Gazerbeam

Gazerbeam
Series information
Appearance	The Incredibles Incredibles 2

"I'm a man of culture, a man of passion and I would say a man of humor, which is not widely known. On the outside I appear calm and cool, perhaps even collected, but on the inside I'm guffawing away on the steamship of hilarity."

— Gazerbeam in his NSA file

Simon J. Paladino, also known as Gazerbeam, was a Super from The Incredibles whose powers allowed him to generate laser blasts from his eyes, assuming that he concentrated on his target; the helmet he wore allowed him to further control and intensify his blasts. The Operation Kronos Database assigned him a threat rating of 6.3.

The Incredibles

Gazerbeam's NSA files.

Gazerbeam was originally a member of the superhero team the Phantasmics, but rivalry with Everseer led to Gazerbeam's dismissal. After Dynaguy's death, Gazerbeam replaced him as leader of the Thrilling Three. He was only seen alive as one of the guests at the wedding of Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, sitting at the frontmost bench of the chapel in his superhero outfit. 

After being forced into hiding after the ban on super heroics, Gazerbeam used his civilian identity to launch a campaign to get the ban on Supers repealed. Frozone commented that he "had trouble adjusting to civilian life," much like Mr. Incredible had.

At some point prior to the main events of the film, Gazerbeam was reported missing in the Metroville Tribune. According to the newspaper, he was last seen outside his apartment on Traction Avenue ten days prior to the date of the article. His past advocacy of Superhero rights—which had lead some citizens to believe that he had actually been a superhero—would have made him a likely target (especially to Syndrome).

Gazerbeam's corpse

Gazerbeam was one of several retired supers who were targeted by Syndrome for Operation Kronos. He was recruited to battle an Omnidroid on Nomanisan Island as part of the droid's battle education. He destroyed the Omnidroid v.X4, then was bested by its successor, the Omnidroid 5. Before his demise, however, Gazerbeam managed to find out the password to the main computer—"KRONOS"—and carve it into the cave wall near where he died.

While Mr. Incredible was on Nomanisan Island trying to hide from Syndrome, he ended up in the cavern, where he encountered Gazerbeam's skeleton by chance, the sight he initially recoiled at. Approaching cautiously at the skeletal remains and wiping some dust off from the helmet, he found out that they were what remained of the missing superhero. He then traced the track of blast from Gazerbeam's visor to find the message carved on the cavern walls. Mr. Incredible was able to avoid being detected and killed by hiding behind Gazerbeam's bones.

Toy Story of Terror!

Gazerbeam, or rather his secret identity Simon Paladino, made a cameo as a name on a tombstone in the beginning of Toy Story of Terror, which also noted him in the epitaph as being "a public servant with a unique vision", a nod to his power of laser vision.

Incredibles 2

Though not making a physical appearance, Gazerbeam makes a cameo in one of Winston Deavor's flashbacks. In said flashback, Winston reveals that his father was in favor of the Supers, being friends with many of them, including Gazerbeam and Fironic. It's later shown that the night Winston's father was murdered by two muggers he attempted to call Gazerbeam, but as Supers had just been made illegal, Gazerbeam couldn't respond to the call. 

Abilities

Gazerbeam had the power of laser vision, but described having difficulties with it as staring too intensely could accidentally trigger his powers. This made it hard for him to form relationships, as people thought he was being rude or uninterested. He controlled and intensified the blasts through vision intensity focus lenses in a containment helmet. 

Personality

He was known to struggle in personal relationships, unable to focus on women in fear of hurting them with his energy blasts, as well as having "no sense of humour". He was also a bad team member, being ousted from one super team (the Phantasmics) and causing the dissolution of another (the Thrilling Three).  In civilian life, Simon worked as a pro bono lawyer, presumably in Metroville. Like Mr. Incredible, he detested the ban on Supers, although he dealt with it differently, attempting to fight the ban through legal avenues rather than through covert crimefighting.

Trivia

• The X-Men character, Cyclops, clearly inspired Gazerbeam's look and powers.

Gallery