Acceptable Professional Targets: Mr. Huph, Bob's manager at Insuricare, is a callous jerk. On the DVD Commentary, Brad Bird reveals that the animator for the scene where Bob finally snaps on him begged for the job, and was probably working out some major issues.
Violet. Her crush shyness earns her this status. She even uses finger guns in an awkward situation.
Tony Rydinger. He seems pretty cool-headed in his introductory scene, but when it comes to asking Violet out for a date, he near-immediately starts fumbling over his words.
Mirage: a genuine case of Even Evil Has Standards who turns good due to horror at her boss' actions... or a smug Hypocrite who happily assisted Syndrome's murders before getting squeamish when she saw the results up close and then started to worry about her own neck rather than anything else?
Syndrome:
Was his ultimate goal of a world where "everyone's super" because he wants equality, or because of the chaos people would cause with super powers? Or just another way to spit on the real hero's graves, like his former hero Mr. Incredible? Syndrome's "when everyone's super... no one will be" suggests the latter.
Syndrome's mad obsession with killing Mr. Incredible is due to genuine hatred for being rejected as a partner, or is it a case of If I Can't Have You... towards his former idol?
During the famous "WHERE IS MY SUPER SUIT?!" scene, Frozone's wife refusing to disclose the location of the aforementioned suit while a giant robot is rampaging through town may or may not be Skewed Priorities. It depends on whether she knew of the robot or assumed he was going to intervene on something more minor, like a bank robbery.
In the scene where Mr. Incredible threatens to kill Mirage, did he actually expect Syndrome to release him? Or, "having nothing left to lose" as Syndrome put it, was he just under the mistaken impression that Syndrome actually cared about her, and wanted to cause him as much pain as he'd caused Bob, letting her go not out of mercy but because he realized Syndrome wouldn't actually care?
Since the movie is canonically set in the 60s, and yet Frozone seems to have no trouble being a black superhero, does this world lack the racism of the real 60s US? Or is it just that a combination of living in the Civil Rights Era and a New Yorkesque city make it easier for him than it would be for a black person in another time and place? He does seem to be the only black superhero (at least according to the NSA records), so perhaps in this universe, he’s some kind of barrier-breaking icon of 60s' progressiveness.
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Animation Age Ghetto: One of Pixar's most defiant efforts against it. Like the best animated films, children enjoy it for the superheroes and action, while adults enjoy it for the sophisticated story and high-stakes drama. Brad Bird did get in a little trouble with some parents who claimed the film was too scary for children of five or younger. He responded by asking why they were taking their five-year-olds to see it in the first place.
Angst? What Angst?: Despite their mother harshly admonishing them that Syndrome's henchmen will not hesitate to kill them given the chance, Dash and Violet barely seem to be frightened or upset by this possibility. Nor do they seem to be all that upset by the henchmen who they accidentally kill during the fight scenes (it was in self-defence, and most of the guys only died because of their own dumb mistakes, but you'd think children would have a more intense reaction to the deaths of dozens of adults, even antagonistic ones, in violent fashion right in front of them). Dash for his part seems to be running on constant adrenaline, while Violet is more focused on making sure her powers don't fail in a case of emergency.
Awesome Ego: Syndrome. As Buddy, his fanboy ego grew to almost going toe-to-toe with a real super-villain. As Syndrome, that ego swelled to gaining his own island, henchman, and ways of disposal.
Awesome Music: Michael Giacchino's score in this film is, well...incredible. Many tracks use saxophones and trumpets to emulate scores from classic James Bond-style spy films, making them jazzy and energetic. Some special mentions go to the main theme, "100 Mile Dash", which plays during Violet and Dash's escape from Syndrome's goonies; and "Kronos Unveiled", a haunting theme that gets louder and louder as Bob realizes what Syndrome has done to many of his former friends.
Best Known for the Fanservice: Helen Parr's curvaceous figure and skin-tight super suit has made her one of the film's most memorable highlights. Special mention goes to the scene where she checks herself out in the mirror.
While it ends up costing his job and screwing him over even further, Bob sending his Jerkass of a boss flying through several brick walls after screwing his clients over and forcing Bob from stopping a mugging was immensely satisfying to say the least.
