"Father"

[Azathoth]

In rebuild at least I think Fuyutski may have been his donor. The reason is he looks over at the area Gendo and Fuyutski are and says father. Now most people would assume he was talking to Gendo, but think about it, he looks more like Fuyu then he does Gendo.

Fuyutsuki didn't always have gray hair, you know.

[supershinjiasukashipper]

Fuyutsuki didn't always have gray hair, you know.

That is true, Gendo's antics turned it gray. You wouldn't believe it but he is only 27.

[Sailor Star Dust]

First off, there's this.

And also, Kaworu was talking to Gendo.

[barccy]

Professor Fuyutsuki was with Gendo in that space craft.
The hair color and facial structure of Kaworu and Fuyutsuki are similar.
In the series, Gendo was in contact with him (Fuyutsuki) before he (Gendo) made his trip to view the Katsuragi expedition the day before the contact experiment, which could have been a delivery of Fuyutsuki's genetic materiel.
Fuyutsuki is a mentor to Gendo (and Yui), and might be an intentional parallel to Kaworu advising Shinji.

[Reichu]

Kaworu's origins have, so far, been a complete non-issue in the new films. However he was created, it doesn't seem to actually matter. This might change, but we can't assume they will. Trying to fill in the blanks with NGE is another mistake, since the two universes are wildly divergent in numerous ways. For now, any speculation on the "father" line must take into consideration only what the films provide, and perhaps what the staff has said about them, nothing more.

The most plausible interpretation that I've seen: Kaworu is indeed addressing Gendo as "father". This has less to do with Gendo being Kaworu's dad, and more to do with further accentuating Kaworu's uncanny level of familiarity with Shinji. That is, he considers himself so close to Shinji that he freely refers to Shinji's parent the same way a spouse might refer to their in-laws. Kaworu clarifies the lack of blood relation in 3.0, where he (during dialogue not intended to address Gendo directly) specifically says "Shinji's father". (As for Gendo and Fuyutsuki, they are aloof to Kaworu's existence, considering him little more than a Seele plant to be eventually disposed of.)

[ChaddyManPrime]

I'm gonna posit that Kaworu is Shinji through either time/reality/instrumentality travel, cloning/hybridization, or contact experimentation.

It's stable time loop where Kaworu loves Shinji, Shinji learns to love himself through that love, but he realizes it was his self teaching his self to love himself, and that if he doesn't do the exact same thing that means he'll never learn to himself. Everyone finds love in the end but for Shinji it's only for himself.

It keeps the whole "Only you can love yourself" thing intact and it makes Shinji into the man Anno thinks Shinji wants to be. It's also why Shinji likes space, and why Kaworu calls Gendo father.

[Reichu]

Every character sans Mari is actually Anno.
Anno most closely identifies with Shinji.
Therefore, every character except Mari must have, at one point, been Shinji.

Why bother with alternate timelines / loops / realities at all? Let's just reimagine Eva as a really complicated version of that movie Identity. Would arguably be more productive.

[ChaddyManPrime]

^
Well, Rebuild is a alternate reality with a alternate ending to something something that doesn't exist any longer cause that place has ceased to exist.

But Lilith already told us what alternate realities really are, though you should ask Anno why he bothers with alternate timelines/loops/realities, it's a good question

[Reichu]

Well, Rebuild is a alternate reality with a alternate ending to something something that doesn't exist any longer cause that place has ceased to exist.

I think it's time to lay off the sauce. Get sober, then go watch NGE or something. You might be surprised that it actually still exists. And that Mari isn't in EoE, anywhere.

[ChaddyManPrime]

^
It exists in our hearts, may it rest in peace.

No, I wasn't saying Mari was in EoE, I'm saying she was created in it, and saying the preview may have her watching as people are exploding into crosses.

[Arcadia's legacy]

Or it's simply an earlier idea for the aftermath of the Tunniel battle

[Reichu]

The multiple exploding crosses suggest that Mari is on the outskirts of the city as Zeruel's attack commences (an idea that obviously changed as work on 2.0 progressed). No reason to read any deeper into the cut than that.

Anyway.