Note: This is based on an ask that ectoblood sent me saying: How do you feel about aus or theories of Vlad being Danny's actual father?
My opening thoughts: Oh…my feelings about this are complicated. Normally I don't really like it since for this au or theory to work either Maddie was unfaithful to Jack, which I don't think is in her character. Or Vlad did something horrible to conceive a child with Maddie - raped her, blackmailed her, experimented on her.
And the second part in particular is what bothers me, since this au is often used to bring Danny and Vlad together and create that father/son bond between them that some fans like. But obviously, that doesn't work if Vlad did something immoral to Danny's mom to get her pregnant.
That being said, I do think the Au is interesting. I actually did have an idea for an au of Masters of All Time.
The idea was brilliant, Danny thought, as he begged Clockwork. He'd go back in time, and stop Vlad from getting hit by the proto portal. And bam, all his problems solved. No ghost powers for Vlad so he'd never inject Sam and Tucker. He'd never try to kill his dad or steal their portal or free the ghost king.
Danny arrives in the past and things go as planned except… Danny pushes Vlad out of the way. Now his Mom is in danger and… his Dad jumped in front to save her. Well...that wasn't supposed to happen. But what can he do about it? The only thing to do is return to his present and see if the plan worked.
When Danny arrives at his house in the present, he finds that another family lives there and no Fentons live in Amity Park. He does some digging in the library and finds that the accident actually killed his dad in this timeline. And his mom is married to Vlad Masters. He finds Vlad's house, which is large but not a mansion. He is still a successful business man but not a billionaire. Danny looks around for a portal there. To his shock, he stumbles upon Vlad and his mom's son. WHO LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE HIM. The kid faints at seeing a ghost who looks like him as Danny flees, freaked out.
Danny, who is distraught about his dad and freaked out by his look alike, wanders around the house but finds no portal. Late at night, after his mom and the…kid should be asleep (Vlad's away on a business trip) Danny goes to the kitchen, looking for food since it's probably been a day since he ate. There, he gets captured by his mom and put in a ghost containment unit, which combined with all the other things he learned about today, leads to him breaking down crying in the cage. Maddie is dumbfounded and getting closer, notices that the ghost she captured looks like her son….and he also looks like the ghost that saved Vlad during the portal accident (since Vlad and Maddie actually saw Danny in the past in this version). So Maddie is mystified and amazed, wanting to know who this ghost is. Her surprising positive reaction makes Danny spill the beans. He tells her everything, even transforming and walking out of the unit, proving that he is telling the truth.
The two go to the kitchen and talk after Maddie makes him some food. At this point, Danny hasn't put the pieces together, thinking that maybe Jack and Maddie had a kid before he died and Maddie married Vlad after. But he gets confronted with the truth when Daniel Masters stumbles into the kitchen. So yeah, the kid also has the same name as him. Danny of course explains things to Daniel as well. But Daniel gets confused when Danny talks about his dad, Jack Fenton, as Daniel says that Vlad Masters is his father. Jack Fenton died 3 years before he was born. And because Vlad has the worst timing possible, that's when he arrives home from a very early flight back.
Danny, who is now angry and majorly in denial, storms off. Daniel follows him, trying to calm him two talk for a bit, Danny learning that Vlad is a good dad in this timeline. Daniel feels loved and is happy. Meanwhile, Maddie explains everything to Vlad in the kitchen. The man is bewildered but also torn since Danny told Maddie about what Vlad did to get Danny to change time. And Vlad can't believe that another version of himself would do something so horrible to his son.
Eventually, Danny sees Vlad again. But the boy is cold and pissed off. A lot of the feelings he has about his Vlad come out and Danny has no way to process that Vlad is his biological father, since there is no denying it now. He and Daniel are clearly identical. And Danny is more determined than ever to fix the timeline.
Danny learns from his mom that she hasn't made another portal, not after the first one killed one of her best friends and she has no plans on making one, not that she could without Vlad's expertise and Vlad doesn't want anything to do with ghosts after what happened to Jack.
Danny's next confrontation with Vlad is brutal. He tells this Vlad all of the horrible things his Vlad did to him and his family, essentially blaming the man for things another version of himself did. Vlad does not take kindly to this and gets angry, insisting that he didn't do that, he never would. After the conversation, Vlad consults his wife, who says that Danny needs him to not deflect blame but to apologize. It's not fair but that's what Vlad needs to do to help this version of his son. So Vlad does apologize, which is strange since he does not remember doing those things. Danny is moved by that and even more so when Vlad says he will help him get back to his timeline. Even if Vlad is more happy here than where Danny is from, he would rather his best friend be alive, even if he has to give up his family.
Danny has no idea how to take that, really surprised. Vlad actually cares about his dad….or the man he thought of as his dad. This leads to questions. Does Jack and Vlad know, in his timeline? And how did his mom and Vlad even have a kid? But Danny has no idea, only conjecture and this timeline's Maddie and Vlad don't know either. So Danny leaves it at that. He'll have to figure it out when he returns home.