After all the atrocities Syndrome has committed, him getting clobbered by Jack-Jack was both hilarious and satisfying. And if that wasn't enough, he also gets caught in the jet turbine of his own place after Mr. Incredible throws his own car at him, resulting in Syndrome getting killed instantly, which itself is also a pretty cathartic death for such a vile villain like him.
Complete Monster: Syndrome was once Buddy Pine, an aspiring hero seeking fame and fortune, who became outraged at all Supers when his "idol", Mr. Incredible, ceased his attempts at being a hero for his own safety. Decades later, Syndrome enacts his revenge, as he creates the "Omnidroid," a Super killing machine that he uses to massacre Supers he lures in to duel it under the illusion it is simply a rogue robot. Upon capturing and torturing Mr. Incredible—notably forcing him to listen as his wife and children are seemingly killed by Syndrome's forces—Syndrome unveils his master plan to launch the Omnidroid into a highly-populated city, have it target innocents at random, then swoop in and "save the day" to become the greatest hero in the world. When the Incredibles foil this plan, Syndrome makes one last attempt to spitefully ruin the family by kidnapping their infant child, Jack-Jack, and raising him to be a supervillain.
Crosses the Line Twice: The montage of all the Supers who died thanks to their capes, and later Syndrome because of his cape.
Draco in Leather Pants: There are many fans that downplay Syndrome as a Psychopathic Manchild by justifying his behavior with "being let down by his superhero idol" or his "technology vs. super power struggle". These all ignore the cold disregard for life he repeatedly shows in murdering supers, launching missiles at Helen's plane with two children aboard, his Engineered Heroics scheme that put innocent civilians in harm's way, or stealing Jack-Jack from his family.
Edna Mode became a very popular character due to her eccentric personality and being responsible for some of the film's funniest and most memorable quotes.
Frozone's wife Honey, likely due to her part in one of the best scenes in the film. Not bad for a character we never saw on screen.
Stratogale gets discussed a lot and even has fanworks despite being on-screen for less than ten seconds in the "No Capes" speech. Her being a Kid Heroine who died young combined with the violent nature of her death makes her a frequent source of Tearjerkers.
There's also Kari, the babysitter from the "Jack-Jack Attack" short that ended up a Badly Battered Babysitter, likely for the fact that she managed to handle a baby dealing with Power Incontinence without serious injury.
Bomb Voyage has gained quite a bit of popularity for his gimmick and Gratuitous French dialogue.
Many of the heroes who were listed as fighting the Omnidroids have a decent amount of fan fiction and/or fan art. Some standouts are Blazestone ( a Motor MouthBoxed Crook once in a Fire/Ice Duo with Frozone), Macroburst (for being the first to defeat an Omnidroid and for being described as androgynous and lacking a gender specification in their NSA file. note It's never made clear if this was a deliberate gender identity statement or an accidental side effect of their wind powers powers constantly obscuring their voice and altering their hairstyle. Also their gender was confirmed to be male in the 2018 Lego Incredibles game.), Hypershock (for his design and powers in general), Gamma Jack (in a Love to Hate way) and Stormicide (for some interesting powers, a good design and some of the humor in her NSA file).
Fanfic Fuel: What were the fights like between the retired heroes and Syndrome's prototype droids? How did Gazerbeam figure out Syndrome's password? What was the world like during the golden age of superheroics? What happened to all of the supervillains?
Many a fan is convinced that Syndrome somehow survived being sucked into a jet turbine, largely so they can bring him back for shipping purposes.
Some fans think/hope that perhaps some of the supers defeated by the earlier omindroids survived (after all, Gazerbeam is the only one whose disappearance is specifically commented on) and kept what happened a secret due to how they could have been arrested for hero activity.
Of the Heroes killed by Cape malfunctions, there's Splashdown, given how he's only listed as presumed dead in his NASA file and had a potentially survivable death of being just sucked into a vortex.
Disney now owns both Pixar and Marvel Comics and has a solid chance to deliver a truly good Fantastic Four movie.
Violet is worried that their parents' lives — or worse, their parents' marriage — were in trouble. Dash, incredulous, looks at her and snarks that the villains are out to dissolve their parents' marriage. Three years later, One More Day happens in Spider-Man.
The teacher who calls Dash "a little rat" is played by the same actor who later played Linguini in Ratatouille.
The device that conveys Mirage's video message to Bob has an uncanny resemblance to an iPad which wasn't publicly released until six years later and even predates the iPhone by three years.
