52

The 2004 Pixar movie The Incredibles follows the lives of the forcibly retired superhero Mr Incredible and his family. Shortly after we are introduced to Robert (Bob) Parr we discover that he and his family are in some sort of witness relocation program to hide their former identities from the public allowing them to lead normal lives. We also know that this isn't the first time they've had to move as a result of Bob's actions.

Presumably each time the family is forced to relocate they must also change their names as otherwise tracing their identities would be trivial. As such my question is this:

What was Mr Incredible's real name before he first went into hiding?

Lord Jebus VII
  • 693
  • 1
  • 5
  • 8

2 Answers2

83

Bob Parr (probably).

In the wedding scene (prior to his family being taken into witness protection) we see him using the name Robert Parr.

Minister: Robert Parr, will you have this woman to be your lawful wedded wife?

enter image description here

and it was Robert "Bob" Parr when he met Elastigirl in the first place.

"Oh, well...I thought I'd see you there." He let out a chuckle as he shook his head. "Whoops, I never even introduced myself! I'm Bob Parr." He wiggled his fingers, which were still wrapped around his shopping bags. "I'd shake, but..." "Helen," Elastigirl said. She shifted her own grocery bag so she could take one of his fingers. She shook it. "Nice to meet you."

A Real Stretch: An Elastigirl Prequel Story

It seems likely that when a new identity is created, it's created in their same names, noting that there are literally hundreds of people named Robert Parr in the US.

Conversely, however, in the tie-in book Respect, the Incredibles, Tales of Virtue we're led to believe that these are assumed names.

But ignoring their special powers wasn’t easy. Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, who changed their names to Bob and Helen Parr, tried to lead normal lives.

On a related note, Helen Parr's maiden name was supposedly Truax, according to the film's creator Brad Bird.

Q. Is Helen Parr's maiden name really Truax?

Bird: Uh... yes (a detail that hasn't been in my mind for a long time).

Via Twitter

Interestingly, in A Real Stretch: An Elastigirl Prequel Story we learn that she goes by at least one other name, Helen Highwater.

Then she left to greet the world as Helen Highwater, Elastigirl's secret identity. Most Supers had them, and Elastigirl found hers immensely helpful. After all, it would be pretty hard to go about your day doing chores and running errands as a Super. People would stop you for an autograph, or to take a picture, or to ask you to do things for them that didn't truly qualify for a Super's intervention.

Note that at this point she's working directly for the NSA so there's every possibility that this surname is just a cover. She does refer to herself in internal dialogue as Helen, so that's probably her real name.

Valorum
  • 689,072
  • 162
  • 4,636
  • 4,873
  • +1 Touche Valorum, I should have remembered this :) – Binary Worrier Feb 15 '17 at 17:25
  • 1
    @Valorum: Do you want to grab any or all of my memory erasure bit? – FuzzyBoots Feb 15 '17 at 17:28
  • @Valorum: Feel free to grab the other evidence & inferences from my deleted answer (I say this without implying that your answer is in any way incomplete). – Binary Worrier Feb 15 '17 at 17:36
  • @BinaryWorrier - I'll have a think on it. – Valorum Feb 15 '17 at 17:43
  • @FuzzyBoots - Nah. Your answer stands on its own, at least as an explanation of why people don't track him down each time he's exposed. – Valorum Feb 15 '17 at 17:44
  • 18
    Additionally, it was Mr. Incredible who went into hiding, not Bob Parr, so no need to change the name. – NeutronStar Feb 15 '17 at 20:14
  • @Joshua Exactly. No need to change a secret identity that is - presumably - still a secret! – I'm with Monica Feb 16 '17 at 08:44
  • 5
    @AlexanderKosubek - His (secret) identity is compromised at least three times in the film, once at work and then twice at home. – Valorum Feb 16 '17 at 10:40
  • @Valorum - Fantastic, a quote precisely answering the question and a quote from the creator confirming what would be essentially the companion question. FuzzyBoots' answer explains why he didn't have to change name better than it just being common (if this was the case in real life, hiding would be easy!), but this confirms that he has always been called Bob Parr. Thanks to both of you! – Lord Jebus VII Feb 16 '17 at 10:45
  • @LordJebusVII - We aim to please. Now come up with some more Incredibles questions... – Valorum Feb 16 '17 at 10:56
  • 1
    And here I was guessing that his first name was probably Robert based on the fact that the government man says "We can't keep doing this, Bob!" – Devsman Feb 16 '17 at 20:45
  • @Devsman - That's not much proof. If there's one thing I've learned from US cop shows it's that your handler will address you by your fake name, not your real one. – Valorum Feb 16 '17 at 21:08
  • "It seems likely that when a new identity is created, it's created in their same names" It really doesn't – Lightness Races in Orbit Feb 16 '17 at 21:17
30

I believe that the answer is as simple as that his name really is Bob Parr and there is no evidence that it has changed. The witness relocation issue really isn't that much of a problem because memories are erased.

Normally the government agent and Bob's old friend Rick Dicker would cover such an incident by paying to keep the company quiet, relocating his family, and erasing memories of the incident, but since it is costing too much money for the government, Dicker says that he can no longer help Bob, but quickly relents and offers to bail him out one last time, an offer that Bob refuses since his family has adjusted to their current life.

The relevant quote from Dicker:

We pay to keep the company quiet. We pay damages, erase memories, relocate your family.

FuzzyBoots
  • 223,803
  • 23
  • 680
  • 1,039
  • 6
    Money, money, money, money. We can't keep doing this, Bob! – Bishop Feb 15 '17 at 17:55
  • 12
    Woah, hold up, the government in Incredibles has Memory Erasing powers? That's... an interesting fact for Pixar to just kinda gloss over... – GGMG-he-him Feb 15 '17 at 18:26
  • 7
    @GGMG - It's mentioned twice and appears in the supplementary materials (Jack-Jack Attack). – Valorum Feb 15 '17 at 18:27
  • @Valorum In that, it's not just a passing comment either; several seconds at the end are devoted to it in VIDEO_TS and in AUDIO_TS. – wizzwizz4 Feb 15 '17 at 18:34
  • 12
    I always thought the memory erase thing was a nod to MiB. – Seeds Feb 15 '17 at 18:44
  • 4
    I have a vague recollection of this..... nope its gone. – Criggie Feb 16 '17 at 05:04
  • 2
    @FuzzyBoots - That makes perfect sense and explains why my misconception that they would have to change their names each time they move was wrong. I knew they erased memories but never joined the two together. As much as I love this answer and want to accept it, technically Valorum's answer better fits the question as written though this one explains the why behind the what. – Lord Jebus VII Feb 16 '17 at 10:38
  • 1
    I always kind of guessed that "erase memories" was meant figuratively, like a nicer, simpler, catchall way of saying any combination of techniques like deleting records, gaslighting witnesses or running smear campaigns to make people out to be crackpots. But this more literal interpretation is also kind of unsettling... – Devsman Feb 16 '17 at 20:54