The Incredible Ubermensch

I possibly spelled that wrong. I don't know any German. I should ask Kim.

I was going to wait until I saw The Incredibles again before writing a response to those critics who believe the movie to be some sort of Randian parable, but Long Story, Short Pier beat me to it, and I'm quite certain it's better than anything I could have offered up, as well as many, many links, to boot.

Among those links is a decent issue-by-issue discussion of Planetary, my favorite not-monthly-in-the-slightest comic.

UPDATE: Oh! Something else to contribute that wasn't mentioned in the post I linked to. I think it's also important that Syndrome goes down the rather demented path he takes because of Mr. Incredible's flat-out refusal to acknowledge "Incrediboy's" existance as anything other than a nuisance. Mr. Incredible doesn't see Buddy's gifts, significant as they are, and Buddy decides to steal the spotlight so that EVERYONE will see his powers and acknowledge him as the genius he knows himself to be. If Mr. Incredible weren't so self-concerned in the opening scenes, perhaps the whole mess could have been avoided. Someone said something about power and responsibility at some point. Mr. Incredible should have taken heed.

UPDATE AGAIN: And yes, I know Syndrome is just ultimately a big homicidal nutty nut. He should have tried to use his genius to achieve fame on his own, rather than piggybacking on Mr. Incredible's reputation. Maybe he could have been some boy inventor/Reed Richards type. But no, he just wants the glory, and the fastest way to that glory is to ape the superhero who has already achieved it through altruistic means. Syndrome only wants to help people so that they'll worship him for it.