History WesternAnimation / TheIncredibles

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[[caption-width-right:350:''[[{{Tagline}} Save the day]].'']]

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[{{Tagline}} Expect the incredible]].'']]

''The Incredibles'' is Creator/{{Pixar}}'s sixth feature film, released in 2004, an [[AffectionateParody affectionately parodic]] DeconReconSwitch of the {{superhero}} genre, happily [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] on many conventions. Its {{plot}} bears a resemblance to ''ComicBook/{{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 ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' -- with tons of BlackComedy besides. It marks two firsts for the studio: their first with humans as the main characters and their first to be helmed by an out-of-studio filmmaker, Creator/BradBird.

Following a court ruling finding the [[SuperStrength Superstrong]] Mr. Incredible culpable for damages and the resulting series of lawsuits, the [[SuperRegistrationAct Super Relocation Act]] was enacted and all superheroes have been forced into retirement. Mr. Incredible and the [[RubberMan stretching]] Elastigirl are now just Bob and Helen Parr. They have a quiet life in the suburbs [[NuclearFamily with an ordinary house, a normal job and 3 children]]: disruptive and [[SuperSpeed superfast]] Dash, [[ShrinkingViolet shy]] Violet (who can turn [[{{Invisibility}} invisible]] and project [[BarrierWarrior force fields]]), and baby Jack-Jack, who seems to have no powers. In other words, they are a ''very'' rough equivalent of the ComicBook/FantasticFour. They're not really happy with the situation, but they don't have a choice.

When Bob gets an offer from a mysterious woman named Mirage to relive his GloryDays and help out a high-tech facility gone wrong, he [[JumpedAtTheCall 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 DiabolicalMastermind with an EvilPlan and a KillerRobot.

* InterfaceSpoiler: The DVD subtitles reveal the name of Mr. Incredible's mysterious paymaster before he's properly introduced (Mr. Incredible only observes him in shadow at the time and speaking quietly enough to Mirage that he can't hear what's being said, although the subtitles reveal that too, even going as far as saying "Syndrome (faintly)"!)

'''Dash:''' Which is another way of saying no-one is.\\

* HollywoodLaw: Zig-zagged. Generally "Good Samaritan" laws would protect individuals from prosecution or lawsuits for damages or injuries that occur when responding to a crime or disaster. However, the movie does state that the lawsuit made it to "Superior Court" implying a possible reevaluation of those laws with regards to superpowered individuals because of the higher level of destruction they can cause. However, the "ruined suicide" lawsuit would have been dismissed at the outset, because during the implied time-frame of the setting, suicide would've been considered a felony.

* ImpracticallyFancyOutfit: On the other side of the coin, Edna Mode in-universe believes that "capes" turn an outfit into this. A cape may ''look'' cool, but it can snag on practically anything; the best that a super could hope for is a quick NeckSnap. For that reason, her only standard is "No capes!" Bob tries to argue when he's modeling for a new suit, but she shuts him up by mentioning half a dozen supers by name that died due to a CapeSnag, including some who didn't get a quick death. Syndrome proves her point correct, as he dies when his cape gets snagged in his own jet turbine.

* NeckSnap: Possibly what happened to Dynaguy when his cape snagged during takeoff, given that's where capes attach.

** Syndrome has numerous ones when he attempts to kidnap Jack-Jack: first when Jack-Jack sets himself on fire, then when Jack-Jack turns metal and weighs him down, then when Jack-Jack turns into a demonic imp and tries to throttle him before damaging his rocket boots and finally, when he's about to be minced by the jet turbine.

** Syndrome has one when he's about to be minced by the jet turbine.

* SuperSpeed: This is Dash's core power. He is shown to be fast enough to pull a prank on camera and barely register a blur. Later when evading Syndrome's mooks he is shown being fast enough to run on water. [[note]] Unfortunately that's not really very fast. Scientists have calculated that a human would only have to be able to run 30 meters/second to run across water, which is a somewhat disappointing 67 mph.[[/note]]

** When Mr. Incredible fights the first Omnidroid in the volcano cave, he manages to toss the robot into a pool of lava and thinks he has won. Moments later, it effortlessly climbs out of the lava lake with magma dripping off of it. It emerges with orange-hot armor but cools in seconds (this part might be justified - given how many superheroes have heat vision, fire creation, or any number of powers that would heat or burn an opponent, it makes sense Syndrome would build it out of heat-resistant materials, along with a top-of-the-line cooling system).

