Why Mr. Incredible is More Interesting than Mrs. Incredible

Character growth will always be more interesting than a cool motorcycle.

That’s the short, spoiler-free version. Read on if you’ve already seen The Incredibles and its sequel, or if you don’t mind having the general plot revealed.

To me, Incredibles 2 had some fun moments, but it took the same lesson as the first movie—family is important—and put it into a different plot with a slightly different premise.

But the nice thing about how similar the two movies are is that it’s fun to compare Mr. Incredible’s character arc from original film to sequel.

Setup

In Movie 1, a complicated mixture of pride, desire for justice, and sheer fun of super-heroics causes Mr. Incredible to take up undercover work, lie to his family, make his wife suspect he’s having an affair, endanger his kids, and abandon all rational suspicion to nearly get himself killed on a supervillain’s island.

In Movie 2, that same mix of emotions is going on…but this time, Mr. Incredible doesn’t get the opportunity to put the mask on. The call to action comes for his wife instead, and circumstances force him into a state of powerlessness. He doesn’t understand Dash’s new math. Violet is furious at him for publicly embarrassing her and ruining her adolescent life. He bought the wrong kind of batteries. The baby won’t go to sleep. (Also, he explodes.)

Results

In Movie 1, Mr. Incredible’s family basically rescues him, dramatically revealing his messed-up priorities and the value of what he’s been missing.

And in Movie 2, we find that being present for what he’s missing has a cost. It’s boring and hard and exhausting and totally without glory. But Mr. Incredible learns the new math and apologizes to his daughter and calls in a babysitter equipped to deal with exploding babies.

I found his character journey way more interesting than SuperMom’s, because while she got the cool action scenes, she never has to confront her weaknesses in the way her husband does in both movies.

The script was not subtle in the scenes where Mrs. Incredible admitted it was nice to be the one who was needed, or when Evelyn flattered her, saying she could do it all on her own. Even the reversion back to the silver Elastigirl uniform instead of the family logo made me think, “Great, they’re going to explore the potential danger of rugged independence and girl power!”

After all, in the original movie, Mrs. Incredible goes through a ton of emotions. Her desire to protect her family and later, suspicion of her husband, trigger a lot of the plot. Then, she learns to trust her kids and let them have some independence and renews her vow to keep her family together.

But in the sequel …there’s no payoff. Mrs. Incredible’s actions don’t have consequences. Her fatal flaw is a talking point that does no damage at all. And she ends the movie in the same place she started.

Listen, I get the whole “women are strong and heroic” thing. But by giving Mrs. Incredible tricked-out gadgets, perfect hair, and a few minor concerns that her husband may not be managing the kids well, the movie makes her flat and uninteresting.

And they could easily have had a strong female role who also needed to grow and change. For example, let’s take a look at two other mega-hit heroes who basically go through Mr. Incredible’s character arc, then at the women who are significantly more interesting than Mrs. Incredible.

Introducing…Alexander and Eliza Hamilton (from the musical Hamilton) and P.T. and Charity Barnum (from the musical The Greatest Showman).

Like Mr. Incredible, our heroes get to work realizing their dream in the first few scenes…and then Something Else lures them away from what really matters. Fame, fortune, even the Greater Good. And what they trade to get that is their relationships, especially with their wife and children. Their lives fall apart slowly, then quickly…and they learn and make hard choices and grow as human beings.

Dramatic character arc! Audiences are instantly engaged.

But here’s why I’d say both Eliza and Charity are more interesting than Mrs. Incredible, even if they might not be considered feminist icons: they have weaknesses too. They grow and learn and change and have a character arc just as interesting as their husband’s.

Eliza is repeatedly more sensible than anyone else in the show, and she expresses her anger and holds her family together despite all obstacles, then leaves behind an amazing legacy.

Charity faces her greatest fear (losing her husband’s love and the life they’ve built together) and then finds the courage to both stand up for herself…and forgive.

(Related: I’m putting this in the Free Idea Yard Sale box for anyone who’s good at video and such: if you overlay The Greatest Showman’s “Never Enough” with Eliza singing “And that would be enough” in the pauses, I will listen to that on repeat and also love you forever.)

Mrs. Incredible is trying to be a positive role model for girls. I get it. It made sense to give her more screen time and her own epic quest.

But what I think the Pixar team forgot was that we cheer for the losers. We relate to ones who mess it all up when the stakes are high and the climax is looming. We need to see women just like us with flaws and fears and failures…who are heroic anyway.