange of being a rat. [[spoiler:When Orange indeed turns out to be the rat, Mr. White has to put the bullet to him in probably the most emotional moment of the entire movie]].

* ''RepoTheGeneticOpera'': Nathan Wallace. Most of the time he is an OverprotectiveDad, but when he's in [[PsychoForHire Repo Man]] mode he flips to PapaWolf.
* The daddy T-rex in ''TheLostWorldJurassicPark''. Teamed up with his ActionMom to shove two connected RV's off a cliff after their hatchling was taken. Being a T-rex, he was already a {{Badass}}.

* John [=McClane=] in ''LiveFreeOrDieHard'' - After he gets involved in the terrorists' Scheme, the BigBad decides to kidnap his daughter Lucy to try to control John. Big mistake.

* The [[DirectToVideo Direct to DVD]] StevenSeagal movies ''BellyOfTheBeast'' and ''OutOfReach''. In the latter, he isn't actually even the girl's father, making it all the stupider.

* Franchise/{{Godzilla}}.

* In ''BackToTheFuturePartII'', Marty gets chased out of the "dark 1985" version of his house by a baseball bat-wielding PapaWolf, who is enraged to find Marty in what, in the altered timeline, is the bedroom of the PapaWolf's young daughters. Based on what he's screaming, it's not the first time people had broken into his home.

* Universal's 1934 movie ''TheBlackCat'' gives us Dr. Vitus Werdegast (as played by BelaLugosi), who takes revenge [[spoiler:on Poelzig for killing his daughter (among other things, but that was what sent him over the edge). by ''skinning the man alive on his own embalming rack''. And what's worse is that only a few moments earlier, he had been given hope that his daughter was actually alive after thinking that she had been dead since he's been sent to the prison camp.]]

* Woe betide anyone [[TooDumbToLive stupid enough]] to try and harm Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'s son. Not even a GiantSpider can get away with it. There's a reason that one film is called ''[[Film/AllMonstersAttack Godzilla's Revenge]]''.
** This is especially evident in the film ''Film/GodzillaVsDestoroyah'' in which the death of his son, killed by Destoroyah himself, caused Godzilla to go into a [[UnstoppableRage emotional ragefest]] and attack Destoroyah out of pure unrestrained fury.
*** Destoroyah is also the single most powerful enemy in the entire series bar none, battling the King of Monsters to a standstill even when his power was at 150% overload. Killing Jr. pissed Godzilla off so hard that he actually forced the Ax-Crazy Destoroyah, who till this point had done nothing but viciously attack almost single-mindedly, into a retreat!
** Likewise, there's the American ''Film/{{Godzilla}}'' who is both a Papa Wolf AND Mama Bear (don't ask).

* Creator/MelGibson in ''{{Ransom}}''
--> '''GIMME BACK MY SON!'''

* In ''North Country'', Josey's dad was initially aloof about his daughter for reasons relating to her first pregnancy (where she was apparently promiscuous), although he eventually stood up for her at the union rally when she tried to expose the sexual harrassment problems at the mine she works at, also calling out his coworkers on this fact. However, the biggest example of his being a PapaWolf comes in later: During the trial, Josey is forced to reveal what truly happened during her youth and the ''real'' reason she became pregnant with her son after one of the co-workers (who she also went to school with) exposed the knowledge of who the father of her first child was: It turns out that her teacher had in fact committed statutory rape on her after serving Saturday detention for skipping class and kissing said future co-worker, of which the only witness was said co-worker and he failed to stop him. As soon as the father learned the truth during the trial, he walks over to the teacher and then proceeds to go ballistic and attack him for raping Josey, resulting in him being forcibly removed from the courtroom.

* The movie ''Film/OrcaTheKillerWhale'' has a Papa Wolf of a titular killer whale, seeking bloody vengeance against the man who killed his mate and calf.

