History Main / OedipusComplex

** Sanji plays this mostly straight, [[spoiler: he actively [[ArchNemesisDad despises]] his father Judge while his beloved mother Sora [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl defined his whole life]] and coincidentally all Sanji's [[LoveInterests love interests]] in some way resemble Sora or have a similar personality. It is particularly evident in retrospect when [[TheChick Nami]] becomes [[IllGirl sick like Sora]] and Sanji explains to the crew that he can't just nurse Nami back to health with cooking... since Sanji tried that with his mother and it [[MissingMom didn't]] work]].

** ComicBook/IronMan ''got this trope twice'' over as while Howard Stark frequently put Tony down, Maria loved him unconditionally and protected him from Howard’s drunken mood swings. [[spoiler: Then it’s revealed Howard and Maria were just Tony’s adoptive parents and his real father Jude was a evil ComicBook/{{HYDRA}} agent, but Tony’s mom Amanda is a good SHIELD who again loves Tony unconditionally]].
** ComicBook/{{Hulk}}’s is of course [[CentralTheme is in same boat as Cap and Tony]]. Hulk’s father Brian was an utter asshole who frequently abused his son while Rebecca adored Bruce which only made Brian a JealousParent. When Rebecca tried to escape with Bruce, Brian killed his wife [[HarmfulToMinors in front of little Bruce]] which awakened Hulk deep inside him. Maternal themes later in Hulk’s life with Betty Ross doting over Bruce and her father GeneralRipper Ross antagonising Bruce are likely intentional.

** For all his flaws [[EvilTwin Vergil]] had the most appropriate reaction to a hot clone of his mother in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3''

* “Holding Back the Years” by Simply Red, in which he uses [[GratuitousLatin the Latin terms for “father” and “mother”]] to [[PainfulRhyme make the rhyme work]]:

[[Rule63 On the other side]], where the conflict is between mother and daughter, it is also named after one of Sophecles' tragedies, ''[[Theatre/{{Electra}} Ἠλέκτρα, ("Ēlektra")]]''. Here the trope is PlayedStraight as Electra was [[SelfMadeOrphan quite vengeful]] after her father Agamemnon was murdered by her mother Clytemnestra. Also, see "[[OffingTheOffspring Laius Complex]]".

''Theatre/OedipusTheKing''--the Greek Tragedy dramatized in BC 429 by Creator/{{Sophocles}}--is the TropeNamer, and UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud is the TropeCodifier. Oedipus, however, is [[ThisIndexIsNotAnExample not an example of the trope]] because Oedipus ''never'' knew who his mother and father were until it was too late. Oedipus is '''not''' someone who secretly wants to kill his father and sleep with his mother--he's a man who ''desperately doesn't want to do either'', but ends up doing so anyways because YouCantFightFate.

* Eugene O'Neill's ''Mourning Becomes Electra'' adapts a classic Greek tragic trilogy, Theatre/{{the Orestia}}, relocating it to New England after the end of the Civil War. Incestuous undertones are a major motivation of the murderous actions of the characters--at the least, both of the children display unhealthy obsession with the parent of the opposite gender, and deep-seated dislike of the parent of the same gender.

* Eugene O'Neill's ''Mourning Becomes Electra'' adapts a classic Greek tragic trilogy, the Orestia, relocating it to New England after the end of the Civil War. Incestuous undertones are a major motivation of the murderous actions of the characters--at the least, both of the children display unhealthy obsession with the parent of the opposite gender, and deep-seated dislike of the parent of the same gender.

''Theatre/OedipusTheKing''--the Greek Tragedy dramatized in BC 429 by Creator/{{Sophocles}}--is the TropeNamer, and UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud is the TropeCodifier. Oedipus, however, is '''not''' an example of the trope because Oedipus ''never'' knew who his mother and father were until it was too late. Oedipus is '''not''' someone who secretly wants to kill his father and sleep with his mother--he's a man who ''desperately doesn't want to do either'', but ends up doing so anyways because YouCantFightFate.

->'''Melisandre''': I am reminded of a red priest in Asshai, who had an… interesting… theory about men and their mothers.\\

The Oedipal archetype deals with any conflict between father and son, particularly where the son must supplant the patriarch or must extricate himself from his father's shadow and find his own place in the world. Much of the time this presents as the son's aim of removing his father to further himself in the eyes of his mother--not necessarily, by maybe, into her bed. This archetype shares some themes with both the MessianicArchetype (rebirth and renewal) and TheTrickster (out with the old, in with the new).