In the NSA files on the second disk, one of the former superheroes, Gamma Jack, is labelled as prone to tyrannical and megalomaniacal tendencies, and judging by what else was in it, he was borderline villainous himself. The kicker? His original superhero name was Handsome Jack.
Edna Mode warns superheroes of the perils of Cape Snag. 12 years later, Doctor Strange (2016) features the Cloak of Levitation, a sentient cape that's smart enough to avoid that problem and even protects the hero.
The series has often been compared to Team Fortress 2, and Especially comparing the Demoman to Frozone. 13 years later, Frozone's super suit headpiece has been added into the game as a Demoman cosmetic item.
In Episode 6, of the 2021 series WandaVision, "The Incredibles" appears on the movie marquee in the town-square and that nod continues in Episode 9, when Wanda, Vision and the children strike a battle ready pose very similar to one taken by the Parr family on Syndrome's island in as seen here◊.
It Was His Sled: Jack-Jack has superpowers. This is such a not-spoiler that it factors majorly into practically all of the advertisements and trailers for the sequel.
Genocidal Big Bad or not, people tend to be fascinated by Syndrome's style and characterization.
For an example in the bonus features rather than the film itself, Gamma Jack comes across as a borderline Hate Sink in the NASA Files, but his name, powers, defeat of a past Omnidroid and a bit of humor in his Audio File make him memorable and notable to fans.
And when everyone/everything is X... nothing/no one will be!
A still frame from the scene when Syndrome talks to Kari, which shows him with the caption, "YOU DENSE MOTHERFUCKER", has been used to react to instances of What an Idiot!.
One in the form of a dialogue:
Me: [unpopular opinion] Someone else: Yeah, [disturbing and extreme version of this opinion]— Me: You're not affiliated with me.◊
Bomb Voyage's Big Entrance is often used at the end of videos involving explosions.
"I can't. Not again. I'm not...strong enough", used in situations where something bad returns/happens again
"Shut the fuck up. Please shut the fuck up" Explanation Taking the scene where Mr. Incredible says "I can't. Not again. I'm not...strong enough", and replacing the captions with these sentences. Mr. Incredible's expression can easily be interpreted as sheer burnt-out exhaustion with the speaker's bullshit
"[Name], [date], [cape-related incident]! NO CAPES!"
Mr. Incredible responding "Yeah, I got time" to the possibility of performing activities that are usually either totally minor or hilariously obscene.
Became subject to Snowclones when this particular image is captioned with "When you got time"... with that caption eventually being captioned with "When you got time"... and that caption being also captioned with "When you got time"... and so onand so on◊.
"What are you waiting for?" "I don't know. Something amazing, I guess." "Me too, kid." explanation A conversation between Mr. Incredible and tricycle kid. People will usually replace "Something amazing" with the thing they're waiting for.
Coincidence? I think NOT! Explanation Dash's teacher filmed his classroom to prove Dash had been putting thumbtacks on his seat. The only movement Dash makes(that's caught on film) is a minor head movement. The teacher insists that there was no tack on his seat before Dash moved, and then when he moved there was a tack, closing with the aforementioned line. This became a common line for any matter of conspiracy theories or Insane Troll Logic.
We get there WHEN WE GET THERE! Explanation A line used to indicate that the poster was in the middle of telling a long and winding story about how they did something illicit for a petty reason, when the listener asks why they did it to begin with.
Mr. Incredible learns the truth Explanation The scene where Mr. Incredible logs into Syndrome's computer and discovers his plans for Project: Kronos and all of the superheroes he killed with the Omnidroid, remixed and used as an exploitable with different characters replacing the deceased Supers and often representing how they are Put on a Bus, to the dismay of Mr. Incredible.
"And now, you have officially carried it too far, Buddy."Explanation Mr. Incredible's reaction to Buddy going way overboard with his hero worship and declaring himself Mr. Incredible's ward, used as a reaction image/quote for anything that one considers excessive. This line experienced a particular resurgence during the COVID-19 pandemic, directed at the virus itself for cancelling/delaying far, far too many things to count and infecting popular figures and even pet dogs.
This still image◊ of Bob on his computer has gained traction similar to the one with Coraline's dad. Basically, it's used to represent internet dwellers or website mods.
