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“The only normal one is Jack-Jack, and he’s not even toilet trained!”- Violet in Incredibles. Well, Violet, as we all now know: NOPE. Not even close. Jack-Jack has powers- and a lot of them! After watching the movie, I had just one simple question: just how many powers does Jack-Jack have in Incredibles 2? The Pixar animators had an answer- sorta- when we interviewed them at Pixar in April. Here’s the Incredible list of Jack-Jack’s powers.

 

 

I was invited by Disney Pixar to attend the Incredibles 2 Event and they paid for my airfare and lodging. But all the oohing and ahhing over Baby Jack-Jack is my own.

Even Edna Mode, the childless super model hating designer of the Incredibles knows: raising kids ain’t easy! In fact, some days it feels like you need to be a superhero to keep up with these little dudes.

[tweetshare tweet=”Done properly, parenting is a heroic act. Done properly. – Edna Mode, #Incredibles2 #Incredibles2Event ” username=”noguiltlife”]

Jack-Jack, the little scene stealer in the 2004 Incredibles and the 2018?Incredibles 2 sequel apparently has a few tricks up his sleeve that proves a challenge to his folks. And to the people who created him.

 

 

Just How Many Powers Does Jack-Jack Have In Incredibles 2?

I can only imagine the challenges faced with a toddler who has a superpower. Or many superpowers like Jack-Jack does.

Luckily, I didn’t have to imagine them or create my the list of Jack-Jack’s powers. The task to animate these powers was given to Tony Fucile, Supervising Animator at Pixar, and the team of special effects wizards.

How many superpowers does Jack-Jack have in Incredibles 2? Let’s ask the creative geniuses at Pixar and find out- and see if they can give us a list of Jack-Jack’s powers.

Tony Fucile, Effects Supervisor Bill Watral, and?Effects Artist Jason Johnston presented to the media at Pixar in April. Here are 6 Jack-Jack Fun Facts we found out during the presentation. Did the animators spill on how many powers Jack-Jack has? Read more to find out!

 

 

**Mild spoilers are in this post as they relate to the list of Jack-Jack’s powers, so if you wish to be completely surprised for the movie (and I totally get it!) hop on over NOW and check out some of these other INCREDIBLE spoiler-free posts.**

https://noguiltlife.com/incredibles-2-kid-friendly-parent-movie-review/

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Jack-Jack Fun Fact #1: Tony is the father of the real-life Jack-Jack!

His son, Eli, was about 2-years-old when the first movie was being created and helpfully supplied some of the voice of Jack-Jack. As Tony Fucile explained it, he called up Director Brad Bird to let him know that his kid was making weird noises- and Brad sent him home with directional microphones and equipment. How is fun that?

 

 

As we listened to the presentation, Tony casually drew Jack-Jack before our eyes. Amazing Pixar geek goals right here. As someone with very little artistic talent, I was dorking out a bit. How little is my “talent?” See my drawing of Edna from the Animators Studio at Disneyland.

I mean… Tony doesn’t have to worry about me coming for his job. Ha!

 

 

Side note- I had this experience once before of watching an animation GOD do their work right in front of me. I interviewed Genie creator Eric Goldberg?a few years back and I actually walked out of the room with my own Genie- so so cool!

 

 

Tony explained the process of finding the right inspiration for how the people of the film should look dating back to the first Incredibles.

At the time, most people were fairly realistic looking and it was tempting to put all the details into the computer- because you can do anything on a computer! But it didn’t look right to them.

They wanted to capture the mid-century feeling that the rest of the animated world of the Incredibles would have as well in the characters. They used movies like 101 Dalmations as a starting point.

Fast forward to 14 years later, and they knew they wanted to keep the same look with the Incredibles 2 Parr family. They just some great improvements with the help of technology. Jack-Jack, in particular, was able to really be fleshed out more!

 

Jack-Jack Fun Fact 2: Jack-Jack’s first power is Fire Baby.

At the end of the first movie, Syndrome flies off with Jack-Jack. Jack-Jack takes matters into his own hands and for the first time on screen, we get a taste of what Kari the babysitter went through! Jack-Jack quickly transitions through 4 superpowers: Fire, Lead, Vibration and Demon baby. Syndrome never stood a chance.?

 

Effects Artist Jason Johnston shared a bit on how the development of the Fire Baby Jack-Jack came to be. When you look at the old version from the Incredibles and?Jack-Jack Attacks and compare it to the one you see in Incredibles 2, you will be amazed at the difference a few years and technology (and super talent like Jason’s!) can do.

It was important to make the Fire Baby look realistic, but not scary. Jason pointed out that Jack-Jack is the source of the fire, but not actually on fire himself- as you can see, there’s no smoke or embers. Because that would be, as Frozone says, FREAKY.

Adding the glowing eyes and making the fire look like it was “dancing” on his skin sealed the deal on baby Jack-Jack’s new fire look.

 

 

Jack-Jack Fun Fact #3: Little Dude Is Teething.

Our guy Jack-Jack has popped out a few extra teeth since we last saw him in the 2004 Incredibles. He’s got two new chompers on the bottom. Awwwww… but that might also explain why the Demon Baby comes out.?

