From Wonder Woman and Thor to Darkseid and Loki, the superhero universe is full of some amazing and powerful superheroes and supervillains. However, these mighty beings might have more in common with us than you think. Just like any human, the superheroes and villains of the universe owe their livelihood and success to their mommy and daddy.
Ever since the beginning of time, there have been stories and literature about great beings or gods that created, control, and dominate the universe.
In Greek mythology, we have the Gods of Olympus and in Norway, we’ve all heard about the Norse gods and goddesses.
These beings are what legends are made of. However, these legendary deities led carefree and magical lives which ultimately left the universe with various little seeds or gifts that helped balance life as we know it– their children.
Now, if you think your parents are hard on you, imagine what it would be like to have a godly being as your mom or dad. These heroes and villains had a lot to live up to and they certainly didn’t disappoint.
So, let’s give a round of applause for moms and dads everywhere, because here are the 10 Supervillains (And 10 Superheroes) Who Have Gods for Parents.
VILLAIN: Thane, son of Thanos
By now we all know who Thanos is. He’s the biggest and baddest villain of the Marvel Universe and is capable of just about anything he sets his mind to.
Although Thanos is a Titan and not entirely a god, he does declare himself one on many occasions throughout the comics and the MCU. If Loki can declare himself the God of Mischief, so too can Thanos.
In Infinity War and other MCU movies, we learn about Thanos’ relationship with his daughters, Gamora and Nebula. However, we never learn anything about his son.
Thane is the secret Inhuman son of Thanos. One day, an Inhuman tribe came into contact with Thanos and his army. At the end of the confrontation, one of the members of the group came out pregnant with the Mad Titan’s son.
Sometime later, Thanos found out about this child and went in search of him. Disguising his mission as a galactic conquest, the Mad Titan sent his Black Order to different planets in search of children between the ages of 16 and 22.
Eventually, Thanos found the Inhuman tribe on Earth. During a battle with the Mad Titan, the Inhuman king detonated a Terrigen Bomb and unleashed Thane’s powers of Life and Death.
Ebony Maw eventually captures Thane. However, he told the child about Thanos’ intentions and released him to fight his father. Thane defeated Thanos and vowed to use his powers to fight for a greater good.
HERO: Wonder Woman, daughter of Zeus
Out of everyone on this list, Wonder Woman has the most impressive family tree. She comes from a strong line of gods and goddesses and was one of the world’s first superheroines.
Wonder Woman’s original story states that she was molded into life. Using clay from the shores of Paradise Island, Queen Hippolyta created the form of a baby girl – Wonder Woman.
Then, six gods and goddesses gave the clay life, and each gave the child a special gift. Demeter gave the child strength, Athena gave wisdom and courage, Aphrodite gave beauty and a caring heart, Artemis gave a hunter’s heart, Hestia gave sisterhood of fire, and Hermes gave speed and flight.
However, DC has recently changed Wonder Woman’s origin story. In the more popular version, Wonder Woman is the daughter of Amazonian Queen Hippolyta and Zeus, the almighty God and ruler of Mount Olympus.
This is the story that is ultimately used in the 2017 movie Wonder Woman, where she is also the half-brother of Ares, the God of War.
Because of her dad and her demi-goddess status, Wonder Woman has powers that rival some of the Old Gods.
She has superhuman strength, self-healing powers, super speed, extremely fast reflexes, and levitation. Specifically, because of her connection to Zeus, Wonder Woman also has slight powers over lightning.
VILLAIN: Ares, son of Zeus and Hera
Based off of Greek mythology, DC’s supervillain Ares is the son of Zeus, the king of the Gods, and his wife Hera, the Goddess of Marriage and Women.
However, despite his legendary family lineage, Ares never fit in with the rest of Mount Olympus’ gods.
Therefore, he created his own world known as Areopagus. Resting on a hill in both Athens and a dimension much like Mount Olympus, Areopagus was Ares’ home where he could rule and watch as man’s lust for war and carnage grew.
The son of Zeus became the God of War and dedicated his life to fulfilling his vision of destruction. He instigated the War of the Gods, wiping out many of the Old Gods and wounding his father.
Although he was ultimately defeated, Ares never stopped his plan to bring eternal war and conflict to the world of man.