-->'''Helen''': Remember the bad guys, on those shows you used to watch on [[SaturdayMorningCartoon Saturday mornings]]? Well, these guys are not like those guys. They won't exercise restraint [[WouldHurtAChild because you're children]]. [[PunctuatedForEmphasis They. Will. Kill you]] if they get the chance. Do NOT give them that chance.

-->'''Helen:''' Remember the bad guys, on those shows you used to watch on Saturday mornings? Well, these guys are not like those guys. They won't exercise restraint because you're children. ''They. Will. Kill. You.'' if they get the chance. Do '''not''' give them that chance.

* HollywoodLaw: Zig-zagged. Generally "Good Samaritan" laws would protect individuals from prosecution or lawsuits for damages or injuries that occur when responding to a crime or disaster. However, the movie does state that the lawsuit made it to "Superior Court" implying a possible reevaluation of those laws with regards to superpowered individuals because of the higher level of destruction they can cause. However, the "ruined suicide" lawsuit should have been dismissed at the outset because suicide is illegal.

* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler:Helen assumes that the Screenslaver is a man, and at first, she seems to be proven right when she unmasks the Screenslaver, revealing a nervous young man in the costume. However, it turns out he was just a decoy, and Evelyn Deavor was the actual Screenslaver the whole time.]]

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: The AmbiguousTimePeriod of the film pins most of the movie somewhere TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture to TheSixties or TheSeventies, both before and after the TimeSkip. With this in mind, the movie leaves out a lot of the ValuesDissonance the time period would have had. Female superheroes and heroes of color seem to hold equal standing with their white/male counterparts, with no preferential treatment ever being stated or implied either by the public or by the NSA. Edna Mode -- a non-conventionally attractive, biracial Japanese-German woman -- is fabulously wealthy and has a standing both in the public and private sector in both an America and Europe right after the heels of WW2. The closest to we see to any DeliberateValuesDissonance is in ''WesternAnimation/MrIncredibleAndPals'', where Frozone is given equal billing to the rabbit sidekick and is portrayed by a white actor and speaks in painfully dated jive, something the real Frozone understandably finds offensive.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The way the interviews and news were done in the '60s were how interviews and news were done in RealLife as well.

* LicensedGame: There are three: The [[VideoGame/TheIncredibles action-adventure adaptation]] of the movie suitably stretched out on Nomanisan Island and starring the whole family, a sequel beat-em-up game called ''[[VideoGame/TheIncrediblesRiseOfTheUnderminer Rise of the Underminer]]'' starring Mr. Incredible and Frozone, and ''VideoGame/LEGOTheIncredibles''.

* HateSink: The audience can't hate Syndrome due to him falling into the LikableVillain category, but unless you have lived a very charming life, you can hate someone like Gilbert Humph, a selfish CEO more interested in helping his own people than his clients. Yes, compared to Syndrome, people like Humph are very common to come by in real life.

** When trying to remember Buddy's name, Mr. Incredible's first guess is [[Film/{{Mallrats}} Brody]].

[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Tagline}} Expect the incredible]].]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Tagline}} Expect the incredible]]]]

* HeroismAddict: Syndrome's EvilPlan is a textbook example of ''hero syndrome'', creating a threat that only he could stop so that he could reap the admiration of being a superhero (and make a profit in the long run). His villain name might even be an [[MeaningfulName intentional nod]] towards this.

** Syndrome's EvilPlan begins and ends with his ego and personal vengeance. In hindsight, this was probably his real motivation as a child, too; he wanted to be special and save the day. When Bob points out that he killed real heroes just so he could pretend to be one, Syndrome [[EvilCannotComprehendGood assumes]] he's talking about his lack of superpowers, not being a mass murderer [[HeroismAddict for the sake of his own ego]]. It's also telling his plan to make everyone super so no one is once he's had his fun ''still'' involves selling them and making money.

** Mr. Incredible theorises that the Omnidroid he was hired to stop is rebelling because it got "smart enough to wonder why it had to take orders". He's wrong that time, but the improved Omnidroid v10 actually is smart enough to rebel against Syndrome and stop taking his orders near the end of the movie.