Mirage (The Incredibles)

**Mirage** is a major character of *The Incredibles* franchise. She was Syndrome's sultry assistant during his attempt to eradicate Supers, but she had a change of heart after Syndrome appeared to pass off her life.

## Background

### Personality

Mirage is a calm and decisive *femme fatale* who thrives on wealth and power. Unlike Syndrome, however, she has standards for how far she is willing to go for it.

At first, Mirage respected Syndrome as her leader and her presumed lover, sharing in his taste for calculation and betrayal and willingly drawing supers to their deaths to near the point where they could release the Omnidroid for its rampage. However, she does have some honor, as she was clearly ill at ease with Syndrome opening fire on Elastigirl's plane when they learned children were aboard, and all loyalties faded when Syndrome expressed no concern for her life when Mr. Incredible threatened to kill her and then mocked the man whose family he thought he had killed by calling him weak.

### Physical appearance

Mirage is an attractive, beautiful and tall tan-skinned young woman with mid-back length platinum-blonde hair that has bangs swept to the left side, green eyes, and a very slim body.

She has a penchant for expensive clothes. She sometimes wears earrings and also wears high-heeled black shoes.

## Role in film

Mirage had been conducting surveillance on Frozone for some time in an attempt to make him Syndrome's next murder victim, however, when she spots Frozone with his good friend Mr. Incredible, Mirage recommends to Syndrome that they put Frozone on hold and instead target Mr. Incredible, given Syndrome's hatred of the latter. She later slips a video message to Bob Parr on his last day at Insuricare, spinning a story of needing superhero help with a government project gone wrong and promising to pay him to triple his annual salary at Insuricare, which he opens that night after he is fired by Gilbert Huph. However, this is simply a ploy to lure him to an island to kill him. Mr. Incredible, both eager to resume his superhero glory days and in need of money to support his family now that he is unemployed, accepts Mirage's offer.

Mirage meets Mr. Incredible aboard the manta jet and requests him to deactivate the allegedly defective Omnidroid v.8 on Nomanisan Island without destroying it, warning him that the robot will learn the longer that the battle goes on. She watches from a surveillance bird with Syndrome as Mr. Incredible succeeds in the task, surprising the vengeful villain who instructs Mirage to invite him to dinner. She later joins Mr. Incredible at dinner that night, explaining away her superior's absence as him liking anonymity, and explaining that she's drawn to him due to a mutual attraction to power. After receiving his pay, Bob returns home.

Two months later, Mirage contacts a rejuvenated Mr. Incredible for a new mission. She greets him by complimenting his new suit, courtesy of Edna Mode, and escorts him to a suite, informing him that he will receive his briefing later that day in the dining room. This is in reality a trap where Syndrome and the upgraded Omnidroid v.9 waits to intercept him. Later that night, after Mr. Incredible tricked Syndrome's probe into thinking he was dead, Mirage inadvertently lets Mr. Incredible into Nomanisan's control room, allowing him to discover Syndrome's plans, but finds him when the tracking device on his suit triggers the security system.

After Mr. Incredible is captured, having found out the true intentions of the two, Syndrome sends missiles to kill his wife and eldest two children, with Mirage being uncomfortable in response to hearing there are children aboard the plane. Mirage has to inform him that his family has died due to their cause. Mr. Incredible grabs Mirage and threatens to kill her if Syndrome doesn't let him free. Syndrome, thinking that he is bluffing, teases him to kill her. After a moment of silence, Mr. Incredible releases Mirage, to Syndrome's amusement. Mirage's expression shows even more uncertainty as she leaves the room, with Syndrome continuing to taunt him over being weak and beneath him now while Mr. Incredible sobs for his presumed deceased family.

Later, as they prepare the rocket to launch the Omnidroid, Mirage calls Syndrome out on his attitude, to which Syndrome tells her he simply called Mr. Incredible's bluff and that he knew he would not have it in him to hurt Mirage. Disgusted, she angrily tells him to bet his own life when he gambles again and storms off, leaving Syndrome confused.

