- "I think the thing I get asked about the most, of course, is my laser vision. People tend to think it's a real picnic to have eyes that shoot lasers, but, um, believe it or not, it's had its disadvantages. If I look at anything too intently, it tends to burst into flames, which can be a real pickle in a relationship scenario. When you're conversing with somebody, a normal person would be able to look them square in the eye. I avert my gaze, which is often interpreted as disinterest, or rather daft or stupid, which couldn't be farther, farther from the truth, I... I'm a man of culture, a man of passion, and I would say a man of humor, which is not widely known. On the outside, I appear calm and cool, perhaps even collected, but on the inside, I'm guffawing away on the steamship of hilarity. I'm not sure if that made very much sense."
- —Gazerbeam, NSA Files
Simon James Paladino, also known as Gazerbeam, is a minor character in The Incredibles. He only briefly appears in the film alive, with his disappearance and death setting events into motion.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
While not much is known about his early life, Simon was convinced to become a hero by Mr. Incredible, Frozone and Gamma Jack, who also brought him to Edna Mode to get his suit and even had him join their team. According to a deleted scene, his superhero name was actually Mr. Incredible's idea, as Simon wished to go be called “Viewpoint”, but the others didn’t like the name, telling him that it was a terrible choice for a name.
He was featured alongside Elastigirl and Frozone in Mr. Incredible’s trading-card series, and also appeared in advertisements for the Mr. Incredible and Pals TV show.
Gazerbeam was also a member of a superhero team called the Phantasmics, but conflicts with Everseer lead him to leave the team and he soon joined the Thrilling Three as their new leader upon the death of Dynaguy, which would later end up disbanding. He appeared alive at the wedding of Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible, sitting in the front row - a position usually reserved for family members.
At some point, he and Fironic had personal connections with the father of Winston Deavor and Evelyn Deavor, even getting phones that had a direct line to the two Supers. However, this relationship ended when superheroes were made illegal and they were forced to go into hiding.
The Incredibles[]
During the superhero ban, Gazerbeam was an activist for superhuman rights, wanting the ban on supers to be revoked. However, this may have allowed for easy tracking when Syndrome's organization was looking for supers to lure to Nomanisan Island as part of Operation Kronos. 15 years later, he would be one of the most recent victims of the Omnidroid, with Bob having noticed his disappearance becoming a story in the newspaper.
Gazerbeam's death is off-screen, however, it is shown that he was killed by Syndrome's Omnidroid V.5 as a test subject in a mass genocide of Supers initiated by Syndrome. He was able to get to a cave just before his death, where his final act before dying was to use his powers to carve "KRONOS" on the cave wall in which he was hiding in the hopes that someone would discover it and put an end to Syndrome's evil schemes. His final act was crucial in aiding the Incredibles in their mission to stop Syndrome.
When Bob narrowly escaped an explosive device deployed by Syndrome, he found Gazerbeam's skeleton in a hidden cave and looking from his view carved into the walls, the password to Syndrome's computers: KRONOS. Bob then hid behind Gazerbeam's corpse to fake his death when Syndrome sent a probe to make sure of his demise. The probe scanned Gazerbeam's corpse and falsely reported to Syndrome that Mr. Incredible had been killed (terminated). Bob would finally avenge Gazerbeam when Syndrome was killed near the end of the film.
Personality[]
- "I have no problem working in groups."
- —Gazerbeam, NSA Files
Gazerbeam was generally known for a rather dull personality, generally speaking in a monotonous tone. He struggled with personal relationships as he notably didn't have much of a sense of humor, contrary to what his claims in his NSA audio file. He also had the constant fear of accidentally shooting someone with his lasers if he focused on them too much.
He was good friends with Frozone, Mr. Incredible and Gamma Jack (presumably before he got his A level monitoring by the NSA).
He was smart and elusive as he had survived the Omnidroid long enough to discover Syndrome's plan, being to eliminate a large number of supers in order to finally defeat Mr. Incredible.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Optical Lasers: Gazerbeam's superpowers consisted of eye beams that shot if he focused intensely enough on a target. He controlled and intensified the blasts through vision intensity focus lenses in a containment helmet. In a deleted scene, Mr. Incredible says that if focused enough, they could burn through solid metal and in the same deleted scene, he was able to cut a van in half with one blast.
- Superhuman Endurance: As shown on his NSA file, Gazerbeam possessed high levels of endurance, with his corresponding bar almost being full. This would allow him to perform heroics for extended periods of time without tiring.
Abilities[]
- Intelligence: Gazerbeam’s NSA file showed that he possessed a higher intellect than the average person. Being the second smartest member of the Thrilling Three ahead of Phylange but behind Apogee.
- Hacking Skills: Gazerbeam was skilled at hacking advanced computers and security systems.
Weaknesses[]
- Reflective Surfaces: His laser beams could bounce off reflective surfaces like mirrors, which could put himself and others in danger.
- Eye Focus: He could not focus too intensely on an object or person, as he risked shooting them with his Optical Lasers. This made him frequently avoid eye contact when socialising, which was often regarded as him being rude or disinterested.
- Weak Night Vision: He could not see well at night, which resulted him needing glasses for night driving.
Physical Appearance[]
Simon was a tall, athletic man with dark brown hair. As Gazerbeam, he wore a navy blue supersuit with a sky blue 'V' around the neck. He also wore a helmet with a visor similar to Frozone's that read "GB" on it. As Simon James Paladino, he wore glasses, and would often wear a business suit, presumably for work.
Trivia[]
- Gazerbeam takes inspiration from the Marvel superhero Cyclops, who strongly resembles him.
- They both fire beams of energy from their eyes as their primary superpower.
- They both wear a visor on their eyes to keep their otherwise uncontrollable power from harming others, as well as control and stabilize said powers.
- Both served as leaders of their respective teams, with Cyclops serving as a leader to the X-Men.
- "Paladino" is the Italian translation for "paladin", a person who defends people and protects innocents, like supers do.
- In LEGO The Incredibles, Gazerbeam was shown to be alive since the developers wanted him to be included in the game. He is also revealed to be a skilled hacker.
- In a deleted scene from Incredibles 2, it was revealed:
- He was convinced to become a hero by Mr. Incredible, Frozone, and Gamma Jack, who also brought him to Edna Mode to get his suit.
- The name Gazerbeam was Mr. Incredible's idea, as Simon wished to go be called Viewpoint, but the others told him the name sounded terrible.
- He was critically injured during his battle with the Omnidroid after falling off a cliff, yet he managed to make his way into the cave and died from his injuries after carving the password on the cave's wall. It is likely that Syndrome made no attempt to look for his body, similarly to how he presumed Mr. Incredible was dead after his gauntlet probe reported no life readings back to him.
- Simon J. Paladino's name appears on a grave in a non-canon cameo in Toy Story of Terror!
- As he stated in his audio file, he enjoyed peanut butter and chocolate.
Gallery[]
|
| ||
|---|---|---|
