The Incredibles: Glory Days Come and Gone

In The Incredibles movie, superheros fight crime regularly in Metroville and the world over. Known to the public as "Supers" they have a wide variety of talents and powers to do good and are commended as heroes. Supers live amongst regular folks and are in high demand from preventing crimes to dealing with minor inconveniences such as saving small pets. However, they are a bit egotistical since, obviously, they have powers that put them at a huge advantage.

Mr. Incredible is a Super who takes his role seriously. He is very strong and takes every opportunity to fight crime. At the beginning of The Incredibles, he's on his way to some place important. But he asks himself if he has enough time to help and old lady's cat out of a tree just before flinging the tree over the road to stop the robbers in a getaway car.

Buddy Pine appears, a boy who admires of Mr. Incredible to the point of being a fanatic and calling himself "IncrediBoy". Mr. Incredible is annoyed with Buddy following him everywhere and brushes him off rudely as he leaves the scene.
At the top of another building, he reprimands a purse snatcher and has a brief romantic rendezvous with the lovely Elastigirl who can stretch and bend her body into all kinds of shapes and move swiftly with her elastic limbs.

Just as he was leaving to his appointment, Mr. Incredible saves a man who jumps off a neighboring skyscraper, crashing through the window and landing on top of the suicide jumper. After landing, Mr. Incredible sees he's in an office of the Municiberg Bank.

Going down the hallway, Mr. Incredible encounters Bomb Voyage, the French bank robber and nemesis, walking through an exploded vault with bags of money. Bomb Voyage is about ready to give himself up to Mr. Incredible when Buddy Pine shows up again imploring Mr. Incredible to let him be his sidekick.

Bomb Voyage throws a sticky red bomb onto Buddy's cape as he flies off with his propulsion boots to get the police. Mr. Incredible must rescue Buddy and free Bomb Voyage.

He manages to tear the bomb off Buddy's cape, but it lands on the train tracks exploding a huge gap, and a train is coming! Mr. Incredible rushes toward the oncoming train and pushes with all his might and the train comes to a stop just before the engine plunges down.

After all that, the policemen still complain that Mr. Incredible let Bomb Voyage escape, but he doesn't seem to mind as he jumps into his car for the appointment he's been on his way to all evening. Just another day in the life of a Super.

Where did Mr. Incredible go? To his own wedding! Mr. Incredible marries Elastigirl with his friends, including Frozone, in attendance.

Shortly after their marriage the lawsuits begin. First it was a lawsuit by the man who was trying to commit suicide that Mr. Incredible saved. Then it was the train passengers who had minor injuries from the rescue. These initial suits started a backlash against the Supers and their work and it cost the government millions of dollars to repair.

And as part of the deal with the government paying those lawsuits, Supers were to stop all their superhero work and enter a protection program and continuing a regular life as a civilian. The Golden Age of Supers is over. Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl move out to the suburbs as Bob and Helen Parr to raise a family together.

Fifteen Years Later...

Fifteen years pass by and Bob Parr is a cubicle wage slave sitting glumly at his cramped desk as he listens to the sob story of a helpless little old lady who's filed an insurance claim. In The Incredibles, Bob works for Insuracare as a claims adjuster and his job is to deny as many insurance claims as possible to make more profits for the company.

Bob gets some satisfaction by helping clients "find" the loopholes by talking to the right people and filling out the right paperwork. But he is reprimanded by his boss, a tiny, miserly man named Gilbert Huph. In a lousy mood, Bob commutes home in his cramped little car, sitting in lots of traffic. Bob's older now, with a receding hairline and a big gut. He's not a happy camper in The Incredibles.

Anything but Normal

In the meantime, Helen Parr is called to the school where her son Dashiell (Dash for short) is being held at the principal's office. In The Incredibles movie Dash is eight years old and has a Super talent of running at very high speeds, so fast that you can't even see him!

He's gotten into trouble with his teacher who claimed Dash put tacks on his chair and the proof was in a closed circuit video slowed way down only to show papers shifting or some other "evidence". Fortunately for Dash, the principal doesn't believe the teacher and Dash is free to go.

On the way back, Helen once again implores Dash to hide his abilities and goes on about how they are a special family and that other people are not like them. Dash pouts and says that everybody is special, which means that none of us are.

We next get to meet Violet, the 15 year old daughter at her school. Violet is very shy, with her long black hair covering half her face, which is always looking downward. As she's waiting to be picked up, she notices the boy she likes, Tony Rydinger, coming out the doors. He's a handsome and popular boy. Violet calls his name but disappears behind the stairs before Tony sees her.

