Helen Parr (superhero name Mrs. Incredible, formerly Elastigirl) is a fictional character created by director Brad Bird for the 2004 animated film The Incredibles produced by Pixar. She is the wife of Mr. Incredible, also known as Bob Parr. The character’s voice is provided by actress Holly Hunter. She is referred to as Mrs. Incredible on the tie-in merchandise for the film and at one point in the film itself (almost), presumably due to the existence of DC Comics’ Elasti-Girl character, whose alterego, coincidentally or not, is named Rita Farr.
The movie
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Elastigirl gets introduced to the audience as a lithe superheroine (or “super”) who is able to stretch herself (a la Plastic Man or Reed Richards, also known as Mr. Fantastic of Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four) in excess of 30 m (98 ft).
Later, she marries Mr. Incredible, taking his last name ˜Parr’ (her maiden surname is unknown), and having three children: Violet (who has the powers of force fields and invisibility), Dash (who has the power of speed), and Jack-Jack (who has a multitude of thematically unrelated powers).
Later, all supers are soon outlawed after Mr. Incredible is sued for saving a man who wanted to commit suicide. Mr. Incredible was sued because the rescue involved catching the suicidal man in mid-air while he was falling from a skyscraper, thus smashing him through a window and injuring his neck. This puts an end to the super-career of Elastigirl and other supers for the next fifteen years. Elastigirl, as Helen Parr, then becomes a homemaker with a sharp personality that keeps the Parr family together as they adjust to a normal life.
Helen realizes the change is more difficult on her husband Bob, who sneaks out trying to solve crimes with his friend, Lucius Best (also known as Frozone) after listening to police scanners. Frozone and Mr. Incredible sneak out on Wednesdays by saying they are going bowling. This causes fights between Helen and Bob, as Helen has retired from her superhero days and is now more concerned about family. Bob, however, wants to relive the glory days.
After getting fired from work (for an incident which left his boss Gilbert Huph hospitalized), Bob works with Mirage and helps her with his super powers. He fools Helen into thinking that he is still working at his original job. Later, Helen cleans her husband’s room and finds a piece of platinum blond hair on his clothes. When she hears her husband talking on the phone to a woman (Mirage), she becomes even more suspicious, finally learning that he is in danger.
After she goes to Edna Mode and obtains her and her family’s new supersuits, she goes off to save Bob. She borrows a jet from her long-time friend Snug Porter, but eventually catches Violet and Dash stowing away, already in their own supersuits (they wondered who made them and what they were doing in the house). The three are nearly annihilated in what Helen initially considers to be a friendly fire incident. During the episode, Helen orders Violet to put up a force field around the entire jet, but Violet briefly objects (Helen told the children not to use their powers). Vi is too nervous and uncertain to create a big enough force field, finally forcing Helen to use her elastic form and protective costume to shield the children from the explosion, but is very briefly knocked unconsciouss. She recovers just in time to turn herself into a parachute for the children. She then transforms into a lifeboat, with Dash as the outboard propeller. Upon reaching Nomanisan Island, where Bob is being held, not only does she have to bolster Violet’s confidence by telling her that she has more power than she realizes and that she just has to believe it, but she also has to warn both Violet and Dash that the bad guys that the two will be fighting are even more merciless than the ones in Saturday morning cartoons, and for once she allows Dash to run as fast as he can. She then leaves the two in the cave where they are staying (unfortunately, the cave soon turns out to be a rocket exhaust tube, as the children find out when they are nearly incinerated, forcing the children to sleep in the jungle) and goes off to rescue Bob.
On the way to the prison cell holding Bob, she grabs onto an overhead monopod (and sees the aircraft hangar through which the family will escape with an RV and a rocket), but is almost run over by another. She sees another rocket holding a battle robot codenamed the Omnidroid 9000, the lift-off of which almost annihilates Violet and Dash. Later, she cannot help but take a look at herself in a freshly polished hallway mirror and see how her new skintight suit is fitting, with the very critical eye that women have on their bodies, posing the typical question, “Does this make me look fat?” (Helen’s buttocks and hips had grown in size along the course of all three of her pregnancies and 15 years of forced inactivity) Not only that, she also gets her leg and torso caught in two closing doors and still manages to take out five extremely dangerous guards (she takes out two in an elevator with her fist and uses the machine gun of one of them, kicks the third when he touches her leg with the muzzle of his own machine gun, and when a stray bullet from that gun destroys the key card reader that holds the door shut, uses her hips and thighs to take out the rest; she then hides their bodies in a weapons locker but struggles with the door). After freeing herself, she finally reaches the cell, where she sees Bob hugging Mirage, causing her to believe that he is having an affair. After Helen knocks Mirage out (before Mirage can finish addressing her as Mrs. Incredible), she escapes with her husband and they meet up with their children in the forest, but for a while are literally flattened by their newfound tag-team attack, the IncrediBall (named in the video game).
