Mirage (The Incredibles)

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Mirage
Close-up of Mirage
Publication information
Publisher	Dark Horse Comics/Pixar Animation Studios
First appearance	The Incredibles
Created by	Brad Bird
In story information
Full name	Unknown
Supporting character of	Incredible Family (formerly Syndrome)
Abilities	Unknown, if any

Mirage is a fictional character, an ex-villainess featured in the film The Incredibles, produced by Pixar and Disney, first released on November 24, 2004. She also appears in the comic book version of The Incredibles, where she reenacts her role from the movie. Mirage is an assistant to the evil scientist, Syndrome. She tricks the superhero, Mr. Incredible, into doing work for her boss, which in reality involves battling a robot (the Omnidroid 9000) specifically designed to kill him. Mirage is the liaison between Mr. Incredible and Syndrome, preventing Mr. Incredible from learning the true identity of his employer.

Though she apparently has no superpowers, or at least none exhibited on screen, Mirage appears to have extensive computing and espionage skills^[1] and she claims her identity is kept a secret by the government, hinting to her profession as an assassin.

The voice of Mirage was provided by Elizabeth Peña.

"Syndrome's mysterious love interest might be drawn to power, but quickly learns the consequences when power is in the wrong hands." - Official Pixar Website

Contents 1 Movie 2 Personality 3 Relationships 4 Voiced By 5 Notes and references 6 External links 7 Comic book influence

[edit] Movie

In the movie The Incredibles, Mirage's boss, Syndrome, uses her incredible beauty and charm to locate and hire former superheroes to test his Omnidroids; he wishes to develop an unstoppable Omnidroid that he can use to obtain revenge on Mr. Incredible, a former superhero who had crushed his dreams of glory in the past. Mirage later finds Mr. Incredible with his friend, Frozone, listening to police scanners. At first, she concentrates on Frozone; once she realizes that Frozone's companion is Mr. Incredible, she convinces her supervisor that a change of target is absolutely necessary.

Later, Mirage slips into Mr. Incredible's office when he is absent and places a message for him in his briefcase. In the message, Mirage tells Mr. Incredible that she is need of his services because a robot working for their secret government facility has gone haywire on their remote island base. During this message, Mirage notes that her and Mr. Incredible are alike, because, according to the government, "neither of them exist". She promises him three times his annual salary to accept the assignment and ends the message by telling him to call the number on her business card. Mr. Incredible, eager to resume superhero work, contacts Mirage to accept the offer

When he arrives, Mirage tells him about the robot, the Omnidroid 8000. She tells him that it was developed with artificial intelligence and eventually became too intelligent to take orders from them. It is now rampaging across the island, forcing the evacuation of the island. Mirage explains that it is a "learning" robot, becoming more difficult to defeat the longer it is fought; she requests that the Omnidroid be shut down without destroying it.

When Mr. Incredible manages to deactivate the Omnidroid without wholly destroying it, Mirage invites him for dinner. As Mirage is waiting for him, Syndrome (hiding in shadows) tells her to make Mr. Incredible feel that his service is needed and to boost his ego. Mirage then catches sight of Mr. Incredible listening and quickly invites him into the room. Mr. Incredible is a little suspicious of Mirage's residence under a volcano; her responses foreshadow, noticed only by the viewer, of her later role.

After several weeks, Mirage brings Mr. Incredible back to the island for a briefing in the facility's meeting room, on the pretense that she has a "new assignment" for him. However, the meeting is a trap, and Mr. Incredible is attacked by the latest prototype Omnidroid, now under the direct control of Syndrome. Mr. Incredible escapes this trap, but is caught again in the Operation Kronos computer room when his presence is betrayed by the homing device Edna Mode built into his super suit. After placing Mr. Incredible in an electronic containment device, Mirage and Syndrome hear over the radio that Elastigirl (Mr. Incredible's wife) is flying to their island on an aircraft. Syndrome launches an attack on the plane with heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles; Mirage appears shocked when Helen yells "There are children aboard!" though Syndrome pursues his attack, destroying the plane.

