We've all seen them. Those recurring themes that keep popping up throughout a movie or show. In the movie Thor: Ragnarok it was that line "It's what heroes do." In Harry Potter, it's courage and love. In the Hunger Games, it's loss, suffering, and strength to survive. In Arrowverse, it is daddy issues.

It seems as though nearly every character in the Arrowverse has some kind of daddy issues.

Arrow: Oliver watches his father kill himself in order to ensure Oliver's survival. Sara is afraid to reconnect with her father in the early seasons of Arrow. And in later seasons, she is shown (briefly) mourning Quentin's death.

Flash: Barry struggles for eleven plus years with the fact that his father was wrongfully put in prison. Later her mourns, as Henry is killed by Zoom. Wally shows some angsty teenage attitude towards Joe at first, having resented him for not being around more. Lisa and Leonard Snart grew up in an abusive household with their father Lewis.

Supergirl: Kara's main focus seems to be on the maternal side of her family, but she still loses her father at such a young age during the fall of Krypton. Also, she and Alex have issues with Jeremiah, as he goes missing when the girls are still very young. Then, later he gives his life for them. J'onn also has daddy issues, having thought his father died in the war on Mars. He later discovers he's alive, only to immediately lose him again. Winn has issues with his own father, being bitter about the Toy Man's evil tendencies.

Legends of Tomorrow: It's revealed in this show that Mick Rory also has some issues with his daddy. We see Dick and Mick interact in that Vietnam episode. Dick appears to be a stand-up guy then, but apparently, the war screws with his head because according to Mick he's a horrible father. There's also that little detail of Mick burning down his childhood home and killing both his parents...
It's stated that Martin Stein also has a rough childhood with a very pushy father, who wants him to become a rabbi and disapproves of his love for science.
Jax has never met his father (except for that one Pilgrim episode) since he died when he was just an infant.
Nate has a distant father, who was never quite able to connect with his son since his own father had been absent from his life.

Some might say this is well executed, and in some ways, I'm inclined to agree. For a while, it keeps viewers on their toes, as people tend to respond greatly to angst. But after a while, it becomes rather annoying and boring. We don't want the same story over and over. It's lazy. It's unoriginal.

Of course, it's hard coming up with new and exciting ideas all the time, but a little effort could go a long way. Not every hero needs an (or villain) emotionally scaring backstory. Maybe they have a mental illness that makes them evil. Or maybe, in the heroes case, they're just heroic because....well they just are. Ray Palmer doesn't seem to have a problem with having a hero complex with almost no reasoning behind it. (I mean, there's Anna but...eh.)

Bottom line, there are way too many daddy issues. They need to be toned way down for the sake of keeping people interested. Sooner or later we'll all just get bored of hearing the same story over and over. We'll want something new and fresh. Something not everyone can think of. And daddy issues is just not new or fresh. Everyone can think of it. It's really kind of like a go-to cliche. "This person is screwed up. Blame the parents...specifically the dad!"

Not all dads are bad guys. So, they shouldn't always be written as one. I know most of the dads in Arrowverse are pretty decent, but still. It's not fair to use them as an excuse for the characters problems all the time. We need more good dads in the Arrowverse. No abusive Pappas, no dying fathers, just good, present, loving daddies. Enough with the daddy issues!