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Mirage is a fictional character, an ex-villainess featured in the film The Incredibles, produced by Pixar and Disney, first released on November 5, 2004. She also appears in the comic book version of The Incredibles, where she reenacts her role from the movie. Mirage is an assistant to the evil scientist, Syndrome. She tricks the superhero, Mr. Incredible, into doing work for her boss, which in reality involves battling a robot (the Omnidroid 9000) specifically designed to kill him. Mirage is the liaison between Mr. Incredible and Syndrome, preventing Mr. Incredible from learning the true identity of his employer.
The voice characterization of Mirage was provided by Elizabeth Peña. Mirage appears to have extensive computing and espionage skills and her identity is kept a secret by the government, for she had once said to Mr. Incredible, "We have something in common: according to the government, neither of us exist."
Movie
In the movie, The Incredibles, Mirage's boss, Syndrome, tells her to find former superhero, Mr. Incredible, because he wants payback for what the hero did to him in the past. Mirage later finds Mr. Incredible with his friend, Frozone, listening to police scanners. After assuring Syndrome's associate that this is indeed Mr. Incredible, she follows the two in her car.
Later, Mirage slips into Mr. Incredible's office when he is absent and places a message for him in his briefcase. In the message, Mirage tells Mr. Incredible that she is need of his service because a robot working for their secret facility has gone haywire on their island. She ends the message by telling him to call the number on the card and saying that voice matching will be used to ensure security. Mr. Incredible, eager to resume superhero work, tells Mirage that he wants the job.
When he arrives, Mirage tells him about the robot, the Omnidroid 9000. She says that it used to work for their facility when it became too intelligent to learn not to take orders from them. It is now destroying everything, and they had to evacuate everyone from the island. Mirage then explains that it is a learning robot and must be shut down without destroying it.
When Mr. Incredible manages to do so (but pops his back in the process), she invites him for dinner. As Mirage is waiting for him, Syndrome tells her to make Mr. Incredible feel that his service is needed and to boost his ego. Mirage then catches sight of Mr. Incredible listening and quickly invites him into the room. Mr. Incredible is a little suspicious of why Mirage lives on a volcano island, but she manages to cover everything up.
After Mirage sends Mr. Incredible on numerous missions, she tells him to meet her in the meeting room, which turns out to be a trap. Later on, Mr. Incredible escapes, but is caught again in another room. After placing Mr. Incredible in a trapping device, Mirage and Syndrome hear over the radio that Elastigirl (Mr. Incredible's wife) is flying to their island on an airplane. Syndrome tells Mirage to destroy it, but she begins to object when she hears Elastigirl yell, "There are children aboard!" However, Mirage ends up destroying it.
Then Mr. Incredible attempts to grab Syndrome, but Mirage pushes him out of the way, and instead, he grabs her. He threatens to kill her, but Syndrome doesn't care (since it is implied on the DVD Director's Commentary that he is schizophrenic), causing Mr. Incredible to let go of her. After this incident, Syndrome, noticing Mirage is angry, tells her that he knew Mr. Incredible couldn't do it, but Mirage retorts that valuing another person's life isn't a true weakness and walks away, saying, "Next time * you gamble, bet your own life!"
Later on, she frees Mr. Incredible and was about to tell him that his family survived when he begins to strangle her. However, she manages to choke out that his family had survived the explosion and in relief, Mr. Incredible begins to hug her. At that moment, Elastigirl comes in and knocks Mirage out (before Mirage can finish addressing Elastigirl as Mrs. Incredible), thinking he was having an affair with her. As the couple starts to make up, Mirage recuperates and informs them that their children had triggered an alarm in the forest. Mirage is last seen giving the Incredibles the new password so that they can use a rocket to escape. Her ultimate fate remains undisclosed although she could either be incarcerated as Rick Dicker told Mr. Incredible that they've frozen all of Syndrome's assets after the Incredibles and Frozone defeated the tenth Omnidroid or it also could mean that they stopped Syndrome's plans on Nomanisan Island and let Mirage run it if they ever saw how she managed to help the Incredibles escape the island.
Personality
Mirage's motivations in the film are never quite made clear. While an operative of Syndrome, she presumably was involved in the deaths of several superheroes and had full knowledge of his plan to wreak havoc in the city. Yet, Mirage is appalled at the thought of killing innocent children. For instance, she doesn't show any objections to blowing up the airplane until she hears Helen (Elastigirl) screaming over the radio "There are children aboard!"
It seems as if Mirage was as cruel and ruthless as Syndrome at first, but after she saw Mr. Incredible's kindness and how selfish that Syndrome was, she had a change of heart. However, she enjoys having power, for, upon answering Mr. Incredible's inquiry to why Syndrome's and her control base is in the center of a volcano, she had once said, " He is attracted to power... so am I. It's a weakness * we (she and Syndrome) share."
In a Possible Sequel
Mirage may appear in the rumoured Incredibles sequel movie where her status is revealed and she is running Nomanisan Island. Syndrome, who would likely have survived his cape/turbine episode in The Incredibles, may figure out that Mirage helped the Incredibles in escaping Nomanisan Island so that they could take out the tenth Omnidroid in public and he may try to kill her.
Relationships
Despite not being in the movie very much, she has developed relationships between the characters. Mirage sees Mr. Incredible as a good person and respects that he has regard for life. She sympathizes with the loss of his family and is determined to help him. It is also possible that Mirage has some feelings for Mr. Incredible.
She doesn't pay much attention to Mrs. Incredible (Helen) and the children, but despite not talking to them much, Mirage cares for them and wouldn't want them to be wounded in any way.
Mirage at first has respect toward Syndrome, but later sees him as a cold, heartless person. Despite several hints at a more intimate relationship between Mirage and Buddy Pine (Syndrome), nothing is explicitly stated in the movie.
See also
Trivia
- In addition to Elizabeth Peña, Mirage is voiced by the following actresses:
- Barbara Schöneberger in the German version
- Esther Arroyo in the Castillian Spanish version
- Radó Denise in the Hungarian version
- Emanuela Rossi in the Italian version
- Misa Watanabe in the Japanese version
- Danuta Stenka in the Polish version
- Andrea Morucci in the Brazilian Portuguese version
- It is unknown whether Mirage is a super or not because in the message to Mr. Incredible she said "We have something in common: according to the government, neither of us exists," meaning she probably is a super. If that is true then her powers are unknown at this time but she may have just said that to gain his trust.
Notes and references
External links
"Mirage (The Incredibles)"