The God of War despised the humans that Zeus created and started manipulating them and corrupting them with war, violence, and greed.
As the son of Zeus, Ares also has divine powers such as immortality, teleportation, flight, and magic. However, his powers are taken from the darkness. Therefore, Ares can summon darkness and control the deceased.
Wonder Woman, his half-sister, was raised to defeat Ares and therefore, he appears in the comics and the movie as one of her main villains.
HERO: Raven, daughter of Trigon
Some people say that the apple never falls too far from the tree, and this might be true for Raven. As a member of the Teen Titans, Raven devotes herself and her powers to save the world from evil.
However, as you probably know, Raven is extremely emo, gloomy, and dark. This might be because she can’t escape her genes.
Raven is the daughter of a human named Angela Roth and a demon overlord known as Emperor Trigon.
Hundreds of years ago, pacifists in the world of Azarath exorcised the dark passions of their souls from their physical bodies. This darkness was cast outside the Great Door of Azarath and floated in space until it became a physical form. The evil form eventually impregnated a woman and thus Trigon was born.
Trigon was worshiped as a god by the Church of Blood and used his power to destroy many planets. However, just like any powerful being, he wanted a child to take over his powers and reign. So, he found the perfect opportunity with Angela Roth.
Roth, a human on Earth, became infatuated with an occult circle. One day, they attempted to summon the devil and instead conjured Trigon. Trigon took Roth as his bride, and eventually, she gave birth to Raven.
Raven inherited her father’s abilities but was taught to control them by Azar, the spiritual leader of Azarath. Although Raven joined the Teen Titans and began to fight on the side of good, she constantly struggles with her dark emotions.
VILLAIN: Loki, adopted son of Odin
Loki is a confusing character who can’t ever figure out if he’s on the side of good or evil. However, this confusion might stem from his perplexing childhood.
Loki was born to Laufey, king of the frost giants, and Farbauti, the Frost Giant Queen. The Frost Giants are huge blue beings that pride themselves on their stature.
However, Loki was born unusually small and scrawny. This annoyed and embarrassed King Laufey, so he left the poor child abandoned and left to perish.
Lucky for Loki, he was found by Odin, the King of Asgard and God of Wisdom. Odin took Loki in as his own son and kept his adoption low-key.
Now, despite being adopted by a God and not born of pure-blood, this oddly doesn’t prevent Loki from becoming a god himself.
Loki truly lives the “rags to riches” mantra, becoming known as the God of Mischief, and quite frankly, living up to his name.
What started as harmless childish pranks turned into massive, deceitful plots of revenge, destruction, and power.
The God of Mischief has faked his own passing, paraded as Odin after placing him in a retirement home, attempted to take over Earth, and has constantly betrayed his adopted brother.
HERO: Thor, the real son of Odin
If you watched Avengers: Infinity War there’s absolutely no doubt in your mind that Thor is the son of a god. He completely dominated the movie and the Avengers were absolutely nothing without him.
Deriving from Norse mythology, Thor is the biological son of Odin – the All-Father and ruler of Asgard. Throughout history, Asgardians have been worshiped as gods and Odin came to be known as the God of Wisdom.
As the Asgardians' ruler, Odin wanted a child to eventually take over his throne. So, he wooed Gaea, the Earth goddess and Thor was born in a small cave in Norway.
Odin, who apparently loves taking children away, took Thor to Asgard so that he could live as an Asgardian under the supervision of Odin and his wife Frigga.
As the son of Odin, Thor was also a god – The God of Thunder. With his godlike abilities, Thor quickly became the fiercest warrior in Asgard.
In the comics, Odin sent eight-year-old Thor to Nidavellier, the land of the Dwarves to convince the dwarf lords to create three treasures. One of these trinkets was Mjolnir, Thor’s mighty hammer.
Although that isn’t the only version of Mjolnir’s origin, the hammer is always bestowed upon Thor and used as a conduit of his powers. Mjolnir gives its master the ability to control storms, fly, deflect energy blasts, and create force fields.
VILLAIN: Darkseid, son of Zonuz
As the biggest and baddest villain of the DC Universe, Darkseid has a dark and legendary past.
