A lot can change in 14 years. When the The Incredibles hit theaters back in 2004, superhero movies were barely a thing, George Lucas was still pumping out terrible Star Wars prequels, and nobody knew what a “toxic fandom” was. Fast-forward to 2018 and superheroes are dominating the box office, Disney is pumping out pretty decent Star Wars movies, and toxic fans are doing their best to ruin the internet for anyone who tries to change their favorite fictional characters.
The original Incredibles had the foresight to predict two of those changes (I’m pretty sure there’s nothing about Disney buying Star Wars in any of Pixar’s movie). Now, almost a decade and a half later, it’s back to capitalize on the superhero explosion it helped ignite, but the franchise that originally identified the dangers of obsessive fandom has surprisingly little to say about the issue at a time when it’s more prevalent than ever.
Instead, Incredibles 2 sidesteps the problem entirely, siding with those overzealous — and sometimes racist or misogynistic — fans in the process.
incredibles 2 toxic fandom
'Incredibles 2'
What is toxic fandom?
Pulling in legions of devoted fans who watch every movie, obsess over every leak, and argue about their favorite theories in online forums may sound like a huge plus, but in the last few years we’ve seen another side of these fandoms rear its ugly head. A small but extremely vocal group of people often feel like they have ownership of a long-running franchise (whether that’s Star Wars or Ghostbusters) and as soon as it starts to change the pitchforks come out.
Often, the issue boils down to adding diversity to a world that was primarily white and male. Under Disney’s ownership, Star Wars has made a clear effort to do just that, and the response has been unsettling to say the least. Earlier this month, asian actress Kelly Marie Tran (who starred in Star Wars: The Last Jedi) deleted her Instagram account after suffering through months of harassment.
Leslie Jones faced a similar backlash after the all-female Ghostbusters remake hit theaters, and more recently Stranger Things star Millie Brown quit Twitter after a series of homophobic tweets. Nintendo “fans” have even taken to sending photoshopped images of the 9/11 terrorist attack to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai because he failed to include their favorite character in the new game.
toxic fandom google trends
Charting the rise of Toxic Fandom since 2004.
Toxic Fandom didn’t come out of nowhere. People have obsessed over their favorite movies and video games for decades, but the combination of internet troll culture and the rise of a populist political right wing gave these fans the platform they needed to run amok online.
It might feel like the entire movement bubbled up in just a few short years (the term didn’t really take off until 2016). But it’s been simmering quietly for over a decade, and The Incredibles saw it coming.
Syndrome: The original toxic fan
If you haven’t watched The Incredibles in a while, here’s a quick recap. The film opens in an alternate 1947 where superheroes are real and publicly accepted. Our hero, Mr. Incredibles, encounters an obsessed fan named Buddy who’s determined to become a bonafide sidekick. But when things go wrong, Mr. Incredible blows Buddy off.
15 years later (in the movie), superheroes are illegal, while Mr. Incredible is married with kids and working a soul crushing office job. Then he gets a call from a mysterious benefactor who hires him to fight off a killer robot. Long story short, it turns out the mystery man is Buddy (now going by the supervillain name Syndrome) and he’s spent the last decade killing off every superhero he can find. All because Mr. Incredible didn’t live up to his childish expectations.
Sound familiar?
Screen Junkies makes a similar point in a recent installment of their Honest Trailers series, slipping a bit of insight in between jokes about rocket boots and superheroes getting sucked into airplane turbines.