-->-- '''Cesare''', ''Series/Borgia'', [[Recap/BorgiaS1E12TheSerpentRises "The Serpent Rises"]]

->''"Father--'Yes, son?'--I want to kill you.\\
Mother, I want to... '''fuck you!!!'''"''
-->-- Music/TheDoors, "The End"

The Oedipal archetype deals with any conflict between father and son, particularly where the son must supplant the patriarch or must extricate himself from his father's shadow and find his own place in the world.

Much of the time this presents as the son's aim of removing his father to further himself in the eyes of his mother, not necessarily into her bed. This archetype shares some themes with both the MessianicArchetype (rebirth and renewal) and TheTrickster (out with the old, in with the new).

The female equivalent, of wanting to kill the mother and sleep with the father, was called the "Electra complex" by Carl Jung, but this term was rejected by Freud, saying that "Oedipus complex" sufficed for both men and women[[note]]a bit HilariousInHindsight since most modern Freudian apologists claim girls ''also'' want to supplant their fathers. Freud was generally critical of what he felt was Carl Jung's facile separation of male and female traits when according to him both men and women have masculine and feminine traits[[/note]]. This makes sense, since the character of Electra in the plays of both [[Theatre/{{Electra}} Sophocles]] (who wrote ''Theatre/OedipusTheKing'') and Euripides saw her more in filial love and deep mourning for her father and in need of some good revenge against her murderous mother. [[Theatre/TheOresteia The story of this family]] is another trope altogether, anyway.

''Theatre/OedipusTheKing'', the Greek Tragedy dramatized in BC 429 by Creator/{{Sophocles}}, is the TropeNamer, and UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud is the TropeCodifier. Oedipus, however, is '''not''' an example of the trope because Oedipus ''never'' knew who his mother and father were until it was too late. ''The'' Oedipus is '''not''' someone who secretly wants to kill his father and sleep with his mother--he's a man who desperately doesn't want to, but ends up doing so anyways because YouCantFightFate.

* ''Series/{{Borgia}}'' is plenty incestous, but Cesare's Oedipus complex toward Rodrigo isn't.

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'': Andrei Smirnov utterly loathes his father, Sergei, who he blames for the death of his mother Holly. [[spoiler: For worse, thanks to a misunderstading he believes Sergei to be a traitor, and ends up killing him in battle. When he's told by his adoptive sister Marie how wrong he was, he's ''deeply'' shaken.]]

** Hell you could argue Sarada has a Electra Complex given she antagonises her mother Sakura to point where she didn’t believe Sakura actually gave birth to her and yearns for her absent father Sasuke. Bonus points as Sarada latches on to Naruto as a [[ParentalSubstitute father substitute]] and is attracted to his son Boruto who has similar personality to her father Sasuke.

* One of '''many''' interpretations of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', and interviews with Creator/HideakiAnno [[WordOfGod suggest that he was actually aiming for this]], since Shinji has a [[WellDoneSonGuy love]]-hate relationship with his [[AbusiveParents father]] and motherhood is a central theme of the series. [[spoiler: And most importantly, one of Shinji's love interest [[EmotionlessGirl Rei]] turns out to be clone of [[ParentalIncest his mother]] and her soul (or at least part of it) is part of his EVA Unit]]. In the manga, Gendou also turns out to have harbored feelings of jealousy towards Shinji for "stealing" Yui away from him. This is even lampshaded in Shinji's ({{Blooper Reel}}s only) [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments rant]]:
-->And what's an [[HumongousMecha Eva]]? Is that like, a [[LampshadeHanging Freudian]] thing?

*** The obsession has gone far enough that in a more recent appearance, Ultron made himself into a ''herself'',using [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]'s body/armor in order to form a biomechanical clone body of Janet.

** OedipusComplex seems run hard in [[InTheBlood the Skywalker line]]; just take a look at Anakin's IdenticalGrandson Ben Solo aka Kylo Ren, who definitely has a case. Despite his contempt for and murder of his father, Kylo ultimately can't bring himself to do the same to his mother. He also fixates on Rey, who bears a strong resemblance to his mother, [[spoiler: and kills his ''other'' father figure, Snoke, to save her life.]]

** Future Trunks plays this straighter than Gohan since thanks to TimeTravel he runs into the same problem as [[Film/BackToTheFuture Marty Mcfly]] did when he meets his attractive younger mother Bulma. She even winks at Trunks when she meets him ands acts flirtatious around him leading to Trunks getting a LuminescentBlush. Trunks even starts to antagonize Vegeta for neglecting Bulma ([[MyFutureSelfandMe and himself]]).

