Incredibles 3 executive producer Brad Bird explained why aging up the franchise's leading superheroes would be a bad idea. Bird served as director and screenwriter on the last two Incredibles movies for Pixar, released in 2004 and 2018. After almost another decade of waiting, Incredibles 3 will finally hit theaters on June 16, 2028, though Bird is stepping back from directing and handing the reins to Elemental filmmaker Peter Sohn. The franchise creator is still on board as writer and executive producer but was too busy with his next project, the sci-fi neo-noir mystery Ray Gunn, which will stream on Netflix on December 18, to direct the long-awaited threequel.
The Direct exclusively spoke with Incredibles 3 writer and Ray Gunn director Brad Bird, who shut down the notion that the Pixar threequel would have a time jump to age up the teenage Violet, preteen Dash, and baby Jack-Jack. The filmmaker noted that exploring older versions of the Incredibles' child superheroes would "lose the archetypical aspect" of the franchise that is so crucial:
The Direct: "I think one of the things that I hear a lot of people want to see, and I would love to see, is this idea of seeing older versions of Dash, Violet, and Jack-Jack. Is that something we can finally expect in Incredibles 3, or do you think that we're going to stick with what one and two are in that respect?"
Brad Bird: "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."
Bird first used the baby, Jack-Jack, as an example of the "archetypical" nature of the Parr family's superpowers. Just as "babies are an unknown," so are Jack-Jack's abilities, as he has well over a dozen powers that can be exhibited at any moment, often down to his infant emotions and whims:
"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 same applies to the rest of the Incredibles, including Dash's speedster abilities, Violet's invisibility and force fields, Helen's elasticity, and Bob's strength, all of which symbolize the classic expectations of different ages and family roles:
"Then you get to 10. People are energetic, anxious, all over the place, short attention span... Sugar[y] breakfast cereal. Go, go! That's 10-year-olds. Teenagers are insecure. They want to be invisible. 'Don't look at me. Don't look at me. I'm not feeling comfortable. I'm defensive. I've got force fields...' Moms are pulled 10 different directions at once, like taffy, so it makes her elastic. Dads are expected to be strong, you know."
The filmmaker summarized how many fans feel that aging up the kids would make them "somehow hipper or cooler or more like them," but instead, it would lose the symbolic element of their powers:
"And so, those are family archetypes, and aging them up doesn't help that at all. [...] People just keep thinking that aging them up is going to make them somehow hipper or cooler, or more like them, and it's like no, it won't."
Despite being 14 years apart in the real world, The Incredibles 2 picked up literally seconds after the cliffhanger ending of the 2004 classic, with the fight against the Underminer. In order to maintain its heroes' young ages, Incredibles 3 may well copy that trick, picking up from the 2018 movie's ending, in which Violet Parr postponed her movie theater date with Tony Rydinger to join a high-speed chase with her superhero family.
Fans ought to learn more in the coming years as Incredibles 3 stretches closer to its June 2028 release date, having recently teased the Pixar threequel with a Zootopia-themed poster. But first, Brad Bird will return to animation with Ray Gunn on December 18, the same day that Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part 3 hit theaters; however, the neo-noir flick will be a Netflix exclusive.
The sci-fi detective tale was conceived by Bird as an original tale in the '90s but was pushed aside when he took on 1999's The Iron Giant instead. Finally, the Incredibles director is getting the chance to make his longtime passion project through Skydance Animation.
Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2) stars as Ryamond Gunn, a small-time private investigator who is hired by pop star Venus Nova, played by Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), to debunk a scandal that threatens her career and life. The all-star cast also includes Tom Waits, Patton Oswalt, Kathryn Hunter, John Ratzenberger, and Jamie Costa, with a score from The Batman composer Michael Giacchino.
