Bob Parr

Performer:	Craig T. Nelson (film, etc.) Pete Docter (Mr. Incredible and Pals) Stephan Vladimir Bugaj (The Incredible Socks)
Appeared in:	The Incredibles
Superpower(s):	Super Strength, Durability, slight Super Speed

Interviewer: "So, Mr. Incredible, do you have a secret identity?"

Mr. Incredible: "Every superhero has a secret identity. I don't know a single one who doesn't. Who wants the pressure of being super all the time?"

―Mr. Incredible being interviewed

Mr. Incredible: "I'm sorry. This is my fault. I've been a lousy father. Blind to what I have. So obsessed with being undervalued that I undervalued all of you."

Dash: "Um, Dad?"

Elastigirl: "Shh. Don't interrupt."

Mr. Incredible: "So caught up in the past that I...You are my greatest adventure. And I almost missed it. I swear, I'm gonna get us out of this safely if I..."

Violet: "Well, I think Dad has made some excellent progress today but I think it's time we wind down now."

―Mr. Incredible apologizing to his family in the containment unit

Robert "Bob" Parr, also known as Mr. Incredible, is the protagonist of The Incredibles.

The Incredibles

Bob at work.

Bob is a superhero with great strength, superpower and durability. His strength is of such dimensions that he can single-handedly lift a semi-truck with little difficulty. His best friend is fellow super Frozone (Lucius Best). Mr. Incredible is married to Elastigirl (Helen Parr), and they have three kids: Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack.

"True to his incredible strengths, all Bob wants to do is save the world - even if he has to do it undercover. It takes almost losing everything, however, for him to see that the real source of his power is his extraordinary family." — Official Pixar Website

While driving to his wedding with Elastigirl, Mr. Incredible experiences an otherwise routine day of fighting crime and saving lives, including rescuing a man from falling off a building and stopping a train from falling off its track. In addition to confronting an infamous member of his rogues' gallery, Bomb Voyage, Mr. Incredible must deal with the intrusion of his self-proclaimed #1 fan, Buddy Pine, who tries to impose himself as Mr. Incredible's sidekick, "IncrediBoy". Constantly frustrated by his presence, and nearly getting himself killed, which forced the hero to save the train, Mr. Incredible coldly rebuffs him to keep the boy out of danger. After he gets married, Mr. Incredible faces a series of lawsuits: the man he saved from falling off a building was trying to commit suicide and is suing for the hinderance of such, while the victims of the train rescue are suing for the injuries they have sustained (even though they might have died had it not been for Mr. Incredible's intervention). These lawsuits have inspired people across the world to sue Supers everywhere for the "annoyances" they create while fighting crime. With the suits costing the government millions of dollars, the government sponsors a witness protection program in exchange for the promise to stop all superhero work, thus seeing the end of the Golden Age of Supers.

15 years later, Mr. Incredible has settled down with his wife Elastigirl and they have three children: daughter Violet, son Dash, and infant son Jack-Jack. Bob is overweight and frustrated with the drudgery of his job as a claims adjuster for a corrupt insurance company called Insuracare and secretly helps deserving clients to find loopholes to get their payments. He dreams of returning back to his glory days of superheroism, going so far as to moonlight as a crimefighter by listening to a police scanner every Wednesday with his friend Frozone, known now as Lucius Best, claiming to their wives that they're going bowling, though Lucius actually wants to go. They note that another former superhero named Gazerbeam has had trouble adjusting to civilian life like Bob has, and is now missing. They go to save people from a burning building but the heat is to much for Lucius to put out with his powers. They accidentally run into the nearby jewelry store, where the security guard assumes they are robbers; Lucius freezes him with the water from the nearby dispenser. When Helen finds out about Bob's nighttime escapades, it causes an argument; Bob hates having to hide their gifts, and wants to return to the heroics of the old days, while Helen is concerned about keeping the family together and not having to start over again by going into hiding in a brand new location.

