- "You know, I went through quite a few Supers to get it worthy to fight you, but man, it wasn’t good enough!! After you trashed the last one, I had to make some major modifications. Sure it was difficult, but you are worth it. I mean, after all... I am your biggest fan."
- —Syndrome when he meets Mr. Incredible for the first time in 15 years.
Syndrome, born Buddy Pine, was once a bright-eyed, enthusiastic child and the self-proclaimed “#1 fan” of Mr. Incredible. Idolizing superheroes, Buddy took on the alias Incrediboy, hoping to become a sidekick to his favorite hero. However, his dreams were crushed when Mr. Incredible bluntly rejected him, declaring that he worked alone. This moment marked a devastating turning point in Buddy’s life, catalyzing his descent into bitterness, obsession, and ultimately, villainy.
As an adult, Buddy rebranded himself as Syndrome, a power-hungry, tech-wielding supervillain whose goal was not only to erase the legacy of Supers but to replace them. With his immense intellect and technological genius, he created the Omnidroids — a series of advanced, deadly AI-controlled robots — designed to kill Supers in staged battles, after which he would swoop in to "save the day" and earn the admiration he was once denied.
He amassed a personal fortune by selling advanced weapons to governments and militaries, using that wealth to build a secret island base, hire henchmen, and fund Operation Kronos — his ultimate revenge plot. Despite his technological power and charisma, Syndrome never truly let go of his fanboy past, making him an unpredictable and emotionally volatile villain. His obsession with control, power, and attention — combined with his complete disregard for human life — made him one of Pixar’s most dangerous antagonists.
Syndrome ultimately met his end when he attempted to kidnap Jack-Jack Parr, only to be outwitted by the infant's unpredictable powers and sucked into the turbine of his own plane — a poetic end for someone destroyed by the very kind of power he sought to fake.
Personality[]
As a child, he was eager and cheerful, kind of naïve, having great respect and admiration for superheroes, particularly Mr. Incredible, claiming to be his number one fan. However, after Mr. Incredible rejected his offer to be his sidekick, he quit idolizing Mr. Incredible and became embittered, eventually descending into megalomania. He developed a personality into adulthood that was sociopathic, sadistic, cruel, vengeful, arrogant, ruthless, power-hungry, short-tempered, hateful, and cowardly. Nevertheless, he retained some positive traits such as charisma and resourcefulness and appeared to still enjoy supers performing impressive feats.
Syndrome is considered to be one of the best Pixar villains in the film for his over-the-top, fanboy-like sadism, and his need for attention. At some points in the film, he seemed to enjoy having Mr. Incredible and his family performing heroic acts, but that only happens when things are in his control. If something unexpected happens, he cowers and attempts to flee. He can be best detailed as short-tempered, rude, cruel, murderous, ruthless, evil, cheerful, dangerous, bad-natured, happy-go-lucky, silly and maniacal.
Physical appearance[]
Syndrome stands at 5'7" (170 cm) (not including the height of his hair). He is barrel-chested and weighs 185lbs (83.9kg). His red hair extends straight up with a widow's peak in a manner reminiscent of flames. He has fair skin, light freckles, blue eyes, and buck teeth. The animators had intended Syndrome to be a caricature of director Brad Bird, but it had been debated as to whether they should spoof Bird in their drawing of Mr. Incredible. Ultimately, both Mr. Incredible and Syndrome are pastiches of Brad Bird.
Biography[]
Early life[]
As a young boy, Buddy was in his own words Mr. Incredible's biggest fan, even wanting to become his sidekick, Incrediboy. As a 10-year-old, Buddy was insistent on this and shows up in Mr. Incredible's car unexpectedly and tries to force this on his idol, but Mr. Incredible immediately ejects him from his car and speeds off as Buddy yells at him, begging him to wait. Later that evening, as Mr. Incredible is facing Bomb Voyage, Buddy shows up with a pair of rocket boots to help him. He flies off to get the police, but he doesn't realize that Bomb Voyage had attached a bomb to his cape. Mr. Incredible has to release Bomb Voyage to save Buddy. Eventually, Mr. Incredible is fed up with the boy for meddling in his affairs and had the police take him home and report his actions to his mother. Feeling hurt and betrayed, Buddy stops idolizing Mr. Incredible and hates him for his actions, even tearing off the huge poster he had of him on his wall in a fit of rage. By now, Buddy has begun to descend into villainy.
