The most important scene in theMarvel Cinematic Universeisnt when Tony Stark tells a crowd, I amIron Man.
It isnt whenBlack Pantherfirst exclaims, Wakanda Forever!
It isnt when Thanossnaps his fingers.
Its whenthe Avengersslump down after the Battle of New York and enjoy some much deserved shawarma.
The heroes dont do anything spectacular.
They have their costumes undone and they slouch instead of stand.
They dont even speak with one another.
But the real forerunner of the MCUs buddy buddy approach is the 2004Pixaradventure,The Incredibles.
And its the story of an ordinary family with extraordinary powers.
Throughout the film, Dashs parents Bob and Helen have reprimanded him for using his super-speed.
Dash zips around baddies and ducks from blasts.
Looking down at the liquid below him, Dash lets loose a gleeful chuckle.
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Those types of well-observed character moments within superhero action makeThe Incrediblesso special.
The best example comes during one of the movies most mundane moments.
Bob comes home late at night to find a furious Helen waiting for him.
Its the stuff of hundreds of sitcoms and melodramas, only slightly improved by the superhero sheen.
Bob downing a giant slice of cake and Helen acting the slighted wife almost becomes disastrously rote.
But then Helen uses her stretchy arms to gently pull Bob back to her.
Rather than fall back, Helen responds with her own display of power.
Its not about you!
she charges, growing taller to punctuate each syllable.
Nothing inThe Incrediblesmatches that scene because the powers work to reveal the internal state of the characters.
Theyre less about superhero excitement than they are the relationships illuminated by these powers.
Family Affiliations
The jungle escape sequence climaxes with a big bad guy monologue from Syndrome.
Once a brilliant but overeager kid called Buddy, Syndrome plans to sell his inventions to the world.
Sure, he wants to get rich, but he has a deeper motivation.
When everyones super, nobody is, he sneers.
But Buddys story has another, equally important motivation.
Buddy first meets Bob as a child after hes given himself the name Incrediboy.
Donned in a costume in the style of Mr.
Incredible, Buddy hopes for welcome as a sidekick.
But again and again, Mr.
Incredible rejects him, grouching, Youre not affiliated with me!
Buddy assumes that he gets rejected by Mr.
Incredible because he lacks powers, but Bob never says that.
Learning to work with others is the ur-narrative of the MCU.
Nick Furyuses Colsons death to spur the Avengers into believing in something bigger than themselves.
TheGuardians of the Galaxygo from individual actors all turning on each other to a squabbling family.
The best part ofThe Marvelsis the trio practicing their space swapping while jumping rope.
3, there was the climax of the jungle sequence inThe Incredibles.
The family dynamics inThe Incrediblesis directly influenced by Marvel Comics First Family, the Fantastic Four.
Its cool because theyre superheroes, and superheroes do cool things.
But its meaningful because they complement one another, because theyre family.
But the Parrs do.
Hopefully that changes, though, with a highly-anticipated MCU movie on its way in less than a year.
The Incredibles is available to stream on Disney+