His father, Zonuz, was the last Old God and the first God of Evil. These Old Gods were immortal deities that used the prayers of mortals to maintain their power. However, mortals started to care about them less and Darkseid, then known as Uxas, sparked a war between the Gods.
As each of these Gods faded away, Uxas took their powers for himself, becoming smarter, faster, and stronger.
His dad Zonuz, came to reverse Uxas’ reign and used the Anti-Life to bring back the Old Gods.
However, Uxas defeated his dad and controlled the fallen Gods’ powers to become the New God, Darkseid. Darkseid destroyed what was left of his world, leaving only himself and his brother, Izaya.
Eventually, Darkseid created Apokolips, a planet-like city consumed by fire. Here, Darkseid ruled as its all mighty ruler and demanded devotion and fear from each of his subjects. His entire mission in life was to conquer the universe and eliminate all free will.
To do so, Darkseid worked to unravel the Anti-Life Equation, which would ultimately give him complete control over the emotions and thoughts of every living thing in the universe.
He believed most of the answers to this equation lay in the minds of humans, and therefore Darkseid constantly visited Earth, clashing with the Justice League.
HERO: Hellboy, son of Azzael
We've seen Hellboy in the comics and on the big screen. However, we can expect to see him again in a new movie on January 11, 2019.
Originally announced as Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, this movie will show the demon child fighting against a medieval sorceress determined to destroy mankind. However, just how did Hellboy become the powerful demon we know today?
Also known as Anung Un Rama, Hellboy is the son of a witch named Sarah Hughes and the demon, Azzael. Hughes was a consort of Azzael, and Azzael was a duke of Hell.
On October 5th, 1617, Hughes was on her deathbed in an English church. Azzael took Hughes' body to hell and burned her away so that their child could be born.
As soon as Anung un Rama was born, Azzael chopped off the baby’s right hand and replaced it with the “Right Hand of Doom”, the former hand of a greater spirit and the hand that was used to create the dragon Ogdru Jahad.
For this, Azzael secured his legacy but was reprimanded by the other princes of Hell. Prior to having his powers stripped and being imprisoned in ice, Azzael sent his son away.
Hundreds of years later, Hellboy was summoned during World War II by Rasputin. The Mad Monk, Rasputin was commissioned by the Nazis to fix the war in their favor. So, he conducted a ritual and brought Hellboy to Earth.
However, Hellboy was taken by the US military and raised to become a member of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.
VILLAIN: Lady Death, daughter of God
By now, you’ve met Thanos, the biggest and baddest villains of the Marvel universe. He is capable of decimating planets and the mere mention of his name strikes fear into any being. However, behind every great man is an even greater woman. In the comics, this woman is Lady Death.
Lady Death, also referred to as simply Death, was born at the same time as the creation of the universe. Whenever a universe is created, anthropomorphic beings are also introduced to embody elements of the new cosmic world.
At the start of Earth-616, Eternity was created to represent life and growth, and Death was born to represent its counterpart – decay and destruction.
God, the creator of Earth-616, has also said that he created Death so that his new universe of sentient life would be accepted by his contractors.
As a being of the universe and the personification of death, Lady Death has no real form. Although she mostly appears as a human or skeleton-like physical body, Lady Death can project herself as any form to suit her needs.
She first became interested in Thanos when he was young. She appeared to him as a young girl at his school and convinced him to overcome his fears and become the villain we know today.
However, despite Thanos’ advances and his destructive quest to prove his love, Lady Death constantly rejected him.
HERO: Mister Miracle, son of Highfather
Mister Miracle is the world’s greatest escape artist and his powers stem directly from his mighty family line.
Originally known as Scott Free, Mister Miracle was the son of the Highfather Izaya. Izaya is the brother of the villain that became known as Darkseid.
As the firstborn of the Old God Yuga Khan, Izaya was dragged into a war against the Gods and their allies by his brother. After destroying their old world, the two became New Gods, stealing powers from the Old Gods.
However, Izaya didn’t agree with Darkseid’s plans. Instead, he believed that the powers were gifts that could be used to save the universe.
He built the utopia of New Genesis directly over the ruins of their old home and became known as the Highfather. Izaya vowed to destroy his brother and free the universe from his devastation.
