Helen: Everyone's special, Dash. Dash: Which is another way of saying no one is.
Following a Super Registration Act and consequent court ruling, all superheroes have been forced into retirement. Superstrong Mr. Incredible and the stretching Elastigirl are now just Bob and Helen Parr. They have a quiet life in the suburbs with an ordinary house, a normal job and 2.4 children: disruptive and superfast Dash, shy Violet (who can turn invisible and project force fields), and baby Jack-Jack, who seems to have no powers. In other words, they are a very rough equivalent of the Fantastic Four. Most of them are not too happy with the situation.When Bob gets an offer from a mysterious woman named Mirage to relive his Glory Days and help out a high-tech facility gone wrong, he Jumps at the Call without telling his family. Soon, though, he gets in trouble, and finds he needs all the help his family can offer to help him save the day from a Diabolical Mastermind with an Evil Plan and a Killer Robot.The Incredibles, Pixar's sixth film (and the first with humans as the main characters) was released in 2004. An affectionately parodicReconstruction of the Superhero genre, with light touches of Deconstruction, and happily hangs lampshades on several conventions. Its plot bears a resemblance to Watchmen, although the tone is nowhere near as dark. That said, it's easily in the running for the darkest film Disney's ever been involved with — surpassed in number of onscreen deaths only by Pirates of the Caribbean — with tons of Black Comedy besides.Like other Pixar movies, there was a comic book series being published by Boom! Studios written by Mark Waid that has the continued adventures of the family. With the Superhero ban lifted, the Incredibles have to deal with a lot of old villains crawling out of the woodwork and after taking out a decaying villain team, a new one rises out of the ashes gathering power and planning on turning the citizens of Metroville against the supers using hypnosis and mecha, led by Xerek, the villain of early scripts for the film. The ending to this ongoing villain conspiracy arc however has been delayed from various internal problems at Boom. However, with Marvel picking up the Pixar licenses in February, there is the possibility the story will be finished there.For information on the DVD short Jack-Jack Attack, see the Pixar Shorts page.
A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The Omnidroid which Syndrome has built with a thinking A.I. This comes back to bite him in the ass when he set his plan in motion.
All There in the Manual: Detailed profiles of other Supers that are only briefly mentioned in the movie (if at all) in the Extras section of the DVD. The comic book also fills in some holes the movie may have left open.
Alternate DVD Commentary: An in-universe version. The poorly-done Mr. Incredible animated episode extra can be played with Mr. Incredible and Frozone riffing on it. It's a Crowning Moment of Funny for DVD extras (especially their vitriol for Mr. Skipperdoo).
And the Adventure Continues: The ending ends with the arrival of another supervillain (a drilling... underground hobo.) It's continued in the video game sequel.
Edna: [on Jack-Jack's suit] I cut it a little roomy for the free movement, the fabric is comfortable for sensitive skin... [a sheet of flame erupts in front of the suit] and it can also withstand a temperature of over 1000 degrees! Completely bulletproof... [four heavy machine guns appear and open fire on the suit, without effect] and machine washable, darling, that's a new feature. [...] Your suit can stretch as far as you can (without injuring yourself), and still retain its shape. Virtually indestructible... [two missiles are launched at the suit] yet it breathes like Egyptian cotton!
Awesome yet Practical: Everything Edna Mode designs. Comfortable for sensitive skin, machine washable, breathes like Egyptian cotton — and also tailored for every family member's superpower. And they look fabulous.
Bathos: There's a dramatic moment where the family is racing to save the city in a rocket. Along the way, they do what any family does on a long "car" trip - they bicker.
Dash: Are we there yet? Bob: (irritated) We'll get there when we get there!
Battle Discretion Shot: Just before escaping Syndrome's base in a rocket, Mr. Incredible confronts a van full of Mooks. Cue an outside shot of the van rocking and shaking as he takes them out.
Beam Me Up, Scotty!: Samuel L. Jackson never actually say "Woman, where is my supersuit?" The proper line is "You tell me where my suit is woman!"
Big Red Button: Syndrome gets to press several over the course of the film. One of the DVD Easter Eggs is a compilation sequence showing "every door, button and explosion in the movie". The fact that it has nearly the whole of the Anvil Chorus as its soundtrack shows just how many there are.
Blond Brunette Redhead: Dash, Violet, and Jack-Jack. Elasti-Girl also had red hair in her younger days.
Blunt Yes: When Dash, Violet, and Elastigirl are in the ocean after Syndrome shot down their plane, and Elastigirl suggests swimming toward the trail the missiles left.
Dash: You wanna go toward the people that tried to kill us? Elastigirl: If it means land? Yes.
Bothering by the Book: Bob tells his insurance clients exactly how to satisfy all the bureaucratic requirements for getting their claims paid, much to the chagrin of his boss.
Syndrome's death by cape in a jet turbine. When was this Foreshadowed? During Mr. Incredible's conversation with Edna Mode on the danger of capes and one of the deaths mentioned is the cape caught in a jet turbine.
Bob's rage over a broken car is seen by a kid on a bike. Guess who shows up at the climax of the film?
