―Dash excited at the idea of being a superhero.[src]
Dashiell Robert "Dash" Parr is a major character in the 2004Disney•Pixar animated film The Incredibles and its 2018sequel. He is the middle child and eldest son of Bob and Helen and is the younger brother to Violet and older brother to Jack-Jack. As an offspring of Supers, he has the ability to run super fast, allowing him to run on water as well as other physics-bending maneuvers such as running up buildings.
Born into the Parr family, Dash is the middle child of superheroes Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, younger brother of Violet, and older brother of Jack-Jack. When Dash is first introduced, he is depicted as a very competitive, pushy, cocky, mischievous and slightly rebellious boy who wants to use his super speed to try out for sports, becoming angry at the limitations put on him and his family by the anti-super laws. Dash's fourth-grade teacher Mr. Kropp hates him because the boy keeps using his super speed to play pranks on him like putting thumbtacks on his chair, especially since he can't even prove that Dash is doing it.
Dash's family life is also tense, especially between him and his sister, Violet. Because of Bob's difficulty concealing his powers in public, the family has been forced to move several times over the past few years. Also, Helen has told both kids never use their powers (unless they are in danger) because they are required by law to blend in with the rest of the world and hide who they are. Because of these factors, Dash's parents don't let him compete in sports because they know he will not restrain his super-speed enough to maintain their cover, which is a great source of frustration for him. Dash's charmingly reckless nature and one-track mind also frequently get him into trouble with Violet.
Official Description
At age ten, Dash seems to be moving even when standing still. Full of restless energy, he has the power of super-speed – a power so useful for playing pranks that he has difficulty keeping it in check. Dash doesn’t understand why superheroes should hide their powers – why would they have them if they weren’t supposed to use them?[1]
Dashiell Parr (Dash) is a 10-year-old boy—restless, relentless, curious—though his remarkable power of Super speed certainly sets him apart. Dash sports a hearty sense of adventure and a boundless supply of energy. He’d love nothing more than to show off his special skills and fight a few bad guys along the way—and doesn’t understand why he has to keep his powers a secret.[2]
Personality
Being the child of the family, Dash is, as described by Helen, "a highly competitive boy, and a bit of a showoff". Due to society rejecting Supers, he struggles to find a way to vent his energy, not being allowed to partake in sports as it could expose their identities and it would be unfair for other kids. As a result, he took to using his abilities to pull pranks without getting caught to test his limits, causing him to become somewhat of a problem child.
He agrees with his father's belief that he shouldn't be ashamed of his abilities or need to hide them, believing it makes him special. At the same time, he shoots down his mother's claims that "everyone is special", arguing that if that were the case then "no one is".
After the battle against Syndrome and the Omnidroid, perhaps due to his near-death experiences, Dash has learned to keep his ego in check. He was allowed to partake in sports under the condition he holds back to give others a chance, a promise he kept.
In Incredibles 2, Dash's personality is more-or-less the same, though he does seem more mature and takes school more seriously. He has also developed aspirations of becoming a superhero like his parents.
Physical appearance
Dash is a 10-year-old American boy with fair skin, small stature, thick build and thin legs. According to official sources, he stands at 4'0" (121 cm) and he weighs 60 pounds (27 kg). Of his siblings, Dash is the one who most resembles his father, as he inherits his physical features, blond hair with the same hairstyle and blue eyes. Unlike his parents or siblings, Dash has light freckles across his nose and cheeks. As a civilian, most of his clothes contain the colors white, red and yellow respectively, with the last two colors possibly referencing his enjoyment of being a superhero. His supersuit consists of a red unitard with black bottoms and an "I" insignia on the chest, along with an orange belt, black gloves, knee-high black boots, and a black eye mask.
