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Parent-Child Team

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Parent-Child Team (trope)
And the kid's also his clone, to boot!

Occurs when a parent and child team up as equals, especially with a common goal in mind. Beating up bad guys together, or something of the like, often comes in tow. In this scenario, the parent is very often single, and almost always very close to their child. Notably, parental substitutes may also apply in such team-ups.

A sister trope to Sibling Team and Brother–Sister Team. May be part of a Badass Family or The Family That Slays Together. If the parent is also a part of their child's team-up, they may be the Token Adult.


Examples:

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    Anime and Manga 
  • Downplayed in Dragon Ball: Goku and Gohan make for an excellent training team, but only directly fight alongside one another in extracanonical works; more often than not in-canon, one steps in when the other can't finish the job. Trunks and Vegeta have a similar dynamic, but are far more likely to be at each other's throats. Toss in a little Character Development, and they finally do manage work together in Dragon Ball Super against Goku Black.
  • Kagurabachi:
    • After the assassination of his father, Chihiro Rokuhira was taken in by family-friend Togo Shiba. After three years of training, the two set out to get revenge on his killers. Even when their group steadily grows in size, the two of them are able to work together seamlessly.
    • On the opposite end, some of the Hishaku, Kunishige's killers, have a similar dynamic from their members. Leader Yura recruited his protege Hiruhiko at only three years old after he began the life of a killer at the same age. He treats Hiruhiko like a son he spoils but also wants to mature and see the world, while Hiruhiko is a bratty young psycho who nonetheless defers to his leader and learns new skills in his own way to please Yura.
  • Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force has Fate and Erio perform a successful Combination Attack (Thunder Rage W) on Curren Hückebein.
  • Maken-ki!: Himegami finally reveals the true extent of her power in chapter 102, to combat the series' main antagonist Yamato Takeru. She summons her mother, Yatsuno, from the dead, then joins both hands with hers to create a massive spell circle, in an attempt to confine Yamato within the barrier atop Amanohara.
  • Umamusume: Pretty Derby Star Blossom has Team Alkes, which is managed by Gorou Akeishi with his daughter Tsubaki acting as a sub-trainer.
  • In Venus Versus Virus, Lucia fights viruses alongside her adopted father Souichirou.

    Asian Animation 
  • Momo (2022) has Momo and her father, who for instance tried to construct a garden together in "Crabby Daddy".

    Comic Books 
  • Batman:
    • Bruce Wayne with any Robin besides Stephanie Brown, when they're working together, as they're all his sons. Dick Grayson, Jason Todd and Tim Drake are adopted and Damian Wayne is his biological son. In the New 52, all of them even teamed up together at some point.
    • Also, any time Batman works alongside pre-New 52 Cassandra Cain after adopting her as his daughter.
    • Alfred is often portrayed as a father figure to Bruce (being the man who raised him after the death of his parents) and he frequently serves as Mission Control or an outright Battle Butler in some continuities.
    • Done again in the BatmanBeyond continuity, when it is finally revealed that Terry McGinnis is biologically the son of Bruce Wayne due to Amanda Waller's manipulation.
    • A Batman vs Predator comic had Batman and Robin face two of the titular aliens who turned out to be father and son.
  • The Punisher: Subverted in one What If? story where Frank has a daughter with Elektra. Their daughter grows up to be a murderous vigilante and tries to encourage her son to follow in her footsteps by taking him along when she goes on missions. It ends with her death and the son telling her grave that he won't be pursuing that life.
  • Stray: Rodney Weller was the Kid Sidekick known as The Rottweiler of his father, The Doberman, when Rodney was young. It ended on bad terms after an argument drove them apart.

    Fan Works 
  • A Choker And A Scalpel: Black Canary was the apprentice of her mother, the original Black Canary, as a teenager.
  • Child of the Storm has Harry and Thor (formerly incarnated as James Potter) team up on several occasions, most notably during the climax of the first book, at the Battle of London.
  • In The Line Is Not Broken, Tsunade isn't allowed to teach her son Minato, but Minato's father Jiraya ends up his teacher. Neither Minato or Jiraya are aware of their relationship.
  • RWBY: Scars depicts Roman and Neo as father and daughter. The two work together and often fight together as well.
  • Total Drama Legacy:
    • Sierra and Cody Jr., the new hosts of the Aftermath.
    • The challenge in "Family Feud" revolves around this, as it involves each camper being handcuffed to one of their parents and running a race across the island.