Eventually Mr. Huph, Bob's miserly boss, suspects Bob is helping clients and reprimands him. During the lecture, Bob notices a person being mugged in the street. Mr. Huph stops Bob from going to the victim's aid, threatening to fire him, and the mugger escapes. When Huph smugly begins lecturing again, Bob, furious with his boss's insensitivity, grabs him by the neck and hurls him through several office walls. Huph is hospitalized and Bob is fired. Normally the government agent and Bob's old friend Rick Dicker would cover such an incident by paying to keep the company quiet, relocating his family, and erasing memories of the incident, but since it is costing too much money for the government, Dicker says that he can no longer help Bob, but quickly relents and offers to bail him out one last time, an offer that Bob turns down since his family has recently adjusted to their current life. While Bob is trying to figure out how to tell Helen about his accident, Mirage, a mysterious agent, contacts him and offers highly-paid work: subduing a renegade robot, the Omnidroid 08, on Nomanisan, an uncharted volcanic island. Bob takes the assignment, telling Helen that he is attending a conference out of town, hiding both the loss of his job and the renewal of hero work. Bob defeats the Omnidroid, and with the hefty reward he begins to lead a much happier life with his family. However, he has slightly damaged his supersuit from the battle, and takes it to its designer, the flamboyant Edna Mode, for repairs. Edna also offers to create a brand-new suit for him and he accepts but, unbeknownst to him, she also creates suits for his entire family.

He is summoned to the island for his second mission two months later, this time wearing the new red suit Edna made for him instead of his old, blue one. When Bob returns to the island, he discovers it is a trap as he is ambushed and defeated by an improved version of the Omnidroid prototype robot, Omnidroid v.X9. He discovers that his anonymous employer is Buddy Pine, having become a psychotic and incredibly wealthy weapons designer named Syndrome. Embittered by the rejection from his former idol, he made a fortune in high-tech weapons technology. He then invented the Omnidroid, a robot designed to kill Supers. While Syndrome is on a monologue bragging about all he has accomplished, Mr. Incredible throws a log at him. Syndrome dodges the log, then proceeds to immobilize Mr. Incredible with his zero-point energy ray, which inhibits all movement and the ability to talk, freezing Mr. Incredible where he is. He uses his zero-point energy ray to throw Mr. Incredible around, asking if he is good enough now for Mr. Incredible, proceeding to mock him by saying "Who's super now?" Eventually, he accidentally throws Mr. Incredible over a waterfall, which the superhero survives by diving in.

Syndrome sends a bomb down the waterfall, equipped with a probe to scan for any signs of life after the bomb goes off. Mr. Incredible discovers the bomb, and takes cover from it in an underwater cave. He discovers the remains of the former superhero Gazerbeam, finding that Gazerbeam had carved the word "kronos" into the cave wall with his dying breath. He uses Gazerbeam's remains to hide from the probe, tricking it into thinking that he is dead. The probe is tricked, causing Syndrome to believe that Mr. Incredible is dead.

Mr. Incredible later comes out of the water to infiltrate Syndrome's base. After successfully sneaking in, he is able to make his way to a huge room with a lava wall in which he had dinner with Mirage after he defeated the Omnidroid 08. He goes through a hole in the wall to make his way to Syndrome's computer room. In it, he types in the password "kronos" that he had discovered in the cave. He discovers Syndrome's plan in the computer, in which he had tested the Omnidroids against various supers to see how powerful the robots were. If the robot was defeated, then he improved the Omnidroid using the data, along with designing it so it would kill that super that previously won. Mr. Incredible went through the database of who had won each fight, which also showed that no super had ever survived the second fight. As he is leaving the room upon also discovering Operation Kronos, Elastigirl activates a homing device on Mr. Incredible's supersuit in order to discover where he is, causing Mr. Incredible to be caught.

In the containment unit that Mr. Incredible is held in (a room in which a prisoner is held in an energy field, which is powered by zero-point energy, by mineballs, thus preventing the prisoner from being able to escape unless they are released), Syndrome interrogates Mr. Incredible to find out who Mr. Incredible had summoned with the homing device. Syndrome then finds out that Mr. Incredible knows who it is upon playing a transmission from a plane that had requested permission to land on the island. The pilot of the plane was Elastigirl, who had borrowed a jet to find her husband. Syndrome responds by sending missiles to destroy the plane. Elastigirl reports the missiles to the island and asks for them to be disengaged, revealing that there are children aboard the plane, which are Dash and Violet, who had stowed away on the plane wearing their own supersuits upon finding a sitter for Jack-Jack. The transmissions are played in the containment unit in which Bob is held. Upon the missiles making contact with the plane, Mirage reports to Syndrome that the plane had been destroyed. Mr. Incredible then grabs Mirage and threatens to kill her if he is not released, but Syndrome knows him well enough to know he's bluffing. Mr. Incredible releases Mirage, and Syndrome calls him weak.