* While not actually the child's father, John "Creasy Bear" Creasy (DenzelWashington) in the movie ''Film/ManOnFire'' is a spectacular example of a Papa Wolf. As a bodyguard for Lupita ([[TheOjou a rich businessman's precocious daughter]]) in Mexico City, John doesn't let multiple gunshot wounds stop him from tearing through a powerful kidnapping cartel's chain of command until finally he catches the mastermind's brother and estranged wife. When the "Voice" starts trying to bargain his way out of John's vengeance, John interrupts him to say, "Your brother wants to speak to you," and then blows off the man's hand with a shotgun. It's implied that he would move on from there to the rest of the Voice's family, including his pregnant wife, and worse: [[spoiler:"I will take your family apart, piece by piece. Do you hear me? PIECE BY PIECE!"]]
** [[AdaptationDisplacement In the novel]], it's worse: [[spoiler:Since the girl who is under his custody is dead [[HarmfulToMinors (details]] [[{{Squick}} aside)]] he ended up ''OFFING THE WHOLE MAFIOSO ORGANIZATION''. And he comes off as ''much'' more dangerous than his already incredibly dangerous performance in the movie]].
* Another PapaWolf score for Denzel Washington is ''JohnQ'', where to make sure that his IllBoy son Michael will [[BillyNeedsAnOrgan get a heart transplant]] which is being denied to him because insurance doesn't cover it, John Quincy Archibald actually ''takes a full hospital hostage'' and claims he won't back off until Michael is given priority. [[spoiler: John goes as far as improvising a ThanatosGambit so his heart will be harvested and given to his child, but it fails. In the BittersweetEnding, however, John is still trialed and incarcerated, but Michael is saved.]]
* ''RepoTheGeneticOpera'': Most of the time Nathan Wallace is an OverprotectiveDad, but when he's in [[PsychoForHire Repo Man]] mode he flips to PapaWolf.
* The daddy T-rex in ''TheLostWorldJurassicPark''. Teamed up with his Mama Bear to shove two connected RV's off a cliff after their hatchling was taken. Being a T-rex, he was already a badass.

* In ''Film/SupermanReturns'', LoisLane's otherwise [[RomanticRunnerUp uninteresting]] and mildly dickish fiancé Richard White [[CharacterDevelopment gets a lot more likeable]] when he appears in his sea plane to save Lois and young Jason from a sinking ship in what doubles as his CrowningMomentOfAwesome:
-->'''Lois:''' ''How'd you get here??''\\
'''Richard:''' ''I flew.''
** Ironically, Superman never really gets to play the part of Papa Wolf in the movie, even though [[spoiler:Jason is his son]] and Lois is his LoveInterest.

* Chingachgook from ''Film/LastOfTheMohicans'', though it's more out of vengeance than protection.

* ''Cradle2TheGrave'':
-->'''Tony Fait:''' Wrong! ''Kid!'' And ''definitely'' the wrong father.

* A strange case in ''Film/TheWolfman2010''. When Anthony Hopkins shoots on those who want to catch his son, he is a Papa Wolf. [[spoiler:But later he tries to kill Lawrence. And he already killed his brother. And he ''is'' a werewolf.]]

* ''Film/TheGodfather'' begins with a mortician making himself a client of Vito Corleone to outsource his PapaWolf duties. TheDon takes his {{Papa Wolf}}ing [[ItsPersonal quite seriously]].
** Vito Corleone shows hints of this towards his own children as well, especially for his youngest son, Michael. When arranging Michael's safe return from exile with the other heads of the crime families, he makes it clear that anyone who messes with his son will regret it.
--> '''Vito Corleone''': But I'm a superstitious man, and if some unlucky accident should befall him, if he should get shot in the head by a police officer, or if he should hang himself in his jail cell, or if he's struck by a bolt of lightning, then I'm going to blame some of the people in this room. And that, I do not forgive.

* ''StarWars'': Darth Vader, [[ArchnemesisDad of all people]], has his Papa Wolf moments--not surprising since his attempts to preemptively protect Padme was what drove him to the Dark Side in the first place. In ''ReturnOfTheJedi'', the Emperor's [[ColdBloodedTorture torture]] of his son Luke is what [[HeelFaceTurn turns him back]] from TheDarkSide [[spoiler: [[HeroicSacrifice and kills him]]]].

* James Potter in ''Film/HarryPotter''. He decided to take on Voldemort on this own, knowing it almost certainly meant death (he even said to Lily "I'll hold him off", indicating he knew he stood no chance) because it gave his wife and son a chance of escaping.(He wouldn't have had a chance against the Dark Lord anyway, but on top of that, he wasn't holding a wand. It makes this into a ''heroic sacrifice''.)

* In ''BackToTheFuturePartII'', Marty gets chased out of the "dark 1985" version of his house by a baseball bat-wielding Papa Wolf, who is enraged to find Marty in what, in the altered timeline, is the bedroom of the Papa Wolf's young daughters. Based on what he's screaming, it's not the first time people had broken into his home.

* In ''{{Terminator}} 2'', the T-800 is reprogrammed by John Connor to be this to his past self. John's mother even remarks on it in her narration.
--> '''Sarah Connor:''' ''Watching John with the machine, it was suddenly so clear. [[CallBack The Terminator would never stop]]. It would never leave him. And it would never [[AbusiveParents hurt him, never shout at him or get drunk and hit him]], or say it was [[WhenYouComingHomeDad too busy to spend time with him]]. It would always be there, and it would die to protect him. Of all the would-be fathers that came and went over the years, this thing, this ''machine'', was the only one that measured up. In an insane world, it was the sanest choice.''