    Films - Animated 

    Films - Live-Action 
  • After Jango Fett from Star Wars Attack of the Clones receives his "son" Boba from the Kamino clone breeding facility, the two prepare for a career of collecting bounties on wanted outlaws. When Boba sees the elder Fett die at the hands of a Jedi Master, it seeds a resentment of the Jedi Order that culminates in a grown Boba Fett siding with The Empire in eradicating the last surviving Jedi Knights.
  • Curly Sue features a father-and-daughter team of con artists.
  • Excalibur (1981): Sir Ector fights alongside his son Sir Kay and foster son King Arthur when they come to relieve the siege on Arthur's ally Leondegrance.
  • In the film version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry and his godfather Sirius Black have a moment where they together battle Lucius Malfoy alone. For several seconds, they work in total tandem, as a means of highlighting their bond, right before Bellatrix kills Sirius.
  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade has the title Adventurer Archaeologist team up with his father in search of the Holy Grail. Adding to the challenge of this quest is the fact that the two are estranged from years apart as well as the fact that the senior Jones is rather inept as an adventurer.
  • Kick-Ass has the vigilante Mindy "Hit-Girl" McCready and her father Damon "Big Daddy" McCready.
  • Logan and Laura are this in the film Logan as Logan tries to get Laura and the remaining mutant children to a sanctuary in Canada away from the profiteering American company that created and are now hunting them. Logan is older but still able to fight. Despite being young, Laura is a female clone of Logan and has a great deal of his berserker abilities, allowing her to be an equal combatant, particularly against people who underestimate her because of her size, age, and gender.
  • Pacific Rim: The Jaeger Striker Eureka was piloted by Herc Hansen and his son Chuck Hansen.
  • Tony Stark gradually becomes this with Peter Parker at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming and during the battles of New York and Titan in Avengers: Infinity War. Peter's Iron-Spider suit was even designed by Tony to offer the kid as much protection on the battlefield as possible.

    Literature 

    Live-Action TV 
  • Alias: Sydney Bristow and her father Jack Bristow both work together under the CIA and are double agents to take down SD-6.
  • In some episodes of Seasons 3 and 4 of Arrow, Thea Queen and Malcolm Merlyn work together to protect Star City against bigger threats. However, because of Malcolm's love of the Heel–Face Revolving Door, Thea tends to default to working as a Sibling Team with her brother, Oliver.
  • Lorelai and Rory Gilmore of Gilmore Girls share an extremely close bond, regarding each other as genuine friends and equals. In addition to viewing each other as best friends, they also function as a Parent-Child Team. On one occasion, for example, they compete together as dance partners in a 24-hour dance-a-thon.
  • Only Murders in the Building: Donna and Cliff DeMeo, the financiers of Oliver's theatrical comeback. They're so dedicated to its success, they accidentally kill its lead in the process.
  • The Outer Limits (1995): In "Music of the Spheres", Devon Taylor and his father Dr. Emory Taylor work together to determine exactly how the alien music is affecting the teenagers who listened to it, including Devon's younger sister Joyce.
  • The Spencer Sisters: Darby and Victoria, her mother, become private detectives partnered together.
  • In Stranger Things, Eleven and her adoptive father, Hopper. The two form a parent-child relationship during the year between season one and two, albeit with some bickering, where he takes her in. At the end of season two, he take her back to the lab so she can close the portal to the upside-down. A month later, Owens forges a birth certificate for Eleven, and thus Hopper manages to legally adopt her.

    Professional Wrestling 

    Video-Games 
  • God of War (PS4) picks up a few centuries after the events of God of War III, with Kratos having fathered a son named Atreus (the death of his wife, Faye, being the starting point for the game's plot). While the player still controls Kratos, Atreus can be commanded to perform actions such as reading text which Kratos doesn't understand and slowly learns to fight alongside him.
  • The King of Fighters:
    • The Kyokuugen Team usually consists of Takuma Sakazaki, his son Ryo, and his daughter, Yuri, in order to promote their family's dojo.
    • Also applies to Heidern and Leona, an adoptive father/daughter duo of mercenaries who use the tournament as their cover while investigating NESTS behind-the-scenes.
  • Although not actually biologically related, Ellie and Joel function as a Parent-Child team in The Last of Us. Ellie is a capable fighter and at one point in the game when Joel is injured, the player assumes control of Ellie who has to protect Joel and gather the supplies the pair needs in order to survive.
    • Booker and Elizabeth from BioShock Infinite have a similar relationship despite not being related. Until the twist reveals that she's his daughter.
  • Mega Kangaskhan from Pokémon. Mega Evolution barely affects Kangaskhan directly (mainly in the stats department), but does drastically affect the baby in her pocket, allowing the baby to fight alongside the mom. This is shown off in the Pokemon's ability Parental Bond, which allows a second weaker strike.

    Visual Novels 
  • In Daughter for Dessert, the protagonist and Amanda run their diner together. The protagonist is reluctant to give Amanda any leeway to make decisions at first, but she proves that she’s more up to the task.

    Web Animation 
  • Helluva Boss: The short "Mission: Orphan Time" features a Parent-Child Team of the adopted variety. Blitzo and his adopted daughter Loona take the job to assassinate Mr. Wrigglers, with no involvement from Blitzo's more usual employees Moxxie and Millie, because he reasons Mr. Wrigglers is an easy mark and they can spend the rest of the day together after killing him.

    Web Comics 
  • Lady Spectra & Sparky are a mother-daughter superhero team that protect their hometown of Apollo City from villains great and small.

    Western Animation 

 
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Toodee And Her Family Song.

Toodee And Her Family Sing About How They Are The Same and different in many ways.

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