Memetic Psychopath: Some people like to joke about Dash being a potential supervillain in the making due to the ridiculously high body count he racks up among Syndrome's velocipod troops during their pursuit of him. Granted, almost all of them got themselves killed due to their own stupidity, but Dash barely, if at all, seems to find the deaths of all these people distressing.
Moe: All three of the Parr children. Violet for being a Shy, awkward but cute teen girl, Dash for being an energetic and goofy kid who loves pranks and is eager to compete in sports, and Jack-Jack because he is a cheerful baby.
One-Scene Wonder: One badass henchman on the island who fights Violet while managing to avert all the bad tropes generally associated with Mooks particularly the way he responds intelligently to Violet's invisibility.
"Seinfeld" Is Unfunny: In terms of animation technology; this movie marked nothing less than a breakthrough in animating believably stylized humans with CGI, but when paired with its sequel (which took advantage of 14 years of advancements in character rigging and texture, motion and environment rendering), it looks considerably dated.
The most popular couplings, Syndrome/Violet and Mirage/Violet, are very nonsensical. The former for being a hero/villain pairing with an adult/minor age gap. The latter in that it's also a hero/villain pairing with an adult/minor age gap, plus the fact that they never appear on-screen together in close proximity.
Among the minor Supers, there's Stratogale/Macroburst (for those who don't see Macroburst as a homosexual man).
Despite being of very little importance to the plot, Elastigirl getting herself stuck through a series of doors while infiltrating Syndrome's base is one of the most well-known moments in this film. The scene is hailed for displaying her powers (and some Fanservice) in a creative way while also being outrageously funny.
The scene where Mr. Incredible looks up supers on Syndrome's computer and discovers that they're all dead is also a very well-known scene, if only for just how dark it is for a Pixar film.
Team Fortress 2 is often compared to this film, as they share a similar art style, a saxophone-dominant score, and are both set in the late 60s-early 70s.
Because the film features a family of superheroes facing off against an evil genius with a grudge, it is often considered a vastly superior movie adaption of the Fantastic Four to any ofthe officially licensedmovies. Cracked even referred to it as "more faithful to the comics than the actual Fantastic Four movie." It helps that most of the Four's powers are replicated.
Suspiciously Similar Song: As noted above, Michael Giacchino's soundtrack for this movie is an homage to John Barry's James Bond scores. Brad Bird initially wanted Barry to score this movie, and used Barry's theme from On Her Majesty's Secret Service in the teaser trailer, and used the Propellerheads remix in the actual trailer. When Giacchino was hired after Barry turned out to be unavailable, the opening fanfare for the theme he wrote closely resembles the OHMSS theme.
Uncanny Valley: The background characters. Unlike the main and supporting characters who all have cartoonish designs, everyone looks rather lifeless and bland; including Violet's crush Tony.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Mirage. While she's shown to have standards like not wanting children to be killed when Helen's plane is targeted by a missile, she still had no problems with being an accomplice to and assisting in many murders (via leading superheroes to the island to be killed). Hell, one of superheroes she lead to be killed on the island was Gazerbeam who Bob knew personally. Not only that but she also lied to Bob about everything. All of these actions make her a rather smug hypocrite because when she finally decides to work against Syndrome, it's only after her own life was at risk. Unfortunately, unlike Syndrome and his men (who were all killed), she never suffered any consequences for her actions nor does the film address them and she's Easily Forgiven in the end.
Viewer Name Confusion: As well as people assuming the family's last name is "Incredible", some people believe the mother's superhero name is "Mrs. Incredible" because her husband's name is Mr. Incredible. Actually, it's Elastigirl. The only time she's referred to as such is when Mirage says, "You must be Mrs. Incredible", but Elastigirl responds by punching her in the face. It doesn't help that a lot of merchandise for the first film refered to the character as "Mrs. Incredible" due to copyright issues stemming from the fact that DC has a character named Elasti-Girl.