In The Incredibles, Violet has the superpower ability to become invisible and she can also produce protective force fields. But because she has no confidence in herself and is discouraged to use her powers, she never practices.

They all meet at home, each in a bad mood. Only little baby Jack-Jack is happy and doesn't know a thing. In The Incredibles movie Jack-Jack doesn't appear to have any super powers as none have emerged yet. Violet wishes she and her family could be normal, like her brother Jack-Jack. Dash teases Violet about her crush and all chaos breaks loose at the dinner table, causing Helen to intervene with her elastic arms to get the kids off one another.

Bob retreats into another room, and sees an article in the paper about their friend Gazerbeam, who, as a civilian is some kind of Super rights attorney, has disappeared. Bob comments under his breath that Gazerbeam always had trouble adjusting to civilian life.

Ex-Supers on the Sly

Bob's close friend arrives: Lucius Best, who was Frozone as a Super. In the Incredibles movie they meet every week after telling their wives that they're going bowling. Instead they listen to the police scanner and help out in petty crimes. Lucius, frankly, would rather go bowling.

On this night they learn of a big fire at a building. The fire is huge and hot and Lucius cannot use his powers to make even water vapor because the air is so dry. So instead Bob barges his way through a brick wall into the room next door, just as the building collapses.

Unfortunately, the next room is a jewelry store, and alarm bells ring. Bob and Lucius clearly look like thieves and a cop comes over, pistol pointing at them, demanding that they FREEZE! They put their hands up, but not before Lucius gets a drink of water. After drinking Lucius instantly ices the cop and they make their escape. Close call!

Old Job New Job

The next day at work, Bob is drudging away inside his cubicle when he is called to Mr. Huph's office. His huge body slumps in the small chair as Mr. Huph lectures him like a little kid.

In The Incredibles, Bob peers out the the office window and notices a man being mugged in the alleyway below. He says as much to Huph, but all Huph could say is, "Let's hope we don't cover HIM!" and that remark makes Bob so angry he gets up and is ready to leave the office to help the mugging victim.

However, Mr. Huph tells him to get back over here right now or he would be fired, tapping his foot, waiting. Bob notices that the thief got away. Huph makes another smart remark and Bob can't take it anymore; he grabs Huph by the neck and throws him through four or five walls and and he slams hard into some filing cabinets.

Later at the hospital, Bob leaves with Rick Dicker, the government agent who erases memories of Super incidents and helps relocate Supers to new living quarters. Bob knows he's fired at this point, and Dicker offers to relocate the Parrs again, but Bob declines, stating that he can't do that to his family again.

At home, Bob sits at his desk and takes out the stuff in his briefcase as he wonders how he will tell Helen about his job loss. As he throws his paperwork away, he retrieves a mysterious large envelope containing a tablet of some sort.

The tablet powers up on its own and scans Bob's face, confirming his identity as Mr. Incredible. Then a video message showing beautiful woman named Mirage appears. In The Incredibles, she is a mysterious agent who tells him about an assignment - should he choose to accept - Mission Impossible style - involving a renegade robot and he would destroy it, and be highly paid for his work.

During this message, Helen is calling Bob to dinner NOW, asking who is in the room while Bob is frantically trying to hear it and jot down notes in the process. It's a funny scene as most spy movies don't involve such domestic interruptions.

Once the message is finished, Mirage's business card pops out and the tablet announces that it will self destruct. Bob rushes out of the office and shuts the door just as it explodes, setting off the fire sprinklers throughout the house, much to the family's cries of displeasure.

Later that night, while Bob and Helen are drying off books and other possessions, Bob tells Helen he's going to go off to a conference for a for a few days. Secretly, he calls Mirage and tells her that he's in.

Bob is stuffed into a capsule that ejects and lands on the island in The Incredibles. He soon finds the droid and after an exhausting battle with several close calls, since he's terribly out of shape, he defeats it. He heads home feeling great, with a substantial sum of money as well.

Suspicious Behavior and New Suits

Under the pretext of still having a job, Bob Parr works out aggressively during the day to get back into shape. Mirage promised him more work in the coming months and he wants to be ready this time. He loses the weight, buys new and stylish clothing and even has a sporty new car. Helen loves her new husband and showers him with affection every time he leaves for "work".

During the battle with the Omnidroid, however, Bob's suit was torn and so he paid a visit to Edna Mode, a flamboyant clothing desinger who used to make many of the suits for Supers and now must design for stick-figured puffy-lipped supermodels. "I used to design for GODS!" she laments in The Incredibles.

