Helen Parr

Helen Parr (née Truax), also known as Elastigirl and Mrs. Incredible, is the deuteragonist of The Incredibles and the protagonist of Incredibles 2.

The Incredibles
Helen Parr, known by the superhero name "Elastigirl" in the golden age of superheroism, is a resourceful and dexterous (quite literally) superhero. Elastigirl has the flexibility superpower so she can stretch any part of her body up to 100' (30 m) to a minimum thickness of 1 mm, and mold it into several shapes and sizes. Elastigirl falls in love and marries Mr. Incredible (Bob Parr), and they have three children: Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack.

At the beginning of the film, Helen marries Mr. Incredible, taking his last name "Parr" (her maiden name was Truax). After a series of lawsuits filed against superheroes and a major uprising of the people, the supers are forced into retirement and identity-confidential agreements under government Surveillance-Protection program. Elastigirl permanently assumes her own secret identity (Helen Parr) and becomes a homemaker who does her best to unify her family and help them adjust to a normal life. She only uses her super powers in private for convenience. She is content in her life, finding purpose and fulfillment in caring for and raising a family.

Bob, however, does not adjust well to civilian life. Frustrated in his job at Insuricare under a tyrannical boss named Mr. Huph, Bob escapes the monotony of his seemingly average life by sneaking out with his best friend Frozone (Lucius Best) to secretly continue hero work. They get away with this for a while using the cover story that they're bowling, but Helen eventually finds out, and this leads to conflict and tension between Helen and Bob.

Bob is fired from his job at Insuricare after he loses his temper with his boss and injures him by throwing him through the wall. Soon after his termination, he is lured by Mirage to Syndrome's private island, Nomanisan Island, under the ruse of an assignment, in which Mr. Incredible must disable a formidable weapon called the Omnidroid 08. During the showdown, Bob's supersuit gets torn, but after conquering the Omnidroid 08, he pays a visit to his old friend, retired supersuit designer Edna Mode, who proceeds to make him a brand-new supersuit, as well as matching suits for his entire family. Bob begins taking on more assignments on the island, telling Helen all the while that he is attending Insuricare conferences out of town. After resuming hero work, Bob's temperament at home changes dramatically for the better. He gets back in shape and spends more quality time with Helen and their children. But when Helen finds a strand of platinum blonde hair on Bob's clothes and overhears him on the phone with his contact, Mirage, she becomes suspicious.

Mr. Incredible is lured once more to the island by Syndrome, who intends to kill him. Meanwhile back at home, Helen notices the new patch on Bob's old supersuit and contacts Edna, who insists upon seeing Helen immediately. She shows Helen all of the supersuits, and Helen is furious at Edna for helping Bob resume secret hero work behind her back. Edna, who was unaware that he was hiding anything from Helen, informs Helen of the homing device she included in each supersuit. Helen uses it to locate Bob, and is briefly overcome with emotion, convinced that Bob is cheating on her. Edna snaps her out of it, smacking her furiously with a newspaper and encouraging her to go to him and win him back. An accomplished pilot, Helen borrows a jet from Snug, her pilot from the Golden Days, to journey to the island and find her husband. During the flight, she finds Violet and Dash stowed away. Syndrome sends missiles in response to her request to land on the island and the plane is destroyed, the transmission of Elastigirl's pleas to call off the missiles playing in the containment unit where Bob is being held. Elastigirl uses her body as a parachute, and with the help of her new, indestructible supersuit, saves herself and her children from the wreckage. They land safely in the water, and Elastigirl morphs her body into a boat, which is propelled by Dash's super speed and carries Violet to land. Mirage confirms the destruction of the jet, leaving Bob to believe his family has been killed. In his grief and at the provocation of Syndrome, he uses a surge of strength to lunge for Syndrome, but Mirage pushes him to safety and he grabs her instead. Mr. Incredible threatens to crush her and Syndrome tells him to get on with it, calling his bluff. Mr. Incredible releases Mirage, who is infuriated by Syndrome's casual disregard for her life and leads to her change of heart toward Mr. Incredible.

Elastigirl and the children seek shelter in a cave, where Elastigirl tells Dash and Violet that she is afraid their father is in trouble and instructs them to stay hidden while she goes to look for him. She warns both Violet and Dash that the enemies that shot their plane down are merciless killers, and urges them to use their powers to protect themselves at all costs. Elastigirl also tries to bolster Violet's confidence by telling her that she has more power than she realizes, and not to worry or think because she will do the right thing when the time comes.

Elastigirl leaves the cave to save Bob. She uses her quick thinking skills and her incredible elasticity to make her way to the containment unit where her husband is being held captive. She can't help but notice in a hallway mirror she notices that the way the new tight supersuit made her expose a full display of her figure from the waist down. On the way, she runs into Syndrome's security guards, but defeats several of them at once while her body is caught between two sets of sliding automatic doors by kicking one, using her abdomen unintentionally as a tripline for two others, and punching two more to knock them out and obtain their key to the doors to free herself.