Elastigirl, Dash, and Violet are revealed to have all survived the crash. Elastigirl is able to sneak her way into Syndrome's base. She finds the rocket with the Omnidroid 10 on it as she sneaks through the base. On her way through the base, she discovers a control room with guards in it. She is able to find which room Mr. Incredible is being held prisoner in. On her way to the room, she hears an alert, which was triggered by Dash and Violet, who were discovered upon being forced to leave the cave they were hiding in, which turned out to really be a vent to release the flames from the underground rocket launch chamber once the rocket was launched.

Elastigirl finds Mr. Incredible, who just seconds previously had been released by Mirage to tell him that his family had survived the crash. He is hugging Mirage upon Elastigirl showing up, in which he is forced to explain that he had not been cheating on his wife, and that Mirage was helping him escape. Mirage tells them that their kids may have been the ones who triggered the alarm, causing Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible to start running to find their children to help them.

Dash and Violet are shown to outwit the guards and use their powers to escape them. The kids run into their parents as they run through the jungle together. The family works together to quickly defeat the guards, but at that point Syndrome shows up and immobilizes the whole family. Upon discovering that the group of supers he has just captured is wearing matching super suits, Syndrome is surprised to discover that Mr. Incredible had married Elastigirl. He then sees Violet and Dash and finds that Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl had children together, declaring that he had hit the jackpot for capturing a whole family of superheroes.

Syndrome imprisons the whole family in his containment unit to prevent them from interfering with his plan. In the unit, Syndrome plays news broadcasts of the Omnidroid attacking the city for the Incredibles to watch. Syndrome then explains his plan: to save Metroville from his own Omnidroid and thereby become a hero. He intends to sell his gadgets to the world once his career is finished, making everyone super and the possession of superpowers no longer unique, for "when everyone is super, no one will be." He then leaves the Incredibles in an energy prison. As Mr. Incredible apologizes to his family, telling how lousy of a father he had been, Violet uses her force field to break her magnetic bonds, and rolls over to the control panel so that she can free her family also, remarking how Mr. Incredible had made excellent progress today. The family runs through the base, trying to find a way to escape the island so they can make it to the city to stop Syndrome. They find a rocket and, with the password given to them by Mirage, use it to fly a minivan to the city so that they can defeat the Omnidroid 10.

In Metroville, Syndrome attempts to stop the Omnidroid's destructive rampage, but the robot figures out the nature of his remote control and knocks him unconscious. The Incredibles and Frozone fight the robot. Mr. Incredible realizes that the only way to defeat the Omnidroid is on the inside like he did the last time and has his family use the remote for one of the arms to activate it, allowing him to throw it at the robot, defeating it. The town applauds them for their achievements; the possibility of superheroes coming out of hiding is mentioned. Syndrome wakes up to find that the Incredibles have stolen his glory.

Rick Dicker drives the Incredibles home, telling them that the United States government has frozen Syndrome's assets and put a warrant out for his arrest. Helen listens to the messages left by Kari and learn that a replacement came over, so they hurry to their house, only to find that Syndrome is there. He immobilizes the Incredibles to prevent them from doing anything else. Syndrome reveals that he is kidnapping Jack-Jack, intending to raise him as his sidekick, in revenge for his future being taken away. As Syndrome attempts to fly up to his jet using his rocket boots, Jack-Jack suddenly reveals his super powers by transforming into fire, metal, and then an imp-like monster. Syndrome drops Jack-Jack, who is caught by Elastigirl, and attempts to flee, declaring that he will make another attempt to abduct Jack-Jack in the future. Bob, having had enough of Syndrome, hurls the family car into the jet; Syndrome is knocked into the turbine and his cape is caught in the engine and pulls him in. Violet then protects the family from the raining flames and debris as the jet explodes, much to the amazement of their young neighbor.