The Cameo: A particularly awesome one for anyone who is into animation history. Those two old men who praise the heroes after the climax ("That's the way to do it" - "No school like the old school") are Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston...Not ringing a bell? They were the last surviving two of Disney's "Nine Old Men", legendary animators who had been in the business practically since the beginning. For example, they were both animators on Snow White And The Seven Dwarves, and were involved in practically every animated Disney project up to The Fox and the Hound. (Sadly, Thomas didn't live to see The Incredibles finished, and Johnston died in 2008.)
Camera Abuse: A neat little effect aboard Mrs. Parr's jet.
The family is very nearly the Fantastic Four: Mr. Incredible is the Thing, Elastigirl is Mr. Fantastic, and Violet is the Invisible Woman. Only Dash lacks a direct parallel, though he's certainly Hot Blooded enough to be a match for the Human Torch. The ending shows Jack-Jack has highly variable superpowers (among these, setting himself on fire like the Human Torch), and Franklin Richards, the child of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman had very ill-defined but vast superpowers. Even their costumes and name (Fantastic/Incredible) are similar. Their villain, Syndrome, is a somewhat more rotund Doctor Doom, a villain whose primary superpowers are simply being so good at super-technology that his super-suit is more powerful than the family combined.
Dash is basically The Flash and even calls himself "The Dash" when he gets his suit.
Frozone is basically Iceman from the X-Men comics as played by Samuel L. Jackson. They even have the same way of getting from place to place: creating ramps of ice to skate everywhere.
In a more extreme example, Gazerbeam and The Underminer basically are Cyclops and the Mole Man in all but name. The DVD special features on the minor heroes in the movie even parodies Cyclops' infamously bland personality by having Gazerbeam be an incredibly dull person.
It even extends to the comic, which has featured among the expanded rogues gallery a Gorilla Grodd expy and aliens resembling the tentacles.
And the Humongous Mecha piloted by the Underminer in an effort to frame the Incredibles resembles The Iron Giant with a red paint job.
Car Cushion: Frozone lands on one during the killer robot battle.
Chekhov's Gun: Edna fires two missiles into Helen's suit to showcase its invulnerability. This probably explains why Helen was able to protect her kids when her plane took those anti-air missiles.
Also, Edna regarding Superheroes with capes, one of the cases of death included the cape being snagged in a jet turbine. At the end of the movie, the Big Bad gets his cape caught on the turbine of his own plane, making the plane explode with him
Also, the Omnidroid: "The only thing that can pierce it is... itself".
Also, Dash and Mr. Incredible playing football. Comes back when Mr. Incredible throws the remote to Dash.
Chew Out Fake Out: Dash gets in trouble for placing a tack on the teacher's chair. Bob is more impressed by the fact that Dash managed to avoid being caught on a hidden camera then upset about the prank. Helen is not amused.
Children Are A Waste: In a deleted scene, Helen has to deal with a condescending woman at a neighborhood barbecue. She then lays down a verbal smackdown, prompting the other woman to gape in amazement and ask what she did before she had her child.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: The Supers in general are quick to spring into action against big threats, but Mr. Incredible in particular needs to help other people. He doesn't adapt well to civilian life.
Cloudcuckoolander: KARI...THE BAAAAYBEEEESITTEEEER! *eyetwitch*. Then again, after what she had to put up with in babysitting Jack Jack, most people would be a tad deranged.
Convection Schmonvection: Taken to serious and seriously impractical extremes, when Bob has to run and eventually shimmy between two closing walls that are made of lava. Also seen in the initial fight with the Omnidroid, in which Bob gets within inches of lava without getting burned.
Only if you assume the walls are really made of lava.
Couldn't you also put it down to his super durability? A stretch, but it helps a bit.
Could Say It But: Bob does this with a woman trying to claim her insurance, when his boss wants him to reject as many claims as possible. He even whispers "Pretend to be upset!" before she walks away, turning on the water works flawlessly.
Crack! Oh My Back!: Played straight at first, invoked by Bob to the letter when he throws his back out in the volcano. Hilariously inverted seconds later when the Omnidroid attemps to tear Bob apart... and pulls his spine back into alignment.
Helen: What on Earth do you think the baby will be doing?! Edna: Well, I'm sure I don't know, darling. Luck favors the prepared. I didn't know the baby's powers, so I covered the basics.
Cross-Dressing Voices: Brad Bird as Edna (they brought in Lily Tomlin to voice Edna, but when she heard Brad demonstrate the kind of voice he wanted, she immediately declared Brad needed to do the voice himself).
Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Syndrome made a fortune out of military inventions. The last part of Syndrome's plan is to sell his inventions to normal people to get rid of the "special people with special powers" meaning of superhero.
Dangerously Genre Savvy: This, more than any of his weapons, was the secret to Syndrome's success - but would eventually be his undoing as well.
Syndrome: You sly dog! You got me monologuing! I can't believe it.
This even extends to some of his mooks. Within seconds of seeing that unarmed children have superpowers, they start reacting to it appropriately, flanking, separating them, and responding to their powers. For example, when Violet turns invisible and hides in water, one mook throws dirt into it to watch for currents revealing her position.
