Elastigirl

Helen Parr (née Truax), also known as Elastigirl or Mrs. Incredible, is a fictional character in Pixar's ''The Incredibles'' franchise. A superhero with superhuman elasticity, she can stretch and contort her body to extreme lengths. The wife of Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) and mother of Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack, she first appears in the animated film ''The Incredibles'' (2004), where she and her family emerge from government-mandated retirement to defeat Syndrome. In its sequel, ''Incredibles 2'' (2018), she is hired to lead a public relations campaign in relegalizing superheroes while a new villain intends to sully their reputation permanently.

The character was created by the film's screenwriter and director, Brad Bird. He gave her elasticity to reflect the roles of mothers being pulled in different directions to support and care for their families. Disney obtained permission from Warner Bros. to use the name "Elastigirl" in the film, which she shares with a DC Comics character. Animators used a layered rig system and custom deformation tools to animate her stretching abilities while maintaining an attractive, human appearance. One of the most significant challenges for the animators, she was the most complex rig Pixar had used up to that point. She is voiced by actress Holly Hunter, who did not read from a script when recording her dialogue.

Helen and Hunter's performance received a positive reception from film critics.

Role

Helen Parr first appears in ''The Incredibles'' (2004) as Elastigirl, a superhero with superhuman elasticity. Following the government's ban on superheroes due to a series of accidents and lawsuits, she marries fellow superhero Bob Parr ( Mr. Incredible) and retires into civilian life. The couple has three children, Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack, and insists that they conceal their own powers to remain hidden among society. While Bob struggles with the loss of his superheroic identity, Helen adapts to domesticity as a housewife easier than her family, but becomes increasingly concerned by Bob's distance as he secretly resumes hero work. Suspicious of his behavior, Helen consults costume designer Edna Mode, who restores her confidence and outfits her with a new super suit. She tracks Bob to Nomanisan Island, where she infiltrates the base of Syndrome (Buddy Pine), a crazed former superfan of Mr. Incredible's who turns against him after he dismisses him as a child. Unbeknownst to her, Violet and Dash stowaway aboard her chartered jet; it is destroyed by Syndrome's missiles but they survive. After reuniting on the island, the family is captured but manages to escape and return to Municiberg, where they defeat Syndrome’s final Omnidroid. Back home, Syndrome attempts to abduct Jack-Jack, but the baby unexpectedly manifests powers and escapes. Helen catches Jack-Jack midair by transforming into a parachute, while Syndrome is ultimately killed when his own cape is caught in his aircraft. The film ends three months later, with the family preparing to confront a new threat, the Underminer.

In ''Incredibles 2'' (2018), the family fails to apprehend the Underminer. They are arrested by police for interfering and causing destruction, while the government decides to shutter the program they had created to protect superheroes and ban them permanently. Winston and Evelyn Deavor, a pair of wealthy siblings whose father adored superheroes, expresses interest in relegalizing superheroes. Helen becomes the face of a campaign to reinstate the legality of superheroes by improving their public image through successful missions that avoid city-wide collateral damage. She is selected over Bob because she has historically proven to cause less collateral damage, while Bob remains home to care for their children. Her missions are successful, but eventually she encounters and is taunted by a villain going by the name the Screenslaver, who can hypnotize and manipulate others remotely via screen, and becomes determined to unmask them. Evelyn reveals herself to be behind the Screenslaver. She captures Helen and Bob, and uses them to crash a luxury watercraft into the city. When they are freed by Helen's children, Helen defeats and Evelyn as she tries to escape on a jet, who is arrested.

Development

Creation

Screenwriter and director Brad Bird pitched ''The Incredibles'' to Pixar as a scenario where a superhero family is forced into witness relocation. While the father is stuck reliving his past, the mother, Helen, embraces the present to the point where she has severed "a certain part of herself that is still alive ... she thinks that she’s not missing anything, but it turns out that she is a little bit". Bird said that, by the end of ''The Incredibles'', Helen "has no intention of slowing down ever, and is rediscovering and reawakening that side of her". He created Helen as a tribute to "the typical modern-day mom". Wanting the family's powers to mirror typical nuclear family roles and archetypes, he gave Helen elasticity to represent mothers who are constantly "juggling a million things and eingpulled in a million directions".