The Incredibles[]
Fifteen years later, Buddy becomes an extremely wealthy and successful weapons designer and trafficker by selling his weapons to various entities. Although it is not stated in the film whom he sold them to, fans speculate that it was likely to organized crime families, terrorist groups and foreign dictators who opposed the United States. No matter how rich and powerful Buddy became, he never forgot about Mr. Incredible and formulated his plans for vengeance. Operating through his agent Mirage, Buddy calls for several superheroes to fight his battle robots: the Omnidroids, as test subjects to ensure that the Omnidroid would be powerful enough to take down Mr. Incredible. All of them are killed by the battle robot and those that defeat it are killed by its successors. Eventually, Buddy deems it ready to fight his ex-idol and has Mirage send for him when the femme fatale discovers Bob's identity and location. Mr. Incredible defeats the robot, but Buddy builds another, more powerful unit, the Omnidroid v.9. The robot defeats Mr. Incredible and Buddy arrives, revealing his identity as the latter is shocked that it was his former fanboy. Buddy declares himself to be Bob's nemesis and better, "Syndrome." Syndrome discusses his past and reveals how he got rich before Mr. Incredible tries to attack him. Syndrome immobilizes him with his zero-point energy invention, laughed that he is almost caught monologuing, then, in a fit of rage, accidentally tosses Mr. Incredible over a cliff with his invention, making the hero land in a river. After tossing a bomb into the water, Syndrome sends a robot probe after him to confirm he was dead. Mr. Incredible manages to trick the probe by hiding behind the corpse of the late hero and activist Gazerbeam.
Mr. Incredible sneaks into Syndrome's hideout and infiltrates his computer and discovers elements of Syndrome's plot: Operation Kronos. Unfortunately, due to a tracking device, Mr. Incredible is caught and held in a high-security trap and torture device. When Syndrome finds out that a government aircraft is coming to the island, he assumes his prisoner has sent reinforcements. When Mr. Incredible denies any involvement, he sends missiles to destroy the plane anyway, not knowing that it was, in fact, the Parr Family.
Even though the missiles hit their mark, the family survives and swims to the island, but Mr. Incredible thinks his family had been killed. After Mirage tells Syndrome the target was destroyed, he mocks Mr. Incredible, telling him he will get over it since he recalls that Mr. Incredible prefers to "work alone". In a fit of rage, Mr. Incredible lunges toward Syndrome, only to capture Mirage since she pushed Syndrome out of the way to save his life. Mr. Incredible orders Syndrome to release him or he will crush Mirage. Syndrome comments on how uncharacteristically dark that sounds for Mr. Incredible, but dares him to do it. Upon releasing Mirage, Syndrome tells Mr. Incredible he knew he could not do it, even with nothing to lose, denouncing him as "weak" and that he has outgrown him. Later, Mirage calls Syndrome out on his attitude, stating that valuing life is not weakness and disregarding it is not strength. Syndrome assures Mirage he simply called his bluff and implies that he does care about her since he already knew Mr. Incredible would never kill an enemy. Nonetheless, Mirage tells Syndrome to bet his own life next time he gambles and storms off in a huff, leaving Syndrome confused.
Later, Elastigirl breaks Mr. Incredible out of Syndrome's prison and they reunite with their children. Syndrome manages to recapture the family and is surprised that Mr. Incredible had a family with a fellow hero. He later reveals his plan which was to send his Omnidroid v.10 to wreck the city and he would arrive to stop it and look like a hero in the public's eyes. However, when he arrives to defeat the robot with a special remote control, the Omnidroid (which has become self-aware like its predecessor before it) betrays and outsmarts him, knocking Syndrome's remote off of his arm, and shot at his rocket boots with a laser gun. With his rocket boots out of control, Syndrome crashes into a building and is knocked unconscious. He remains unconscious during the Incredibles' battle and awakes just as the robot is defeated spectacularly; destroying his plans of glory and revenge and infuriating him.
Death[]
With his plans foiled, assets frozen, and a warrant for his arrest, Syndrome goes to the Incredibles' home and tries to kidnap their baby Jack-Jack, to be his sidekick and protégé, just what he had been denied in his youth. The family arrives just as he is preparing to leave, and he suspends them and slams them down on the floor. He then flies up with Jack-Jack towards his manta jet. However, Jack-Jack transforms into his monster form and disables one of his rocket boots, making him drop Jack-Jack. Syndrome gets back on his jet and starts yelling that their battle was not yet over and he would get Jack-Jack eventually. However, as Syndrome laughs evilly, Mr. Incredible throws his prized sports car at the jet, knocking it off-balance and making Syndrome slide toward the left turbine. Syndrome's cape gets tangled in the spinning blades and he is pulled in, causing the jet to explode, similar to Stratogale's demise as told by Edna Mode. Syndrome is finally killed, ending his reign of terror on the Incredibles for good, avenging Gazerbeam and all the other Supers he killed.