Edna is thrilled to see Bob and offers not only to mend his "hobo suit" since it's so old and out of date, and insists on creating a new one for him as well. But no cape! Edna tells Bob of several Super deaths due to their capes getting caught on something that killed them.

Back at home, Helen is cleaning house and she notices a long blonde hair on the lapel of her husband's jacket. This looks suspicious, like he's having an affair. As Bob leaves in the car, Helen tells him again how much she loves him. Bob says he loves her too, gives her a quick kiss and leaves.

In The Incredibles, Helen snoops in his office for more evidence once Bob is gone and looks at his old suit. She sees the new stitched repair job and recognizes Edna's handiwork right away. She calls Edna, who doesn't know who Helen Parr is until she says she's Elastigirl, cringing. Edna is overcome with excitement and invites Helen over right away.

After exchanging pleasantries, Edna shows a confused Helen the set of suits she designed for each of the Incredibles family members. For Dash, she made a suit that can withstand the friction of fast running legs. Violet's suit is specially made to disappear with her. Baby Jack-Jack's suit has all the protection it needs including being bullet proof and fireproof since nobody knows what kind of power he has yet. Then Edna shows Helen her suit that can be stretched and bent in all directions and can bounce back good as new each time.

Each suit also contains a homing device so the whereabouts of each person is known. Helen is still confused, though, and doesn't understand why Edna did this, but soon learns that Bob is indeed actively pursuing undercover superhero work. Not knowing for sure where he is, Helen activates the homing device for Bob's suit.

A Meeting with Syndrome

Meanwhile at Nomanisan Island, Bob is grabbed by a different Omnidroid before he can react. Then a man with bright red hair standing on end wearing a silver and black superhero suit flies onto the scene in The Incredibles.

Bob admitted he was wrong and apologized, but Buddy knew it was only because Bob was threatened. The bitterness Buddy felt through the years fueled his ambition as a weapons designer and he became very rich as a result.

He is now a psychotic, intent on killing all Supers and inventing Omnidroids to do it. He is now known as Syndrome. Bob tries throwing a log at him but missed and Syndrome uses a zero point energy beam to freeze Bob and ends up throwing him way too far and Bob lands in a river at the crest of a big waterfall.

In The Incredibles, Syndrome flies after Bob, who jumps off the top of the waterfall. Syndrome drops a bomb into the water after him. As it explodes he's already in some sort of underwater tunnel and the force of the explosion pushes him up into a secret cave.

Bob is startled to see Gazerbeam's skeletal remains and discovers the word KRONOS written in the walls. Just then a scanning device pops up, searching for life forms and Bob hides behind his friend's skeleton. The device flies back up to Syndrome confirming Mr. Incredible's termination, and Syndrome leaves.

Secret Plot Discovery and a Close Call Escape

Bob manages to infiltrate the high tech compound and uses the KRONOS password for a computer room he found. He discovers all the Supers who have been killed by prototype droids. He looks up himself, Mr. Incredible, and sees he's been listed as Terminated. He looks up Elastigirl, his wife, and sees that her whereabouts are Unknown. He breathes a sigh of relief. Then he looks up his best friend, Lucius Best, AKA Frozone and his whereabouts are Known. Uh-oh.

In The Incredibles, Bob also discovers Sydrome's plot to unleash an Omnidroid onto Metroville, with liftoff scheduled in only a few hours.

At that very moment, back at Edna's, Helen pushes the homing device button to locate her husband. The dot on the I on Bob's suit lights up as the homing device is activated and lights in the cavernous computer room come on and guns come out of the walls.

The guns fire mysterious tar-like globs as Bob runs. The globs swell up and impede his movement as more and more stick to him and swell. He is overcome and sees Mirage's figure approaching just as the globs cover his eyes.

Back at Edna's, Helen calls Insuracare and it is confirmed that Bob no longer works there. She starts crying in hysterics, but Edna reminds her that she is Elastigirl and not to forget it!

Helen phones a buddy of hers who owns a jet that she can use as a favor he owes her. She's off and flying to Nomanisan no time, expertly piloting a high tech looking Gulfstream private jet.

As she's radioing to the Island for permission to land, Helen is concerned that she's getting no response. She reluctantly changes into her suit, just in case.

At the Nomisan base in The Incredibles movie, Syndrome has Mr. Incredible captured in a high tech electronic restraining device. Syndrome demands to know who Bob contacted on his homing device. Bob truly does not know and is tortured with electrical currents. Syndrome insists Mr. Incredible knows something since a plane is requesting to land. Bob says he didn't send for a plane and Syndrome orders Mirage to play the transmission.

Bob recognizes his wife's voice on the transmission and says her name. At that, Syndrome pushes a red button to "send them a little greeting," launching missiles toward the plane.

