Syndrome

"You mean you killed off real heroes, so you could pretend to be one?!"

- Mr. Incredible regarding Syndromes motivation Syndrome (real name Buddy Pine) is a supervillain, and the main antagonist in the Disney/Pixar 2004 film, The Incredibles.

Personality
As a young Buddy Pine, the boy who would become Syndrome aspired to become a superhero and this goal led him to beg Bob Parr to hire him as a sidekick, "Incredi-boy!". Sadly, after Bob categorically refused to grant Buddy's favor, Buddy returned home in disgrace and rejected the righteous path. He became embittered and eventually descended into megalomania.

Buddy is apparently a technical genius, and even at an early age could create wondrous gadgets to circumvent his lack of "super" powers. After his dismissal at the hands of Mister Incredible, and the dissolution of classical superheroes, the young man turned his gifts towards evil, eventually murdering dozens of superheroes with his Omnidroids and various super weapons. He is a classical sociopath, caring not at all for the rules of society; and seeing it as his mission to make himself the world's ultimate hero through trickery and technology, and when he grows tired of that, to make superheroes entirely obsolete by selling his weapons to the highest bidder. Because "when everyone is super... no one will be."

Syndrome appeared to be driven at an early age for recognition and ego nourishment, normal traits of that of a child prodigy. As well he attempted to overcompensate for his lack of super-abiliites with his brainpower and technology. Perhaps even if Mister Incredible had not rejected Buddy he would still descend into villainy as he proved of having no grasp on the terms of what it means to be a hero which is shown when he still considered himself one despite having killed real heroes. To put it simply, Syndrome, having never been told he was special or could do great things, wished to remove the world of its specialties (specifically supers) by either eradicating them or turning them redundant with his technology, which makes him a bit of a complex character as well.

Aside from being bitter and sociopathic, Syndrome was intensely sadistic, shown by how he taunted Mr. Incredible with his family's supposed death, and a second time when he gloated to the family on how he would steal away Jack Jack and turn him into a sidekick in a last-ditch attempt to spite Mr. Incredible.

Though it was years and his vindictiveness had completely absolved him, Syndrome does have memory of why he respected Mister Incredible and was visibly impressed when he tricked the probe by hiding from the corpse of Gazerbeem. Claiming "he truly was Mister Incredible" and was "still geeking out about it."

Powers and Abilities
Child Prodigy: When Syndrome was still at a young age, he was a gifted boy who specializes in technology engineering, as he was able to create jet boots at a young age.

Genius Intellect: While not having superpowers, Syndrome's high intellect made him a fierce opponent, his tactical skills and inventions proving to be more than enough to allow him to compete with the likes of Mr. Incredible.
 * Technology Engineering: Syndrome was a formidable foe when it comes to building numerous advanced technology and weapons, as he was also capable of becoming a successful weapons designer.

Weapons

 * Utility Gauntlets: Using zero-point energy, Syndrome is able to create a field of quantum energy that inhibits the majority of a victim's body movement. If the victim's skin is exposed, the range of motion of the victim's face is also taken to the minimum (only their eyes can move), and the ability to speak is also inhibited. The field is moved by his fingers and can be fired in the forms of energy blasts and concentrated beams. Like the trigger for Spider-Man's web-shooters, the trigger for these weapons is located high on the palm of each hand to prevent most unwanted firings. The left-hand gauntlet also holds the remote control for the Omnidroid. A communicator is likely built into the right-hand gauntlet.
 * Aero Boots: In his short days as IncrediBoy, Buddy used makeshift rockets. As Syndrome, his rocket boots were modified to project flames of blue fire.
 * Bio-Probe: Used to locate temperature, atmosphere and life signals in various locations. Worn in the left-hand gauntlet.
 * Miniature "I"-bomb: Small, but exceedingly powerful explosive. Worn in the right-hand gauntlet.
 * Omnidroid: To date, there have been ten known versions of this battle robot. The first nine were prototypes designed to fight and kill supers. The tenth was used in the foiled Operation Kronos. All of them were artificially intelligent, enabling it to solve any problem that it encounters; Omnidroid v.10 figured out that Syndrome used a remote device to control it and knocked him unconscious. Another feature of the Omnidroids is that they have colored eyes (e.g., 08 has a blue/green eye, v.10 has a red eye). The Omnidroid's only weakness is itself: in the film, Mr. Incredible scrambles into Omnidroid 08's inner workings, making the machine pierce its own hull in a vain attempt to pry the hero free from inside, and later on, Mr. Incredible launches Omnidroid v.10's claw at it and tears right through it, ripping out its power core.
 * 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 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 are able to travel underwater.
 * Energy Prisons: Prisons in which the victim is obtained inside a powerful electric field and unable to escape due to hard metal mineballs.

Pre-Syndrome Years
Syndrome's name was Buddy Pine. As a boy, he wanted to become Mr. Incredible's sidekick, but Incredible constantly rejected him. One night, as Mr. Incredible was facing the criminal Bomb Voyage, Buddy showed up with a pair of rocket boots to help him. Calling himself Incrediboy, he flew off to get the police. He didn't realize that Bomb Voyage had attached a bomb to his cape. Mr. Incredible had to release Voyage to save Buddy. Eventually, Incredible was angry at the boy for meddling in his affairs and the police took him home. In a fit of rage, Buddy stopped idolizing Mr. Incredible and hated him for his actions.

