When you're part of a family of superheroes, who gets stuck with the kids?
This is the central question of Brad Bird's long awaited The Incredibles 2.
When the film opens, superheroes are illegal. But a tycoon and his genius sister come up with a plan: gain public support for superheroes through a careful PR campaign focussing on one of The Incredibles.
They choose Mrs Incredible, aka Elastigirl (Helen Parr), leaving Mr Incredible (Bob Parr) at home with the kids.
How often is this kind of compromise dealt with in superhero narratives?
Parenting: the scariest foe of all
Why don't more superhero stories pursue this kind of interpersonal narrative?
I'm not talking about watching Clark Kent and Superman date Lois on the same night.
No, I'm talking about the grimy realities of the scariest foe imaginable: parenting.
Unless your superpower is literally never needing sleep, odds are superhero parents would be just as stuffed as the rest of us.
Plus, they'd know if they weren't tethered to a screaming, spewing and pooping thing that would up and die without them, they could be saving many lives, rather than just one.
Superhero to house hubby
The first Incredibles film, which came out all the way back in 2004, began by showing just how dynamic Mr Incredible and Elastigirl were as individual heroes.
Here, we see that traditional family roles have become so ingrained that Mr Incredible's first reaction to the pitch is indignation. "Why aren't I the one out there?", his eyes scream silently. "My name is practically the title of the movie!"
