open/close all folders
Protagonists
Protagonists
Charlie Kincaid
Actor: Walker Scobell, Louie Chaplin Moss (young Charlie in prologue)
Charlie is a mostly-ordinary schoolkid who plays baseball and is the Guard's biggest fan. His parents are divorced, and he almost feels like he and his father are strangers.
Tropes:
- Hates My Secret Identity: "Hates" might be a strong word, but Charlie feels distant from Jack, as if they barely know each other, and does somewhat resent him for being so.
- Kid Hero: He's forced into being this to some extent by the plot. In the epilogue, he assumes the role fully, working with his dad with the power of the Source.
- Southpaw Advantage: When the biggest, meanest, and best batter on the opposing team steps up to plate, the coach sends Charlie out as pitcher, saying, "We need a lefty." It doesn't end up helping, but there's no indication that anybody else on the team would've done better.
- Super-Strength: His gadget of choice from the Guard's secret hideout is a wrist-mounted device that makes him ludicrously strong in that arm.
Jack Kincaid/The Guard
Actor: Owen Wilson
Charlie's rather distant father, and the world's only superhero.
Tropes:
- Charles Atlas Superpower: He appears to have exceptionally good reflexes and be quite acrobatic entirely independent of his suit. Presumably, he developed them over his years of being a superhero.
- The Chosen One: Jack never asked to be the Guard. He just went to investigate an explosion and see if he could help any victims. Then an orb popped out of a downed UFO and chose him to be Earth's guardian.
- Clothes Make the Superman: There's nothing particularly extraordinary about Jack himself. He was simply chosen by the Source, and he used it to make super-powered gadgets. In combination, they form a whole suit that gives him his powers:
- Barrier Warrior: He's able to generate floating hexagonal shields that seem to be able to stop any attack.
- Flight: The suit has thrusters that let him fly, Iron Man style.
- Hand Blast: He can fire bursts of energy from his hands, in a manner also reminiscent of Iron Man.
- Instant Armor: The suit can expand from a fanny pack to a full, armored suit in under a second.
- Magnetism Manipulation: Can throw metal objects around.
- Prison Dimension: He seems to be able to send enemies to one of these.
- Code Name: The Guard.
- Friend of Masked Self: When he comes back to his base and finds a bunch of mercenaries holding some kids hostage, he claims that he isn't the Guard, "just the IT guy."
- Heroic Fatigue: He doesn't seem to have trouble with heroing, per se, but it takes up so much of his time that he scarcely has time for anything else. He's divorced, he barely knows his own son, and he doesn't appear to have time for friends, and all this does seem to take its toll on him.
- Parents as People: Jack is one of the film's main characters after his son. We get to see how he struggles with balancing his heroing and home life and how much it affects him when Charlie says he feels like they're strangers.
- Reed Richards Is Useless: Played with. On the one hand, the single most common criticism leveled at him is that he hasn't spread the awesome power of the Source around to help people though the Source itself seems to think this is a very bad idea. On the other hand, he's been a massive force for world peace, ending enough conflicts that defense firms are starting to worry he'll render them obsolete.
- Secret Identity: Part of why he's so distant from Charlie is that he isn't able to tell him that he's the Guard.
- Superhero Origin: While investigating a UFO crash site, the Source popped out of the wreckage and, after scanning his face, declared him the guardian of Earth.
- Strong and Skilled: While the Source's creations can be freely used by whoever gets their hands on them, Jack is the only one with actual experience using them. This becomes obvious when Argon fumbles around with his stolen suit while Jack is basically going easy on him.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Jack is constantly having to leave Charlie or cancel promised activities due to work as the Guard getting in the way.
Barry Berger
Actor: Keith L Williams
Tropes:
- Bash Brothers: He and Big Mac only actually end up fighting together once, but when they do, it's perfectly coordinated.
- Last-Name Basis: Everybody who knows him calls him "Berger." Even his own brother.
- Lightning Lash: His gadget of choice from the Guard's lair is a laser whip that can control magnetic objects and taser people.
Maya Monroe
Actress: Momona Tamada
A former classmate of Charlie's, recently returned from adventures abroad.Tropes
Allies
Elizabeth "Lizzie" McGonagall
Actress: Abby James Witherspoon
Eugene "Big Mac" Berger
Actor: Kezii Curtis
Berger's older brother.Tropes:
- Bash Brothers: He and Berger only actually end up fighting together once, but when they do, it's perfectly coordinated.
- Berserk Button: Downplayed. When Jersey addresses him as "Eugene" specifically to annoy him, he doesn't quite get mad, but he does go from "I've gotta get out of here" to "I need to teach this guy a lesson."
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Doesn't like being called Eugene. He prefers being called "Big Mac," because, as he puts it, "I'm the tastiest Berger."
Lily Kincaid
Actress: Jessie Mueller
Antagonists
Ansel Argon
Actor: Michael Peña
The CEO of Argon Industries, a defense firm. His company has been losing profits thanks to the Guard's successful efforts at creating peace.Tropes:
- Big Bad: The main antagonist of the film, and the one funding the others.
- Last-Name Basis: Everybody just calls him "Argon."
Sean Irons
Actor: Jesse Williams
A former pilot in the U.S. Air Force who collided with a UFO. After the Source popped out of the UFO and rejected him as guardian of Earth, he spent 10 years trying to track it down.Tropes:
- Anti-Villain: He legitimately thinks the Guard is selfish for keeping the Source to himself. He thinks it should be shared with the wider world.
- Heel–Face Turn: After the Source shows him a vision of destruction taking over the planet if it's shared with the wider world, Irons switches to helping Jack and the kids. Somewhat begrudgingly and cautiously, but it counts. In the epilogue, he's working as Mission Control for Jack and Charlie.
- Villain Has a Point: The Source has the ability to fabricate fantastical gadgets out of seemingly nothing. It's also a seemingly infinite source of energy. Irons just wants to share that with the world (and maybe get his credibility back).
Mercenaries
Tropes:
- Leave No Witnesses: Argon kills them off one by one for this reason. He even says "no witnesses" as he traps Jersey in an elevator with a bomb.
Specific Mercenaries
Hawaii
Actor: Charles Melton
- Would Not Hurt A Child: Explicitly states that he refuses to kill kids. Adults are fine, though.
Jersey
Actor: Dustin Ingram
Virginia
Actress: Levy Tran
Tropes:
- Dark Action Girl
- Guns Akimbo: Dual-wields pistols.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Her pistols see a lot more use than any other gun in the film, but they never find their mark.
- The Smurfette Principle: Is the only female antagonist in the movie.
Wisconsin
Actor: Michael Anthony
Tropes:
- The Big Guy: Is the largest of the four mercenaries.
- Scary Black Man
