Seeing as this blog is about 30% rehashing, 24% fanfiction, 1% super-apes, and 50% education on how comic books have effected society and vise-versa, I'd be doing us all a disservice if I didn't talk about Disney/Pixar's "The Incredibles". And with a sequel announced, now might be a good a time as ever to praise this love letter to comic books.
Released in 2004, written and directed by Brad Bird, "The Incredibles" is a homage to early comic books and the superhero genre as a whole. Not only that, but this film also succeeds as a spy film, as an action film, as a family film, and as a comedy film. Now, let me break this open a bit. Modern day comic books have been around for roughly seventy-six years, I am of twenty years of age (twenty-one in October) and in all my time reading comics, researching, watching movies and shows, and playing video games, I've never seen a plot like "The Incredibles" in anything comic book related. Closest comparison I can give is a mix between "Watchmen" and "The Fantastic Four". One could say "The Incredibles" is the best Fantastic Four movie ever. Insert laugh track. The plot itself revolves around superheroes being outlawed for all the collateral damage they caused, and in the present Mr. Incredible has raised a family with former hero Elastigirl. As Bob and Helen, they raise three kids (Dash, Violet, and Jack Jack) and live mundane civilian lives. When the offer comes to become a hero once again, Bob leaps at the opportunity and gets a job as a superhero robot-destroyer. Other characters like Edna Mode, Frozone, and Mirage appear as secondary characters. Helen and her family go after Bob and we meet our villain Syndrome, who was once an eager kid who wanted to be Mr. Incredible's sidekick. After being rejected over and over, he became a villain planning on selling weapons so that he can make everyone "super". And when everything is "super", nothing is "super". Yadda yadda-superhero family fights bad guy-yadda yadda-bad guy dies and society embraces heroes again-yadda yadda-sequel bait. A combination of story ideas that build an original story, who have the themes of "Watchmen" with a villain mixture of Red Hood and Lex Luthor, and the family aspect of The FF.
The early days of Mr. Incredible are a homage to The Golden Age of comics (40's-50's) and the present day of the film is a homage to The Silver Age (60's-70's) so it stands to reason that this sequel may play with The Dark Age (80's-90's) or the modern, more merchandised, comic books of today. The first movie left a lot of elbow room for possible stories, but Brad Bird has stated the family is the most important part of the story. In realtime its been eleven years since the first film, so maybe the sequel with place Dash and Violet in their early twenties. Or maybe it'll be the next generation of The Incredibles. Who knows!? That's the best part about films like this. The possible parodies and plays on the comic book genre are unlimited, and if the sequel is anything like this film it will enjoyed by kids, adults, and families of all ages. A lovely bow on comic book history, "The Incredibles" help push superheroes into the modern age of notoriety.
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