Helen Parr

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

The Incredibles
Helen Parr, known by the superhero name Elastigirl in the golden age of superheroism, is a resourceful and dexterous superhero. 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. Helen 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 hiding. Elastigirl permanently assumes her 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 awhile 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 Helen's pleas to call off the missiles playing in the containment unit where Bob is being held. Helen 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 Helen 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. Bob threatens to crush her and Syndrome tells him to get on with it, calling his bluff. Bob releases Mirage, who is infuriated by Syndrome's casual disregard for her life and leads to her change of heart toward Mr. Incredible.

Helen and the children seek shelter in a cave, where Helen 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. Helen 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.

Helen 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. 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 Helen'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 Helen enters the room. Helen, livid, delivers an extended punch from the doorway, knocking Mirage to the ground, believing Bob has been unfaithful to her. Bob grasps her extended arm and pulls her in as quickly as he can. Helen 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 Bob and Helen 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 Bob and Helen 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 Parrs escape again, 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. Bob throws Helen into the air and she catches Jack-Jack, using her body as a parachute once again to return them safely to the ground. Bob 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!

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 feminist attitude of breaking into the male-dominated world of Supers, as their abolishment 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
Helen has auburn (reddish-brown) hair and brown eyes. In her glory days as Elastigirl, she had long red hair and a slim, athletic figure, with the exception of rather wide hips. She wore a light grey leotard with a black and white "E" insignia on the chest, with a magenta headband, mask, and belt, long magenta gloves, and thigh-high magenta boots. After fifteen years of forced retirement and three children, Helen wears her hair in a more manageable medium bob, and much to her chagrin, carries a little extra weight on her abdomen, hips and buttocks. 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 an orange, black and yellow "I" insignia on the chest that houses a homing device, along with a black mask, long black gloves, black bottoms, an orange belt, and thigh-high black boots.

Character information
Elastigirl's minimum thickness is stated as 1 mm, which would limit her stretch distance to 30 meters; however, the Operation Kronos database states that she can stretch up to 300 feet (91.44 m) and leap up to 80 feet (24.39 m).

As part of stretching, Elastigirl displays some amount of invulnerability. Forced stretching, even under several tons of load, appears to cause pain and discomfort but no permanent or even temporary harm. A high degree of protection is also afforded by her super suit. Combined with flexibility, this should make her immune to bullets, though this is never demonstrated save when she is caught by doors while sneaking into Syndrome's compound and manages to have a ricochet of bullets deflected from hitting her leg by her boots. She can be knocked out by blunt force, however, as demonstrated by the destruction of a plane carrying her, Violet, and Dash on board, though she quickly regains consciousness. She can use her elasticity to throw objects with far more force than her slight stature would imply, as in one scene in which she supports the weight of a Winnebago suspended during plane during flight. She has also shown the ability to shape shift with her elasticity. An example of this is when she transformed into a boat in the middle of the ocean to get her children, Violet and Dash, to shore.

The Operation Kronos database assigned Elastigirl a threat rating of 6.2 and termed her a "moderate threat". It listed her whereabouts as "unknown", which caused Bob to breathe a sigh of relief that his wife and children were safe from Syndrome for the time being. Helen Parr is an accomplished pilot and is depicted as a capable operative, hand-to-hand combatant, and tactician.

Trivia

 * When Elastigirl looks at the size of her buttocks and hips in the mirror and sighs, just as Tinkerbell did in the movie, Peter Pan (1953), when Tinkerbell was surprised by the size of her figure and hips.
 * 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.