The Incredibles (video game)[]
In The Incredibles: The Video Game, Syndrome serves as the main antagonist, just like in the film The Incredibles. His role in the game closely follows his character from the movie, but with some differences due to the game’s structure and expanded gameplay.
The game closely follows the plot of the 2004 Incredibles movie, so Syndrome's motivations and actions are pretty much the same. He’s the former superfan turned evil genius who wants to eliminate real superheroes and become one himself using technology like Omnidroids, powerful machines designed to kill superheroes so he can become the sole "hero" by defeating them publicly.
He appears in several cutscenes that advance the plot, echoing his transformation from a rejected fanboy into a bitter supervillain. His motivations and actions are aligned with his movie counterpart.
Throughout the game, he unleashes various robotic enemies (like the Omnidroid) and traps that players must overcome during the missions. He doesn’t appear constantly, but his presence looms large over most levels as he’s the mastermind behind many of the obstacles.
Syndrome is featured in boss fight segments, particularly near the end of the game. These confrontations typically involve using the unique powers of the different members of the Incredibles family to overcome his traps, minions, and ultimately Syndrome himself. Players eventually confront him on Nomanisan Island, where most of the late-game action takes place. The boss battle against Syndrome involves using the characters’ powers strategically to counter his high-tech weaponry.
In the climax of the game, players face off against Syndrome in a final showdown, often involving a mix of action, platforming, and puzzle-solving.
Disney Infinity[]
Syndrome appears as a playable character in the Disney Infinity video game series. While the main antagonist of the Incredibles Play Set level (which is likely set in an alternate universe where he survived the events of the 1st film), he also made a major antagonistic role in the 3.0 level, Toy Box Takeover, where he stole the Magic Wand from Mickey Mouse (as well as Merlin's magic wand) and tried to control the Toy Box world with the other villains (most notably Davy Jones, Venom, and Darth Vader as level bosses and the other Marvel villains within his "Hero Eliminator" level). When confronted in his lair, he used the Sidekick feature to make five copies of himself. After he was defeated, Syndrome and the other villains were blasted far away by Merlin's magic.
LEGO The Incredibles[]
Syndrome returns in the LEGO The Incredibles video game as an antagonist. While his role in the game's story mode is similar to the film on which it is based, his fate has been noticeably changed.
When the Parr family returned home after destroying the Omnidroid, they find the interior of the house covered in scorch marks before Syndrome stumbles into view admitting defeat and telling the family he will go into hiding. He also mentioned that they should tip their babysitter more, implying that Jack-Jack had already gotten the better of him.
Syndrome later reappears as a boss during the final crime wave in Metroville. He has his goons steal various technology to build a new Omnidroid so he can take over the city. He is eventually found in an abandoned warehouse where the boss fight takes place and is sent to prison after his defeat. Syndrome also becomes a playable character after stopping all crime waves in Metroville.
Some scenes are the same as the first film with a few differences:
- Incrediboy arrived to help Mr. Incredible fight against Bomb Voyage like the first film's game console adaption. Except he is finally able to aid Mr. Incredible in defeating Bomb Voyage before calling the police, while unaware that Voyage managed to implant the bomb on his cape at his defeat.
- Incrediboy's hair is red instead of blond, as it is in the film.
- After Mr. Incredible and Frozone defeat the first two Omnidroid tests, Syndrome's full appearance is seen.
- He uses a control pad to control Omnidroids instead of his control wrist.
- Syndrome's tragic past is cut from this game, where he instead accidentally throws his Omnidroid remote control pad.
- Syndrome survived at the end of the first film's chapter and he is instead beaten badly by the awakened superpowered Jack-Jack while attempting to kidnap the baby at home off-screen before the other Incredibles arrived there. As Syndrome surrenders, right before he goes into hiding, he advises the Incredibles to find a better babysitter, regarding how dangerous Jack-Jack has become. He can be later fought as a bonus boss where he is arrested.
Disney Heroes: Battle Mode[]
Syndrome appears in the game as one of the playable and unlockable characters of the Incredibles category, he can stun enemies with his powers and can use his drone to get close to the enemy and explode.