** While not as extreme in regards to this trope as Joseph, Jotaro in ''Stardust Crusaders'' dislikes his father and his entire motivation for stopping DIO is because his mother Holly was [[IllGirl dying]] because of DIO's actions. Bonus points the reasons for Jotaro’s delinquency are attributed to his DisappearedDad whom he actively dislikes.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' bleeds Oedipal subtext, no shortness of thanks to Dante's hot blonde love interest Trish who ''looks exactly'' like his hot blonde mother Eva albeit extremely sexualised. It also doesn't help that Dante [[MommasBoy prefers Eva]] over his father Sparda and shuns his demon-side in general. Creator/HidekiKamiya seeing this trope in effect, has tried counter claims of Oedipus by [[WordOfGod saying]] the relationship between Dante and Trish isn't romantic or sexual in nature. Unfortunately this message didn't spread across the all titles as in ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe'' Dante and Trish are clearly shown dating.

* ''Franchise/OnePiece'', some characters have shades of this trope.

** Domflamingo is more a {{Squick}} version, since like Oedipus [[spoiler: he [[{{Patricide}} kills]] his father Homing and in Doffy's case it was directly because Homing caused the events ([[RichestoRags losing their nobility]]) that led to [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Doffy's mother]] dying of [[IllGirl illness]]. Plus Oda [[WordOfGod reveals]] Domflamingo had relationship with Viola who was ex-royal just like his mother]].
** Sanji plays this mostly straight, [[spoiler: he actively [[ArchNemesisDad despises]] his father Judge while his beloved mother Sora defined his whole life and coincidentally all Sanji's [[LoveInterests love interests]] in some way resemble Sora or have a similar personality. It particularly becomes evident in some retrospect when [[TheChick Nami]] becomes [[IllGirl sick]] like Sora and Sanji explains to crew that he can't nurse Nami back to health with cooking... since Sanji tried that with his mother and it [[MissingMom didn't]] work]].

* Guts from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' almost averted this trope as he actually did care and want the [[WellDoneSonGuy approval]] of his adoptive father Gambino... [[AbusiveParents who treated him like shit]], while his adoptive mother Shisu treated him with genuine love. Moreover Guts actually [[{{Patricide}} kills Gambino]] (in self defense) and later after The Eclipse Guts's LoveInterest Casca has a [[https://i.redd.it/bk3zefy6s9101.jpg striking resemblance]] to Shisu. So yeah it's played straight-tish

** Future Trunks plays this straighter than Gohan since thanks to TimeTravel he runs into the same problem as [[Film/BackToTheFuture Marty Mcfly]] did when he meets his attractive younger mother Bulma... who winks at Trunks initially acting flirtatious around him leading to Trunks getting a LuminescentBlush. Trunks even starts to antagonize Vegeta for neglecting Bulma ([[MyFutureSelfandMe and himself]]).

** ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' adds the titular character to this as Broly has [[AbusiveParents abusive]] controlling relationships with his father Paragus while he has ShipTease with Sheelai who literally feeds him like a mother at one point. Though part of this that’s left out is the {{Patricide}}... which Broly did in his original movie.

* In the war drama ''Film/{{Conspiracy}}'', Dr. Kritzinger relates a story to Reinhard Heydrich about an old friend of Kritzinger who hated his abusive father but loved his doting mother. To the friend's surprise his mother's death didn't affect him all that much, but his father's death made him cry uncontrollably. The tragedy was that the son's hatred for his father became more important to him than his mother's love, turning him into an empty shell after the man's death.

''Theatre/OedipusTheKing'', the Greek Tragedy dramatized in BC 429 by Creator/{{Sophocles}}, is the TropeNamer, and UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud is the TropeCodifier. Oedipus, however, is '''not''' an example of the trope because Oedipus ''never'' knew who his mother and father were until it was too late. The Oedipus is '''not''' someone secretly wants to kill his father and sleep with his mother--he's a man who desperately doesn't want to, but ends up doing so anyways because YouCantFightFate.

** If we're talking about Oedipus Complex in the [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]] then we can add Peter Quill from ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' to the pot. As in the [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 sequel]] [[spoiler: we learns his father Ego killed his mother Meredith by putting a tumor in her brain... and Peter doesn't waste a second blowing Ego's human body away and then [[{{Patricide}} destroying]] him utterly. Plus the parallels with Quill's LoveInterest Gamora and his mother Meredith are [[https://youtu.be/Snj69r6ZWV0?t=51 exhibited]] in the FinalBattle of the first Guardians movie]].

