We've been waiting a long, long time for The Incredibles 2. After all, the first film ended with a rather fun hint that we would see further adventures of the Parr family -- and yet it's been more than a decade since the characters have been on the big screen. Thankfully, however, our wait is almost over, as the sequel is now officially in the works over at Pixar Animation Studios.
News of The Incredibles 2 first broke in March of 2014, as Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger announced that the sequel was in development, but what exactly can we expect to see in the new movie? We're here to separate the facts from the fiction as the film moves forward, so read on to find out what we know so far! Let's start with a taste of the film courtesy of the recently released teaser.
What Is The Incredibles 2 Release Date?
Incredibles 2 was announced before a release date was ever set, so we had no idea when we were going to see it. It was then set for a summer 2019 release. With Toy Story 4 set to come out a year earlier. However, in the fall of 2016, the two films swapped dates, apparently because production on Toy Story 4 was taking longer than expected. This means Incredibles 2 is set to open on June 15, 2018. This puts it a week after the release of Oceans 8 and the week before Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. It's Disney's only June release, with Solo: A Star Wars: Story coming out at the end of May and Ant-Man and the Wasp set for July.
What Will Incredibles 2 Be Rated?
At this point, it's too early to know for sure what Incredibles 2 will be rated. However, considering that the first Incredibles film was rated PG, it would seem to be a safe bet the sequel will see a similar rating. While many animation studios have become comfortable with PG ratings in recent years, many of Pixar's productions still end up with G-ratings. However, the light violence that makes up the Incredibles superhero action almost certainly is what made the first film PG, and it's likely the sequel will have something similar.
The Filmmakers
Brad Bird is one of the most popular names in animation thanks to his work on The Iron Giant as well as the original Incredibles film. He also helmed Pixar's Ratatouille. From there, he moved on to live action, directing such films as Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol and Tomorrowland, but he's heading back to animation as he'll be directing Incredibles 2 from a script that he wrote. Bird had been open about interest in making an Incredibles sequel for a long time, but it seemed he had trouble finding a cohesive idea that could be turned into a feature film. At some point, however, he found the idea and now the film is on the way.
What Is Incredibles 2 About?
The first Incredibles movie followed the family of superheroes (called simply, supers) as they tried to live lives as normal people while dealing with their superhuman abilities. However, Mr. Incredible could not resist the temptation to use his powers, leading to his family being put in danger. We know that the sequel will pick up right where the first film ended, so we won't have missed anything in the lives of these characters. We'll see the direct repercussions of the Incredibles going public, which appears to be that supers will all be welcomed with open arms. Specifically, it appears that Mrs. Incredible will actually be the primary hero in the family, with Mr. Incredible staying home to raise the family. We know from the teaser that at some point the fact that Jack-Jack has powers will become known, though exactly what that means for everybody else isn't clear.
Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible
Bob Parr a.k.a. Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson) will be an interesting character to approach in The Incredibles 2. After all, the guy got pretty much everything he wanted out of life at the end of the first movie: he is back using his super strength to fight against the forces of evil, and he's getting to do so while also being with his family. So, what's the best way to approach that in the follow-up? From all indications, the plan will be to have Mr. Incredible switch places with his wife, and manage the family, while Elastigirl becomes the family superhero.
Helen Parr/Elastigirl
Helen Parr's special powers are reflective of how a mother feels the need to stretch herself thin for her family, and while that was a very key aspect of the first Incredibles, one can see how that same quality can be used in new and different ways -- particularly because the family has pretty clearly accepted their roles as superheroes to stop evil. Holly Hunter will be back to voice Elastigirl and the actress seems quite excited to be involved in the superhero sequel. According to Hunter, Helen will embrace her superhero alter ego in the sequel in a way that she didn't in the first film, and her ambition will be a key element of the new film's story.
Dashiell Robert "Dash" Parr
Given his obvious enthusiasm when it comes to running super, super fast and taking out bad guys, Dash will surely be a fun character for the folks at Pixar to play with as the story is developed for The Incredibles 2. After all, he spends the entire first movie hungry to show off his special abilities, and the way the story unfolds changes the world to allow him to do just that (under the right circumstances, of course). While Dash was voiced by Spencer Fox in the original Incredibles movie, he is the one member of the main cast being replaced for the sequel. Newcomer Huck Milner will be the new voice of Dash. This is likely due to the fact that the new movie is set to pick up right where the first film left off, which means Dash will not have aged. But, Spencer Fox, who was 11-years-old when he voiced the character previously, certainly has. His voice has certainly changed, so he likely doesn't sound like Dash anymore.
Violet Parr
Stuck at a very awkward age in the first movie, Violet Parr -- voiced by Sarah Vowell -- undergoes quite a bit of change in the first Incredibles. Her powers very much reflect her personality, as she regularly feels invisible and feels the need to push people away (a la with force fields), but by the end of the story, she has learned just how awesome she can be -- which translates to a date with her crush, Tony Rydinger. At this point it's unknown how she will play into The Incredibles 2, but there is surely plenty of material to mine given the character's age. For example, given that she is a teenage girl, it's entirely possible that her idea of fun isn't to hang out with her family and fight crime. There's a "with great power comes great responsibility" lesson to be taught in there.