On the plane, Helen discovers her children on board. She's upset, of course, and they reassure her too, that Jack-Jack is cared for. Then she hears the beeping in the cockpit and looks up to see two missiles heading straight for them.

Helen's expert flying narrowly avoids the guided missiles, but they turn around, locked onto their target. Bob hears his wife's panicked transmissions to disengage and he begs Syndrome to stop, that he will do anything. But Syndrome says it's fifteen years too late.

Helen turns to Violet and orders her to put up her force field, despite that Violet was told not to use her powers. But because she hasn't practiced, Violet can't produce a force field big enough to protect them. Helen transmits to abort, abort, abort that there are children aboard.

Mirage is shocked to hear this and Bob cries out Nooo! (I still get goosebumps during this scene.) The missiles are getting closer and closer and Violet just can't make a force field. Helen follows her protective mothering instinct and grabs her children, turning her body into a shield and they come out of the explosion.

Helen 's body turns into a parachute shape as she holds her children and they land in the choppy waves of the ocean. A huge burning piece of fuselage from the plane plunges into the water narrowly missing the three. Helen grills them like a drill sergeant to get them calmed down because at this point they are both frantic with fear.

Back at base, Mirage announces a confirmed hit and Bob slumps over in defeat and misery. Syndrome only laughs and says it's no big deal, after all, Mr. Incredible likes to work alone.

This enrages Bob and he reaches out and grabs Mirage. He demands to be released and threatens to kill her. Syndrome doesn't care, though and challenges Mr. Incredible to actually do it. But Bob cannot and he slumps back again, releasing Mirage, and Syndrome calls him weak. Mirage is furious with Syndrome, saying that next time he should wager a gamble with his own life next time.

Meanwhile, Helen follows the missile trails from their launch direction she turns into the shape of a boat and Dash kicks behind like an outboard motor, making a speedboat as Violet rides.

They eventually make landfall, crawling exhausted onto the beach.

Elastigirl's Comeback

Helen, Violet and Dash find a cave to hideout in while Helen goes in search of Bob. Helen gives them the confidence they need to be on their own - to use their powers with all their might. They also understand that the bad guys will kill them and that this is a like a show on TV.

Helen leaves them and successfully infiltrates the base, and at one point she passes a mirror and pauses, rubbing her rump and sighing at the size of it. It's a really cute moment to those of us who do not have perfect bodies; we certainly can relate to Helen!

Back at the cave, Dash and Violet narrowly avoid being roasted because the rocket is launched and the cave they were in is used as an exhaust tunnel. Dash's quick feet saved them both.

The next morning Dash and Violet wander around in the jungle and notice a pretty blue bird. But the bird was really an alarm, relaying the intruders back at the base. Flying discs called Velocipods emerge taking to the jungle with great speed.

At this time, Mirage returns to Mr. Incredible's holding cell and releases him. Bob furiously lifts Mirage by the neck, asking what more she demands of him after all he's lost. Mirage is able to croak out that his family survived the plane crash and are there are on the island. Elated with the good news, Bob embraces her with relief.

The timing couldn't have been worse because at that exact moment, Helen appears! Mirage, feeling embarrassed, greets her, but Helen punches her out. Bob tells her she has it all wrong, that Mirage was helping him to escape, to which Helen retorted that's what SHE was doing. In the Incredibles, he drags her stretched arm to him and lays a big, fat kiss on her. They run off to save Dash and Violet who are in danger in the jungle.

Dash and Violet have been surrounded at gunpoint by the security forces when Violet reminds Dash to run. The guards are confused and as Dash takes off, Violet becomes invisible. Dash leads them on an exciting chase through the jungle that is reminiscent of a similar scene in The Return of the Jedi. He runs SO fast he can even stay on top of water and in a James Bond movie fashion, gives chase around various cliff formations around a bay. Dash ROCKS! Woo hoo!

Family Reunion

In The Incredibles, Violet is able to trick another guard, but has to hide underwater. The clever guard throws dirt into the water to see where her shape is and just as he sees her, Dash runs by and snatches his gun. He comes back and starts pummeling the guard, but the guard punches Dash hard and he is nearly knocked out.

Just as Dash turns around he sees the guard with his machine gun aimed right at him. Violet jumps at Dash and is able to finally put up a powerful force field that protects them both from gunfire. She keeps the shield up and Dash runs off with them both enclosed inside the bubble.

Syndrome has all of them in restraints and informs The Incredibles of his plan of unleashing the Omnidroid onto Metroville and act as a Super himself. He shows them live news coverage to prove his point.