Bob loses his position at the insurance company. He doesn't reveal this to Helen, or that he's accepted another job with a private employer that knows his secret identity. The new job pays triple his previous salary, which allows him to pretend to still be employed at Insuricare and that he's working his way up the ranks while allowing him to moonlight as a superhero. You'd Expect: If he wants to keep up the deception then he'd provide some kind of updated contact information for when he goes to the island to moonlight so he can be reached in an emergency. Instead: Bob never tells Helen or gives her updated contact information, which he admits that, in hindsight, he should have. When Syndrome tries to kill him, he has no way of calling for backup, since Helen was also a hero and a pilot. As a result, Helen finds out much later that he lost his job and has no way of contacting him. Edna Mode tells her to activate the tracking device in his new suit, which causes Bob to get caught.
After Syndrome gambles with Mirage's life, it leads to her Heel–Face Turn. She goes to free Mr. Incredible, who has spent the night in his restraints thinking that his entire family died. You'd Expect: She would remember that she isn't the most trustworthy person to him after she lied to him about everything. She should lead with the information that his family's alive, and keep a safe distance away after freeing him. Instead: She frees Mr. Incredible first, goes straight to him, and whispers for him to move fast before they're both caught. The Result: Mr. Incredible strangles her in a grieving rage before she can tell him his family's alive. It's only Mr. Incredible's innate goodness that keeps him from snapping her neck immediately, giving her a chance to gasp out that his family is still alive.
Syndrome unleashes the Omnidroid V10 against Metroville so he can swoop in and "save the day" You'd Expect: He would have planned and rehearsed this "fight" back on the island to make it look impressive. Additionally, he would have included a failsafe in the Omndroid's programming so it can't recognize its remote control as a threat and actually attack him. Instead: He just shows up and starts winging it, resulting in a lame display of super-heroics and him relying on the remote control in his gauntlet to give him the advantage over the Omnidroid. The Result: With no restrictions placed on the Omnidroid, it treats Syndrome as a full-fledged enemy and quickly analyzes his attack. Once it identifies his remote control as a threat, it blasts it off his wrist and proceeds to try and shoot him out of the air. Because he has no field experience as a superhero, Syndrome flees in panic, and slams into a building, knocking him out and completely ruining his Engineered Heroics scheme.
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Onscreen attempted suicide, family-unfriendly violence and death up the wazoo, a pointedaversion of the villains being unwilling to harm children, Helen's obvious suspicions Bob is having an affair and numerous innuendos besides, all topped off with a complex plot markedly more intense than anything Pixar had ever released at that point? Brad Bird even got in trouble with parents concerned that the subject material was too intense for their young kids — to which Brad Bird asked why they were even taking kids that young to see this movie in the first place.
In the Brazilian dub, the names of almost every character are changed to their Portuguese language equivalent. The exceptions are Mirage, whose original name is kept in order to make her more exotic; and Dash, who is called Flecha (meaning "arrow", but pronounced "Flash-ah").
In the Polish dub, the translators had to get creative in order to translate the title into something that starts with an "i" and still at least vaguely means the same thing as the original. What they ultimately went with was "Iniemamocni", as a play on the phrase "i nie ma mocnych" which roughly translates to "And There's Nobody Strong Enough" (strong enough to stand against the Incredibles, that is).
The wheel tank miniboss, which is already a long and tedious fight, is fought a total of five times, two of which are back-to-back. Even worse, literally nothing about the fights change - there isn't anything differentiating the first time you fight it with the fifth time you fight it.
The Omnidroid's second fight also counts, as the only thing separating it from the first fight is that it's surrounded by mine-infested water instead of lava and has one attack that's not present in the first fight.
The Problem with Licensed Games: Unlike most of Disney's games, this one has a more divisive reception. While it has a good sense of presentation and can be fun at times, it can also be boring, tedious, repetitive, and frustrating.
That One Level: Violet's level. It's a stealth level where you have to use her invisibility to sneak around the guards on the island, but your invisibility can only be used for a brief period of time before it's depleted and needs to be refilled. A fine idea in concept... if your invisibility meter didn't deplete in literal seconds, ensuring that you'll die multiple times throughout the level. Even worse, the checkpoints are spaced out so far that you're barely able to hit them before you die. Even the Unlimited Invisibility cheat doesn't work, as that eventually gets depleted as well. Overall, the level is a chore to get through and guarantees that you'll spend a solid half-hour getting through it.
Underused Game Mechanic: As implied above, Violet only gets one level in the game, compared to every other family member who gets multiple (not that that's a bad thing). In addition, one other level has you playing as Dash inside Violet's force field like a lifesize pinball table, another mechanic which only gets used in this one stage.