Originally, the film included a scene where Helen defends her decision to be a stay-at-home mother from a businesswoman who openly mocks the term. It was inspired by interactions Bird's wife, a film editor, had with her peers when she had first decided to be a homemaker after having children, and found that several people reacted dismissively. The scene was storyboarded but cut when the writers decided to open the film by introducing Helen and Bob as superheroes instead of a normal couple. One of the earliest ideas Bird had conceived for the film was when Helen notices her reflection after breaking into a supervillain's lair, and wearily acknowledges the weight she has gained since last donning a supersuit. Bird said this demonstrates some of the mundane, relatable feelings the titular family struggles with despite their extraordinary talents. Pixar had asked Bird to rewrite an argument between Helen and Bob because they feared it looked like she was being bullied by her husband. Instead of changing any dialogue, the director had Helen stretch to Bob's height to visually establish that "she’s not intimidated by him, she’s just as tough as he is", and possibly hints at one of many reasons Bob loves her.

In earlier drafts of the film, Bird had intended for Helen's friend, pilot Snug Porter, to fly her to Nomanisan Island himself, only to be killed when the plane is attacked to emphasize the ruthlessness of the villains. Executive producer John Lasseter suggested that Helen fly the plane herself, which Bird protested knowing he could not kill off Helen. Eventually, Snug became too reliant on exposition at the expense of more important characters and was ultimately reduced to a telephone conversation. Since the film's head of story was a military enthusiast, Bird made sure Helen's dialogue during the flight was authentic. Helen's call sign for her jet, India Golf Niner-Niner (IG99), is a reference to the animated film ''The Iron Giant'' (1999), which Bird also directed. Another discarded character, Xerek, had been envisioned as an ex-boyfriend of Helen and the film's original antagonist, but was written out and replaced by Syndrome. The writers were challenged to create dozens of unique, meaningful names for their superheroes. Because the character shares her name and some abilities with the DC Comics superheroine Elasti-Girl, Pixar made an arrangement with DC's parent company, Warner Bros., to use the name "Elastigirl" in ''The Incredibles''. However, the character was referred to as "Mrs. Incredible" in much of the film's early merchandising and promotional material to avoid confusion with the DC character.

Characterization and animation

Bird based much of Helen's personality on his own wife, who he described as tough, smart, loving, loyal, and funny. He described Helen as more emotionally developed than Bob, having transitioned from superhero to civilian easier than he had. According to the director, she, unlike Bob, considers herself to be a parent and wife first and foremost, "who happens to be good at fighting supervillains". According to Hunter, Helen possesses "total fearlessness" as a superhero, but also "a very strong, protective instinct" that extends to both her children and others.

As the first Pixar film starring an all-human cast, ''The Incredibles'' posed several unprecedented challenges for computer animation. Bird decided he would rather prioritize the humans feeling real over looking real, and described Helen as having a "feeling of real physics when hestretches, even though it's physically impossible". Each member of the Parr family is based on a geometric shape, with Helen resembling a heart. Animator Lou Romano found designing her in a believable manner that showed her as both maternal and superheroic to be challenging. Helen's character model was built in Maya, rigged and animated using Pixar's proprietary tools, and rendered in RenderMan. To show the turmoil Helen endures when using her powers, the director decided a simple morph would not suffice. Helen's musculature was particularly difficult, since the character must stretch, bend, and fold herself into various shapes. Animators developed a program called a deformer, which allowed them to twist and turn the character as required, mold her body into different shapes, and shape her arms into arcs, curves, zigzags, and loop-the-loops. Character supervisor Bill Wise said Helen was likely the most sophisticated articulation rig Pixar had created to that point. Character articulation artist Mark Therrell explained that one of the most significant challenges Helen posed was the crew's requirement to build an "attractive woman that we could articulate in a traditional way using joints, elbows, wrist, knees, and girly features", while also being able to "transition this attractive human rig into a monster-like thing that still looked elegant, slender and feminine while doing something humanly impossible". To achieve this, Therrell created two different rigs: the first was a standard rig, traditionally articulated using Pixar's proprietary animation software; the second was a "snake" rig that used the curve deformer on a duplicate of her geometry. By layering the snake rig on top of the standard rig, they were able to control a nearly identical version of Helen's body that remains hidden from audiences. Animators would animate Helen like any other human character, switching to a different rig when they needed her to stretch, and using control points along the curve to achieve various effects, such as constraining objects and wrapping her arms around telephone poles. To return to animating the original Helen, animators reduced her control point values back to zero, allowing them to control the original skeleton.