** OTOH, he also plays more than one real Papa Wolf out there.

* Another example: Film/KingKong in the 2005 remake behaves like this whenever he's protecting Anne Darrow, who's tiny and vulnerable enough to bring out the big fellow's Papa Silverback side.

* Though it's too little and too late to do any good, [[spoiler:Will's father Bootstrap Bill Turner]] in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'' snaps out of his brainwashing, and attacks Davy Jones in a moment of Papa Wolf fury.
** Captain Teague shoots the solider who was going to shoot Jack in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides''.
* Major Henry West from ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'' utterly snaps after his men are killed by Jim.
** Jim himself becomes one for Hannah. In fact, this is what causes his rampage against West and his soldiers.

* ''Film/CrazyStupidLove'': Cal's reaction upon finding out about Jacob and Hannah, and Jessica's father's reaction when he thinks Cal is involved with his daughter.

* As opposed to the king in the original fairy tale, in ''Film/SnowWhiteATaleofTerror'' Frederich goes out into the storm on his horse to find Lilli when he hears she's missing.

* ''TheIncredibles'', Bob (a.k.a. Mr Incredible).

* Optimus Prime is [[AllThereInTheManual a peace-loving and kind hearted scientist]] who respects human beings and loves them as if they are his own children. Nowhere is this more apparent than in ''TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' with his response to Megatron's sickeningly cynical disrespect for life:
-->'''Megatron:''' ''Is the future of our race not worth the life of a single human?''\\
'''Optimus Prime:''' ''You'll never stop at '''one!!''' [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments I'll take you ALL on!!]]''
** [[WhatAnIdiot BAD mistake on Megatron's part,]] as the [[BewareTheNiceOnes Warrior in Optimus awakens]] to [[CurbStompBattle tear him, Grindor AND Starscream apart]], [[DualWielding wielding two swords simultaneously with the grace of a dancer.]] It is [[Awesome/{{Transformers}} incredibly]] {{Badass}}.
** Do recall that the battle there ended with Megatron impaling Prime. Megatron never planned to use Sam's brain in the first place: [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy It was a ploy to draw out Optimus]]. However, Optimus made up for it with what he did to Megatron after coming BackFromTheDead, and what he did to The Fallen for trying to drain Earth's sun.
---> '''Optimus Prime:''' ''[[BerserkButton You picked the wrong planet.]] '''[[Awesome/{{Transformers}} Give me your]] {{F|amilyUnfriendlyDeath}}ACE!''' ''
** It should also be noted that in the first live-action movie, Prime comes to the rescue when Sector Seven kidnaps Sam and Mikaela, lifting their car thirty feet in the air and tearing the top off while intoning, "Taking the children was a ''bad move,''" in pure bad-ass fashion.
** And in ''[[Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon Dark of the Moon]]'', after [[spoiler: Sentinel Prime, Optimus's father figure and teacher, led an invasion that enslaved and murdered MILLIONS of innocent civilians in Chicago]], Optimus would shoot said person execution style. The line he uttered as he saw [[spoiler: the destruction of Chicago]] was chilling.
---> '''Optimus''': "We will kill them all."
* Homer Hickham Sr. in the film version of ''OctoberSky'' is something of a subversion: he's actually protecting somebody else's son from his stepfather, the resident abusive alcoholic. Does the whole grab-you-by-the-collar thing without the punch-you-in-the-face part, all the while plagued by soot-filled lungs. His personal CrowningMomentOfAwesome. The exchange is reproduced here:
-->'''Homer Hickam, Sr:''' Now you listen to me you drunken son of a bitch. If that boy's father were still alive, he'd kick your ass. So I'm gonna have to do it for him. If I see him with a bruise... you get a scar. If I see him with a limp... you get '''crutches'''! Do you hear me? Do you hear me?\\
'''Vernon:''' I'm reportin' you to the union!\\
'''Homer Hickam, Sr:''' Screw you and your damn union!

** The Governator doesn't even ''need'' to play a father, just having [[TeamDad a character who's got to take care of children or teens]] is enough. ''Film/KindergartenCop'' has a particularly emotional scene where his character, a police detective posing as a [[BadassTeacher a school teacher]], dishes out a brutal beating to an abusive father of an emotionally damaged student. "You hit the kid, I hit ''you''," indeed.