Disney Emoji Blitz[]
Syndrome appears as an emoji in the game. He is unlocked using the Villain Box, His skill is that he can drag the emojis using his zero-point energy.
LEGO Pixar: BrickToons[]
He appears as the main villain of the episode, "Pizza Night." He tries to knock out power across the entire city. But then, he gets defeated by Violet and Dash.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
Syndrome does not possess any superpowers, but compensates for it thanks to his very high intellect and advanced technology.
Abilities[]
- Genius-level intellect: At a young age during Mr. Incredible's glory years, Buddy proved to be a genius with an uncanny ability to tinker with machines by inventing rocket boots. Years went by, and “Syndrome” used his knowledge that countries and armies will pay big money for weapons. Using his mass wealth in purchasing a secret island, security force and rocket science. Though, he hasn’t gone over his fanboy obsession and revenge scheme. This makes him an unpredictable villain, as well as an entertaining bad boy.
- Technological genius: Syndrome is an incredible technician, being able to create a wide variety of weapons and high-performance vehicles. He was able to create flying boots at a young age, which he later modified as an adult, indicating he was a child prodigy. As an adult, he made himself rich by selling his weapons and was able to earn a vast wealth and many henchmen. He was able to create restraint systems for Supers, flying vehicles for combat and transport, a very powerful explosive battery, a lie detector or a large number of highly sophisticated combat robots.
- Highly qualified tactician: Syndrome was also an excellent tactician, he was able to put in place a complex plan to get rid of Bob involving the mass murder of superheroes, lure Bob to his island easily by exploiting his desire to return to his superhero life, set up a bluff against Bob when he takes Mirage hostage, put in place a plan to pass himself off as a hero through his Omnidroids, though this plan finally failed, and easily gain the trust of Jack-Jack's babysitters, although this is due to her inability to handle the baby and her stupidity.
Weaponry and Gadgets[]
Since Syndrome doesn't have powers, he makes up for it by inventing weapons for countries, or for himself.
- Omnidroids - Syndrome's best and most successful inventions, the Omnidroids were intelligent, multi-armed killing machines specifically designed to kill Supers.
- Zero Point Energy Gloves - One of his best tools for fighting, the Zero Point Energy gloves freezes his targets and removes their gravity making them easy to throw around.
- Rocket Boots - Giving Syndrome the power of flight in order to outpace heroes or look awesome.
- Explosions - Like all mad geniuses, Syndrome has wrist size explosives that act as mines from the first film. As the bomb was beeping in the waterfall, it detonated by touching the bottom. The same way a landmine does after interacting with a vehicle.
- Hovering Wrist Robot - On the field, Syndrome carries a wrist-size hovering robot that can operate underwater and scan for lifeforms. However, it can be deceived through scanning the wrong source.
- Energy Shot - Syndrome shoots a bolt of electric energy that is different from the usual zero-point energy when chasing Mr. Incredible
- Viper - Helicopter-like, VTOL vehicles with ducted fans attached that twist and turn to control the vehicle's altitude and movement. The ducted fans tend to decrease lift when changing the independent blade pitch.
- Velocipod - Round open cars with four surrounding blades that spin at exceedingly high speeds to keep them airborne.
- Manta Jets - Specially designed transporters resembling manta rays that have a translucent holographic monitor inside and can travel underwater.
Weakness[]
- Arrogance: He was already very arrogant and ignorant as a child, as shown when he went into Bob's car without permission and even claimed that he didn't have to worry about training him because he, as Mr. Incredible's biggest fan, already knows everything he knows.
- Cowardice: Syndrome holds a firm belief that mercy is a weakness and disregarding life is a strength that was pointed out by Mirage. One of his greatest weaknesses was that he put no value in human life, and his inability to understand what being a real hero is about which ultimately led to his downfall.
Behind the scenes[]
Development[]
Originally, in the early drafts of the film's script, Syndrome was originally going to be featured as a minor villain, like Bomb Voyage in the prologue of the film. The film's main antagonist was originally supposed to be Xerek, who was to fulfill what became Syndrome's role in the finished version of the film: He was to call retired superheroes back to action to battle to death the Omnidroids and was the boss of Mirage. Syndrome's role in the film was small, only appearing in the original opening sequence.
However, when Brad Bird noticed that Syndrome was more popular for the film's producers, he deleted Xerek from the story and used Syndrome instead in what would have been Xerek's role if the film's story would have been left intact. Despite this, Xerek ended up being reintroduced in The Incredibles comic book series of Boom! Studios.