Back in Metroville, the huge Omnidroid emerges from the ship and begins assailing the city, War of the Worlds style. The Incredibles watch it all unfold on live TV, but Bob doesn't notice that Violet's force field disabled the electric restraints and she rolls over to the control panel and frees her family.

They run to the aircraft hangar, and all of the security guards are celebrating and watching the news coverage, not paying attention. They don't see a jet to use, but they do see a rocket, however Helen doesn't know how to fly one. But Mirage helps the family escape with the rocket by setting the co-ordinates.

Back in Metroville, Lucius Best is getting ready to take his wife out to dinner. when he sees out the window of his high rise condo the Omnidroid pass by and the ensuing chaos. Lucius' super suit is missing, though, and his wife won't tell him where it is. She's more concerned about her evening being ruined!

As they argue that he needs his suit to fight evil for the greater good she retorts, "Greater good? I am your wife! I am the greatest good you're ever gonna get!" HILARIOUS!!!

As the Omnidroid creates more chaos, Syndrome arrives on the scene, using a remote on his glove to control the robot. He uses his zero-point energy beam to impress the crowd into thinking he's a Super. The droid, seeking it's own survival (because it's been created to be intelligent) turns on Syndrome, attacking him and knocking him out.

The Incredibles Fight the Omnidroid

The Incredibles make it to Metroville with the rocket and make a rough landing. The Omnidroid arrives and goes after the children and Violet uses her force field to protect them both, but the power of the Omnidroid is too much and Bob holds it at bay while they escape. Then Frozone shows up. Lucius' wife finally gave in to his Super suit! But the droid throws him around too.

After getting knocked about, Bob finds Syndrome's remote control that had fallen off when the Omnidroid threw him. But as soon as soon as he holds it up in victory, the droid sees it and grabs Bob. Bob pushes random buttons, getting the arm to fall off that's holding him and he falls. He throws the remote to Dash like a football and he goes long and FAST.

As the battle ensues with the droid, they all play around with the remote but learn that it cannot destroy the it. It's only when Bob remembers that he defeated the earlier droid by having it stab itself that a solution came to him. He's standing next to one of the Omnidroid's amputated claws.

With the help of Elastigirl and Frozone, Bob manages to impale the Omnidroid with it's own claw, impaling the "brain" and the Omnidroid is defeated.

People in the city walk toward Frozone and The Incredibles, giving applause and praise. Syndrome comes to, and is furious that the Supers stole his show. Just like old times, the Supers remember fondly.

Surprises from Jack-Jack

Helen checks her phone messages from the limo they are riding in with Rick Dicker, listening to ever more frantic calls from Kari the babysitter. She said that the baby has special needs. Kari's last message is a Thank You for sending a replacement sitter, and Helen looks at Bob: She never sent a replacement!

They arrive home and run inside and find Syndrome waiting for them and he immediately stuns the entire family. He's holding a sleeping Jack-Jack. Syndrome laughs wickedly then tells them he's going to take the baby and mentor him to be a be a good sidekick.

Syndrome punches a hole through the top of the house and escapes with his jet boots, taking Jack-Jack with him. As he flies up to his hovering ship Jack-Jack cries in fear. The baby then becomes angry and turns into a fire baby, then into a heavy steel baby, pulling Syndrome down.

Syndrome struggles upward, using all his strength. Then Jack-Jack shakes violently, making growling sounds, and morphs into a red devil with sharp teeth. Jack-Jack attacks Syndrome, beating his head and Syndrome loses control.

Bob throws Helen up toward Syndrome catches Jack-Jack as he falls. She turns herself into a parachute again as Syndrome manages to get into his aircraft. Bob throws a car up at him and it knocks off a piece of the airplane, which throws Syndrome out onto the wing, right in front of the turbine jet engine. His cape is caught and he's killed as the plane explodes.

Helen is still floating down and the explosion descends its destruction all around the family. As the dust and smoke clear, it's Violet who saves The Incredibles, using her force shield as everyone hunkers down with one another. That's my girl, Helen says, with love.

Three months later, Dash is finally allowed to join the track team and he's got a meet at the local stadium. Violet wears her hair back now and has a newly found confidence. Tony Rydinger finally notices her and tries to invite her on a date but he's too tongue-tied, so Violet hints that she likes movies.

Dash has some trouble figuring out how fast or how slow to run as his parents coach him from the stands. They tell him to make it a close second as a fellow parent sitting next to them looks at them funny.

As they leave, a gigantic bore drilling machine surfaces in the parking lot and a new villain named The Underminer emerges. The Incredibles put on their masks, ready to face a new challenge together as a Super family.