Deadly Dodging: About half of the death toll racked up throughout the movie is Dash of all people getting mooks to blow themselves up on scenery.
Death By Secret Identity: Syndrome learns not only their real identities, but knows where they all live by the end of the movie.
Deconstruction: Near the start of the movie, many superheroes get into legal trouble because of the collateral damage they cause. A deleted scene shows how difficult it would be to hide super powers (specifically, invulnerability). At a barbecue, Mr. Incredible accidentally hits his fingers with a large knife, ruining the knife and leaving him unharmed. To cover up what happened, he begins screaming, douses his hand in ketchup, wraps an apron around his hand, and he and his wife quickly leave the party. Bob then complains in the car about the necessity of wearing bandages on his hand for months and coming up with a surgery story to explain his still-intact fingers.
Death Montage: Edna's montage of superheroes killed by their capes. The screens showing the results of the superheroes versus the Omnidroid serves the same purpose as a dramatic Death Montage.
Description Porn: Edna's presentation of the costumes she makes for the Parr family. Somewhat justified in that if you're being handed a supersuit, you wanna know exactly what it does. Also makes for cool visual effects.
Desk Jockey: Mr. Incredible is forced to become one to support his family's normal middle class life and hates it so much he sneaks a little vigilantism on the side.
Did Not Do the Research: Frozone's excuse for not being able to make ice in the burning building was that the air was too dry. This is nonsense - CO 2 and H2O are produced when anything organic burns. It should be extremely humid in that building. If it was too hot, that would make sense, but he explicitly says it's too dry.
Disproportionate Retribution: Yes, Syndrome, we understand that you were disappointed, he could have gone a little easier on you, and we feel for you. But don't you think you're overreacting?
Even moreso because Buddyreally wasn't giving Mr. Incredible any other choice. It had been pointed out that Mr. Incredible tried to be polite and let him down easy on numerous occasions, but Buddy just wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.
Does Not Know His Own Strength: Mr. Incredible, but only when he's really stressed. Most of the time he's a complete aversion to this trope, even going so far as to perform delicate tasks and super-strength ones simultaneously.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: "It's time for their secret identity to become their only identity. Time for them to join us or go away." Also, Violet's dialogue during the dinner scene: "Normal? What do you know about normal? What does anyone in this family know about normal?! We act normal, I want to be normal!"
Do Wrong, Right: Dash gets sent to the principal's office for using his Super Speed to put a tack on the teacher's chair during class. His father is genuinely impressed, especially about how Dash went too fast to be picked up on video. At least as far as the others in the room were concerned, it was also an example of Comically Missing the Point.
Elemental Baggage: Frozone gets his ice by sucking moisture from the air and his body, but can somehow multiply it exponentially. A single sip of water lets him put a fridge-sized block around a guard.
Also, burning wood produces C02 and water. That burning building? Plenty of water around.
Subverted earlier in the film by Helen's warning to her children.
Everything's Cooler With Lava: Syndrome's island base includes a dining room with walls of flowing lava for decoration.
Evil Foreigner/Enemy Mime: Bomb Voyage, who dresses like a mime but speaks French and uses bombs instead of invisible walls. Combines a parody of supervillain tropes with an Incredibly Lame Pun and a Shout Out to Marcel Marceau. His original suggested names were worse: Bomb Perignon and Sacré Blew.
Evil Gloating: Parodied/discussed as the heroes mock the villainous habit of 'monologuing'. Syndrome even points out that Mr. Incredible nearly tricked him into a dangerous monologue.
Evil Laugh: Done by Syndrome after he thinks he's killed Bob's family. Lampshaded somewhat, but not as blatantly as the "hangings" so as not to distract from the seriousness of the scene. However, in the background, Bob is moving and it's only Mirage's quick action that saves Syndrome.
Also, he gives another one after revealing his full plan to the Parr family.
Evil Plan: Syndrome's in three steps: Lure the supers to their doom, pretend to be a super with technology and evil robots, profit by selling the technology to everyone and thereby making it impossible to be a super.
Edna is based on a real-life costume designer for Paramount, Edith Head. Compare Edna◊ and Edith◊.
If a place can be an expy, than the middle school that Violet attends is one for Corvallis High School in Corvallis, Oregon, where Brad Bird went to high school. This is down to them having the same mascot (the Spartans). However, since the high school building was torn down in 2005 and rebuilt, it's a little hard to see it now.
Faceless Goons: Though not voiceless. "Okay, every time one of them runs, take a shot." Not entirely faceless, either: Dash knocks the visor off of one in a fight. We even get a Reaction Shot of his face before he hits a cliff wall.
Family Unfriendly Death: Edna's description of the fates of various superheroes who wore capes (most got the cape snagged and broke their necks, although one was caught on a missile and another was sucked into a jet turbine). Syndrome shares that last one. Also, every time a hovercraft exploded with a Mook inside.
Foe Yay: Syndrome is beyond way obsessed with Mr. Incredible.
