In honor of Father’s Day, I’ve compiled here a list of 10 fathers from the world of nerd-dom and why they were great. Maybe not great fathers, but great in comics, films and TV anyhow.

10) Abe Simpson – Number 10 on the list is good old Abe Simpson. Some might wonder, “Why not Homer?” I’ll tell you why not, Abe is funnier. To me anyway. You got a problem with that?

9) Dr. Christian Shepherd – Jack’s Dad on Lost is a lynchpin of the series. His role has changed a lot on the series (exactly what the hell he’s doing now on the show is one of the big mysteries left) and it always stays interesting and connects with an ever widening web of characters.

8 ) Dr. Henry Jones, Sr. – Henry Jones begat the worlds most famous archaeologist and adventurer and all around bad-ass, Indiana Jones. And his adventures with his son in The Last Crusade proved how much of a bad-ass a doddering old school professor could be.

7) Odin -How could we leave the all-father off the list?

6) Captain James T. Kirk – People forget about Star Trek a lot. I know I do, but who could forget the Wrath of Kahn? Klingon’s kill Kirks son with the Genesis device and he’s forever seeking revenge on them and is ever distrustful of their entire race. Kirks paternal grief would define his character for all of the later missions and cause a distinct racist hatred for Klingons that would take quite a bit to overcome.

5) Batman – Read “A Death in the Family” and you’ll have no doubts that Batman deserves to be on this list.

4) Jonathan Kent – There’s no doubt that Superman wouldn’t be what he was today if it weren’t for the indelible influence of a man like Jonathan Kent (read Mark Millar’s “Superman: Red Son” for definitive proof of that). My favorite version of him is Glenn Ford in the Superman movie. He didn’t have a whole lot of screen time, but what little screen time he had was dripping with all the paternal hallmarks that would make Superman Superman.

3) Omni-Man – If you haven’t been reading Invincible, then you need to, if for no better reason than to see how bad-ass Omni-Man is. As a viltrumite tasked with taking over the Earth, Omni-Man realizes that there’s more to being powerful than domination and his family becomes important. Only coming to that realization after he massacred his worlds version of the Justice League, though. The fight he has with his son after this treachery is legendary and you should pick up the first hardback of Invincible and check it out immediately.

2) Norman Osborne – In every iteration of this character, the guy is just as crazy as a bedbug, but that’s why we love him. The best father moment in movies or comics for Osborne? Ultimate Spider-man. When we accidentally pummeled Harry to death and then allowed agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to kill him, knowing that as crazy as he was, he’d never be able to live with the death of his own son hanging on his shoulders.

1) Darth Vader – I don’t care who you are, you have to admit that the most bad-ass, iconic father in the galaxy is Darth Vader. And no one in comics, film or TV has ever been able to reveal the fact that he’s your father with as much impact on the pop culture or his children than the Vader did. And no one ever went to the lengths to try to protect his children that Anakin did, going so far as to slaughter hundreds of Jedi in a hamfisted attempt to save Padme’s life.

If anyone has anything to add do it below. If you feel someone on the list shouldn’t be, let me know that, too.

Check out my Mother’s day list here.