History Main / GlorifiedSpermDonor

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[[caption-width-right:350:When Goten was born and during most of his childhood.]]

* A Glorified Egg Donor GenderFlip of this trope in ''Film/TheChamp'', wherein Andy's ex-wife swoops in and wants to take their son Dink away, years after she divorced Andy and left them both for a rich new husband.
* Another Glorified Egg Donor in ''Film/TokyoTwilight'', in which mother Kisako tries to reinsert herself in her daughters' lives after abandoning them 20-odd years ago when they were small children. Younger daughter Akiko doesn't even remember her; older daughter Takako tells her mother to bug off.
* In ''Film/MoscowDoesNotBelieveInTears'', Katya's lover Rudolf dumps her when he finds out she's pregnant. Twenty years later he runs into her again and insists on meeting his daughter, much to Katya's displeasure.
* In ''Film/SupermanReturns'', Superman fills this role. He ditched Lois for five years without giving an explanation to anyone. He seems to have had no idea (until the end of the movie) that he had even gotten her pregnant.
* Used in ''Film/MammaMia'' with a generous dose of LampshadeHanging. No one else on the island thinks the heroine's desire to find her GlorifiedSpermDonor makes a whole lot of sense, and she even realizes this herself at the end of the movie.
** All three dads decide they're willing to be her dad at the end, too. One-third of a kid isn't bad...
* {{Deconstructed}} in ''Film/TheKidsAreAllRight'', which takes a serious look at the ethical ramifications of this trope. Paul's apparent status as an instant parent comes off as insulting to Nic, as she and Jules were the ones who actually raised the kids. At the same time, the kids' desire to know their bio-daddy is shown as nuanced and reasonable--he is, after all, the only biological connection between them.

** This story is remade as the American film ''Film/DeliveryMan'' featuring Vince Vaughn as the protagonist sperm donor.

* In ''Film/AboutScout'', Scout tells her father Ray that the only fatherly thing he ever did was knock up her mom. Which doesn't stop him from getting custody of Scout's little sister Lulu after she almost overdoses on Gram's medication.
* In ''Film/DangerDiva'', Stanley doesn't ''want'' to have a kid but has no choice since he wants to stay alive, so Devi is artificially inseminated with his sperm and left to deal with it on her own. [[spoiler:Except not; when they tried she was already pregnant with Scattering's child.]]

* Hotdog in ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'', after he's {{retcon}}ned as Nicky's father.

* ''Series/{{ER}}'' does it with Sam's son Alex. Just as Luka (Sam's boyfriend) has become a suitable role model and father figure, his felon birth-father Steve appears for the first of several times, causing a lot of conflict. The long plot has its ups and downs including Alex visiting his dad in prison and ending dramatically with Steve abducting Alex and Sam, raping the latter and being shot by her.

* Averted on ''Series/{{Friends}}'', where Phoebe's dad eventually comes back eighteen years after abandoning her and her mother, only to find Phoebe quite pissed at him. Eventually she warms up to him, but it doesn't come even close to "glorified".
* ''Series/{{Glee}}'':
** Subverted, though in this case it's an egg donor. Rachel eventually does learn that Shelby Corcoran is her biological mother, but she can't see her as a mother figure, and Shelby simply isn't fit to be a parent. Rachel keeps living with her [[HasTwoMommies dads]] and doesn't see Shelby again.
** Quinn treats Puck as this for most of the first season, deciding that Finn (who thinks the child is his) will be her baby's real dad (that is until the truth comes out and he dumps her for cheating, lying, and manipulating him).
* Inverted on ''Series/{{Community}}''. Jeff finally finds his father in season four, and William puts himself on the pedestal by attributing Jeff's self-reliance and independence to him leaving. Jeff tells him to go to hell.

* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': In "The Salt In the Wounds", Booth and Brennan uncover a murder connected with a group of teenage girls who formed a "pregnancy pact"; the girls agreed to get pregnant and raise their respective children together without the aid of the fathers. Brennan found this an acceptable solution. Booth, not so much.
* Rebecca on ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'' is a RareFemaleExample in that she donates an egg when Darryl decides that he wants another baby. She doesn't want to be involved in the child's life and doesn't even carry the baby since Heather volunteers to act as a surrogate. Later explored -- she decided to be the egg donor during a dark time in her life and associates the baby with that, and is worried that her own issues might manifest in the child. In "I Can Work With You" she babysits the kid and becomes more willing to be involved.

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': Rossi finds out he has an adult daughter, Joy, conceived at the end of his second marriage, who his ex-wife never told him existed. Joy herself didn't know her stepfather wasn't her biological father until he was on his deathbed. Shortly after, she's calling Rossi "Dad" and using his last name professionally since she didn't get to be Joy Rossi growing up. Granted, Rossi had literally no idea she existed, and he started making an effort immediately after getting over the initial shock, but it's still jarring that a grown woman who by all accounts ''had'' a father is so quick to replace him.