Foreshadowing: The entire "NO CAPES" sequence, which demonstrates the dangers of having a cape as part of the costume, specifically "Stratogale! April 23rd, '57! Cape caught in a jet turbine!"
Helen's supersuit being able to withstand missiles being fired upon it.
Frivolous Lawsuit: A ridiculous number of these end up forcing all superheroes into hiding.
From My Own Personal Garden: Mr. Incredible eats with Mirage, who points out how everything was grown on the island, thanks to the volcanic soil. This is before Mr. Incredible encounters Syndrome.
Funny Background Event: During the climactic fight against the Omnidroid, the family gets a hold of Syndrome's remote. After the Omnidroid uses a Rocket Punch to grab Mr. Incredible...
Dash:(pushes button) Mr. Incredible:(gets tossed into the air by the claw opening) Huuwaaugh!
After Lucius comes and gets Mr. Incredible, Jack-Jack can be seen in the back trying to eat the spit that Lucius froze.
Gadgeteer Genius: Syndrome. There seems to be no limit to what he can build; moving walls made of lava.
Genius Bruiser: Not explicit, but Mr. Incredible must be very intelligent to master the subtle ins-and-outs of Insuricare, which we see even before he outwits Syndrome's Omnidroid and goes for a delve in the computer network.
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man / Quit Your Whining: Edna, when Elastigirl breaks down after discovering her husband is on a tropical island in the middle of the ocean, assuming he's having an affair. Edna essentially tells her to go get him and kick his ass. (But it ends well.)
Edna: And call me when you get back, darling - I enjoy our visits.
Gone Horribly Right: The final version of Syndrome's Omni-Droid is so intelligent that it even recognizes its own remote control as a threat to be destroyed.
Harmless Freezing: During the jewelry store scene, Frozone encases a cop in a shroud of ice after the officer mistakes him and Mr. Incredible for burglars. When the cop's friends come in to check on him, he is frozen in place, but his eyes can still be seen moving around freely within the ice.
Hartman Hips: Elastigirl laments hers. Violet has a more teen-size version.
Hilarity Sues/Hero Insurance: One of the main causes for heroes hiding is the damage their battles caused to their surroundings. The immense destruction in the end battle is hardly mentioned, though.
Probably because pretty much all of it was caused by the Omnidroid itself. The only damages that could be reasonably pinned on the heroes were the office building Mr. Incredible was thrown through, the car Frozone was chucked onto, and the manhole cover Elastigirl pulled up.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Bob knocks Syndrome into his jet's intake by hurling a car at him — the one he bought when he was on Syndrome's payroll. Syndrome also got hoisted by making the OmniDroid smart enough to outwit him by destroying his controls.
Hollywood Law: Good Samaritan laws say someone who stops to help an injured person can't be held liable, and you certainly can't sue someone from stopping you from committing suicide. Mr. Incredible's insurance Boss, on the other hand, is going to be liable for serious bad faith in insurance lawsuits.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Played with when the Parrs are arguing. Worried that the hulking Bob yelling at his much smaller wife might lead to Unfortunate Implications, the writers realized that Helen can even the playing field by growing taller than that Bob.
Hyper Awareness: Stretching doesn't seem to be Helen's only power: she apparently have super-vision as well, as evidenced by noticing an incredibly tiny piece of rubble on Bob's clothes as well as the detailed stitching on Bob's old super-suit. Maybe her eyes can focus on tiny objects because their lenses are super-stretchy, like the rest of her body, oddly it fails when she manages to get herself stuck inside two closed doors (stretched between them). And though not foolproof, Bob's 'danger sense' (mentioned in his profile in the DVD extras) lets him anticipate imminent danger...including an angry wife!
I Just Want to Be Normal: Violet, until the Adrenaline Makeover makes her realize how awesome she is when she has confidence and uses her powers to help and protect her family.
I Just Want to Be Special: Syndrome, despite the fact that, through use of his incredible intelligence and advanced technology, could make himself a super without having to go into villainy.
Impairment Shot: Mr. Incredible's POV: Mirage walks in on him as his vision and consciousness are taken out by the squishy black things that hit him upon setting off Syndrome's intruder alert.
Improbable Parking Skills: Mr. Incredible first lands a falling van right on the highway, then proceeds to veer so sharply that it rolls over several times before stopping perfectly in a parking space.
Ink Suit Actor: Samuel L. Jackson animated as-is to create Lucius/Frozone. On a side note Mr. Incredible/Bob Parr's facial features are based on a cross between Craig T. Nelson's face and a greek hoplite's helmet.
Inspiration Nod: While the powers parallel with the Fantastic Four came about accidentally from the Personality Powers and the "superhero-as-family" parallel was inevitable since the FF codified it, they still gave it a nod by having the final villain The Underminer be a Captain Ersatz of the Fantastic Four's first villain The Mole Man.
Instant A.I., Just Add Water: The cover story for Mr. Incredible's first mission is that this had happened to the Omnidroid.
"I work alone." In a visual echo, the first time we see the family using their powers together, they are fighting with each other until interrupted by Frozone. The next time, they are fighting with Syndrome's goons until interrupted by Syndrome.
