History Headscratchers / TheIncredibles

* How exactly did Mr Incredible's lawyer manage to lose that case? (Attempted) suicide is illegal in America, heroes seem to have government mandate to apprehend criminals (and violently). Therefore in saving the jumper Mr Incredible was simply preforming a regular act of heroism, foiling a felony in progress and therefore the jumper should have zero claim against him.

[[folder:Mr. Incredible killing Syndrome]]
* Yes, Syndrome's a psychotic, mass-murdering prick. But the way Bob dealt with him (knocking him into a jet turbine) was kind of...jarring.
** Supers in this universe don't seem to have a problem with killing their enemies, so long as it's in self-defense or protecting others. All of the Incredibles, including the kids, are responsible for the deaths of quite a few henchmen and none of them blink an eye over it. The only time Mr. Incredible is shown using restraint is with Mirage, and in that case, that would have been murdering a defenseless woman. (And, to be the devil's advocate, if Batman had just killed the Joker he'd have saved himself a lot of trouble, so...kudos to Bob for CuttingTheKnot?)
** If we want to be technical about it, Mr. Incredible didn't kill him — he just disabled Syndrome's getaway vehicle. It was Syndrome's ill-advised decision to wear a cape and an unfortunate tumble near a jet turbine that killed him. At most, it's manslaughter.
** Let's remember that Syndrome just tried to kidnap his baby. Most likely it would've been overlooked as a man just trying to protect his children.
[[/folder]]

** It's not a literl name. She's called Elastigirl because she stretches like elastic, but she's still made of flesh (probably). Helen probably vetoed 'Claygirl' or 'Silly Putty Girl' because it sounds less cool.

[[folder: A not-so-happily ever after?]]
* The film has a happy ending, but really, they're homeless, their car needs repairing and Bob is unemployed. Bob might have some financial problems in the future...
** ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'' has them start out living in a motel before Winston Deavor sets them up with one of his spare luxury homes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: I'm not a villain, I swear!]]
* Buddy Pine's plan is to fool the public into embracing him as a new superhero. So just before taking on the Omnidroid, he proudly introduces himself with the noble-sounding moniker of… ''Syndrome''? MostDefinitelyNotAVillain, indeed.
** It's a NinetiesAntihero sort of name, which probably fits the way he sees himself.
[[/folder]]

** Because the V9 is too small to wreck a city. The V100 doesn't just have more legs. It's also several times as high. However, their AI is mostly the same, minus the lack of direct control of its "mind".

* He was paid triple his annual salary, but how much was that? He looked like he was burning through money with the new cars, new clothes and getting back in shape instead of looking for a new job. How long did he think his money was going to last him?
** His old job payed enough to sustain him and the rest of his family, and he got payed 3 years worth of that all at once. A new car, new clothes and a couple of months training(considering how motivated he seemed to be about it it's likely that it didn't take him long to get back into shape) aren't that big of an expense with the new cash reserves. And his talk to Edna seems to imply that he expects to receive more missions.

* Whenever a Super wins against an Omnidroid Syndrome {{ObviousRulePatch}}ed it. After Mr. Incredible beats Omnidroid 9, he says he made "major modifications". Then, when Omnidroid 10 is deployed, it's beaten... the same way as the last one. What happened to those mods?

** From the scene's dialog in question Syndromee comes across as a giddy geek kid who just scored the motherlode of rare collectors' cards.

** First, they don't know why Syndrome became a supervillain. Second, ([[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment ROCEJ]] here) justifying a law because there was this one time under exceptional circumstances where having such a law was beneficial is...not a good argument (notably, the debate on anti-encryption and surveilance laws in our world). After all, said anti-super laws had allowed Syndrome to pick off supers one by one. If Mr. Incredible had still rejected Buddy but the laws never happened, then Syndrome would have had to use his GadgeteerGenius skills either to become a hero on his own or become a jealous supervillain anyway.

** Not sure how it worked in US in the 60s, but in some countries voicemail was stored by the phone company, so, it didn't matter if the physical phone is destroyed.

*** What does any revenge even do, though? Whoever is buying weapons probably has a larger-scope reason to build up a reputation as someone not to be messed with.

*** That's a good point. Because you can see early on that Syndrome is already showing signs of being a sociopath even as a kid. I mean, most kids wouldn't think of actually jumping into being the sidekick of a superhero while they are on a mission since that's just dangerous. But he clearly wasn't thinking of anyone's safety, even his own.

* Sure, the footage shown by Dash's teacher is blurry, but Bernie is right that the only logical conclusion can be that Dash put the tack on his chair. Heck, the first time the footage is shown you can actually ''see'' Dash's faint silhouette in the vicinity of Bernie's desk, so the principal's disbelief is rather perplexing.

