- “He's attracted to power. So am I. It's a weakness”
- ―Mirage during a dinner with Mister Incredible
Mirage is the tertiary antagonist, later a supporting character, in the 2004 Disney/Pixar film The Incredibles and related media.
Background
Appearance
Mirage is an attractive woman with platinum blonde hair, tanned skin, and green eyes; she also has a penchant for expensive clothes. She is also tall and very slim.
Personality
Mirage is a calm and decisive femme fatale who thrives on power. Unlike Syndrome, however, she has standards to how far she's willing to go for it.
At first, Mirage respected Syndrome as her leader and her lover, sharing in his taste for calculation and betrayal and willingly drawing supers to their deaths to near the point where they could release the Omnidroid for its rampage. However, she was clearly ill at ease with Syndrome opening fire on Elastigirl's plane when she learned children were aboard, and all loyalties faded when Syndrome expressed no concern for her well being when Mr. Incredible threatened to kill her, and then mocked the man whose family he thought he had killed by calling him weak.
Appearances
The Incredibles
"Mirage" is a pseudonym; her real name is currently unknown. She is Syndrome's seductive right-hand woman, who aided him in the murder of Gazerbeam and many other superheroes during Project Kronos. She had been conducting surveillance on Frozone for some time in an attempt to make him Syndrome's next murder victim; however, when she spots Frozone with his good friend Mr. Incredible, Mirage recommends to Syndrome that they put Frozone on hold and instead target Mr. Incredible, given Syndrome's hatred of the latter. She slips a video message to Bob Parr on his last day at Insuracare, spinning a story of needing superhero help with a government project gone wrong and promising to pay him triple his salary at Insuracare, which he opens that night after he is fired by Gilbert Huph. Mr. Incredible, both eager to resume his superhero glory days and in need of money to support his family now that he is unemployed, accepts Mirage's offer. Mirage meets Mr. Incredible aboard the Manta Ship, and requests him to deactivate the allegedly defective Omnidroid 9,000 on Nomanisan Island without destroying it, warning him that the robot will learn the longer that the battle goes on. She watches from a surveillance bird with Syndrome as Mr. Incredible succeeds in the task, surprising the vengeful villain. She joins Mr. Incredible at dinner that night, explaining away her superior's absence as him liking anonymity, and explaining that she's drawn to him due to a mutual attraction to power. After receiving his pay, Bob returns home.
Mirage contacts Mr. Incredible again many weeks later, after the super has turned his home life around with both the increased income and losing a significant amount of weight. She greets him in his new suit, courtesy of Edna Mode, and escorts him to a suite, informing him that he'll receive his briefing later that day in a certain room, in actuality a trap where Syndrome and the completed Omnidroid 10,000 wait to intercept him. Later that night, after Mr. Incredible tricked Syndrome's probe into thinking he was dead, Mirage inadvertently lets Mr. Incredible into Nomanisan's control room, allowing him to discover Syndrome's plans, but finds him when the tracking device on his suit triggers the security system.
She is present later when Syndrome attempts to interrogate Mr. Incredible about the plane heading to the island, looking on with an increasingly uncomfortable expression as Syndrome sends missiles at the jet when it becomes clear that Mr. Incredible's wife is the pilot, and even more so when they learn that their children are on the plane. She reluctantly informs Syndrome that the missiles destroyed the plane, and notices Mr. Incredible fighting through his binds after Syndrome taunts him. She pushes him out of the way, winding up in Mr. Incredible's grasp herself as the super threatens to crush her unless Syndrome releases him. Syndrome passes it off, much to Mirage's concern, and goads Mr. Incredible. The broken super releases her a few seconds later, and Mirage's expression shows even more uncertainty as she leaves the room, Syndrome continuing to taunt him over being weak and beneath him now, while Mr. Incredible sobs for his lost family. Later, as they prepare the rocket to launch the Omnidroid, Mirage calls Syndrome out on his attitude, and upon discovering that he has no remorse, angrily tells him to bet his own life when he gambles again before leaving.
By morning, Mirage has made up her mind to turn against Syndrome, and shortly after learning that his family had survived and made it to the island, she frees Mr. Incredible. The super nearly chokes her before she manages to say that they're alive, upon which the super releases and then warmly embraces her. She then notices Helen in the doorway, who punches her in the face, under the impression that her husband had been having an affair with her. Mr. Incredible quickly disabuses her of that notion, and Mirage warns them that their children may have triggered the alarm, and tells them to hurry to find them.
Later, after Project Kronos has started and Syndrome has left the island, leaving the Incredibles bound in the containment room, Mirage sees the escaped family running through the halls towards the aircraft hangar, to her surprise. Her final appearance in the film comes when the Incredibles decide to use the extra rocket to return to the mainland, and Mr. Incredible wonders how they could get into the computer since Syndrome had likely changed the password by that time, when Mirage responds with a smile on the intercom: "Say please."
The Incredibles (Comic Book)
Mirage has since joined the NSA as an agent. When Xerek becomes active again in Europe, she and Helen are assigned to work together against the diminutive supervillain's schemes. When discovering Helen's past with Xerek and how she's keeping this from the rest of the family, Mirage points out that she's doing exactly the same thing Bob was doing, to Helen's chagrin. Arriving in Paris, they face Bomb Voyage and a group of mercenaries, though they are outnumbered. Helen pursues Bomb Voyage to Xerek's lair, with Mirage meeting her there. After Xerek's small goal of wanting to lure Helen out under the assumption she missed the thrill of the old days and him, both heroes just laugh and Xerek is arrested as Mirage manages to offer his mercenaries better pay.
Kinect Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure
Disney INFINITY
Mirage also makes an non-playable appearance in the game Disney INFINITY, where she helps the Incredibles and Edna Mode to defeat Syndrome before he can destroy the city.
Trivia
- Mirage is similar to several James Bond villainesses, especially ones such as Pussy Galore and Andrea Anders who, like her, eventually defect from their truly evil employers.
- Among all Disney villains that "turn good," Mirage, though "merely" being an accomplice in all of the murders she participated in, has the highest known body count, and she is never majorly punished for these several counts of willing accessory to murder.
- Mirage's business card is a play against her name, the text displayed on it only visible in an ephemeral manner when tilted.
- Mirage is similar to The Black Widow, Emma Frost and Silver Sable from Marvel Universe.
- Due to the death of Elizabeth Peña in October 2014, it's completely unknown whether or not Mirage will appear in The Incredibles 2.
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