When THE INCREDIBLES leaped onto movie screens in 2004, the super-powered family faced the villain Syndrome, a would-be sidekick who grew up into a superhero killer. With that baddie defeated, the Parr family was thrust into a confrontation with The Underminer as the end credits rolled.
THE INCREDIBLES 2 begins right where the first movie left off, with the family taking on the Underminer, but he’s not the film’s main villain. That honor goes to a mysterious figure known as the Screen Slaver. Early comments from the film’s production team have given us some idea of the story behind the new Incredibles villain, and here’s all the details we can give you before the film opens on June 15.
Who Is The Screen Slaver?
What we do know is that the character hypnotizes and controls people via signals transmitted over screens large and small. There’s probably a metaphor there about how people use their phones and other devices, but we’ll figure that part out later.
The image at the top of this article is the new villain, or at least their mask. We don’t even know if a man or woman is behind the imposing look of the Screen Slaver. It seems like the goggles on the mask can actually work towards the character’s evil purpose, acting as small screens that can hypnotize people on a one-to-one basis. But the Slaver has much bigger ideas in mind.
The trailers show a crowd of people enthralled by the Screen Slaver signal, which suggests a plan to control more than a few people at once. Thanks to an early press day, we know that a big action sequence is set in motion when the villain hypnotizes a train conductor.
What Is The Screen Slaver’s Plan?
This is where we get into some informed speculation. No deliberate spoilers follow, but if our guesses prove correct, remember that we tried to warn you.
OK, so the Parr family and Frozone aren’t the only Supers active in THE INCREDIBLES 2. There are also other costumed heroes that attendees of Pixar’s early press day were told are “wanna-bes,” which seems to mean that these characters are hoping to get to the level of the old Supers like Frozone, Elastigirl, and Mr. Incredible. These characters are seen on the latest poster. (In the white box, above.)
And we know that concept art at Pixar showed some of the Wanna-bes with goggles that seem to be provided by the Screen Slaver, suggesting that the character has come up with a way to make Supers work under hypnosis. But why?
Here’s where the speculation really begins.
Two other new characters in the film are Winston and Evelyn Deavor. These siblings have a vast fortune to play with, and they are also driven by a painful memory. Their father helped out Supers back in the day, and even created a direct line to some, which he could call in case of emergency. He really needed help after Supers were outlawed – and that’s when he called for help and no one came, leading to his death.
Both the most recent trailer and footage shown to press at Pixar revealed that Winston Deavor is behind the attempt to revive Supers in the public eye. He turns Elastigirl into a symbol of the value of Supers, and her influence is part of what inspires the Wanna-bes. Evelyn Deavor is an inventor, with the skills to create really amazing gear. She and her brother work together in the effort to revive the public image of superheroes.
The precise details of the Screen Slaver’s plan remain a mystery, along with the character’s true identity, but it probably won’t be good for the Parr family, or for Supers overall.
We’ll learn far more about the Screen Slaver when THE INCREDIBLES 2 opens on June 15.
