The Incredibles Wiki
Advertisement

John Jackson "Jack-Jack" Parr is a supporting character in The Incredibles, the titular deuteragonist of its first short video, Jack-Jack Attack, a major character in Incredibles 2, and the deuteragonist of Auntie Edna. He is the youngest son of Bob and Helen, as well as the younger brother of Violet and Dash. His primary power is shapeshifting, but also has a large number of other powers.

Personality[]

Jack-Jack acts just like a typical baby. He laughs and giggles a lot but cries whenever he is disturbed. Like many infants, Jack-Jack's emotions are unpredictable; and since his powers are stimulated by them, being with him when the baby uses his powers becomes very difficult when attempting to pacify or restrain him. For instance, Jack-Jack loves Mozart's music to the point where he is stimulated by it. He also becomes enraged if he is given a cookie and is not allowed more. One of the few things that can calm him down is his mother and the rest of his family. Mozart's music will trigger him into manifesting his powers, which Edna Mode uses to design a new suit that has sensors and a hand-held monitor, which alerts his family to upcoming use of his powers and allows them to counter them quickly.

Jack-Jack is smart and intuitive for an infant as he recognised Syndrome as an enemy and identified the exploding plane as a danger. In fact, He was the one who made his father accidentally kill Syndrome. Jack-Jack even recognized that the hypno mask Elastigirl was wearing made her evil, causing him to release her by removing it.

Physical appearance[]

Jack-Jack is small, albeit at the average size for a baby as he stands at 2'4" (71 cm) and weighs 30 lbs (13.6 kg). He has a single tuft of strawberry-blonde hair on his head and blue eyes. He also has two baby teeth on the bottom of his mouth. Also, he is 1 year old, though it seems he is relatively close to turning 2. Although he is usually seen in a yellow onesie during his on-screen appearances in the film, he also has a red super suit with a black mask. When he transforms into a little monster, his skin turns red and gains sharp fangs and claws, that he can use to defend himself and look intimidating.

Biography[]

Before the Incredibles[]

Jack-Jack Parr was the third child of Robert and Helen Parr.

The Incredibles[]

"The only normal one is Jack-Jack, and he's not even toilet trained!"
Violet about Jack-Jack.

For the first year to two years of Jack-Jack's life, he never exhibited any signs of powers, presumably being too immature for superpowers to manifest. However, it is revealed towards the end of the film that he has powers. They are revealed as metal, fire, and monster forms, under the umbrella of shapeshifting. The end of the movie is the only time he wears his supersuit.

In The Incredibles, when the rest of his family was occupied with Syndrome, Jack-Jack was looked after by Kari McKeen. But her determination to have some fun ended with trouble when Jack-Jack began showing signs of his powers which she tries to control and eventually anticipates. Later, Syndrome shows up, claiming he's the replacement baby sitter. When Syndrome attempts to openly kidnap Jack-Jack and fly away, Jack-Jack uses his powers to defend himself against Syndrome, ultimately resulting in a chain reaction of events that would lead to Syndrome's demise.

Edna Mode made costumes for the entire family, including a flame-retardant jumper for Jack-Jack which, ironically enough, is needed as Jack-Jack has the ability to burst into flames and become bulletproof, though this being done before the family could determine the full extent of Jack-Jack's powers. Edna will presumably modify the costume to accommodate all of Jack-Jack's abilities.

Jack-Jack Attack[]

"The baby was exploding! You ever seen an exploding baby before, Mr. Dicker?!"
Kari McKeen to Rick Dicker

Jack-Jack is the titular protagonist in the short film, with Jack-Jack being at home with a babysitter Violet sent for, being Kari, a friend from school.

Rick Dicker interrogates Kari, who had been having trouble trying to control Jack-Jack. Kari decides to stimulate his cognitive abilities by giving him some educational toys and playing Mozart for him (as she has heard that Mozart makes babies smarter). Listening to the music, he has an epiphany about his powers.

Over the course of the night, he demonstrates many different powers, such as floating through the walls, catching on fire, and shooting laser beams out of his eyes, and Kari tries to keep him and the house in one piece. By morning, Kari has been up all night and figured out how to counter his powers. In her frazzled state of mind, she hands him over to Syndrome, whom she believes to be a replacement babysitter contacted by Helen. She tells Dicker she wishes to forget the whole thing, and Dicker reassures her that she will, and uses a device to erase her memory.

Incredibles 2[]

"You...have...POWERS! Yeah, baby! And there's not a scratch on you! Did you go right through the locked door? Are those your powers? Haha! You can multiply like rabbits and go right through any... solid..."
Bob Parr, upon discovering that Jack-Jack has powers following the latter's fight with a raccoon

In the sequel, a large number of Jack-Jack's other powers and abilities are more openly displayed. During the battle with the Underminer, witnesses Violet revealing her secret identity to Tony Rydinger. Since no one wants to look after him and instead fight or help civilians, they all hand him off to someone else at some point.