To create the effect of Elastigirl transforming into a parachute, the team adapted the curve deformer beyond curves to use flat, surface-based geometry. They developed a flattened, gingerbread man–like version of her body that moved in sync with her standard skeleton, which allowed them to go beyond simple linear stretches, enabling transitions into broader, more malleable shapes. In certain scenes, her costumes were animated using completely different software, such as when Edna is showing her newly-designed supersuit for the first time, where it was a 2.5D matte painting created with 3ds max and rendered with SplutterFish's Brazil rendering system. Animator Dave Mullins worked on the scene where Helen nearly drops her telephone during her conversation with Edna for six weeks, during which he referred to video footage of himself performing the same action to "better to grasp its dynamics". In 2004, media outlets reported that Mister Fantastic's role in the final act of the then-unreleased ''Fantastic Four'' (2005) film was expanded once filmmakers saw what ''The Incredibles'' had been abled to achieve with Elastigirl's special effects.

By ''Incredibles 2'', the ''The Incredibles''' original animation system had become obsolete, requiring the character team to rebuild the returning characters using new rigging tools. Mullins returned to supervise her animation and make sure animators understood the limitations of her stretching. In addition to providing them with rubber bands for reference, Mullins explained that like rubber bands, "the farther she stretches, the less strength she has". Furthermore, he clarified the character does not stretch unless she is required to, resisting temptations to stretch her just for the sake of stretching. He added, "no matter how much she stretches, her head and face are always intact". Her expanded role in the sequel brought new opportunities for the animators; the tentacle rigs for Hank in ''Finding Dory'' were used as inspiration in order for Helen to stretch beyond what she was capable of in the first film, which they applied to her second rig.

Voice

Helen is voiced by American actress Holly Hunter. Bird cast Hunter because he found her natural voice possesses a combination of vulnerability and strength suitable for the character he had envisioned, who he described as just as resilient as she is flexible. Hunter had never voiced an animated character before, and saw the role as an opportunity to expand her repertoire. She was also drawn to the film's "unconventional story about family and human dynamics".Hunter did not use a script or storyboards for much of her time working on ''The Incredibles.'' Instead, she relied on Bird's direction and knowledge of her character, describing the director as a "walking encyclopedia". Although a complete script was available for actors, she explained that avoiding it was inherent to the non-chronological manner in which animation is often filmed. Bird would describe and narrate scenes from within her recording booth. Describing the process as mysterious, abstract, and fluid, she welcomed Bird's hands-on approach to reading as other characters opposite her, an intimacy she believes has been lost in live-action, since monitors allow directors to maintain distance from actors on set. The actress reportedly lost her voice during nearly every recording session, despite Bird's efforts to reserve yelling and screaming for the end. Hunter made sure to understand the military terminology used during the plane scene, much of which she only recorded once. Animators filmed Hunter's recording sessions for live-action reference. Despite working closely with Bird, she remained shocked by the final film due to her unfamiliarity with the animation process, for which she was better prepared by the sequel.

