Anmol Ahuja
FOURTEEN Years. Fourteen years is what we had to wait to see our favourite superhero family in action once again. That is also the time in which Hollywood has produced roughly fifty superhero movies, and rarely have any of them come close to the brilliance that was the first Incredibles film. Of course, even when it took its sweet time to land the second one, and the market was already cluttered by then, ‘Incredibles 2’ still succeeded in giving fans a mighty good time.
This franchise is special, there is no denying that, and the fantastic medium that is animation just ensures that the movies live on with the same characters, no matter the time. I say this because the chances of a sequel while most of you are still in your primes seem exasperatingly low, and neither Disney nor Pixar seem in any hurry to pick this up, even if their focus in recent times seems to have shifted from original properties to remakes and sequels, something that they will hope to combat with the upcoming ‘Soul’ and ‘Onward’, two Pixar movies that I am vastly, vastly hopeful about.
With Disney stating officially that original movies would be the way to go for them after ‘Toy Story 4’, at least in this faction (Pixar), a new Incredibles film seems highly unlikely anytime soon. More on this and possible plot points as we move forward. Read on.
Incredibles 3 Plot: What Is It About?
Asked on the possibility of a third ‘Incredibles’ film and the possible timeline for it, director Brad Bird said that “it’s like, the last thing you want to do after swimming in the ocean for a month is go for a swim. I need to do something else for a while”, which is another marker that the wait for a third film is going to be longer than expected. However, all hope isn’t lost since there are a ton of ideas that Brad Bird worked on over the course of development that didn’t make it on to the final film owing to the ever-changing course of development for the film, which Bird hopes can be used for a third film, stating that “there were a lot of ideas that we had on this film that could be used, whether it’s another Incredibles film, or something else.”
Adding to that, he further stated “We storyboarded, and we designed characters, and they’re really good! Some of them were really funny and cool and explored certain things. You know, you never say never, because there might be an opportunity to use it. Maybe the idea shows up in a different film. There was an idea I had for an animated version of The Spirit that I ended up using in The Iron Giant. You never know how these things are going to get repurposed.”
On the positive side, before we deep dive into predicting what the sequel could be about, even producer John Walker said that he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of a third film, given the massive success the second one was even after fourteen years, but wasn’t too hopeful on the time it would take to get that made, stating that “I wouldn’t ever rule it out, and if past is prologue, it’ll be another 14 years, and a lot of people will probably need oxygen to make a third one.”
Since we are out on a limb predicting, let’s take a little look at the genealogy of the three movies. The first film essentially centred around Bob and his tryst with realising his own self-worth after the superhero act rendered superheroes unable to fight crime and remain confined to regular lives and jobs.
The second film more or less followed the same trajectory with Helen as she embarked on her own journey of self-discovery in all the roles she had undertaken. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have the third film focused on the kids. A young adult Pixar film about three superhero kids, balancing the discovery of their powers with regular school life, that is a pool of stories to begin with anyway. It would be like ‘Spiderman: Homecoming’ or the initial ‘Spider-Man’ films, but animated and having a full-fledged coming of age plot for Violet and some sibling drama to keep the pace going. To give you an idea from the first film, remember the scene where the entire family has to ask Dash to come second or defeat his competition by only a tiny margin to safeguard the secret about their powers? It is ideas like these that I am talking about.
Even though ‘Incredibles 2’ picked up right where the first one left off, with the Incredibles and Frozone battling the now elusive villain Underminer, and continued from that, it would make a whole lot of sense for the third film to feature a time jump, despite the second film ending in a very similar fashion. The time jump could entail Dash in high school, Violet going to college, Jack Jack (or just Jack for a grown boy) entering school, and Bob and Helen getting used to this new setting, juggling with their daily jobs and superhero business with the family. There are several plot lines here associated with each individual character that I can see blooming into a film for the whole family. Throw in a main villain, and a couple of repeating ones, along with some Frozone and auntie Edna banter. That should outline both ‘Incredible’ films, and a possible third one.
Irrespective of the time jump happening or not, I would very much like to see the Incredibles go head to head with the Underminer, who, despite being present substantially in the first film and marginally in the second film, wouldn’t be caught for some reason. I have to, at this conjuncture, completely confess that a lot of this frustration also stems from the fact that the Underminer was woefully evasive even in the PS2 game that I played in my days as a kid, accompanying the film, titled ‘The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer’, and it would mean nothing less than befitting closure for the Incredibles to battle him and defeat him, once and for all, main villain or not.
Incredibles 3 Cast: Who Is In It?
This is a tricky one, since we essentially do not know when or if a third one would happen. The tricky part here would be true for both the adults and the kids voicing these characters. The kids age, so do the adults, and while the animation medium proves itself useful in the visual sense here, given that we can practically have all these characters looking the same as last time, aurally things might be very different.
The exact scenario happened with the casting of Huckleberry Milner for the voice of Dash instead of Spencer Fox from the first film. However, assuming things stay on track, one could reasonably expect all of the major cast members to return, including Craig T. Nelson as Bob Parr/ Mr. Incredible, Holly Hunter as Helen Parr/Elastigirl, Sarah Vowell as Violet Parr, Huckleberry Milner as Dash Parr, Eli Fucile as Jack Jack, Samuel L. Jackson as Frozone, and Brad Bird himself as Edna Miller.
Incredibles 3 Crew: Who Is Behind It?
It would of course be perfect to have Brad Bird back to direct a possible third film, given that the franchise is practically his baby, and it was partially his insistence on delaying for a sequel until a perfectly agreeable story was developed that led to the delay in the release of the second. Interesting fact: ‘Incredibles 2’ was first scheduled for release on the day that ‘Toy Story 4’ released, and vice versa, while Disney swapped schedules, leading to the Incredibles film losing out a whole year of production. Other than that, Brad Bird or Pixar both seem in absolutely no hurry to get a third film off the ground.
Incredibles 3 Release Date: When Will It Premiere?
Unless there’s an official confirmation, it is impossible to make a realistic estimate of when the next Incredibles film will release. Still, let’s say, optimistically, if everything goes as expected, a 2023 release of Incredibles 3 does not look beyond achievable.
Incredibles Trailer:
Of course there is no trailer for a third Incredibles movie yet. However, this compilation of the character dynamic I never knew I needed to see, the one between Edna and Jack Jack, released as a separate mini movie with the home release of the film titled ‘Auntie Edna’, should suffice till then:
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