He is left at home with the rest of his family while his mother is fighting crime in New Urbem. He first shows his powers in a fight with Rocky, to the awe of his father. Bob tries to hide his powers from everyone else to prevent Helen from returning home. Eventually, Violet and Dash witness Jack-Jack's powers and they find out Bob is so sleep-deprived from trying to reign in Jack-Jack, so they call Lucius. At first, Lucius sees a normal infant but is surprised when his powers activate and describes Jack-Jack's abilities as "freaky" and advises Bob to get some outside help.

Bob leaves Jack-Jack in care of Edna, who refuses at first but her perspective changes when she is delighted at seeing his powers in action. When Bob picks Jack-Jack up, Edna reveals she upgraded Jack-Jack's suit to help Bob handle him and gives a demonstration. During the demo, Edna reveals that listening to Mozart's music caused Jack-Jack to unleash his powers. She tells Bob he should never use cookies as it will trigger Jack-Jack's monster and fire forms. She shows off other features of the new supersuit, such as a blueberry-flavoured fire retardant and the use of Mozart music to stimulate his powers.

Shortly after Bob leaves upon being contacted by Evelyn Deavor that Helen is in trouble, Jack-Jack and his siblings are visited by the mind-controlled "wannabe" Supers. The children escape by the Incredibile summoned by Dash and make their way to the Devtech ship to search for their parents. They eventually find them as well as Lucius but are forced to take cover in Violet's force-field as their mind-controlled parents and Lucius attack them. Jack-Jack then floats through the force-field and up to his mother. Noticing the goggles, he uses his telekinesis ability to levitate the goggles off Helen, freeing her from Evelyn's control. Helen then removes the goggles from Bob and Lucius before proudly embracing her children. Jack-Jack uses his powers to assist in freeing the other hypnotized Supers from Evelyn's control as his mother is shocked to learn of them and Bob tells her they have to catch up later. Following Evelyn's arrest, Helen can't believe she missed watching her son's powers as Bob tells her that he has more. Later on, the Supers are made legal again. After his family drops Tony Rydinger off at the movies, he officially joins them in fighting crime.

Auntie Edna[]

Jack-Jack is the deuteragonist of this short film. Bob takes Jack-Jack to Edna for her to study the powers he uses while Bob caught up on some much-needed rest. Taking Jack-Jack to Edna, she studies different superpowers he uses to impress her. When Edna becomes crowded by multiple Jack-Jack clones, Jack-Jack uses his monster form, combining it with his fire form. Later, Edna examines Jack-Jack for his powers he used and giving him a red suit. After studying, Edna then takes Jack-Jack to Bob as she explains to him that whenever she babysits Jack-Jack (unlike other babies), she does not charge him as Bob and Jack-Jack leave for home. At the end of the short, Edna notices Jack-Jack (presumably a clone of himself) next to her, as Edna runs off telling Bob that he forgot his baby.

Powers and Abilities[]

"Your child is a polymorph. Like all babies, he has enormous potential. It is not unknown for Supers to have more than one power when young, but this little one has many."
Edna Mode to Bob Parr about Jack-Jack.

Despite being the youngest member of the family, Jack-Jack has the widest array of superhuman abilities, most of which are centered around shapeshifting. Edna Mode classified Jack-Jack as a polymorph, likening his many powers to him being a baby and thus having limitless potential. Being a baby, he doesn't yet have complete control over his abilities; they are primarily activated by emotion and whim. It is unknown whether Jack Jack will outgrow most or some of his powers, as this is considered normal with infant Supers. The only other Super known to have maintained a host of powers post-infancy is Meta Man.

Powers[]