Believing that Syndrome and Mirage have killed his family, Mr. Incredible attempts to seize and crush Syndrome, but Mirage throws herself in the way. He threatens to kill her, but Syndrome appears not to care; because he believes Mr. Incredible is bluffing, Syndrome tells Mr. Incredible to kill Mirage and thus prove his willingness to do so. Unable to violate his personal moral code, even with such extreme provocation, Mr. Incredible relents; Mirage appears shocked that Syndrome would risk her life to call a bluff. After this incident, Syndrome, noticing Mirage's anger, tells her that he knew Mr. Incredible could not commit murder. Mirage retorts that valuing another person's life is not a weakness and walks away, saying, "The next time you gamble, bet your own life!"

Later, she frees Mr. Incredible and is about to tell him that his family survived. Still enraged, he begins to strangle her. However, she manages to choke out that his family had survived the explosion; in relief, Mr. Incredible embraces her. At that moment, Elastigirl comes in and knocks Mirage out, thinking he was having an affair with her. As the couple start to clarify matters, Mirage recuperates and informs them that their children had triggered an alarm in the forest.

Mirage is last seen giving the Incredibles the new password so that they can use a rocket to escape. Her ultimate fate remains undisclosed.

[edit] Personality

Mirage is clearly a calm, decisive intellectual who thrives upon power. ^[2] For, upon answering Mr. Incredible's inquiry to why Syndrome's base is in the center of a volcano, she said, "He is attracted to power... so am I. It's a weakness we [she and Syndrome] share." Mirage's decisions seem to focus on control, and the drive behind obtaining it. An example of this is during the scene in which her relationship to Syndrome crumbles because he is in control of her well-being. In order to make up for this loss, she has to take drastic measures to regain her composure, and re-affirm her position of power, and so she grants the Incredibles with the password for use of a rocket.

Mirage's motivations in the film are never quite made clear. While an operative of Syndrome, she presumably was involved in the deaths of several superheroes and had full knowledge of his plan to wreak havoc upon the city. Yet Mirage is appalled at the thought of killing innocent children. Mirage may believe that the Supers had a chance of survival, whereas the children do not; or she may have unintegrated values.

Mirage respected Syndrome at first, as a boss and as a person, but she did not like the way in which he was callous to the waste of life.

[edit] Relationships

Buddy Pine/"Syndrome": Mirage and Syndrome are quite different in character. She is neat, whereas he is disorganized; she is confident while he questions himself on a daily basis. They maintain a strong partnership, which appears more intimate than is expected of business partners. They do not stand firm within gender roles and guidelines. They respect each other equally, and neither's voice is lost for the sake of "being together." Although in the film neither of them vocally expresses friendly attraction to the other, it is apparent in their movements and conversations: Syndrome's fleeting attempt to kiss Mirage in their last scene together is not easily categorized as "a boss making a pass." Mirage threw Syndrome away from Mr. Incredible's attempted attack (while Syndrome had him captive), and Syndrome refers to her as 'baby' on several occasions. Mirage seems to be the only employee who can access the files in the Kronos computer database. Mirage is evidently Syndrome's most trusted aide, in whom he invests the responsibility of finding his target Supers.

Robert "Bob" Parr/"Mr. Incredible": She initially maintains a seeming of believing him important to her, but later genuinely admires him and is grateful for his sparing of her life. The gratitude, and her repayment of it by unrepentantly betraying Syndrome, show that she believes in the need to repay a favor done.

Helen Parr/Elastigirl/Mrs. Incredible: Although Helen's acquaintance with Mirage is brief, Helen's own insecurities and fears create a relationship of sorts. Helen, afraid to lose the affection of her husband, is stimulated nearly to despair by the discoveries of Mirage's hair on Robert's jacket, of Robert's refusal to tell Helen the truth of his absences, and by the embrace of gratitude and relief given to Mirage by Robert himself.

[edit] Voiced By

• Elizabeth Peña: English version
• Barbara Schöneberger: German version
• Emanuela Rossi: Italian version
• Esther Arroyo: Castilian Spanish version
• Andrea Morucci: Brazilian Portuguese version
• Radó Denise: Hungarian version
• Danuta Stenka: Polish version
• Misa Watanabe: Japanese version

[edit] Notes and references

1. ^  ^  ^  Adaptionsmovie.com. Mirage's personality and possible attraction to Mr. Incredible. Retrieved on March 25, 2006.
2. ^  darkhorse.com. Mirage's possible attraction to Syndrome. Retrieved on 2006-04-03.

[edit] External links

• Official website of the Incredibles

[edit] Comic book influence

Mirage resembles Mercy Graves, Silver Sable, Viper and Talia Al Ghul.