Wickedpedia
Register
Advertisement

Mirage is a major anti-heroine and Syndrome's former assistant and friend of the movie The Incredibles also its comic book adaptation. She was assigned to recruit supers under the guise of retrieving a rogue robot, acting as the liaison between them and her employer. The purpose of hiring supers was actually to have them test the combat abilities of each version of the Omnidroids so improvements could be made to make them undefeatable. Mr. Incredible was one of the few supers that was able to defeat the first Omnidroid he faced.




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

She was voiced by late Elizabeth Peña.

Personality[]

Mirage is a calm, bold, courteous, decisive, and very sensible intellectual who, upon answering Mr. Incredible's inquiry to why Syndrome's base is in the center of a volcano, replies "He's 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; this may explain her betrayal of Syndrome, which may be interpreted as a response to loss of power.

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. This is not explained. Mirage respects Syndrome at first, as a boss and as a person, but objects to his callous attitude when her own life is put in danger.

Movie[]

In the movie, Mirage uses her beauty, sexiness, and charm to locate and hire former superheroes to test Syndrome's Omnidroids. Mirage finds Mr. Incredible with his friend, Frozone, listening to police scanners. At first, she concentrates on Frozone, but once she realizes that Frozone's companion is Mr. Incredible, she convinces her supervisor that a change of target is 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 in need of his services because a robot working for a secret government facility has gone haywire on their remote island base. During this message, Mirage notes that she 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 and in need of money to support his family, contacts Mirage to accept the offer.

When he arrives, Mirage tells him that the Omnidroid was developed with artificial intelligence and eventually became too intelligent to take orders, so that it is now rampaging across the island, forcing the evacuation. Mirage explains that it is a "learning" robot, becoming more difficult to defeat the longer it is fought and 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. Mr. Incredible is a little suspicious of Mirage's residence under a volcano; her responses foreshadow her later role by being stereotypical of cartoon supervillains, but are noted as such only by the viewer.

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. When he arrives, 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 main computer room when his presence is betrayed by the homing device Edna Mode built into his super suit. After placing Mr. Incredible in an electromagnetic 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 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 is confident Mr. Incredible is bluffing, and tells him to prove his willingness to do so. Unable to violate his moral code, Mr. Incredible relents and lets Mirage go. Syndrome calls Mr. Incredible 'weak' for doing this. Mirage is shocked that Syndrome would risk her life to call a bluff. Later, and still angry with Syndrome, Mirage tells him that valuing life is not weakness and disregarding it is not strength. Syndrome tells her he knew Mr. Incredible could not commit murder but Mirage answers "Next time you gamble, bet your own life!" and leaves him.

Later, Mirage frees Mr. Incredible. He, still enraged, angrily begins to strangle her. In desperation to be released, she manages to tell him his family survived the crash and Mr. Incredible releases her. Relieved to hear this and grateful for his release, he embraces her. At that moment, Elastigirl enters and immediately punches Mirage thinking that her suspicions about Mr. Incredible having an affair with her are confirmed. As the couple start to clarify matters, Mirage recuperates and informs them their children have triggered an alarm in the jungle.

Mirage is last seen giving the Incredibles the central computer's new password while calling them to "Say please." so that they can use a rocket to get to the mainland and defeat Syndrome's robot. Mirage's ultimate fate remains undisclosed.

Relationships[]

Buddy Pine/Syndrome[]

Mirage and Syndrome are quite different in character. Where she is quiet and mannered, he is loud and brash. Where she is calm and collected, he is fiery and passionate. They do however share a great intellect and a megalomaniacal disregard for human life, which appears to be mitigated in Mirage. 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 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, causing her to introduce herself to Mirage by punching her in the face.

Trivia[]

  • Showing no signs of bumbling, Mirage proves to be one of the most competent henchmen of Disney villains.

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
  • Malishka Mendonsa : Indian version
  • Tammi Øst : Danish version

(*) Note: Elizabeth Peña speaks Spanish but doesn't dub herself.

Comic book influence[]

Mirage resembles Mercy Graves, Silver Sable, Viper and Talia Al Ghul. The name could possibly be a reference to the comic publisher Mirage Studios.

Advertisement