  • Polymorphing: More than simply shape-shifting, Jack-Jack can manipulate his physical properties and molecular makeup so as to achieve a multitude of effects. So far he has displayed the following abilities:
    • Mimicry: He can mimic features of other people such as noses and hair. It is unknown whether he can completely transform to another person.
    • Monster Form: Jack-Jack is able to transform into a monster-like creature, with red skin, long nails, and sharp teeth. In this form, Jack-Jack has a much greater muscle mass, leading to bolstered strength and manoeuvrability.
    • Self-Combustion/Flame-Form: Jack-Jack alters his physiology to set himself aflame and can, to some limited extent, extend the fire around him. As his body remains solid, it seems that it is simply his skin that combusts. His flames can be easily doused with flame-retardant foam.
    • Size Manipulation: Jack-Jack can increase his mass and physical size to break through small spaces or crash through walls. While in giant form he is visibly chubbier all over.
    • Smoke Form: Jack-Jack can turn his body gaseous.
    • Metal Form: Jack-Jack is able to convert his body into heavy metal, giving him a much greater mass and density.
    • Rubber Form: Jack-Jack can become soft and pliable with a visible sheen in order to fend off sharp attacks.
    • Water Form: He can liquefy his body and become liquid.
    • Sparkler Form: Jack-Jack can convert his body into a mass of sparks while spinning in circles, which gives him a degree of control over electromagnetism (he was able to short out the power all across Edna's estate).
  • Molecular Vibration: He can vibrate at an extremely fast rate, dislodging himself out of the arms of enemies or cause objects to melt or combust.
    • Intangibility: Jack-Jack, most likely by altering his molecular state, is able to phase through solid objects and even his sister's force fields. Doing so is usually accompanied by a blue electric disturbance around the place he phases through. It does seem, however, that he cannot phase through organic substances, seeing as how several people have made physical contact with him while he was phasing through a solid object.
  • Enhanced Strength and Durability: Even as an infant, Jack-Jack is able to lift and throw lawn chairs with little effort, shown when he battled a raccoon without taking any visible damage. This indicates that he has some superhuman level of strength and durability.
  • Self-Duplication: Jack-Jack is able to create numerous duplicates of himself. Whether or not he is limited to a certain number of duplicates is unknown.
  • Teleportation: Jack-Jack has the ability to teleport. It is unknown how far he is able to travel using this technique.
    • Dimensional Travel: Jack-Jack can cross dimensional barriers and travel through to reappear elsewhere in a small radius. He can be heard and hear others while in this other-dimension.
  • Enhanced Bite/Matter Ingestion: He can chew and eat his way through hard, solid objects such as the bars of a wooden crib.
  • Laser Vision: Jack-Jack can fire needle-thin green (blue in Jack-Jack Attack) heat-lasers from his eyes. These lasers can be reflected easily any sort of reflective surface, including a common hand mirror. He is trained to a certain extent, and can be used as a gun.
  • Electrokinesis: Jack-Jack can generate electricity to some unknown extent.
  • Telekinesis: Jack-Jack can move relatively small objects with his mind.
    • Levitation: Jack-Jack can hover several feet into the air. His maximum speed and manoeuvrability while using this power are unknown; however, he does seem to be able to control his general direction as well as launch himself into the air to a tremendous height with just a sneeze. Whether this power is self-propelled flight or an extension of his telekinetic abilities is unknown.
      • Wall-crawling: He can cling and sit on ceilings and walls, including other vertical surfaces. This may or may not be tied to his levitation ability.
  • Superhuman Speed: He is able to move much faster than a normal baby.

Weakness[]

  • Power Instability & Emotions: Since Jack-Jack is still a baby, he doesn't yet have complete control over his abilities, which are triggered primarily by emotion and whim. Jack Jack does not like being doused when he is in his fire form, picked up when he is in his mimic form or when he is teleporting because he can get himself caught by enemies.

Appearances[]

Video Games[]

Trivia[]

  • According to official sources, Jack-Jack is 1-year-old, he stands at 2'4" (0.71m) and he weighs 30lbs (13.6kg).
  • In issue #0 of the comics, Jack-Jack's full name is revealed as John Jackson Parr.
  • As Jack-Jack's name would suggest, he is a sort of Jack-of-All-Trades. This is justified in his wide array of powers.
  • Bob Parr states in Incredibles 2 that Jack-Jack has 17 known powers, potentially making him the most powerful Super in the Incredibles universe. The true number of his powers is 22. However, he could have just general shape-shifting powers.
  • Jack-Jack is the only member of the Parr family who is known for having many superpowers.
  • Jack-Jack is not seen or mentioned in the video game and is the only non-playable character of the Parr family in the Disney INFINITY games, despite appearing in early concept art for the game.
  • In the comic series, Jack-Jack is the main character but his only used power is that of molecular transformation and appears limited to metal, fire, and monster forms. In the story arc "City of Incredibles", he plays a central role when he gets a cold and inadvertently spreads his transformation powers to others (including his own family), causing their own natural superpowers to be updated to their maximum potential.
  • On art and merchandise for the first film, Jack-Jack wears his supersuit, but in the film itself, he doesn't until for the last scene of the film.
  • It was planned for Jack-Jack to melt as part of his shape-shifting powers, but this idea wasn't used; it can be assumed that this was due to technical limitations at the time or the fact that it would have seemed too disturbing for younger viewers at the time. However, This limitation appears to have been corrected for the 2018 sequel as seen during his fight against the raccoon.
  • Jack-Jack is the only member of his family who doesn't have an "i" emblem on his supersuit.
  • Jack-Jack is responsible for both the simplest and the most advanced super suit design Edna created: the first one for when he did not show any power, and the second one for managing all of them.

Gallery[]

Incredibles logo
The Incredibles Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Jack-Jack Parr.
Advertisement