Three months later, the family is much happier; even Bob is content with their civilian life. Dash is running in a track meet; he carefully controls his use of super-speed and finishes in second place. Violet, who formerly felt alienated to the point of using her hair to hide her face and turning invisible when her crush walked by, is found with her hair pulled back and successfully asking Tony Rydinger for a date to the movies. As they walk out of the sports complex, a new villain, The Underminer, rises from the ground and declares "war on peace and happiness.” The family members, including Jack-Jack, put on their masks and prepare to fight.

Personality

Bob is kind, friendly, brave, heroic, and pleasant. He still loves his wife, even though he doesn't spend too much time with his family and constantly goes off with Lucius for some crime fighting.

Biography

Early life

Mr. Incredible as a younger man.

At the beginning of the original film, Bob was about 25-years old. He was also not that fat as he is now.

Current life

Bob is now about 40-years old and had become morbidly obese. He goes on a diet and intense training regime, and eventually succeds in losing a lot of the weight. He is 6'7" (2m) tall and weighs 350 lbs (158 kg).

Powers and Abilities

• Superhuman Strength: Mr. Incredible's primary superpower is super strength. He is seen bench-pressing locomotives and throwing boulders at speed, even in middle age. This gives him a leaping ability of a few stories, with corresponding agility. He also has good swimming ability, though not as a separate power, though his lung capacity does not appear to be substantially greater than a normal human's.
• Superhuman Speed: His strength also gives him superhuman speed, as he can run significantly faster than a normal human—though neither his speed nor agility approach that of his son Dash. He's also very agile for a man of his size.

• Superhuman Durablity: He has a high degree of durability. He can withstand tremendous amounts of physical trauma, including multistory falls, the direct impact of a train, and breaking through brick walls. He can be cut, though, with very hard metals and a suitable amount of force. Although Mr. Incredible has near invulnerability, things that produce a large force still hurt him. This is shown when he is going to stop the train, he winces just before it hits him, according to director Brad Bird it was him "preparing for the fact that it's going to hurt". In a deleted scene, however, his body could withstand being cut by a butcher knife, and also dent it in the process, as demonstrated when he, while trying to cleave some food for the grill, accidentally chopped his fingers. This also in a way acted as a weakness as it would have produced complications as it would have given away his identity to a barbecue by their new neighbors, so he had to fake injury in order to maintain cover.

• Enhanced Hearing: Mr. Incredible also has very sharp hearing. This power is seen when Bomb Voyage is about to blow open the vault of a skyrise building; Mr. Incredible is able to hear the faint beeping of the bomb from the other side of a thick wall.

• Skilled Strategist: He doesn't exhibit superhuman intelligence, but his years of super-heroic experience allow him to rapidly formulate effective strategies to deal with opponents who cannot be bested by his strength alone.

Weaknesses

Mr. Incredible doesn't appear to have any superhuman weaknesses, but is as vulnerable as anyone to hubris from the veneration of his "glory days" and in middle age he has a bad back. However, in a deleted scene, it was implied that his superhuman durability was in itself a weakness, as it would have exposed him when his fingers dented a butcher knife when he accidentally chopped his hand with it, forcing him to act fast and fake injury, and later allowed him to be identified by one of the neighbors, an agent of Syndrome.

Bob appears to be solely interested in his wife Helen, but treats other women with respect. This trait was picked up by Syndrome, who instructs Mirage to be appreciative, but not seductive, towards Mr. Incredible. Bob sees having dinner with Mirage after he deactivated an Omnidroid as a social event and nothing more than that. However, it could be argued that Mirage was having somewhat of a positive effect on Bob's self-image, making him take up a workout routine (albeit one catering to building up his super strength), and Bob behaving more self assuredly in a manner similar to James Bond. Also, having endured dressing downs and a later job termination from his short boss Mr. Huph, Mirage's large payouts and appreciation of the missions were an exact opposite of the hostile workplace he dealt with at Insuricare.

In the Operation Kronos database, Mr. Incredible was given a threat rating of 9.1, the second highest rating of any of the supers.

Appearance

Bob is exceptionally tall with massive shoulders, chest, and arms (as befits his superhuman strength). As a younger man, he was slim-waisted, but by the time his daughter Violet was in high school, he had become obese, and was forced to undergo a strenuous diet and exercise regimen, after which he lost enough weight to resume his superheroics before leaving to go to Nomanisan Island. He has blonde hair (which has receded in his middle-age) and blue eyes.