* Creator/HarrisonFord in every movie that he's been in that wasn't [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9GwtRsOYSI Indiana Jones or Star Wars]]
** ''Film/IndianaJonesTempleOfDoom'' begs to differ. Why was he captured by the villains? Because he wanted to protect a helpless child from ''being whipped to death'', plus proceeding to fight ''the villain's army'' to free the hundreds of slave children, and giving up the mystical stones that would have made him a millionaire so the village they return to would be one filled with life and hope. Easily the '''single''' most heroic Papa Wolf performance for Harrison Ford.
*** ''"They're innocent children... Mola Ram, prepare to meet Kali, IN HELL!!"''
** Spoofed in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' with the movie "Harrison Ford Telling Random People He Wants His Family Back."
** What pushed him into agreeing to help look for the Grail in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' (though, given what happens [[TheMole with the man who gives him the news]], he might not necessarily have had a choice) - finding his dad. He was willing to put a guy through a ship's propeller, and if the man wasn't a soft-core KnightTemplar...
*** Does this make the actual Knight Templar at the end of the movie a metaphor?

* Sirius Black in the fifth ''Film/HarryPotter'' film:
-->'''Sirius''': [[Awesome/HarryPotter Get away from my godson]]! ''[[[HeyYouHaymaker POW]]]''
** As well as James Potter. He decided to take on Voldemort on this own, knowing it almost certainly meant death (he even said to Lily "I'll hold him off", indicating he knew he stood no chance) because it gave his wife and son a chance of escaping.(He wouldn't have had a chance against the Dark Lord anyway, but on top of that, he wasn't holding a wand. It makes this into a ''heroic sacrifice''.)
* ''Film/DeathSentence'' is a very cynical take on Papa Wolf-hood, and on revenge in general. When Nick Hume's older son gets killed by a gang member and he learns that the gang member will only receive a few years in jail, he forces the case to be dropped so that he can kill the bad guy himself. In doing so, he is forced to kill another member of that gang. However, the gang's head doesn't take kindly to this and swears vengeance on Nick's family. Nick being an ActionSurvivor rather than a hardened {{Badass}}, he fails to stop the gang. Though [[spoiler:his younger son survives and]] he gets back at the gang successfully, it's quite clearly shown that Nick ends up far from the man he used to be. Not all positively.

* In ''Film/{{Tank}}'', you can cross CSM Zack Carey all you like, and he will calmly accept it. However, if you harm a kid, he will come down on you like a ton of bricks.

* In ''Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'', Pongo [[BattleCouple teams up]] with [[MamaBear Perdy]] to lay the hurting on the two thugs about to kill not only their puppies but all 99 puppies. Their treatment of the bad guys is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBgShR_8CG8 SCARY]]. You do not mess with puppies and let their parents find out.

* Possibly the least likely PapaWolf ever -- Creator/CharlieChaplin's Tramp character in ''TheKid.'' When an official from the local orphanage takes the [[DoorstopBaby boy he found and raised]] away, he goes into RoofHopping {{Determinator}} mode.

* Whether it's Disney's ''Disney/TheJungleBook'' or ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'', messing with Mowgli/Kit will get you trouble from Baloo. In the former, he tells BigBad Shere Khan outright, "Keep your flea-bitten paws offa my cub!" In the latter, discovering that someone has conned Kit leads to a different threat, "Wait until I get through with that guy he'll be able to count his teeth on one finger!" Both Mowgli and Kit even affectionately call him "Papa Bear".

* [[Film/HowToTrainYourDragon Hiccup]] is lucky enough to have two of these...one is his biological father, a BadAss Viking who's willing to punch dragons in the face and dent metal with his hammer to protect his boy, and the other is a freaking ''dragon.'' A dragon who attacks and drives off another dragon a little over three times his own size when the other threatened Hiccup.
* ''Disney/TheLionKing'': Mufasa is the best father ever (no matter his species), as he is wise, just, loving, stern when necessary, and royal. But don't you ''dare'' cause ''any'' harm to his kid, or he will ''find'' you and he will ''kick your ass''(unless you're unlucky...).
** [[Awesome/TheLionKing IF YOU EVER COME NEAR MY SON AGAIN...!!!]]
** This is a TruthInTelevision, as the RealLife section of PapaWolf will attest to.

* ''TheIncredibles'', Helen and Bob (a.k.a. Mrs and Mr Incredible) do a [[BattleCouple Mama Bear and Papa Wolf team-up]] when they take on half of Syndrome's men to get to their kids.
** When Syndrome kidnaps Jack Jack at the end of the movie, Bob ''throws a freakin' car at him''.
** The look Bob gives Syndrome when he is told his family is dead sums up this trope.
*** As does the moment when (still thinking they're dead) he [[spoiler:nearly strangles Mirage]].
*** Forget [[spoiler:nearly strangling Mirage]], Bob threatens to break [[spoiler:her]] in ''half''.
* Fergus in ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' is a loving husband and father who would fiercely protect Elinor and Merida from any danger. However this almost had some serious consequences when he went after a bear that he believed had [[spoiler: killed Elinor]] and was now attacking Merida [[spoiler: when said bear was actually his wife whose mind had lapsed into a wild bear and refused to listen to his daughter's explanations.]]