She described working on the sequel as fun due to being more familiar with Bird's directorial process and Helen's character development. She attributed the cast and crew's willingness to return to Bird's genuine interest in crafting an authentic story for Helen. However, she did not realize how much larger her character's role was until six months into recording ''Incredibles 2''. Because the actors only recorded opposite Bird instead of each other, Hunter did not meet Craig T. Nelson until approximately a year before the release of ''Incredibles 2''. Hunter had become a mother herself in-between ''The Incredibles'' and ''Incredibles 2''. Having played mothers since the beginning of her career, she maintains that it had never felt foreign due to her active imagination. She found it refreshing to see Elastigirl explore a persona beyond motherhood and domesticity. For the sequel, she only read scenes her character appears in, thus roughly half of the film remained a secret to her until she watched it in completion. Helen remained the only character Hunter voiced until her guest role on ''Bless the Harts'' in 2019.

''Incredibles 2''

Helen becomes the protagonist of ''Incredibles 2''. According to Bird, the core idea of Helen and Bob reversing roles had existed since he was promoting the first film in 2004. Producer Nicole Paradis Grindle confirmed that Bird had conceived Helen receiving her own mission 14 years before the sequel, which focuses on reminding her she "was really good at being a Super" before housework. Despite its apparent simplicity, Bird rewrote the scene where Helen and Bob discuss her going off to work for DevTech several times to make sure Bob expresses some unhappiness without coming off as a jerk or childish, while retaining some conflict. He also used the scene to establish that Helen's hesitancy is not about her proficiency, but rather being a superhero simply intrigues her differently than her husband. The director acknowledged that Helen could easily be perceived as perfect or idealized, and made it a personal goal to further humanize her in the sequel.

Bird insisted that her expanded role was not inspired by the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, but rather a decision that developed organically from how how the writers progressed the story. Ultimately, they wanted to revive the bold, action-oriented version of Helen introduced at the beginning of the first film – the part of herself she had suppressed to care for her family – by exploring how she would channel the same aggression and ambition returning to the field as a more mature woman. Although he appreciated audiences finding real-world parallels, Bird argued that Helen's action heroine self-rediscovery was just as integral to ''The Incredibles'', and she remains "the same strong woman" as before. Similarly, Hunter said the sequel is about character revelation and its release during the movements was purely coincidental. Hunter explained that unlike the first film in which Helen resumes heroism out of necessity, she confronts "her own ambition head-on". The actress appreciated seeing a "full-fledge" version of her character boast traits she believes women are often taught to suppress. Furthermore, Hunter said her new family dynamic mirrors real families where "a woman may be the sole breadwinner or she may be earning more money than the male and that is okay". She asserted that only good could come from audiences seeing a woman lead and problem-solve, and Elastigirl fulfills many of society's yearning for strong female characters.

Helen's costumes were designed by Bryn Imagire. In ''Incredibles 2'', she wears three different supersuits, in addition to her "everyday wardrobe". Her gymnast-like bodysuit was intentionally designed to be appropriate for the film's target audience. The supersuits in particular benefited from technological advancements that allowed for stretching and shrinking to accommodate her athleticism. Designers began by building one basic suit, then adjusting its shading and logos to create three distinct looks. For her newest supersuit, they drew inspiration from vintage wetsuits, and used darker colors to help her appear more inconspicuous at night, in contrast to her original red and white outfit. Created by Edna’s competitor, Alexander Galbacki, the suit was intentionally designed to be off-putting, serving as a commentary on how supersuits in modern superhero films have become less vibrant and colorful. Character artists and costume designers based Helen's civilian wardrobe on 1950s and 1960s trends, particularly silhouettes worn by actresses Mary Tyler Moore, Marilyn Monroe, and Audrey Hepburn who, to them, represented "iconic career women". While Helen’s body shape was exaggerated to emulate the comic book style of superheroines, features such as her waist size were adjusted so she would look more natural wearing civilian clothes.