Powers and abilities
Super Speed: Dash possesses the superhuman capacity to move at great speeds; the film series has yet to establish his maximum running speed, however, Dash's speed is sufficient enough to allow him to be able to run over water without submerging. This speed also appears to extend to his other individual limbs: he is able to punch at a rapid rate (however this does not appear to intensify the impact of his blows). It should be noted that Dash is still very young, so it's possible he will get even faster with age. His superhuman speed also grants him several other abilities that come in handy when in combat situations. The Incredibles video game shows his maximum speed at over 190mph (306kmh), however, after learning some new abilities while on the heat of battle, Dash realized he was fast enough to run on water and on horizontal surfaces, like walls or ceilings.
Superior Reaction Time: Dash has a superhuman reaction time, without which he could not possibly take full advantage of his speed, changing direction, running in circles at super-speed, stopping on a dime, and rapidly dodging.
Superhuman Stamina: Dash is full of restless energy and rarely shows signs of fatigue, not even after sustaining his super-speed for extended periods of time. He was, however, noticeably exhausted after using his powers to reach Syndrome's island after being stranded at sea.
Enhanced Durability: The first film's official website listed "enhanced durability" amongst Dash's powers, which is implied in the film by the amount of incidental high-speed collisions and crashes Dash endures without apparent injury. This apparently also allows him to resist the friction and stress on his body caused by his high speeds.
Power Restrictions:
Dash lacks superhuman strength, a fact demonstrated when fighting one of Syndrome's guards. While he throws punches in rapid succession, stunning the guard, these punches do not hurt the guard any more than the punches of a human child.
Dash uses his speed to defy physics - if he slowed down he would sink below the water or succumb to gravity once again.
Dash's powers are limited by the fact that he is still a child, and it is likely that as he ages he will become even faster and discover new ways to use his speed, as well as his strength naturally increasing as he matures physically.
For the record, after extensive research the minimum speed for running on water is 67MPH (108km/h). The speed of sound is approximately 767 MPH (1,192 km/h).
Dash was born after the law was passed banning superheroes from society. Therefore, he had to grow up hiding his superpowers from everyone, which is a source of immense frustration for him. He is a very rebellious boy and often gets into trouble and loves playing pranks on his least favorite teacher, Mr. Bernie Kropp. Dash's first appearance is in the principal's office because during a class period at his school he once again annoyed his teacher by using his great speed to place thumbtacks on his chair as he sits down (with a deleted scene revealing the teacher pulling Dash's ear to get him to the principal). In Helen's presence the teacher tries to prove through a camera that Dash was the culprit of the prank but due to his super speed no one could see him placing the pins and the principal lets him off the hook, much to Dash's satisfaction and the teacher's displeasure. Despite this, Dash is reprimanded by his mother in the car as they leave school and he insists that she allow him to play sports by promising to slow down, but Helen still refuses. This leads Dash to add that Bob tells them not to be ashamed of their powers because they make them exceptional and Helen replies that everyone is exceptional, to which he disappointedly points out that this means that no one is.
That night, the Parr family gathers for dinner. While Bob helps Dash cut the meat, Helen tells her husband what happened to the boy at his school. Contrary to what she expected, Bob is enthusiastic that his son has used his powers which leads to arguments between the two about whether or not Dash should play sports. Dash later teases Violet about her crush on her classmate, Tony Rydinger. This eventually causes a fight that is broken up once Lucius, a long-time family friend, rings the doorbell. Dash spits water at Lucius for him to freeze it, a tradition between the two, but after Lucius catches the icicle, Dash complains under his breath that he likes it when it shatters. After Bob leaves with Lucius for their weekly bowling night (which is really just an excuse to keep saving lives in secret), Helen continues to berate Dash for being summoned to the principal's office.