While Jack-Jack has many awesome scenes, there are two scenes in particular that people are talking about: the raccoon?scene and the Edna Mode scene. Both are pretty much in a tie for my favorite Incredibles 2 moments and both give us a look at his range of powers.

We didn’t see him bite the raccoon (I don’t think?) but the two new teeth might have come in handy against his backyard foe, the raccoon.

The concept art gives you a good look at how fun the raccoon scene must have been to create.

 

 

Jack-Jack Fun Fact #4: Brad Bird gave Jack-Jack powers based on his age.

When we interviewed Director Brad Bird at Pixar, he explained a bit about how they chose the families superpowers. ?Their superpowers were based on iconic roles of men and women and children in the family. You know, the dad is always expected to be strong. The mom is always stretched in a million directions. Teenagers are defensive and insecure. So, she has force fields and invisibility. Ten-year-olds are energy balls that just, you know, can?t not be on ? eleven or off, that?s what they are. And babies are unknowns.? Bird said.

Makes complete and total sense, doesn’t it?

This is exactly why I relate to so much to the Incredibles and Incredibles 2. Knowing these details and how smart the creators were about putting them into the movie is what makes Pixar, well, PIXAR!

 

 

Jack-Jack Fun Fact 5: Pixar wanted the Goo Baby in the original.

But technology wasn’t quite ready for it! During the presentation, they showed us a few variations and the many different ways they tried to make it work for Incredibles 2.? “We assumed it would be an effects problem but in the end, it turned out to be an animation and sculpting solution!”?Effects Supervisor Bill Watral shared.

The team knew they couldn’t make Jack-Jack gross and dealing with a Goo Baby could have gone either way here. Thankfully they found the right effect and the Jack-Jack Goo Baby finally made it onto the screen as they always wanted.

There were plenty of powers that were considered but not used in the film as well. This team wasn’t able to expand on those, but now I’m over here wondering… what else could Jack-Jack potentially do?

Something tells me Edna might know, though. So next time you see her (maybe when you meet Edna Mode at Disney World this summer?) be sure to ask!

 

Jack-Jack Fun Fact 6: Um, ahhh… well…

I’m cracking up over here- I see you, Pixar. During the presentation Q&A, we asked if they could tell us how many powers Jack-Jack had in Incredibles 2. Super convincingly, they pulled the- “Oh, I don’t remember exactly” card. They pointed out the 5 or 6 in the raccoon scene that we had previewed but were not ready to reveal more.?

I’m not mad or anything- I totally get it!

But in hindsight, I’m laughing as I remember how Jason took over the question and just kinda looked up like he was trying to remember. I’m pretty sure he knew exactly how many powers Jack-Jack had in Incredibles 2, but wasn’t giving anything away- even in a room full of trusted media.

Lesson learned: even when you get a peek behind the Pixar curtain, the wizards like to keep some of the magic to themselves!

 

Jack-Jack: YOU HAVE POWERS!

 

 

That being said, here’s the list of Jack-Jack’s powers that I could come up with. This is based on seeing the movie twice and doing my best to write things down in the dark- all while laughing my booty off. Thankfully, this is a skill I’m developing and I’ll consider adding it to my own superpowers list.

Everyone has superpowers, you know!

 

The Incredible List of Jack-Jack’s Powers

As Helen cries the lament of working parents everywhere, “I missed his first superpower!” Bob gleefully chimes in that actually, no, you missed the first 17! He’s not being a jerk, he’s just so proud of the kid that he can’t help himself by blurting out the number of Jack-Jack’s powers.

That’s right… Jack-Jack has 17 superpowers. See if you remember catching them all between the two movies.

1. Fire Baby
2. Demon Baby
3. Goo Baby
4. Vibration Baby
5. Giant Baby
6. Lead Weight Baby (seen in Incredibles 1, not in Incredibles 2)
7. Levitation (you thought crawling was bad?)
8. Superhuman Strength
9. Multiplication
10. Dimension Hopping (disappears to the “other side” and comes back when offered NumNum cookies)
11. Laser Eyes (with multiple settings including pew-pew)
12. Walking Through Walls or Phasing
13. Teleportation (can move from one place to another)
14. Lightning Creation?
15. Super Sizing
16. Shapeshifting (he can morph into the shape of other people)
17. Combustion. This seems different from Fire Baby as there’s an actual explosion going on!

[tweetshare tweet=”Combustion imminent?!… What does that mean? – Bob Parr. That means fire, Robert. – Edna Mode #Incredibles2 #Incredibles2Event” username=”noguiltlife”]

Honestly- that’s a lot of powers- and I’m not even sure it’s 100% accurate. So I guess I’ll just go see Incredibles 2 again and again until I get the best count!

 

About Incredibles 2 Movie

In INCREDIBLES?2, Helen (voice of Holly Hunter) is called on to lead a campaign to bring Supers back, while Bob (voice of Craig T. Nelson) navigates the day-to-day heroics of ?normal? life at home with Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell), Dash (voice of Huck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack?whose superpowers are about to be discovered. Their mission is derailed, however, when a new villain emerges with a brilliant and dangerous plot that threatens everything. But the Parrs don?t shy away from a challenge, especially with Frozone (voice of Samuel L. Jackson) by their side. That?s what makes this family so?Incredible.

 

 

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INCREDIBLES 2 is in theaters NOW!?

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