Jack-Jack Parr
It's entirely likely that Jack-Jack Parr could be the central focus of the plot in The Incredibles 2, the teaser trailer that has been released focuses entirely on him and the fact that he has now begun to manifest his powers. As seen in both The Incredibles as well as the short film Jack-Jack Attack, the baby has super strength and laser vision, and can shapeshift, change mass, phase through objects, teleport, and "flame on." The teaser showed a very excited Mr. Incredible who was ecstatic that his youngest child now had powers, but we can already tell that controlling them is going to be difficult. It appears watching the superpowered baby will fall to Mr. Incredible, with possible assistance from his two older children. There's certainly a lot of humor that can come from these interactions, but one wonders if there could be more to it than that.
Lucius Best/Frozone
It's true that there isn't a whole lot of official confirmation regarding most of the main Incredibles cast, but there is at least one confirmation for the sequel. While doing the press tour for Captain America: The Winter Soldier in early summer 2014, Samuel L. Jackson confirmed that he had been talking with Brad Bird for a long time and has plans to reprise his role as Frozone in The Incredibles 2. This news should definitely please fans, as the ice-producing superhero is easily one of the most popular characters from the first movie. Jackson's return was officially confirmed when the actor himself posted a picture of the recording studio on the first day he went in to work on Incredibles 2. Frozone wasn't a major character in the first film, simply Mr. Incredible's best friend, but he was there to help when needed and he likely will be more than happy to continue his work as a super now that they're back in the public eye. Although, as Bob Parr's friend, he might also help out with watching Jack-Jack.
The Underminer
Fans will remember The Underminer as the mole-like villain introduced at the end of The Incredibles, and development on the new film seems to suggest that he could be the antagonist of the sequel... but whether or not that will actually be the case is unclear at this time. An element that certainly plays in the character's favor is the fact that he's voiced by John Ratzenberger -- Pixar's good luck charm, who has been in every single one of the company's features. So, even if he isn't the movie's main villain, we can expect at least a cameo. We know that Incredibles 2 will pick up right where the first film left off, so the battle with Underminer could be the very first thing that we see in the movie. The question is, will the battle be part of a larger story that will last the entire film, or will this be more like the opening of a James Bond movie, where the initial action sequence is unrelated to the story being told in the rest of the movie.
Edna Mode
One final character that we know will be back for Incredibles 2 is Edna Mode, the superhero costume designer who makes new outfits for the entire Incredibles family. Edna may have had a small role in the first film, but she may have also been the single most memorable character, so fans are certainly going to be happy to see her again. There's an outside chance that Edna's role in Incredibles 2 has already been revealed. We know that the Incredicoaster, the redesigned California Screamin' roller coaster at Disney's California Adventure will tell a story where Edna is babysitting Jack-Jack, but apparently, she's bad at it. Could this be a sequence in the new movie? Who knows, but we do know that Edna's voice won't change in the sequel, as she's actually given life by the movie's director, Brad Bird.
Rick Dicker
Rick Dicker was a member of the Super Relocation Program that helped heroes stay under wraps in the first Incredibles film. It seems his services are no longer required in the sequel as the entire department will apparently be shut down. However, we're guessing that Dicker will still be important in Incredibles 2 as the film has brought in Breaking Bad 's Jonathan Banks to take over the character. Generally, you don't bring in a higher profile actor when you're going to do less with a character.
Winston Deavor
Along with all the characters that we met in the first film, we can expect several new characters to also join the story. We knew that Bob Odenkirk was voicing one of these characters, and recently we learned a bit about him. Odenkirk will play Winston Deavor. Deavor is the co-owner of a massive telecommunications company and a guy who is a big fan of Supers. We specifically asked Bob Odenkirk if he was playing the villain in the new film, and he told us that was the one question he wasn't allowed to answer, which could be read as a confirmation that he's doing exactly that, though there are certainly other possibilities.
Evelyn Deavor
The other name that was announced alongside that of Bob Odenkirk was that of Catherine Keener, and now we know that the reason the two were paired together was that they will play brother and sister. Evelyn Deavor is apparently the brains behind the company she owns with her brother. She's also a technological genius. Surely this will be important in the story, but exactly how is unclear. Do the brother and sister have something planned? Or perhaps only one of them is up to no good, and the other has no idea.
Voyd
Incredibles 2 will apparently include a number of brand new Supers, and the first one we've met is named Voyd, and she's voiced by Chicago P.D. 's Sophia Bush. In addition to being a Super in her own right, Voyd is also a huge Elastigirl fangirl. She's being compared to Jason Lee's Buddy from the first movie, which could mean her obsession could go a little over the edge. Alternatively, if she can aid her hero, they could make a pretty impressive super team. Voyd has the ability to create voids in space that allow objects to shift in space and disappear/reappear.
Ambassador
Finally, we have the great Isabella Rossellini who will voice the character known as only as Ambassador. She's being called a presence on the world stage who wants to see all Supers legalized. Whether her goals are really altruistic is impossible to tell at this stage. With both the Ambassador and Winston Deavor as prominent public allies of Supers, it would appear there may be one too many. One runs a business and the other appears to work on the government side of things, and quite often those two interests conflict, so we'll seen soon if both of these characters are really on the side of good.