The next morning, Mirage has decided to defect from Syndrome. After learning that Mr. Incredible's family had survived and made it to the island, she goes to free him. He nearly chokes her before she manages to say that they're alive, upon which he releases and then warmly embraces her. She then notices Helen in the doorway, who punches her in the face, under the impression that her husband had been having an affair with her. Mr. Incredible uses Elastigirl's outstretched arm to roll her towards him to kiss her, and assures Elastigirl that he still loves her. Mirage warns them that their children may have triggered the alarm and tells them to hurry to find them.

Later, after Syndrome has left the island, leaving the Incredibles bound in the containment room, Mirage sees the Omnidroid attacking the city on the news with a worried expression and then sees the escaped family running through the halls, to her surprise. Reaching the hangar, the Incredibles decide to use the extra rocket to return to the mainland, but Mr. Incredible surmises that Syndrome has changed the password. As he ponders on how they could access the computer, Mirage speaks over the intercom: "Say please." This allows the Incredibles to return to Metroville to foil Syndrome's plan for good.

After this, her fate is unknown, but Rick mentions that the agency has frozen all of Syndrome's assets.

## Printed media

Mirage has since joined the NSA as an agent. When Xerek becomes active again in Europe, she and Helen are assigned to work together against the diminutive supervillain's schemes. When discovering Helen's past with Xerek and how she is keeping this from the rest of the family, Mirage points out that she is doing exactly the same thing Bob was doing, to Helen's chagrin. Arriving in Paris, they face Bomb Voyage and a group of mercenaries, though they are outnumbered. Helen pursues Bomb Voyage to Xerek's lair, with Mirage meeting her there. After Xerek's small goal of wanting to lure Helen out under the assumption, she missed the thrill of the old days and him, both heroes just laugh and Xerek is arrested as Mirage manages to offer his mercenaries better pay.

## Video games

### LEGO: The Incredibles

Mirage appears as a playable character in the video game *LEGO The Incredibles*.

## Trivia

* Her name means an optical illusion caused by atmospheric conditions or something that appears real or possible but is not in fact so, as it alludes at her deceptive nature and her comparing herself to the Supers that, according to the government, they do not exist.
* Mirage is similar to several James Bond villainesses, especially ones such as Pussy Galore and Andrea Anders who, like her, eventually defect from their truly evil employers.
* Mirage's voice strongly suggests a Central American or European accent.
* Despite her original voice actress Elizabeth Peña having a Spanish last name, and the ability to speak Spanish, she has not dubbed her own voices for Spanish-language releases.
* Mirage's skill in locating superheroes seems to show that she has extensive computing skills and is adept at human intelligence (HUMINT).
* Brad Bird has said that Mirage does not have superpowers.
* One of her other infamous outfits is a long black dress, which she wore when she had dinner with Mr. Incredible.
* The phone number on Mirage's business card reads (866) 787-7476. On a typical telephone keypad, this translates into "SUPRHRO."
* Mirage is the only character to call Helen with her alternate name "Mrs. Incredible"; this is because at that point her identity was still unknown.
* Mirage is the third Pixar villain to reform at the end of the film, after Molt and Fungus.
* Among all the Disney villains that "turn good," Mirage, though "merely" being an accomplice in all of the murders she participated in, has the highest known body count, and, in the comics, she is never punished for these several counts of willing accessory to murder, even though she should have been, considering that she is an accomplice to multiple crimes:
	+ Espionage (gaining access to federal data, the only conceivable way she could find the supers and enlist them).
	+ Tax evasion and wire fraud (paying supers under the table money).
	+ Impersonating a government agent (Claiming to be a government representative/employee).
	+ Murder/Manslaughter (willful aiding in the murder of several superheroes).
	+ Terrorism (launching an attack on US soil).
* Ironically, almost everything she says to Mr. Incredible during their meeting on the plane turns out to be or become the truth: the Omnidroid's powers she lists are real and they actually lose control of the Omnidroid v.10.
* It should be noted that all of Mirage's printed media appearances after the events of *The Incredibles* have been rendered non-canon since the creation and release of *Incredibles 2*. As a result, her actual canonical fate after the first film is still unknown.