Elastigirl telling Dash the quote on the top of this page. Syndrome says the same thing when telling Mr. Incredible of his plan to sell his tech to the people.
Ironic Name: Parr means "average". Something the Parrs definitely are not.
Just Plane Wrong: Averted, as Helen's radio dialog is actually accurate.
Aside from the tail number (assuming, of course, that it was supposed to be an American-registered aircraft...)
Karma Houdini: Despite helping track down and murder dozens of superheroes, absolutely nothing happens to Mirage in the end, although she does help the Incredibles get back to the mainland.
The moment where Syndrome happily and unrepentantly shoots Mr. Incredible's children out of the sky, or so he thinks.
Before that, when it's revealed that he's been spending years murdering other supersjust to perfect the Omnidroid for his Monster Protection Racket. The movie leaves you in no doubt that Syndrome is eeeeeevil.
A good example of a specific Kick the Dog moment pulled by Syndrome was when he was willing to call Mr. Incredible's bluff, with Mirage's life on the line, effectively turning her against him.
When he decides to kidnap Jack-Jack not only so he'll have a hostage but so he can one day turn him against his own family.
While not nearly to the extent of Syndrome, Mr. Huph gets a pretty big one when he sees a man being beaten and mugged right outside his office window, then smiles and says "Let's hope we don't cover him!" And threatens to fire Bob if he tries to help.
Kubrick Stare: Attempted a few times by Syndrome, but it's nothing compared to Bob maintaining the look for the entire sequence with Mr. Huph and the robbery outside the building.
Lantern Jaw of Justice: There's nothing we can say about Mr. Incredible's chin that the picture at the top of the page doesn't. Syndrome has one as well, but he's evil.
"I am Syndrome, your nemesis! And... [inadvertently throws Mr. Incredible out of sight] oh,brilliant."
The Underminer shows signs of this as well.
"I am beneath you! But NOTHING is beneath ME!!!" "I hereby declare war on PEACE and HAPPINESS!"
Dash's teacher is a less super-villainous example:
"Coincidence? I think NOT!!!!
Larynx Dissonance: Director Brad Bird voices Edna. This wasn't originally intended, but producers thought his "scratch", or guidance performance, was good enough. This happens frequently at Pixar. According to commentary, Brad Bird initially wanted someone else (Lily Tomlin) to voice Edna Mode. When he called her and gave a demonstration of what he wanted the voice to sound like, she laughed and asked him what he needed her for. He already had the voice down!
Licensed Game: There are two: the one that is an action-adventure adaptation of the movie suitably stretched out on Nomanisan Island and starring the whole family, and a sequel beat-em-up game called Rise of the Underminer starring Mr. Incredible and Frozone.
Living Legend: At the start of the story, the supers are all Golden Age heroes and perfectly happy to be celebrities. This quickly bites them in the tush when normals start suing them.
Look Ma, No Plane!: The folly of doing this is shown during the "no capes" montage in which a female hero flying by a jetliner and waving at a kid is sucked into the engine when her cape gets caught.
Meaningful Echo: The page quotes, as paraphrased by Syndrome later on:
Syndrome: And when I'm old and I've had my fun, I'll sell my inventions so that everyone can have powers! Everyone can be super! And when everyone's super, (Evil Laugh) no one will be.
The Parr family. "Par" means average or adequate, contrasting with "Incredible". "Parr" can also be a homophone of "power", as in superpowers.
Violet can be taken to refer to ultraviolet light (which is beyond normal human visual acuity and is therefore invisible). Also, a "Shrinking Violet" refers to someone who is very shy or timid, which Violet tends to be until she Takes A Level In Badass.
Jack-Jack can be read as a reference to a jack of all trades, which he certainly appears to be.
Syndrome is Buddy "Pine", as in "I cry because I can't be your friend". In addition, he has the same initials as Mr. Incredible: Bob Parr and Buddy Pine.
Edna Mode: 'Mode' means 'fashion' in several languages.
Mirage.
Nomanisan Island (No man is an island), which ties into the film's themes of teamwork and family. Attempted in the Spanish translation, where the island is known as Isla Palos Locos ("Crazy Sticks Island", but can also be read as Isla Pa'los Locos, "Island For The Crazy").
A Million is a Statistic: Averted. The scene when Mr. Incredible learns that Syndrome has killed dozens of supers. None of them are established characters, but the scene is treated as appropriately horrific.
Mundane Utility: The Parr's homelife in a nutshell — especially Helen, who finds a way to apply her superpowers to nearly every household chore despite her oft-expressed desire to live a normal life. And, related to Power Perversion Potential, having an elastic body probably came in very handy during the pregnancies. (For that matter, a rubbery woman is the least likely for Bob to accidentally crush with his strength).
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: After Mr. Incredible throws out his back in his first fight against Syndrome's Omnidroid, the robot's attempt to pull him apart straightens his back right back out. Curb-Stomp Battle ensues.
Heck, Syndrome's whole plan, to bring Mr. Incredible out of retirement in order to kill him, makes him a better superhero now then he was in his prime, and bringing his whole family together makes them a formidable group.