They rewrote Elastigirl's runaway train chase to include a phone call from Dash searching for his sneakers, to reemphasize Helen's family and their constant balance between "super and mundane". They lengthened the sequence to include more stunts for Helen, while allowing her to keep up with the train without needing to slow it down. Meanwhile, the city itself was adjusted to accommodate Helen's navigation, including spreading the buildings apart so she would appear less "haphazard" hopping from building to building. The "Elasticycle" was an extension of Elastigirl's own powers. Animator Kureha Yokoo, a former motorcyclist, was consulted about the vehicle's design, movement, and how they are ridden. However, they avoided researching other films to maintain originality, instead sourcing inspiration from various sports including motocross, water skiing, skateboarding, and Parkour, which they combined with Elastigirl's powers. Simulation supervisor Tiffany Erickson Klohn said retaining Helen's hairstyle while "she's on top of a train going 200 miles per hour" was a significant challenge, requiring new hair simulation software. Story supervisor Ted Mathot said that, at times, they struggled to humanize Elastigirl because "she’s pretty close to perfect" in the first film, and worked to expose some of her flaws by having her struggle and make some mistakes throughout the train chase. Director of photography-camera Mahyar Abousaeedi used the camera to convey that Helen is a strategist and always "a couple steps ahead of the game", using her environment to her advantage in contrast to Bob's approach.

Powers and abilities

Elastigirl's primary superpower is elasticity, which allows her to stretch various parts of her body to many different sizes. This ability can extend to shapeshifting, as she can use elasticity to change her form and density, including boats, parachutes, and slingshots. The extent to which she can stretch has varied depending on the source. She has been said to make herself as thin as 1 millimeter and as long as 100 feet. However, Syndrome’s Operation Kronos database states she can stretch up to 300 feet. She can achieve superhuman levels of strength, durability, and agility using her elasticity powers, including leaping 80 feet. Bob Odenkirk, who voices Winston in ''Incredibles 2'', described her as arguably "the most powerful character in the movie". However, she can still feel pain and discomfort if stretched too far, and Edna confirms that she can still injure herself if she exceeds her limit. Her powers are also shown to have practical applications "to meet the daily challenges of modern motherhood". Her only weakness is extremely cold air. Upon being captured by Evelyn in ''Incredibles 2'', she is put in a refrigerated room and warned that she will "break" if she tries to stretch. Her powers are similar those of Mister Fantastic from the Fantastic Four.

In addition to her powers, Elastigirl is shown to be an exceptional acrobat, marksman, motorcycle driver, pilot, operative, investigator, and tactician, as well as a masterful hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist.

In order to determine the Parr family's superpowers, Bird drew inspiration from the roles of typical nuclear family members. Helen's powers mirror society's expectations of a mother, who according to Bird is "always juggling a million things and pulled in a million directions".

Reception

Elastigirl has been received positively from reviewers. Journalist and film critic Anthony Lane called her "the best character in the best film that Pixar has yet made" and perceived her as "a single-handed rebuke" to accusations against Pixar for failing to highlight female heroes in their stories. Film critic Peter Bradshaw and Michael Boyle of ''/Film'' highlighted the downing of Elastigirl's jet as a compelling action sequence. Colin Low of ''Slant Magazine'' found the character to have the most interesting arc in the film.

Her opening interview in the first film in which she declares "Settle down? Are you kidding?! I'm at the top of my game! I'm right there with the big dogs! Girls, come on! Leave the saving the world to the men? I don't think so! ... I don't think so" has invited commentary. Caroline Grant of ''Literary Mama'' believes the quieter "I don't think so" suggests "a glimmer of doubt creeping into her thinking", but eventually learns that mother and superhero "are not such distinct identities, and that what she brings to the table as Elastigirl, even if she gets knotted up sometimes, is valuable".

''Rolling Stone'' ranked Helen the 14th "Best Pixar Movie Character", the second highest-ranked ''Incredibles'' character behind Edna Mode. Syfy Wire praised the sequel for making its hero a "kickass mom".