* Averted twice, first by the father, then by the son on ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice''. Superman is not at all happy that someone cloned him, and refuses to claim responsibility for Superboy. If you keep up on the comics, you know that [[spoiler: Superboy has two fathers, and the other is Lex Luthor]]. And when he shows up, he clearly wants to instigate this kind of relationship with Superboy ([[ManipulativeBastard for his own ends, as you'd expect]]) and Superboy turns him down flat. [[spoiler: The trope is later played straight to a point when Superman accepts Superboy as a little brother, a relationship both of them are okay with after their initial awkwardness.]]
** Subverted by [[spoiler:Black Manta]] and Aqualad. Aqualad appears to have this relationship with him, even though he did nothing (worse, he's attacked and tried to kill Aqualad in the past) to have that respect. However, it's made clear in "Depths" that Aqualad is only using him to get closer to [[BigBad The Light]], and refers to him quite coldly as "my ''biological'' father", showing that the attachment is fake. Also played with in that [[spoiler:Manta's]] attachment to him seems to be genuine given the distress he shows when [[spoiler:Kaldur gets {{mind rape}}d into catatonia by Miss Martian]] and Kaldur himself [[spoiler:shows regret when he drops the act and takes his father down near the end of the season]].

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' with Sludge, who claims to be Spike's father, but is not.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}''. Sterling Archer was in a coma for a good chunk of his daughter A.J.'s life. Played for laughs when he finally meets her after waking up and she tells him that her mother Lana once called him a "sperm delivery device".

* Subverted in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic with Sludge, who claims to be Spike's father, but is not.
* The titular character's father in'' Troll Hunter'' abandoned him the day before his fifth birthday. He is referenced only once or twice in the show and its subsequent spin offs and is portrayed as a dead beat. It was implied that he left his family for another woman. An inversion of the original story in which it was Jim's mother who walked out on her family. While his father raised Jim as a lone parent.

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* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' when it is revealed that Barney Gumble is the sole donor to Springfield's sperm bank, resulting in a lot of burping babies.
** Also subverted in another episode, where it is revealed that Homer donated to an out-of-town sperm bank and that many of the customers had Homer-esque babies.

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[[TheTalk In order to create a baby, a man and a woman need to have sex.]] [[note]] Barring artificial insemination, {{cloning|Blues}}, or the odd MysticalPregnancy. [[/note]] Strictly speaking for the man this is an act of minimal investment since he can (and sometimes does) ditch the woman and leave her holding the bag (or baby, if you will). Unless she gets an abortion ([[GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion which she only very rarely does]]) or puts the baby up for adoption, she either has to raise the child alone or with the help of a stepfather.

* Implied in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''. In a FullEpisodeFlashback, we see that Greg's manager, Marty, had a fling with Vidalia and a year later she was the single mom to a baby boy. The episode "Drop Beat Dad" confirms that Marty is Sour Cream's father, but implies that he only saw him occasionally growing up.

Nate Hunter from ''Literature/YouLookDifferentInRealLife'' is the product of a TeenPregnancy by a guy who left town before he was born. He knows his father only from old photographs.

* Literature/HarryDresden was this to his daughter for the first eight years of her life, albeit [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou through no fault of his own]], since his on-again-off-again lover [[HotScoop Susan Rodriguez]] didn't bother to tell him the girl existed until she got kidnapped by some of Harry's numerous enemies. Harry was ''not'' happy with her mother about this.

* Poor Matthew Roberts, the man who made headlines when he found out his biological father ''might'' be UsefulNotes/CharlesManson (not only that but according to his mother, he was [[ChildByRape conceived by rape]]). When Manson found out, he sent him a letter saying "I didn't know my father either" which all things considered [[FalseReassurance is not particularly comforting]]...

** [[DoubleStandard Mothers, however, are allowed to walk out of their child's life entirely and have zero reaponsibility for them simply by giving them up for adoption.]]
** Fathers only have to pay child support in the event of a divorce and only if they don't have custody that's the least a parent can do and if the woman doesn't win she also has to pay child support. adoption has nothing to do with this and this is painting adoption in a negative light even though it might be the responsible decision and men can put children up for adoption too and there is no stigma but leaving a woman you impregnated without any help is one of the worst things you can doo being a single parent is difficult

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* [[ComicBook/TheScarecrow Jonathan Crane's]] father is one in ''Year One: Batman/Scarecrow'' since he was conceived in a TeenPregnancy, and he finally tracks down and meets his father...[[{{Patricide}} to kill him]]. Sadly things are not that better for him in the New 52 and ''Series/{{Gotham}}'' continuities where he is actually raised by his father (poor [[{{Pun}} bastard]], can't catch a break).

* Some portrayals of the [[Characters/ClassicalMythology Hercules]] myth show Zeus as being distinctly hands-off, allowing other Gods to harass Hercules at will. Admittedly, Zeus' parenthood here is glorified for good reason, since his parentage is what makes Hercules a Greek SuperHero. In fact, more often than not in Greek Mythology, the spawn of the gods get some kind of nifty powers which at least make the being dumped off by your parents pill a little easier to swallow. Zeus and ancient patriarch and/or warrior gods in general have a habit of leaving little bundles of Demi-joy all over the mortal landscape and then doing bupkis about them. And while other Greek gods didn't see their children picked on as much as Zeus', their children typically didn't see much of the divine parent, either. Which might've done them a favor, since Hera often [[WomanScorned actively hounded]] the (often unwilling!) mothers and children, with other gods sometimes having to step in to try and save them.

SubTrope of ChosenConceptionPartner. Related to NoFathersAllowed. Compare DisappearedDad, which usually involves fathers who stuck around slightly longer after doing the deed. Contrast FirstFatherWins.