This led to a war between New Genesis and Darkseid’s world of Apokolips.
As part of a diplomatic move to end the war, Highfather decided to exchange one of his children for one of Darkseid’s. So, he gave up Scott Free and received his enemy’s son, Orion.
Scott Free ended up in the care of Granny Goodness, one of Darkseid’s minions that ran the training of Darkseid’s forces. Here, Free learned his ability to escape nearly impossible traps.
He eventually made his grand finale and escaped to Earth where he took up the name Mister Miracle and vowed to keep his innocence and hope for a better world.
VILLAIN: Satana, daughter of Satan
Much like her name suggests, Satana is the daughter of Satan. She and her brother Daimon were both half-human demons that were groomed by their father to be evil. Although Daimon rejected these teachings, Satana embraced them.
Satana and Daimon’s mother, Victoria Wingate, was a human and a secret pawn of the Chapel of Drasden – a demonic cult that served to create human-demon hybrids to take over the world. However, after seeing Satana perform a ritual sacrifice at the young age of six, Wingate was driven mad.
Daimon was placed in an orphanage and Satana was taken to her father’s hell dimension. There, she learned black magic under her father and the demon called Dansker. Satana also bonded with an evil spirit named Basilisk to further multiply her evil magical powers.
As a young adult, Satana was banished from her father’s world and sent to Earth to live as a succubus, draining the souls of men to survive. It is on Earth that Satana came into contact with Doctor Strange.
Eventually, the daughter of Satan returned to the underworld to take her place on the throne.
At that time, many people wanted to spend the afterlife in Hell and therefore, Satana tried to make her realm stand out by making Doctor Strange her world’s newest attraction.
HERO: Orion, son of Darkseid
Some people say that your destiny is not written in the stars and Orion is a perfect example of that. Despite being born to one of the most treacherous villains in the DC Universe, Orion is able to walk the line of good and become a superhero of the universe.
Orion’s dad, Darkseid was the son of the Zonuz, the last Old God. When Darkseid was younger, he destroyed his home realm and drained the powers of the fallen Old Gods to immortalize himself and his brother, Izaya.
With these powers, Darkseid created Apokolips, a new dark realm surrounded by fire and chaos, while Izaya created New Genesis, a world of hope.
The two constantly waged war against each other and in a desperate diplomatic move, Izaya traded his own son for Darkseid’s son as a promise of peace.
Therefore, Orion left Apokolips and was raised by Izaya, also known as the benevolent Highfather. The Highfather taught Orion to control his rage and anger and became one of the most powerful warriors of either world.
Orion dedicated his life to the ideals of New Genesis and served as a hero for the humans of Earth. He has even served two terms in the mighty Justice League.
VILLAIN: Kalibak, son of Darkseid
Although Orion turned out to be a superhero, not all of Darkseid’s sons were sent down the same path of enlightenment. In Kalibak’s case, he stuck on the road of darkness.
Kalibak is the son of the New God Darkseid and the Apokoliptian sorceress, Suli. Suli was the only person who Darkseid ever loved.
She had a calming affect on the god and made him question his devious plans to take over the universe. However, she was decimated by Desaad under the order of Kalibak’s grandmother, Queen Heggra.
This darkened Darkseid’s heart and ultimately ruined any chances of the God giving up on his plan of destruction and doom.
Kalibak became a fearsome warrior in Apokolips and became Darkseid’s second in command. He helped his father in his conquests and constantly battled their rival planet of New Genesis.
Here, Kalibak often fought his brother Orion. After going head-to-head multiple times, the two finally found out the truth about their childhood.
Orion was also the son of Darkseid, but he had been traded to New Genesis in a pact of peace.
After learning about his long-lost brother, Kalibak also started to see that Darkseid valued Orion over his first-born. This fueled Kalibak’s anger and intensified his mission of vengeance.
HERO: Hercules, son of Zeus
Most people know the story of Hercules. He was a prominent figure in Roman and Greek mythology, the hero in the animated Disney movie, and portrayed by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the 2014 live action movie.
However, some people might not know that Hercules also exists in both the DC and Marvel Universe.
In Marvel comics, Hercules was born as Alcaeus, the son of Zeus, the Olympian King, and Alcmena, a mortal woman from the House of Perseus.