No Export for You: For some reason, the "Vowellet" feature was omitted from the Region 2 DVD. Which is strange, given that this one movie is the only time most Europeans have heard of Sarah Vowell, the popular essayist and This American Life regular who voiced Violet, making this feature particularly important to Europeans.
No Flow in CGI: With one exception particular to this film: Violet's long hair required Pixar's engineers to write advanced custom software to get it right, and was one of the first challenges they tackled when making the film, since they knew they would need as much time as they could get to cope with unforeseen problems. The commentary discusses a scene where Edna reaches her hand through Incredible's old super suit and out the hole in the sleeve. It was not an easy task for the animators.
The creators also expressed their exasperation in the commentary for the scene where Elastigirl and the kids fall into the ocean.
No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Averted; it is explicitly shown that Syndrome put his Omnidroid through many prototypes so each new version could kill whichever superhero beat the old version.
No Such Thing As HR: While Bob does get in trouble for punching his boss through a wall, it's for using superpowers rather than, you know, punching his boss through a wall. Presumably the government had a hand in smoothing things over.
Not Now, Kiddo: Not now Dash. And Violet, you can set us free after Dad has his epiphany.
Not the Fall That Kills You: Averted. At the beginning, Mr. Incredible's attempt to stop a would-be jumper (when he's already fallen a good ten stories) is to stop his fall, hard. The jumper's neck ends up broken, and he sues Mr. Incredible for it. And at the end: when catching a falling Jack-Jack, Elastigirl stretches her arms out to slow down his velocity, before turning into a parachute.
Not Using the Z Word: The word "superhero" is hardly used, but instead they're called "supers".
Possibly because Marvel and DC claim a joint trademark (not copyright) on the former.
Not What It Looks Like: Mirage tells Bob his family survived Syndrome's missiles — right before Helen, who fears Bob was having an affair, walks in to rescue him.
Oh Crap: The Mook in the trailer gets a good one right before Mr. Incredible goes to town on his whole squad. Mr. Incredible gets one of his own in the film when the Omnidroid notices him with Syndrome's remote and promptly stomps on him.
Old Superhero: As a minor theme: Both Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible notice themselves getting out of shape, and Mr.Incredible puts himself through personal training to become physically fit again.
Only One Female Mold: A subtle background example. Edna Mode's design studio has three body type mannequins to model her clothes on: huge buff dude, medium-sized buff dude, and woman.
Our Demons Are Different: Okay, it's not really a demon, but at the end of the movie Jack Jack's powers include setting himself on fire, turning into heavy brimstone, and transforming into the freaking baby devil. It's probable they are homages to a famous superhero with similar powers, i.e., The Human Torch, Silver Surfer, and The Demon. Or he could just be an Expy of the Super-Skrull.
Outrun the Fireball: Dash had to use his Super Speed to get himself and Violet safely out of the cave when Syndrome launched his rocket.
"DON'T! [ducks punch] TOUCH! [ducks another grab/punch] MY! SISTER!"
Parental Bonus / Getting Crap Past the Radar: Quite a few, actually. Every single instance of Helen dragging Robert back into the house when he shaped up. Most obvious one, the scene where only her arms are to be seen...
Syndrome: You married Elastigirl? ... And got (shakes hips) BI-ZAY!
Frozone: (while Syndrome's robot is attacking the city) "We are talking about the greater good!" Honey: I am your WIFE! I am the greatest GOOD you're EVER going to get!"
Peek-A-Boo Corpse: Mr. Incredible unexpectedly comes face-to-face with the mortal remains of Gazerbeam while on the run from Syndrome.
Prisoner of Zenda Exit: Syndrome attempts a variation of this at the end of The Incredibles. It doesn't work, mostly because the hero isn't in the mood to just let him get away.
Prophetic Names: Dashiell Robert Parr, nicknamed "Dash." A speedster. Somebody really shoulda seen that coming.
Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: Dash uses speed to get a lot of blows on a Mook, who shrugs them off and punches Dash off of his glider with one blow. This turns out to be a good thing, as the glider then crashes.
Race Lift: Frozone in the special features' Clutch Cargo knockoff cartoon. He is furious about it.
Frozone: Wait a second, what's this? Is that me?... I'm white! They made me a white guy? Mr. Incredible: You're... You're... Black...ish... Frozone: They made me a white guy! Mr. Incredible: Well... Maybe the print's faded. You're tan. ...-ish? Frozone: Wait, wait, wait. Is that supposed to be me? I sound like a, a... A what? A beatnik! Yeah, that's it, I sound like a beatnik! Mr. Incredible: It was meant to sound cool! Frozone: Well, it doesn't sound cool, and it doesn't sound like me. I sound cool. And if it sounded like me, it would sound cool.
Reconstruction: While it has Deconstructive elements, it also turns the Tropes around, such as switching traits with heroes and villains, as well as correcting past mistakes.
Repetitive Name: Jack-Jack. (Well, he is a toddler, it's probably not his real name).