* Why did Helen feel the need to put on her supersuit as a result of no one answering her request to land on the island? Did she actually suspect that they would attempt to shoot her plane down?

** Syndrome didn't turn evil ''because'' of being rejected. Being rejected is his ''excuse'' for becoming Syndrome. Essentially, the so-called tipping point was just a FruedianExcuse; the guy was likely going to turn bad regardless.

** He does try to bring it up. Helen basically dismisses it as him shifting the blame from his desire to relive the glory days, suggesting that being altruistic isn't what it's really about for him, at least in her head.

* How is Spashdown's death the fault of his cape? Edna said that he was sucked into a vortex, and that'll kill pretty much anybody, cape or no cape.

* What exactly was Syndrome going to do? If he lets Bob out, there's a huge risk that Bob will kick his ass and ruin his entire plan. And if he sincerely believes that Bob is willing to kill Mirage, who's to say he won't end up killing her anyway after he's free? Sure, Syndrome was still an ass to Mirage afterward, but tactically speaking he made the right call and Mirage should have recognized that.
** Mirage probably thought that Buddy already took the last straw when [[EvenEvilHasStandards he called the missile strike on a plane with kids. She was likely gonna leave him for that anyway, but then he]] crosses the line [[EvenEvilHasStandards by betting on her life, which made him irredeemable in her eyes]].
** Quick reminder: People do not think tactically when they are being held by someone threatening to crush the life out of them. What Mirage saw there was not a cold, rational, tactical situation that she was in a position to calmly assess from the comfort and safety of total detachment. What she saw there was her boss/friend/lover/whatever completely failing to give a shit that she was in any danger. Normal people are not going to take, "Oh, go ahead, crush the life out of them and see if I care," very well.
** Even if she realized on some level that Syndrome's approach was best ''in principle'', there's the fact that he didn't even seem conflicted about it. There was no hesitance or indecision in response to Bob's threat; he casually dismissed it at first and then actually tried goading him to follow through on it. If he was only trying to call what he perceived to be a bluff, then he was too good an actor for his own good.
** Leaving aside the fact that this headscratcher smacks of more than a little LackOfEmpathy to the point where it seems like a robot could have written it (I mean, really? We're seriously questioning why someone might have a largely emotional response to her boyfriend being willing to ''gamble with her life'' to the point of raising it as a headscratcher?), note also that while Syndrome is "bluffing" Bob, he is doing so ''with a big cruel sneer on his face''. We see a close-up of it and everything. It is not just the fact that Syndrome was willing to gamble with her life that is the problem for Mirage (though frankly, that's enough); it is the fact that he is ''visibly enjoying doing so''. And he doesn't even take a moment to reassure Mirage that she's going to be okay; all his attention is on taunting Bob. So even if he was 100% confident that Bob would never go through with it and it was the tactically sound decision, when the moment came he made it clear that he would rather sneer at and mock his enemy than reassure a frightened woman who, so far as she knew, was about to die. Mirage is angry because in that moment, Syndrome solidified himself in her eyes as the vicious, cruel, spiteful little sociopath that he really is.

** Presumably they're off [[{{Film/Kickass}} accidentally making fools of themselves and getting themselves killed]], like Buddy.
*** Buddy ultimately became very competent by the time he was a villain, he just failed due to all the trappings that came with being evil. Is there really nobody else like him in this universe who became a hero instead?
*** Buddy being competent by the time he was a villain could be explained that he actually ''did'' have a superpower: His SuperIntelligence. There probably are a few BadassNormal's out there, but they're probably being recruited by the government for their skills. However, that doesn't mean that they are fit for ''super''hero work since, well, they don't have superpowers or the technology required to take them on. Even if they did have the tech there would be a power out there that could take care of them (Plasmabolt comes to mind), so it probably isn't worth it in the end either way. The movie has proven why simply being a BadassNormal wouldn't make the cut for superhero work, unless they were ''actually'' super.
*** Let's just say hypothetically speaking that Batman and Gotham do to exist in this series (the sequel did mention the Parr's new home belonged to some eccentric billionaire who liked to come and go as he pleased). It happens to be a city where crime runs rampant, the police, court system, and local government are full of deep corruption, and their only protection is a vigilante who operates outside the law. The government couldn't force him to cooperate with them, even if he tried (ask [[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Amanda Waller]] how that worked out), since he's only concerned about Gotham, not to mention that some stories like ''No Man's Land'' have shown the larger government considers Gotham a lost cause beyond minimal support. It would be a waste of time and resources to try and do anything with heroes like Batman, and Syndrome was only focused on heroes with powers, not those who didn't have them and operated as superheroes.

