The Parr family is getting a lot more company in the hero business in Pixar's Incredibles 3. The studio first confirmed the threequel at D23 2024, then went back to the fan event just last month with a fresh batch of details on what's in store. Elemental director Peter Sohn is taking charge, making it the first Incredibles movie not directed by Brad Bird, who's still on board to write the script. Incredibles 3 will be soaring into theaters with new heroes on June 16, 2028, a decade after Incredibles 2 punched its way past $1.24 billion worldwide.
Incredibles 3's D23 showcase hid in plain sight one of its most notable additions. As Pixar CCO Pete Docter unveiled the film's first-ever poster starring the Parr family, six superhero silhouettes lined the curved banner right above it, and not one of them is a Parr.
Pixar hasn't named any of these shadowy figures yet, though most are sporting capes, something Edna Mode would probably take umbrage with.
As for the story, Docter confirmed "it's the kids' turn," with Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack "sneaking out at night to protect the city" to prove they're ready to be real superheroes. Bob, meanwhile, is "grappling with his own relevance in a world of Supers that may have outgrown him."
And the villain, who packs "more power than all the family put together and all of the supers," will explore the idea that not all superheroes are good.
This could be the reason why Winston Deavor is launching the Superhero League, which Docter called a "heavily sponsored organization." With a whole league of Supers on the way, those six silhouettes could be an early peek at some fresh faces.
First up is a slender heroine striking a hands-on-hips pose, with a pair of wings stretching out behind her. Upon reflection, she somewhat resembles a female version of Screech (Dee Bradley Baker), the owl-themed Super from Incredibles 2.
He was one of the aspiring heroes hoping to hit the big leagues in that movie. The feathered hero has big owl eyes, a head that rotates 360 degrees, and, of course, glass-shattering screech.
She does trade his stout frame for a much sleeker build, but since superpowers seem to run in the family (looking at the Parrs), maybe she's even related to him.
Broad-shouldered and masked, the next hero on the banner sports a flowing cape and gives off Splashdown energy.
Loosely based on Aquaman, the Super from 2004's The Incredibles could breathe underwater, talk to sea life, and fire off blasts of water.
Fans know him best from Edna Mode's famous "No capes!" rant, where she recalls him getting "sucked into a vortex" when his cape betrayed him.
Could 2028 be the year of redemption for Supers with capes? Because here comes plenty more where that came from. The third silhouette doesn't overtly resemble any past Super, but does have the classic Elastigirl 1960s curved side-part bob.
It takes a little squinting, and maybe some imagination, but the pointy part of this caped hero's head loosely resembles the fin atop Dynaguy's cowl. And of course, he's sporting one of those dreadful capes.
Sadly, Dynaguy is another casualty of Edna Mode's anti-capes rant, after his cape snagged during takeoff. Unlike Splashdown, though, he's confirmed dead, so this is certainly a new hero borrowing a bit of his style.
That leaves the final two new heroes, which don't seem to borrow as obviously from past Supers. One is a slender heroine with her hands on her hips, and her hair is swept up.
The other new heroes in Incredibles 3 are really hard to define their appearance, but both are wearing capes, so clearly someone else is making their super suits.
These six may just be the next generation of Supers, joining that new superhero league launching in Incredibles 3.
The old guard had its share of caped icons, too, like Stratogale, a teenage flier strong enough to pull jetliners to safety, and Thunderhead, a storm-powered hero Mr. Incredible once called "not the brightest bulb."
Unfortunately, Stratogale's cape got caught in a jet turbine and Thunderhead's snagged on a missile fin, so these rookies might want to book a fitting with Edna before suiting up.
By the end of Incredibles 2, the Parrs and their fellow heroes had kept the hijacked ship from crashing into the city, and Supers were officially made legal once again.
That new era put the Parrs shoulder to shoulder with Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson), Voyd (Sophia Bush), and a whole crew of fellow heroes, with a few caped Supers even back in the skies (sorry, Edna, again).
It's a new era in this universe, and not much time will have passed, once again, from sequel to sequel, so expect this to still be the state of the world.
Brad Bird told The Direct back in July that aging up the Parrs would cost the franchise its "archetypical aspect," something he isn't willing to give up:
"If you lose that, you lose the archetypical aspect of it and that's something that is important to me. In other words... They were meant to represent parts of life that you go through."
He pointed to Jack-Jack as a prime example, noting that "babies are an unknown" in more ways than one:
"So, everyone has been a baby, and they know what babies are. Babies are... who knows what they are, right? They might be amazing. They might be the next bum on the corner. You don't know. Babies are an unknown. They might have all the powers. They might have none of the powers. You don't know."
The approach mirrors Incredibles 2, which picked up just seconds after the original film's ending despite arriving 14 years later. A decade later, it's a similar formula for Incredibles 3.