Retired Badass: Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible. For a while. She adapts pretty well, he's not so happy about it. Possibly also Edna, who is apparently doing ordinary fashion design with shows in Milan when Bob comes to see her. She leaps at the chance to design for "gods" again.
Scaled Up: The climax of the City of Incredibles arc of the comic has Shifty turn into a red dragon after being enhanced by the superpower virus, to take down the Incredibles and mutiny against his fellow supervillains.
Screams Like a Little Girl: Syndrome when Jack-Jack goes demon-baby, pulls out his hair. Also, just as he's about to die. Foreshadowed when Syndrome is taunting Mr. Incredible at his island base.
Self-Serving Memory: Syndrome guilts Mr. Incredible into thinking he was wrong to have rejected him as a sidekick.
Sequel Hook: The Underminer rises from below the city streets at the end of the film; the Parr family reacts by all masking up. Even Jack-Jack. Ultimately, The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer was made into a video game.
Dash vs. the speeders calls back the Star Wars speeder chase.
Oh and speaking of Star Wars, the scene where Mr. Incredible chokes Mirage for betraying him and having him locked up by Syndrome can be seen as a reference to Chewbaca choking Lando for betraying the Rebels to Darth Vader.
The call-sign of Helen's plane is "India Golf Niner-Niner", or "IG 99", referencing The Iron Giant, director Brad Bird's previous film. The Iron Giant — "I.G." — came out in '99.
Syndrome entitled his project "Kronos", which is the name of a 1957 film featuring a giant killer robot.
Not to mention, Kronos, in Greek Myth, is titled the 'all devouring' and eats his children, the Olympians (except for Zeus, of course), and in other words, killing. What do those Omnidroids (the all devouring,) do to the superheroes (the Olympians)? So, Kronos=Omnidroid, Olympians=Supers, and (in a way,) Zeus=Bob.
The interiors of Syndrome's base look like those of the "Liparus" and "Atlantis" in The Spy Who Loved Me, as well as Blofeld's volcano base in You Only Live Twice. The scene of Mr. Incredible leaning on the balcony railing is from Dr. No. Furthermore, Michael Giacchino's soundtrack would have fit perfectly in a James Bond film — the opening fanfare is The Jimmy Hart Version of the theme from On Her Majesty's Secret Service. (Brad Bird initially wanted John Barry himself to do the score, but he was unavailable.)
Many of the costumes on display in Edna Mode's studio are shout outs to Marvel super heroes, including Captain America, the Fantastic Four, and Crystal of The Inhumans.
The law banning supers is a Shout Out to the similar Keene Act in Watchmen.
Edna's "NO CAPES!" — along with the sequence showing how various supers have died as a result of snafus with their capes — is a Shout Out to Dollar Bill's cape-related death in Watchmen.
The rolling giant robot-ball and the closing flame curtains both recall Indiana Jones.
The mascot of the middle school that Violet attends — a Spartan — is the same as Brad Bird's high school, Corvallis High School. The design of the high school is also what CHS used to look like (it was bulldozed and rebuilt in 2005)
Elastigirl finds out her husband has been keeping secrets from her, doing hero-work behind her back, and follows him into enemy territory, determined to find him no matter what the obstacles or dangers involved, requiring her to stealthily sneak among troops of Mooks like a ninja — exactly what Marguerite Blakeney does in the Super HeroTrope CodifierThe Scarlet Pimpernel. *
Marguerite and Elastigirl also both have a daughter named Violet.
The ship that Syndrome's robot flies into the city in (and, to an extent, the robot itself) is modeled on Dr. Zin's "The Robot Spy" on Jonny Quest.
Also, Dash channels Little Mac in a fistfight with one of the goons on their speeder.
"You are my greatest adventure..." My Greatest Adventure was the DC comic that introduced the Doom Patrol.
Someone on Youtube commented to Mr. Incredible that "Freakazoid! wants his costume design back".
Syndrome mentions that the gloves that let him toss the cast around like ragdolls is powerd by Zero Point Energy (The Zero Point Energy Manipulator is the proper name of the Gravity Gun)
Sadly, unless Gabe Newell and Pixar cooperated with this one, it's pretty much not true. The Incredibles came out November 5th 2004. Half-Life 2 was released 11 days later.
"Zero point energy" is a common bit of Applied Phlebotinum right now in pop sci-fi (and superhero comics, which often draw heavily from the former), much like "radiation", "nanotechnology", and even "transistors" used to be.
Shown Their Work: Helen's radio-speak is realistic. In the commentary Brad Bird points out how Mark Andrews wrote the script using military language used in emergencies, and that Helen's voice actor (Holly Hunter) insisted on knowing exactly what everything she was saying meant. "VFR on top" indicates she is flying in the regime of Visual Flight Rules 'on top' of a cloud cover. She then requests vectors to the "initial", the initial landing approach. "Angels 10" is her altitude call - ten thousand feet. "Track east" is her current direction of travel from her current position. Her "buddy-spiked" mayday is US Air Force code, as a warning not to fire, given to an aircraft who has radar lock on a friendly - in this case, Helen was referring to the missiles she thought were fired by friendlies. "Transmitting in the Blind Guard" is a call on the emergency frequency where 2-way communication has not been established.