* Is it that Supers ''themselves'' are banned, super ''powers'' are banned, or being a super''hero'' in any capacity is banned? If it's the latter, then what constitutes being a "superhero"? Is there any difference between that and being a vigilante? If you were to be a normal person who happened to save an unusually high number of people from danger, would that be considered breaking the law?
** It's pretty obvious that superpowered people acting as heroes are banned. They obviously are't banning super powers because that would be like banning blonde as a hair color. They're obviously not banning the supers themselves because Bob and his family are living where they normally would.

** Assuming they never got hired as a hero in the first place, they're probably out there living their semi-average lives.

** There's a theory saying that all the ''actual'' supervillains got into politics.
** That, or most of them got killed in the movie. There are actual villains with superpowers in the comics.

[[folder: Mirage's career choice]]
* Why would Mirage think of working as top assistant to the obviously evil Superhero-murdering psycho? Whatever made her think being part of a false flag operation with a dangerous, unbeatable-to-anyone-but-your-boss robot was a good thing?
** She was likely a spy working for the American government. She gets hired by the NSA in the comics, IIRC.
** This was already discussed earlier. Mirage was not fooled by Syndrome into thinking his plan was an all-around good thing. She knew what she was getting into, just not how far he was willing to go. She turned on him for nearly gambling her life away without a care after he gleefully shot down a plane with children aboard. The world is full of people who willingly involve themselves in shady or criminal dealings, but a lot of them still have standards and lows that they aren’t willing to stoop to or condone, like hurting children..
[[/folder]]

* So when Bob complains about society celebrating mediocrity, are we meant to take that at face value, or view it as Bob projecting his own insecurities onto Dash? Because Helen responds that it's not about him.
** When I saw that scene, I interpreted as Bob not meaning what he's saying. He was in a heated moment and was unable to think clearly, so he kept pulling random straws in order to win the argument. However, Helen likely said it wasn't about him since... Well, it's about supporting ''Dash'', and Bob is basically saying that he doesn't think Dash competing is important... [[ImmediateSelfContradiction Despite the fact that he wanted Helen to "let him actually compete!"]] So yes, they ''are'' celebrating "mediocrity". However, to Dash, running on track is important to him and Helen is saying that they should support that.
** What? I think you must be misremembering the scene here. The fight isn't about Dash going out for sports at all. Helen is confronting Bob about neglecting his family in favor of reliving the glory days (because she's just caught on to fact that his "bowling nights" with Lucius is actually them going out and being vigilantes). To demonstrate this, she brings up that Bob doesn't want to go to Dash's graduation, which is the "celebration of mediocrity" that Bob is complaining about ("It's not a graduation, he is moving from the fourth grade to the fifth grade.").
** It's very clear that Bob is projecting his own issues onto Helen. He works at a dead-end job where his efforts to help people aren't appreciated, but frowned upon by his absolute jerk of a boss, and all he gets is the occasional thank you from some little old ladies he has to instruct to act upset so he doesn't get his boss angry. Being a hero was his only means of getting to help others, and he's angry that society forced him into retirement because they'd rather have "mediocrity."

** They're not mutually exclusive. There was presumably a period between the mass of superhero suits and the Supers Ban said suits caused. Presumably, it was during this time that his cape snagging incident occurred, and he either got badly injured or died as a result. Alternatively, it's possible that the opposite is true: the cape snagging incident occurred first, and the consequences of the incident is what he was sued for.
*** It would have to be the former, because Dynaguy's cape snagging strangled and killed him. You can't sue a dead person. Thus, Dynaguy must have been sued first, but then still did illegal superhero work and died during a mission and Edna notified of his death.

* I used to think it was undressing him to reveal a supersuit underneath, but if you watch the scene closely the car is creating the suit out of nothing over the top of his clothes, or possibly even morphing his clothes into his supersuit. It would also be very hard to remove his clothes as he is wearing a jacket and a buttoned-up shirt. How exactly is it doing this?

* When Helen is arguing with Bob about the burning building, why doesn't he make the very good argument that innocent people would have literally died in the fire had he and Lucius not been there to rescue them? It's very clear that the fire department had failed to show up on time before the building collapsed, so it's not like he was interfering; help wasn't going to arrive. All he had to do was say "Look, we waited for the fire department, but they didn't show up. Innocent people were screaming for help and the building was going to fall. We had no other choice."
** Skewed priorities? Judging by Bob's desire to relive the glory days chances are he might've only been interested in the challenge for the rush. In that scene he also clearly wasn't thinking straight and panicking to find ''any'' excuse as to why he was right to go in the building.
** He does try to bring it up, as I recall. Helen basically dismisses it as him shifting the blame from his desire to relive the glory days, suggesting that being altruistic isn't what it's really about for him, at least in her head.
--->'''Bob:''' Look, I performed a public service; you act like that's a bad thing--
--->'''Helen:''' It is a bad thing, Bob! Uprooting our family ''again'' so you can relive the glory days is a ''very bad thing!''
--->'''Bob:''' Reliving the glory days is better than acting like they didn't happen!