Hercules was ultimately a symbol of Zeus’ infidelity and the God’s wife, Hera was jealous of his adultery. Therefore, Alcamena renamed the child Hercules, meaning “Glory of Hera.”
Hercules became a great warrior and powerful demi-god. Because of his Olympian physiology, he has superhuman speed, strength, stamina, and healing.
He is even more resistant to injury than any other Olympian God, besides Zeus. While in Greece, Hercules also learned expert hand-to-hand combat skills and archery.
In DC comics, Hercules was born a demi-god as the son of Zeus and an unnamed mortal woman. Although he became one of the greatest heroes in history, Hercules has also been an enemy of his half-sister, Wonder Woman.
He is referenced in the origins of the Amazons as a trickster who enslaved the women by tricking Hippolyta into giving him her golden girdle, which he obtained for the Amazonian’s mortal enemy, Ares.
VILLAIN: Phobos, son of Ares and Aphrodite
Phobos is one of the rotten apples on a family tree of legends. As the son of Ares, the God of War, and Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, Phobos’ genes have secured himself a place among the Gods of Olympus.
Based on Greek mythology, Phobos is the God of Fear and with his twin brother, Deimos, personifies fear that is brought on by war. Deimos specifically represents terror and dread, while Phobos symbolizes panic, flight, and rout.
Because of their nature and leniency towards chaos and destruction, the two twin brothers lived in the Underworld.
Here, they helped their treacherous daddy with his plans to bring war and conflict to the people of Earth. They also despise the Amazonians and associate them with being the only ones that can stop their father’s mission of war.
Therefore, Phobos and Wonder Woman tend to be on the opposite sides of a fight. The God of Fear is capable of using fear projection and intimidation to his advantage.
One time, he also molded a creature called Decay, much like how Wonder Woman herself was created. Decay was then sent to destroy Wonder Woman and make Ares proud.
Phobos and Deimos also have a sister named Eris. She is the Goddess of discord and strife and sometimes teams up with her brothers to support their father’s plans.
HERO: Wonder Girl, daughter of Zeus
Although there were multiple heroes using the name Wonder Girl, the third woman to hold the title was Cassie Sandsmark, the daughter of Dr. Helena Sandsmark and the Greek god Zeus.
Helena Sandsmark studied archeology at Harvard University. After her graduation, she went on several digs all over the world. However, one project in Greek changed her life forever.
Here, she made an important discovery and also met the man of her dreams. Later, she found out that his man was none other than the ruler of Mount Olympus, Zeus.
Although Zeus had left Helena, he left her with a gift – a little girl named Cassandra (Cassie) Sandsmark.
Later on in life, Helena once again struck gold and started working with Wonder Woman.
Cassie, who liked to spend time with her mother at work, met Wonder Woman and they instantly became friends. Cassie was eager to help the superhero and ultimately created a costume using magical artifacts to help Wonder Woman fight a Doomsday clone.
Learning more of her heritage, Cassie had the opportunity to ask Zeus for powers to help in the fight against evil. He granted her request but ultimately gave her mom the ability to deactivate them whenever she wanted.
VILLAIN: Hela, daughter of Odin or Loki
Throughout the MCU, we learn that Odin isn’t the greatest father to his children. He hid Loki’s adoption from him, banished Thor from Asgard, and constantly pitted the two against each other.
However, one of the worst acts Odin ever conducted was imprisoning his daughter and keeping her identity a secret.
Hela was the first child born to Odin, the Asgardian All-Father and the God of Wisdom. In Thor: Ragnarok, we learn that Hela once served as her father’s personal executioner, helping him to conquer the Nine Realms through war, violence, chaos, and destruction.
However, eventually, Odin had a change of heart. He realized violence and war wasn’t the way to go and that serving as a conduit of peace would eventually bring the Nine Realms together.
Hela didn’t agree with this change and eventually became too dangerous for the Asgardians. Therefore, Odin defeated her, banished her from Asgard, and imprisoned his only daughter.
Interestingly, Hela has a different origin story in the comics. Instead of being born to the God of Wisdom, she’s actually the daughter of the God of Mischief.