Quotes

From The Incredibles

Mr. Incredible: "Bomb Voyage!"
Bomb Voyage: "Oh! Monsieur Incroyable!" ("Mr. Incredible!")
Young Buddy: "And IncrediBoy!"
(Buddy has broke through the window)
Bomb Voyage (not French, but with an accent): "IncrediBoy?"
(Buddy flies over to Mr. Incredible)
Young Buddy: "Hey, hey! Aren't you curious about how I get around so fast? See? I have these rocket boots!"
Mr. Incredible: "Go home, Buddy."
Young Buddy: "What?"
Mr. Incredible: "Now."
Bomb Voyage: "Petit naïf libe..." ("Little oaf...")
Young Buddy: "Can we talk?"
(Buddy pulls Mr. Incredible off to the side)
Young Buddy: "You always, *always* say, "Be true to yourself," but you never say which part of yourself to be true *to*! Well, I've *finally* figured out who I am!"
(Buddy walks over to Mr. Incredible)
Young Buddy: "I am your ward... IncrediBoy!"
Mr. Incredible: "And now, you have officially carried it too far, Buddy."
(Mr. Incredible grabs Bomb Voyage before he can escape)
Bomb Voyage: "OHH!"
Young Buddy: "This is because I don't have powers, isn't it? Well, not every superhero has powers, ya know! You *can* be super without them! I *invented* these. (points to his rocket boots) I can fly! Can *you* fly?"
Mr. Incredible: "Fly home, Buddy. I work alone."
Bomb Voyage: "Et ton costume est complètement ridicule!" ("And your outfit is totally ridiculous!")
Young Buddy: "Ju ju-- just give me one chance! I-- I'll show you! I'll go get the police!"
(Bomb Voyage has attached a bomb to Buddy's cape; Mr. Incredible notices it)
Mr. Incredible: "Buddy, don't!"
Young Buddy: "It'll only take a second, really."
Mr. Incredible: "No, stop!"
(Mr. Incredible lets go of Bomb Voyage)
Mr. Incredible: "There's a bomb!"
(Mr. Incredible grabs onto Buddy's cape)

—Young Buddy interrupts Mr. Incredible and Bomb Voyage's showdown

Mr. Incredible (hands Buddy to the police): "Take this one home. And make sure his mom knows what he's been doing."
Young Buddy: "I can help you! You're making a mista--"
(Buddy is shoved into a police car)
Young Buddy: "Hey!"
Mr. Incredible: "The jumper. You sent paramedics?"
Police Officer: "They already picked him up."
Mr. Incredible: "The blast in that building was caused by Bomb Voyage who I caught robbing the vault. Now, we might be able to nab him if we set up a perimeter."
Police Officer: "You mean he got away?"
Mr. Incredible: "Well, yeah. Skippy here made sure of that."
Young Buddy: "IncrediBoy!"
Mr. Incredible: "You're not affiliated with me!"

—Mr. Incredible, handing Buddy over to the police and telling them about what happened

Bob (whispering): "Listen closely. I'd like to help you, but I can't. I'd like to tell you to take a copy of your policy to Norma Wilcox on... Norma Wilcox, W-I-L-C-O-X... on the 3rd floor, but I can't.
(Mrs. Hogenson scribbles details of Bob's loophole on a small notepad)
Bob: "I also do not advise you to fill out and file a WS2475 form with our legal department on the 2nd floor. I would not expect someone to get back to you quickly to resolve the matter. I'd like to help, but there's nothing I can do."
(Mrs. Hogenson tries to thank him for everything, but Bob shushes her)
(Bob gets up)
Bob (shouting loudly): "I'm sorry, ma'am! I know you're upset!"
(Bob goes back down)
Bob (very softly): "Pretend to be upset."
(Mrs. Hogenson starts sobbing very convincingly; Bob smiles triumphantly)

—Bob, explaining an insurance policy loophole to Mrs. Hogenson

Lucius: "So now I'm in deep trouble. I mean, one more jolt of this death ray and I'm an epitaph. Somehow, I manage to find cover and what does Baron Von Ruthless do?
Bob (laughing): "He starts monologuing."
Lucius: "He starts monologuing! He starts, like, this prepared speech about how *feeble* I am compared to him, how *inevitable* my defeat is, how *the world* *will soon* *be his*, yadda yadda yadda."
Bob: "Yammering."
Lucius: "Yammering! I mean, the guy has me on a platter and he won't shut up!"