Official Description[]
- Syndrome wasn’t born with superpowers, but envied the attention and admiration the Supers received. Of all the Supers, Mr. Incredible embodied everything Syndrome desired: strength, fame, and popularity. Highly intelligent and cunning, Syndrome now spends his days on a remote island on the other side of the world inventing gadgets and robots to carry out a diabolical plot.[1]
Trivia[]
- Syndrome is similar to the supervillain Mysterio from Marvel Comics, as both use advanced technology to create the illusion that they have real superpowers.
- Joaquin Phoenix was originally considered for the role.
- When Edna Mode refuses to design a cape for Mr. Incredible, deeming capes as dangerous to superhero outfits, she recalls several past accidents that included their interference. This foreshadows Syndrome's eventual fate.
- In another bit of foreshadowing, as Incrediboy, Bomb Voyage placed a bomb on his cape before Mr. Incredible got it off, leading to the string of events that brought down costumed superheroes in the first place.
- His death at the hands of his own cape is also symbolic of how he falsely lives up to his heroic ideals.
- As a young boy, his hair was blond. However, as an adult, it is red. He could have either dyed it red or his hair could have naturally turned said color. It is also possible that his hair was always naturally red, and he bleached it to match Mr. Incredible's as part of his Incrediboy ensemble.
- In Jack-Jack Attack, his mask is not on and he still has his cape.
- Syndrome voice actor also voiced his juvenile counterpart.
- When Buddy sneaks into Mr. Incredible's car, Mr. Incredible goes through several names trying to remember Buddy's name. One of the names he says is Brodie, possibly a reference to Syndrome's voice actor Jason Lee's breakout character from Mallrats.
- Syndrome bears some similarities with Kent Mansley, the villain from The Iron Giant, another film Brad Bird worked on. (which was released 5 years before The Incredibles)
- Both have the same hair colour, chin, and eyes.
- Both have devious plans where a robot is involved.
- Kent plans to destroy the Iron Giant at all costs, whereas Syndrome wants to send the Omnidroid to terrorize Metro City then destroy it for public recognition.
- Both expose their plans in front of the main protagonists (Mr. Incredible and Hogarth).
- Syndrome’s role as a twist villain is shared with fellow Pixar villain Henry J. Waternoose III from Monsters, Inc., as both were not revealed to be evil at first, and respected the main protagonist at first, only to turn on them at the climax of their respective films. However, Waternoose had more firm and understandable reasons for his actions, ultimately going mad to stop the energy crisis and save his company from bankruptcy, while Syndrome murdered all those superheroes for selfish reasons, such as vengeance and fame.
- Syndrome is a direct homage to the DC comics antagonist Ozymandias from the novel "Watchmen". Like Ozymandias, Syndrome has no inherent superhuman powers but possesses an incredible intellect and technical aptitude. They brought themselves up from nothing to become exceptionally wealthy. They both as villains enacted a plan to fabricate an invasion to unite humanity (albeit their motive differed, Syndrome did to masquerade as a hero, Ozymandias did so to end war and violence worldwide). Both worked a scheme to eliminate costume heroes that could potentially offset their plans.
- In some novelizations, Syndrome's fate is not fully explained. Instead of being sucked by the propellers, it's described that after Mr. Incredible launched his car against the plane, Syndrome was left without his getaway vehicle. Then it is said that after that "anyone never heard anything about Syndrome again".
- Syndrome was to be a minor antagonist in the original version of the film when Xerek was to be the main antagonist. In the originally proposed opening sequence, Syndrome was to attack the Incredibles after learning from his agent that Mr. Incredible had recently moved into the agent's neighborhood. Syndrome broke into their home, disguising himself as a burglar and making enough noise to lure Bob to him, and then used Bob as a battering ram to wreck the home. He also tried to capture Violet while she was still in her infancy, but in her invisible state, regurgitated saliva onto his eyes (she had a problem with this), making him drop the parents. In response, Syndrome immobilized both Helen and Violet but became immobilized when Bob rolled a mirror between them and lodged him into the ceiling of Violet's room. Syndrome was ultimately killed when the family's home was totaled in a gas main explosion sparked by a flame in the fireplace (the Incredibles, however, managed to escape in time). In the same scene, Syndrome, upon discovering Violet, also hinted that Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl essentially broke the law by marrying and having children, although this concept was cut in the final version. It should be noted that in the proposed original prologue sequence of the film, it is clear that Syndrome and Mr. Incredible had already met and fought in the past on several occasions.
Quotes[]
View Syndrome's quotes here.
Gallery[]
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References[]
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