Sleep Cute: Non-romantic version, with bickering siblings Violet and Dash.
Small Annoying Creature: Mr. Skipperdoo, the rabbit sidekick from the in-universe cartoon "Mr. Incredible and Friends" included as a DVD extra.
Smug Super: Handsome Jack in the DVD bonus material.
Snow Means Cold: Averted; Frozone can't use his powers when the air is too arid.
The same scene establishes that he can use his powers provided he's getting moisture from somewhere; either the air around him, or his body's own reserves (except that there in that burning building, well, all the heat was making him dehydrated).
Of course, this has long been addressed in actual comics (for one, capes are easily detachable), and the real reason for "no capes" is that the animators didn't want to deal with cape physics and animation over the course of an entire film.
Super Registration Act: One of the main themes is the heroes being forced into hiding. However, it's notably given a twist in that the push comes, not from the government, but from the public. The supers are actually backed by Uncle Sam.
Superpowerful Genetics: Explains how a super-strong guy and a stretching woman give birth to a super-fast boy, a girl with invisibility powers, and a shapeshifter.
Takes One To Kill One: Nothing can pierce the Omnidroid's hull except its own claws.
Tanks For Nothing: When the spider droid first attacks, a bunch of tanks attempt to stop it. Futilely, of course.
Telepathic Sprinklers: After Bob's mysterious new job offer self-destructs. Smoke alarms sound, then all the sprinklers in the house go off. Dash in particular thinks it's awesome, but at least Bob is shown blow-drying soaked books afterwards.
Helen: THIS IS NOT! ABOUT! YOU! Dash: DON'T! TOUCH! MY! SISTER! Lucius: WHERE! IS! MY! SUPER! SUIT?!
Thou Shalt Not Kill: Completely averted. None of the Incredibles have any problem using deadly force in self-defense, and a lot of mooks die as a result.
Training Montage: Bob lifting train cars at the rail yard. Intercut with a lot of Crap Getting Past The Radar.
Trope Overdosed: In fact, by the time we stopped keeping track, it was the most trope overdosed stand-alone film, narrowly edging out The Princess Bride.
Two-Person Love Triangle: Subverted where Mr. Incredible flirts with Elastigirl before being distracted while on his way to his wedding. However, it turns out he is marrying Elastigirl's alter ego and both of them already know the other's superhero identity. Apparently they flirt in costume as if they don't know each other because they like it.
Tykebomb: It thankfully never happens, but Syndrome expresses interest in turning Jack-Jack into one.
Ungrateful Bastard: The citizens saved by supers sue over minor injuries incurred while saving their lives. Of course, it depends on how you look at it, which is the whole beginning of the movie: you can see it as the superheros saving people, but in the meantime, destroying half the city and hurting people accidentally along the way. In other shows, if the city is destroyed it's fine later, but this is giving it a more realistic touch, and that is this all costs MONEY.
Unwanted Rescue: Mr. Incredible gets sued for saving the life of a guy who was trying to commit suicide.
Walk on Water: Dash is quite surprised to discover his Super Speed enables this. How does he stop and turn the other way? Super Reflexes. And when he's surrounded by two flying Mooks? He stops in a panic, and instantly sinks.
The Walls Are Closing In: There's a visually similar scene, as Mr. Incredible races to get out from between two closing walls of lava.
Wasn't That Fun?: Invoked after their winnebago drops from a crushing altitude, lands on a crowded interstate, takes out half a dozen other cars, somersaults down the road, and stops in a vacant parking spot...
Mr. Incredible: Everyone okay back there? Violet: Super-duper, dad! Dash: Let's do that again!
When the supers are forced into retirement, the existing villains seem to disappear as well, and it's never explained what happened to them. It may be that the government did keep some of the supers fighting the good fight without the flashy codenames and costumes... just not the easily recognizable headliners like Mr. Incredible, of course. Or the military could take over. There was at least one fan fiction that explored that mouse, suggesting that at least some of the old villains joined the private sector.
Probably got boring when trying to take over the world when there isn't someone trying to stop you.
Also, Mirage disappears from the story after helping the family escape from Syndrome's lair. A recent issue of the comic book reveals she's working with the Agency that monitors the superheroes.
In the commentary, Brad Bird explicitly expresses that it was averted due to the prevailence of this trope in media set for kids by the Media Watchdogs, saying that he felt that such an attitude is more damaging to kids than helpful.
What Could Have Been: Pixar fans are to this day questioning about this one. While Brad Bird was working for Warner Bros, he pitched The Incredibles as a 2D animated film. But the lackluster performance of ''The Iron Giant;; canceled that. Wasn't Brad's fault blame the studio's poor choices. Animation fans as well as Pixar fans question on what would have happened if The Incredibles was made as a 2D film. At least it was Saved from Development Hell thanks to Pixar.
Xanatos Gambit: Syndrome's Omnidrones. He pits them against supers and benefits no matter what happens. If the heroes win, he can use the data from the fight to improve the Omnidrone until it wins, and by 'win' I mean 'kills the super'.
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