During Elastigirl's journey, the children narrowly escape the cave, which was actually a release area for the massive flames shot from Syndrome's rocket during takeoff. They are discovered in the jungle which sets off an intruder alert. Mirage hears the alert and realizes Mr. Incredible's family survived the crash. She sneaks into the containment unit to release him and to tell him his family is alive. Flooded with relief and gratitude, he draws Mirage into an embrace right as Elastigirl enters the room. Elastigirl, livid, delivers an extended punch from the doorway, knocking Mirage to the ground, believing Mr. Incredible has been unfaithful to her. Mr. Incredible grasps her extended arm and pulls her in as quickly as he can. Elastigirl resists, but of course is no match for his strength, and he kisses her passionately, asking her how she could think he would ever betray "the perfect woman." Mirage urges them to hurry because their children are in danger, and Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl escape into the jungle to find them. Meanwhile, Violet and Dash are attacked by Syndrome's security force. Dash successfully outruns several of them, and Violet hides effectively until Dash is nearly killed. Violet instinctively reacts to save her brother, finding her strength and generating a massive force field that shields them both and allows Dash to propel them forward and out of harm's way. The children and Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl literally run into each other along the way and continue to fight the security force until Syndrome arrives on the scene and recaptures the entire family.

Back in the containment unit, Syndrome reveals that he intends to use his latest Omnidroid model to attack the city of Metroville, and then orchestrate a rescue, in which he appears to defeat the immense weapon, which is in reality under his control. The Incredibles are able to escape when Violet uses her force fields to break her magnetic bonds, and manage to journey back to Metroville with the help of Mirage, where they, along with Frozone, destroy the Omnidroid v.10 and save the city once again.

Back at their house, they are again confronted by Syndrome, who tries to kidnap Jack-Jack. Syndrome uses his rocket boots to reach his plane, and Jack-Jack reveals his shape-shifting powers in mid-air to overcome Syndrome. Mr. Incredible throws Elastigirl into the air and she catches Jack-Jack, using her body as a parachute once again to return them safely to the ground. Mr. Incredible throws his car at Syndrome's plane, and Syndrome is killed when his cape is sucked into the turbine of his private jet, also resulting in the explosion of his plane.

The final scene finds the Incredibles at Dash's track meet, where Bob and Helen encourage him to finish a "close second", Violet gets a date with the guy of her dreams, and everyone lives happily ever after. For now...

Incredibles 2
Helen is selected by Winston Deavor to be the face of a publicity stunt to gain the public's support of supers. She is sent to New Urbem where she fights crime as Elastigirl. While on her mission, she chases down the Screenslaver, who has been mind-controlling civilians through their television screens. After capturing the Screenslaver, Elastigirl realizes that the man behind the mask was being controlled by someone else. It turns out to be Evelyn Deavor, Winston's sister, who is behind all the attacks. Evelyn manages to overpower Helen by putting mind-controlling goggles on her. Bob attempts to save Helen but is lured into a trap and also becomes mind-controlled. Helen is later freed by Jack Jack who moves Helen's goggles aside, via telekinesis. Helen, in turn, frees both Bob and Lucius. While they deal with stopping the Deavor's boat from crashing into New Urbem, Helen goes after Evelyn who is trying to escape. She manages to apprehend her once and for all.

Personality
In her younger days, Elastigirl was very adamant about breaking into a man’s world (that is, the world of superheroes). She also didn't feel that marriage was in her future, because she believed that marriage would ruin her style. However, she ultimately falls in love with Mr. Incredible and marries him. Following their marriage and the subsequent outlawing of Supers, Helen gives up her independent feminist attitude of breaking into the male-dominated world of Supers, as their abolition makes that a moot point. She takes on a more traditionalist mindset as a wife and mother.

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. While she can sometimes be a little irritable, she usually tries to remain composed, though she can get panicked or angry under pressure. She is often more authoritative with her children than her husband Bob, who is often too distracted to be substantially authoritative. An argument with Bob occurred over Dash being punished for performing a prank, which Bob actually thought funny. Helen argued that Bob is encouraging rebellious behavior in Dash, something she wants to nip in the bud.

Helen is the ultimate supermom. She uses both her superpowers and her innate abilities as a wife and mother to unify her family, and protects them at all costs. She is quick-witted, resourceful, talented, passionate, driven, and supportive. Throughout the story, she is the only unwavering character, always sure of herself and always caring for those around her. She is the stronghold in the Parr family and the one that holds them all together, for better or worse!

Appearance
According to official sources, Helen is in her late thirties and she is 5'8" (172 cm) in height and is 125 pounds (56 kg) in weight. She has brown eyes and brown hair.

In her glory days as Elastigirl, she had long red hair in a flip and had a slim, athletic figure, with the exception of rather wide hips. She wore a light gray leotard with a black and white "EG" insignia on the chest, with a scarlet eye mask, headband and belt, shoulder length scarlet gloves, and thigh-high scarlet boots.

After fifteen years of forced retirement, Elastigirl is still slender but with significantly wider hips and thicker thighs. Her hair is cut in a medium length, becomes brown, and is worn in a short side-bob that is shaped like a curved heart.