Later Years
Fifteen years later, Buddy became a successful weapons designer. Operating through his agent, Mirage, Buddy sent for several superheroes to fight his battle robot: The Omnidroid series as part of his revenge against Mr. Incredible who refused Buddy's help. All of them were killed by the battle robot and those that actually defeated it were killed by subsequent versions. Buddy deemed it ready to fight his ex-idol and had Mirage send for him when the femme fatale discovered Bob's identity and location. Mr. Incredible defeated the robot, but Buddy built another, more powerful unit, v09. The robot defeated Incredible and Buddy arrived, delcaring himself to be Bob's nemesis and better, "Syndrome." Syndrome, in a fit of rage, accidentally tossed Mr. Incredible over a cliff with his zero-point energy invention, causing the hero to land in a river. After tossing a bomb into the water, Syndrome sent a robot probe after him to confirm that he was dead. Mr. Incredible managed to escape from the probe by hiding behind the corpse of the late hero and activist Gazerbeam.

Operation: Kronos
Mr. Incredible snuck into Syndrome's hideout and infiltrated his computer and discovered elements of Syndrome's plot: Operation Kronos. Unfortunately, due to a tracking device, Mr. Incredible was caught and held in a high-security trap and torture device. When Syndrome found out that a government aircraft was coming to the island, he assumed his prisoner had sent reinforcements. When Mr. Incredible denied any involvement, he sent 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 survived and swam to the island. There, Elastigirl was able to break Mr. Incredible out of Syndrome's prison. Syndrome managed to recapture the family and sent his Omnidroid v10 to wreck the city. However, when he arrived to defeat the robot with a special remote control, the Omnidroid (which had become self-aware like its predecessor before it) betrayed and outsmarted him, destroyed his remote and shot at his rocket boots with a laser gun. With his rocket boots out of control, Syndrome smashed into a building and was knocked unconscious. He remained unconscious during the Incredibles' battle and woke just as the robot was defeated spectacularly; destroying his plans of glory and revenge and infuriating him.

One Last Attempt and Death
His plans foiled, Syndrome broke into the Incredibles's home and attempted to kidnap their baby, Jack-Jack, to be his sidekick and protege, as he had been denied in his own youth. The family arrived just as he was preparing to leave, and he suspended them and slammed them into a table. He then began the trip to his hover jet. However, Jack-Jack transformed into a mini-monster and disabled his rocket boots. Syndrome got back on his jet and started yelling that he would "get your son eventually!". However as Syndrome laughs evilly, Mr. Incredible threw his prized sports car at the jet, knocking it off-balance and causing Syndrome to slide toward the left turbine. Syndrome's cape got tangled in the spinning blades, just as foreshadowed by Edna Mode, and the evil genius was pulled in, resulting in his death and the explosion of the plane; ending his reign of terror on the Incredibles and avenging the other supers he killed.

Jack-Jack Attack
Syndrome was seen only during the end of Jack-Jack Attack, when he came to the door of the Parrs' home, claiming to be a replacement babysitter. Kari believes him and leaves gratefully. This is when he attempts to kidnap Jack-Jack. Here he is shown for the second time without a mask on.

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, he also makes a major antagonistic role in the 3.0 level, Toy Box Takeover, where he steals the Magic Wand (as well as Merlin's magic wand) from Mickey and tries 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 uses the Sidekick feature to make five copies of himself. After he is defeated, Syndrome and the other villains are blasted far away by Merlin's magic.

Trivia

 * According to official sources, Syndrome is in his mid 20's, is 6'1" (184 cm), and weighs 185 lbs (83 kg).
 * In style, Syndrome resembles Batman or Iron Man, in that he is a standard model human who made himself super by inventing and using high technology.
 * His hairdo is similar to that of Jimmy Neutron from Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius or Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z.
 * When Edna Mode refuses to design a cape for Mr. Incredible, deeming capes as hazardous to superheroes, she recalls a number of past accidents that involved their interference. This foreshadows Syndrome's 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.
 * The cape-related cause of Syndrome's fate accurately matches that of one of the superheroes that Edna recalls, (Stratogale) who had also got her cape entangled in the left turbine of a plane she was flying beside, pulling her in.
 * As a young boy, his hair was blond. However, as an adult, it is red. He could have either dyed his hair red, or it could have grown that color naturally.
 * In Jack-Jack Attack, his mask is not on, and he still has his cape.
 * Syndrome is one of the few characters whose voice actor also voiced his juvenile counterpart, another being Terk from Disney's Tarzan.
 * 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 the movie Mallrats.
 * Syndrome bears some resemblance to Kent Mansley, the villain from The Iron Giant, another film Brad Bird worked on.
 * Syndrome is similar to Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective in many ways:
 * Both are revealed to be murderers. Syndrome killed a dozen superheroes to get rid of competition, and Ratigan drowned several widows and orphans as revealed in the song "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind".
 * Both have a famous nemesis. Syndrome's nemesis was the once-famous Mr. Incredible before he retired, while Ratigan's nemesis is Basil of Baker Street, the famous mouse detective.
 * Both trap the heroes before heading out to carry their evil plan.
 * Both have a flying vehicle of transportation that eventually gets destroyed (Syndrome has a jet; Ratigan has a blimp).
 * Both kidnapped a young child before trying to escape (Jack-Jack for Syndrome; Olivia for Ratigan).
 * Both get their capes caught in machinery.