In the comics, Hela is the daughter of Loki and the sorceress giantess, Angrboda. She has even helped her father in devious schemes and is as dangerous as her brother, Fenris Wolf – the giant black wolf seen in Thor: Ragnarok.
On the day of her maturity, Hela’s grandfather, Odin appointed her the Goddess of Death and the ruler of the two underworlds – Hel and Niffleheim.
HERO: Lady Sif, daughter of the Nine Goddesses
Lady Sif is seen in the first two Thor movies as a fearless Asgardian warrior and trusted friend of Thor and the Warriors Three. However, the movies show very little about Lady Sif, her background, and her story.
Based on the Norse Goddess of the Grain, the MCU’s Lady Sif is a warrior goddess of the Vanir. The Vanir was once known as the Wise Gods of Old and was one of the tribes of gods that united to create the Asgardians.
Lady Sif, along with her brother Heimdall, is one of these Vanirs and is the daughter of the Nine Goddesses.
In Asgard, Lady Sif became known as the Asgardian Goddess of War. She proved herself a great warrior and has even been suspected of becoming the new Thor.
From her goddess heritage, Lady Sif has superhuman strength, speed, healing, and stamina. She also has a sword enchanted by Odin that allows her to create passages between dimensions, much like Heimdall in the Thor movies. However, she primarily only travels between Earth and Asgard.
Lady Sif was missing in Thor: Ragnarok simply because of scheduling issues. Jaimie Alexander, the actress that plays Sif, was shooting for Blindspot at the same time as the filming for Ragnarok.
However, Kevin Feige said that it’s a good thing she wasn’t in Ragnarok as that may mean she’s still alive.
So, could we see Lady Sif’s backstory play out in a future MCU movie?
VILLAIN: Black Adam, created by the Strength of Six Gods
In 2014, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson tweeted, “’Kneel at his feet or get crushed by his boot.’ My honor to become... #BlackAdam”.
Since 2008, rumors had been spreading about Johnson playing Black Adam and now the time has come.
Although Black Adam was originally supposed to appear in DC’s film Shazam on April 5th, 2019, it now seems like his first appearance will be in his own stand-alone movie or in Suicide Squad 2.
For those of you that don’t know, Black Adam is a villain and main antagonist for the hero, Captain Marvel. Adam grew up in Ancient Egypt around the year 1200 BC. He was known then as Teth-Adam of Jahndaq, and the son of Pharaoh Ramses II. He, however, gained his powers through a sorcerer named Shazam.
Shazam was the high priest to Ramses II. As he started aging, he realized he needed to find someone worthy enough of taking over his powers.
Shazam was impressed by Ramses and his moralistic and decent vision and therefore decided to pass on his powers to him.
However, before the power transfer, Shazam’s daughter made a secret deal with the god Set. This deal stated that when Shazam transferred his powers to Adam, he would actually transfer the power of six Ancient Egyptian gods – Shu, Heru, Amon, Zehuti, Aton, and Mehen.
HERO: Star-Lord, son of Ego
“Star-Lord is the worst hero in Infinity War”, “Fans are upset with Peter Quill”, “Star-Lord did not help the Avengers” – these were the headlines of many articles after the release of Avengers: Infinity War.
If you’ve seen the movie, you may agree with some of these statements. Out of all the heroes in the fight against Thanos, Peter Quill pulled the least amount of weight.
He had no powers and was simply in the movie for comedic relief. This is surprising though since Star-Lord is the son of a celestial being.
Peter Quill was born in Missouri to human, Meredith Quill. As a child, Quill never knew who his father was. When the other kids asked him, he simply said his dad was David Hasselhoff who could never be around because of his busy career.
However, Quill’s mother was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer when he was just eight years old. Immediately after her passing, Quill was abducted by the Ravagers and taken under Yondu’s wing. Although Yondu knew the identity of Quill’s father, he kept it a secret to protect the child.
Eventually though, Peter was reunited with his father, Ego. Quill learned more about his father and the two of them made up for all the years they were apart.
However, as a celestial being with godly powers, Ego wanted to use Quill’s powers to conquer the universe. After Ego revealed that he infected Quill’s mother with her life-ending tumor, Quill had no choice but to defeat his dad.
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Did we miss any superheroes or villains with gods for parents? Let us know in the comments!