Following Mr. Incredible's secret return to hero work, the family's old friend and designer extraordinaire Edna Mode designs a new supersuit for him, along with matching suits for Helen and their three children. Helen's "Mrs. Incredible" supersuit is a red unitard with a black eye mask, and black bottoms, gloves and thigh-high boots, and an orange, black and yellow "I" insignia on the chest that houses a homing device.

When Helen is tapped to lead a campaign to bring the supers back in Incredibles 2, she gets a new suit designed by Alexander Galbaki. The suit has a silver leotard with a magenta belt and a magenta "EG" insigna on the chest, with a black eye mask and black over-the-elbow gloves and thigh-high boots. However, the suit gets ripped on the shoulder near the end of the film on the EverJust, and she reverts back to her red "Mrs. Incredible" suit.

Powers and Abilities
The Operation Kronos Database assigned Elastigirl a threat rating of 6.2 and termed her a "moderate threat".
 * -|Powers=
 * Inhuman Elasticity: Elastigirl can convert the mass of her entire body into a highly malleable state at will. In such a state, she can stretch, deform, expand, or compress her entire body or parts thereof into any contiguous shape she can imagine. She can extend her limbs, torso, or neck to great distances: the maximum length she can distend before her body segments become painful is about 30 meters. The Operation Kronos database states that she can also leap up to 80 feet (24.39 m) via her elasticity. She can also extend her body in two directions, creating a canopy, parachute, or sheath, its thickness determined by the extent of its distention; Elastigirl's minimum thickness is recorded by the NSA at 1 mm. How her body's respiration and circulatory systems function at the distorted extremes she can achieve is currently unknown. The greater the distance she stretches or the more extended the size of the object she becomes, the weaker her overall strength becomes.
 * Shapeshifting: She has also shown the ability to shape shift via her elasticity. An example of this is when she transforms into a boat in the middle of the ocean to get her children, Violet and Dash, to shore. Another instance is when she transformed into a parachute twice in the film: first to safely land Violet and Dash in the middle of the ocean and second to safely bring Jack-Jack back onto the ground.
 * Density Alteration: The fact that she can also manipulate her body shape and even decrease in volume means her mass can be moved to go with it.
 * Superhuman Durability: Due to the great malleability and elasticity of her body, Elastigirl has a high durability to physical injury. For example, Helen was able to temporarily suspend the weight of a motor home with her body in sheering winds, though this did cause her to grit her teeth with noticeable strain.
 * -|Abilities=
 * Piloting: Helen Parr is an accomplished pilot.
 * Skilled Hand-To-Hand Combatant: Helen is depicted as a capable operative, hand-to-hand combatant, and tactician.
 * -|Weaknesses=
 * Temperature Extremes: If Elastigirl is exposed to extreme cold, her body becomes harder and less pliable as the temperature decreases until ultimately it actually becomes brittle, possibly breaking if she exerts too much force. Likewise if she is exposed to extreme heat, such as electricity, she seems to enter a pseudo-melted state, where she is limp and extremely pliable.
 * Substantial Blunt Forces: Absorbing large shocks to her form is physically exhausting and a sufficient amount of blunt force, such as three anti-aircraft missiles going off at the same time, can render her unconscious.

Trivia

 * When Elastigirl got upset by looking at the size of her lower physique in the mirror, it's just as Tinker Bell did in Peter Pan (1953), when Tinker Bell looked at herself in the mirror and was surprised by the size of herself from the waist down, which she has a similar figure to Helen.
 * Ironically, Tinkerbell's curves got smaller as she evolved throughout decades, while Elastigirl's curves got bigger in Incredibles 2.
 * Helen Parr's (Holly Hunter) flight approach into Nomanisan Island is similar to Dorinda's (Holly Hunter) end-of-movie flight in Always where the plane is in an uncontrollable dive and then she pulls hard on the controls to regain control of the plane. In both, she is initially distracted before returning to the controls to avert complete disaster when the plane crashes.
 * When borrowing a plane, Helen's pilot call sign is "India Golf Niner-Niner", which translates to IG99, a reference to the 1999 film The Iron Giant, also directed by Brad Bird.
 * In the alternate opening to the movie, Helen Parr (then known by Helen Smith) was to be present at a welcoming ceremony by their neighbors along with her husband and daughter Violet (who was an infant at the time). One of her neighbors talks badly about children, causing Helen to snap at her and almost reveal her true identity, but managed to stop herself when her neighbor asked what her former job was. She also ended up allegedly taking Bob Smith to the hospital after the latter allegedly severely injured his fingers with a butcher knife while working the barbecue (In actuality, he was not injured at all, and dented the cleaver with his fingers as a result of his superhuman durability, so they were forced to fake his injury in order to maintain his secret identity). They were later endangered by an old enemy of Mr. Incredible, Syndrome (then a minor villain), but they managed to escape the house when their encounter with Syndrome caused a gas leak that detonated, although Syndrome was not nearly as lucky.
 * Coincidentally enough, Elastigirl, Helen's superhero name, is also the name of a superheroine with similar elasticity-based superpowers that originated from the DC Comics superhero team, the Doom Patrol.
 * Helen is the only member in the Parr family with brown eyes, as her husband and all three of their children have blue eyes.