Bradshaw deemed Hunter's performance "a genuine career highlight". IndieWire ranked Hunter's work as Helen the third best performance in Pixar films, complimenting her "dizzying range" which "goes from sexy superhero to harassed, end-of-her-tether mom, to wife crushed by seeming infidelity, to back-in-the-game ass-kicker on a dime." ''Variety'' ranked Hunter the 36th greatest performance in a superhero film.

She is also considered a “great role model”. Marc Snetiker of ''Entertainment Weekly'' said the character "deserved far more cred for being a game-changing movie superhero back in 2004". Carla Meyer of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' argued that the character had already been "a great female role model" since 2004, describing her as the greatest female character in the superhero film genre before ''Wonder Woman'' (2017), and remained the most well-written on-screen female superhero since Catwoman from ''Batman Returns'' (1992). Meyer also said Elastigirl succeeded where films such as ''Catwoman'' (2004) and ''Elektra'' (2005) had failed. Observing that at the beginning of the first film, Helen balks at the idea of settling into domestic life as a female superhero. ''Bustle'''s Ashley Rey said that while the film contributes perspective to conversations surrounding family dynamics and female empowerment, "true progressiveness will be measured once conversations about strong female leads and diverse familial structures are no longer needed".

Helen's role reversal in ''Incredibles 2'' drew commentary from critics and audiences. Film critic Manohla Dargis found Helen and Bob's role swap "too self-conscious".Upon the release of ''Incredibles 2'', there was some discourse surrounding the perception of Helen's character, and how it has changed since the release of the first film. Many fans on social media express their adoration for Helen's "thicc" body, a slang term referring to having large buttocks combined with a curvy waist, while ''The New Yorker'' compared the character to Anastasia Steele from ''Fifty Shades of Grey''. Lane had first alluded to the character's sexuality in a 2011 article in which he wrote, "There is, of course, another skill that she could master with her natural sinuosity, but that is never mentioned", and suggested that audiences had been suppressing the urge to sexualize Elastigirl since 2004.

Some publications have described Helen as one of the greatest fictional mothers to have appeared on-screen, including ''Time''. '' The Liberty Champion'' ranked her the top Pixar mom.

In other media

To avoid licensing issues with DC, the character is referred to as "Mrs. Incredible" instead of "Elastgirl" in much merchandising and promotional material for ''The Incredibles''. Elastigirl is a popular choice for cosplay and fan art.

Video games

Elastigirl appears as a playable character in the 2004 tie-in video game ''The Incredibles'', ''Disney Infinity'', as well as '' Lego The Incredibles''. She makes a non-speaking cameo alongside Dash, Violet and Jack-Jack in the opening cutscene of '' The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer''. In August 2024, Epic Games announced that Elastigirl, along with Mr. Incredible and Frozone, would be added to ''Fortnite Battle Royale'' as purchasable skins, which were released on September 27, 2024.

In Boom! Studios' comic book series that served as a sequel to ''The Incredibles'', the character Xerek reused as the story's antagonist and Helen's ex-boyfriend, but ''Incredibles 2'' rendered him non-canon and obsolete.

Music

* "Here Comes Elastigirl" is a song by Michael Giacchino featured in the 2018 film. It is Elastigirl's theme song.
* "Elastigirl Is Back" is another 2018 song by Michael Giacchino.
* Lisa released an album, ''Alter Ego'', which included a song named "Elastigirl" in 2025.
Performers appear as the character at various Disney Parks establishments, including Pixar Plaza at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

References

External links

Elastigirl
at Pixar.com

{{Pixar

Animated characters introduced in 2004
Animated human characters
Female characters in animated films
Female superheroes
Fictional aviators
Fictional characters who can stretch themselves
Fictional feminists and women's rights activists
Fictional housewives
Fictional motorcyclists
Film characters introduced in 2004
Film superheroes
The Incredibles characters