** Ace of all people plays this trope fairly straight [[spoiler: thanks to Gold Roger being his father, Ace considered his whole life screwed as result and cursed Roger's name. Ace's mother Rogue on the other hand Ace had nothing bad to say about and he proudly takes her surname [[note]]though taking Roger's name would've been [[TheMostWanted death sentence]] in any case [[/note]] not to mention Ace gets a LuminescentBlush [[LikesOlderWomen around]] Makino]].
** Domflamingo is more {{Squick}} version, since like Oedipus [[spoiler: he [[{{Patricide}} kills]] his father Homing and in Doffy's case it was directly because Homing caused the events ([[RichestoRags losing their nobility]]) that led to [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Doffy's mother]] dying of [[IllGirl illness]]. Plus Oda [[WordOfGod reveals]] Domflamingo had relationship with Viola who was ex-royal just like his mother]].
** Sanji plays this mostly straight, [[spoiler: he actively [[ArchNemesisDad despises]] his father Judge while his beloved mother Sora defined his whole life and coincidentally all Sanji's LoveInterests(s) in some way resemble Sora or have a similar personality. It particularly becomes evident in some retrospect when [[TheChick Nami]] becomes [[IllGirl sick]] like Sora and Sanji explains to crew that he can't nurse Nami back to health with cooking... since Sanji tried that with his mother and it [[MissingMom didn't]] work]].

* ''Series/{{Merlin}}''--Arthur in "Sins of the Father" borders on this. He meets a (young and beautiful) ghost of his mother, who tells him that his father is to blame for her death. So he tries to kill Uther.

* “Holding Back the Years” by Simply Red, in which he uses [[AltumVidetur the Latin terms for “father” and “mother”]] to [[PainfulRhyme make the rhyme work]]:

Much of the time this presents as the son's aim of removing his father to further himself in the eyes of his mother, not necessarily into her bed. This archetype shares some themes with both the MessianicArchetype (rebirth and renewal) and {{Tricksters}} (out with the old, in with the new).

*** ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' if anything makes this trope more apparent for Trunks since it makes Mai his LoveInterest, a woman 40 years [[LikesOlderWomen older than him]].

* Guts from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' almost averted this trope as he actually did care and want the [[WellDoneSonGuy approval]] of his adoptive father Gambino... [[AbusiveParents who treated him like shit]], while his adoptive mother Shisu treated him genuine love. Moreover Guts actually [[{{Patricide}} kills Gambino]] (in self defense) and later after The Eclipse Guts's LoveInterest Casca has a [[https://i.redd.it/bk3zefy6s9101.jpg striking resemblance]] to Shisu. So yeah it's played straight-tish

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' is no stranger to some Oedipus thanks to high amount of MommasBoy(s).

** Future Trunks plays this straighter than Gohan since thanks to TimeTravel he runs into the same problem as [[Film/BackToTheFuture Marty Mcfly]] did when he meets his attractive younger mother Bulma... who winks at Trunks initially acts flirtatious around him leading Trunks getting a LuminescentBlush. Trunks even starts to antagonize Vegeta for neglecting Bulma ([[MyFutureSelfandMe and himself]]).

** While not as extreme in regards to this trope as Joseph, Jotaro in ''Stardust Crusaders'' dislikes his father and his entire motivation for stopping DIO is because his mother Holly was [[IllGirl dying]] because of DIO's actions.

* The manga ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'':

** No mention of Falkner and Janine? Those kids have got some very apparent daddy issues, not only in the games (in which they're the new gym leaders to their respective gym, overshadowed by their fathers, who were the previous gym leaders), but also in the manga (same issue as above, but [[DisappearedDad both fathers are currently missing]], which adds frustration to both of them at one point in the manga). A call from Janine on the Pokegear in [=HGSS=] even lampshades this:

* Thailog of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' is an EvilTwin of Goliath, cloned by Doctor Sevarius and trained by Xanatos; his goal in life is to upstage all three fathers (or at least Goliath and Xanatos, Sevarius not so much). Taken to unsettling extremes concerning the women in Goliath's clan, as he has seduced Goliath's ex-mate Demona and made a pass at his daughter. At one point, he cloned Evil Twins of the rest of the clan, and while he was at it he cloned a concubine, Delilah, for himself, made from a combination of DNA from both Goliath's previous and current love interests. ''Creepy…''
** The latter was one of Thailog's major KickTheDog moments, since Demona had no idea he would create Delilah (she was involved with the cloning of the others), and he more or less stated outright that Delilah was her ''replacement''.