However, Syndrome stops them. They escape, however, when Violet floats over to the controls with a force field. When they get to the hangar, there are no jets around, only an RV, the occupants of which Mr. Incredible knocks out. Dash suggests using a rocket, but Helen does not know how to fly one. Violet tells her to “just use the coordinates for the last launch.” Mirage gives the family a new password (it was originally “Kronos”, but Syndrome changed it when Bob got caught) As the family returns to Metroville (where the Parrs and Bests reside), Helen acts as a harness (“How are you doing, honey?” “Do I have to answer?”), until Violet detaches the framework on Bob’s command. As Bob drives the family to the financial district, he and Helen argue over directions. Upon arrival, Bob confesses his weakness to Helen, and she tells him that he will not have to be any stronger if they work together (“I don’t know what will happen.” “Hey we’re superheroes. What can happen?”) After that, the RV is crushed by the Omnidroid, which Syndrome had unleashed only to be betrayed by it and Violet is briefly knocked unconscious protecting herself and Dash, but Bob saves them. From then on, the family and Frozone stop the Omnidroid and goes back home. There, the family stops Syndrome from kidnapping Jack-Jack. Syndrome is apparently killed when his cape is sucked into the turbine of his private jet and Violet saves the family from being crushed by falling plane wreckage which totals their home (“That’s my girl.”). Three months later, the family can be seen at the racetrack for Dash’s school. They do not become the Incredibles until The Underminer, an obese and unclean supervillain, threatens the world for the first time.
Personality
In her younger days, Elastigirl is very adamant about breaking into a man’s world (that is, world of supers). She also doesn’t feel her future lies in marriage, as she believes that marriage will cramp her style. Yet, she flirts with her competition, Mr. Incredible anytime they meet one another while patrolling the city of Metroville. This eventually led to their marriage.
Elastigirl as a housewife has a sharp wit and cares for her family’s well-being. She wants to make them happy, but is concerned that nobody finds out that they’re superheroes.
Character information
Information is taken from the movie and the bonus material from the DVD.
Unlike other stretching superheroes, Elastigirl’s volume remains constant (congruent with being created by animators who are more concerned with the technicalities of “Squetching” (Squashing and Stretching), as opposed to comic artists). Therefore, she is bound in her stretching ability, unlike Plastic Man or Mr. Fantastic. Her minimum thickness is stated as 1 mm, which limits stretch distance to 30 m.
As part of stretching, Elastigirl displays some amount of invulnerability. Forced stretching, even under several tons of load, does not appear to cause permanent or even temporary harm. A high degree of protection is afforded by her super suit. Combined with flexibility, this should make her immune to bullets, though this is never demonstrated. She can be knocked out by blunt force, however, as demonstrated by the destruction of a plane carrying her, Violet, and Dash on board.
The stretching demonstrated in the movie implies abnormal strength as a secondary power. She displays throwing, gripping, and punching far beyond that of a gymnast capable of equivalent moves. She can use her elasticity to throw objects with far more force than her slight stature would imply; in one scene, she throws a manhole cover at the 10th Omnidroid’s cannon as if the cover were a Frisbee. Her strength is nowhere near that of her husband, however.
Elastigirl’s hair is not seen to stretch. It is not known whether this is impossible, or whether she simply does not bother with such a body part.
No origin is given for her or her powers, and only very little backstory tells much about her. It is presumed that her power is a birth trait, as with all other explicitly-stated superpowers in the Incredibles Universe.
As personal traits, Helen Parr is an accomplished pilot and displays deduction skills and cunning. She operated with a willful, almost stubborn independence, at least until her forced retirement.
Source: Elastigirl (The Incredibles). (2006, August 24). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:13, September 6, 2006.