—Bob and Lucius are sitting in a parked car reminiscing

Dash: "Hey, Lucius!"
Lucius: "Hey, Speedo, Helen, Vi, Jack-Jack."
Bob: "Hey, hey! 'Ice' of you to drop by!"
Lucius: "Ha! Never heard that one before."

—Lucius shows up at the Parrs' house, and Dash answers the door

Lucius: "Just like old times."
Bob (slapping Lucius in the back): "Just like old times."
Lucius: "Ha-ha, yeah. Hurt then, too. Ow."

—Bob and Lucius

Dash: "Mom. You're making weird faces again."
Helen: "Noo, I'm not..."
Bob (not looking up from the newspaper): "You make weird faces, honey."

—Helen is feeding Jack-Jack and making baby noises at him

Mr. Incredible (to Elastigirl): "Wait here and stay hidden. I'm going in."
(Mr. Incredible gets out of the car, and Elastigirl grabs him)
Elastigirl: "While what? I watch helplessly from the sidelines? I don't think so."
Mr. Incredible: "I'm asking you to wait with the kids."
Elastigirl: "And I'm telling you, not a chance. You're my husband. I'm with you -- for better or worse."
Mr. Incredible: "I have to do this alone."
Elastigirl: "What is this to you? Playtime?"
Mr. Incredible: "No."
Elastigirl: "So you can be Mr. Incredible again?"
Mr. Incredible: "No!"
Elastigirl: "Then what? What is it?"
Mr. Incredible: "I'm not..."
Elastigirl: "Not what?"
Mr. Incredible: "Not... I'm not strong enough."
Elastigirl: "Strong enough? And this will make you stronger?"
Mr. Incredible: "Yes. No!"
Elastigirl: "That's what this is? Some sort of work out?"
Mr. Incredible: "I can't lose you again!"
(Mr. Incredible calms down)
Mr. Incredible: "I can't. Not again. I'm not s-strong enough."
(Elastigirl kisses Mr. Incredible)
Elastigirl: "If we work together, you won't have to be."
Mr. Incredible: "I don't know what will happen..."
Elastigirl: "Hey, c'mon. We're superheroes. What can happen?"

—Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, after seeing that Metroville is under attack by the Omnidroid v.10, and then arguing, then making up

Bob: "Did I do something illegal?"
Mr. Huph (begrudgingly): "No."
Bob: "Are you saying we *shouldn't* help our customers?"
Mr. Huph: "(sighs) The law *requires* that I answer 'no.'"
Bob: "We're supposed to help people!"
Mr. Huph: "We're supposed to help OUR people! Starting with our stockholders, Bob! Who's helping them out, huh?!"

—Bob and Mr. Huph

Edna: "This is a hobo suit, dahling. You can't be seen in this. I won't allow it. 15 years ago, maybe, but now? Feh!"
Bob: "Wait, what do you mean? *You* designed it."
Edna: "I never look back, dahling! It distracts from the now."

—Bob and Edna

Trivia

• Despite being morbidly obese, Bob is extremely strong; he's so strong he can break through walls and lift heavy stuff.
• When he puts on his supersuit(s), it looks like he has a big, beefy body.
• It was hinted in a deleted scene that he may have broken the law when he married Elastigirl, as when Syndrome (then a minor one-shot villain who sought revenge) discovered that Mr. Incredible was married to Elastigirl, and they had a baby, he said "Isn't it illegal for Supers to breed?" This concept was presumably cut in the final version, as when a similar revelation was made, he doesn't mention anything about whether it was legal or not for Supers to marry and have kids.
• Bob Parr is the first human protagonist in a Pixar feature film.
• Bob Parr first appeared on the cover of a comic book a boy was reading in the waiting room near the end of Finding Nemo before making his official debut the year afterwards.

Gallery

A "Mr. Incredible Poster" concept artwork.

A picture of every perspective of Mr. Incredible

Mr. Incredible in his small car

Mr. Incredible watching a fight

Mr. Incredible's figurine for Disney Infinity.