Later, Bob is happy to go on missions (apparently for the government) and fight combat robots called Omnidroids, so he is more present for his family. In particular, Dash and Bob are seen playing numerous games including catch (this foreshadows a later event). However, these missions turn out to be traps set by a supervillain known as Syndrome who soon captures Bob and takes him prisoner. Concerned by her husband's repeated absences, who kept quiet about his superheroic activities, Helen discovers that Bob had asked stylist Edna Mode to make him a new costume. When she decides to visit the designer, Edna gives her super suits for each member of the Parr family: Dash's was specially designed to withstand the terrible friction generated by his super-speed. Helen also learns from Edna that Bob is on Nomanisan Island and so decides to go find him. While she is packing her bags in her room, Dash uses her super speed to grab her costume and Violet's that her mother had left on the bed. Although Helen orders her two older children to stay home to take care of Jack-Jack, they decide to secretly dress up and sneak onto their mother's private jet to Nomanisan.
When Helen finally discovers that Dash and Violet are on board the plane, it is too late to turn back as they are about to reach Nomanisan Island. As Helen calls Kari McKeen (the babysitter Dash and Violet left behind to care for Jack Jack) to check on the baby's well-being, the plane is quickly attacked by missiles sent by Syndrome to destroy the plane. Taking back the controls of the plane, Helen does her best to get rid off the missiles while Dash and Violet are thrown in all directions since they were not able to buckle their seat belts. Unfortunately, the plane is destroyed by the projectiles and its three occupants fall into the void. Thus, Elastigirl uses her ability to transform to save her children's lives and her own. The three land safely in the water, but Dash and Violet are worried and think they are going to die. Fortunately, their mother calms them down and comes up with a plan to keep the three of them safe on the island. Helen then changes into a lifeboat with Dash serving as the outboard motor, for which Helen praises him upon their arrival at shore, much to Dash's relief.
During the night, Helen and the children find a cave in which they take shelter. The mother then announces that she will go alone to look for Bob and appoints Violet in charge in her absence, much to Dash's chagrin. She hands them their costume masks and warns them that the bad guys they will be facing differ from those on cartoons; they can't rely on being shown mercy just because they're children. If they're in danger, she tells Dash that he must run "As fast as you can" and that they should stick together and protect each other. Some time after his mother leaves, Dash finds Violet being in charge tiresome, so he does not listen to his sister's request that he stay where they are and goes off to explore the deep cavities of the cave. He quickly discovers that the cave is actually a rocket exhaust pipe– and it's being used. The siblings escape just in time and see the rocket off into the night sky, unaware of where the rocket is headed. Exhausted, they fall asleep under the stars.
The next morning, Dash realizes that he was cuddled close to his sister and jumps up and gags in disgust. Just then, he notices a monitor droid (disguised as a wild bird). He wakes Violet to show her the droid, which she finds very suspicious. Their curiosity triggers a deafening alarm of the droids and the two are quickly cornered by Syndrome's minions. When Violet tells Dash to remember his mother's advice and orders him to run, the young boy complies and uses his super speed to try to outrun the villains, who are piloting circular bladed aircraft that can go just as fast as him. Despite the odds he encounters along the way, Dash refuses to give up and as the chase progresses he learns just how formidable his superpower really is.
At one point Dash grabs a vine, flies through the air and lands on one of the circular blade aircraft piloted by a Syndrome guard. He then avoids the blows that the pilot tries to give him and chains hooks to his opponent's face before stopping when he sees that the flying machine is about to crash into a cliff. The pilot himself did not notice anything and took advantage of Dash's distraction to land a violent punch on him: the impact sent Dash away from the machine just as it exploded against the rock. Dash managed to slow his fall by clinging to a vine and, too happy to still be alive, shouted his joy which attracted the attention of other guards who resumed the chase. He managed to get rid of two guards by making them to crash into trees that dotted the rainforest, but two other employees of Syndrome managed to follow him. Dash ran towards the coast and discovers that he can run on water, something visibly exciting him. He manages to run into a cave tunnel where two Velocipods manage to corner him. The cornered young superhero stops running and falls into the water, saving his life by causing the two flying machines to collide and explode.
Eventually, Dash returns to Point A just in time to save Violet from the third Velocipod, giving her a chance to escape. As the guard prepares to take out Dash, Violet jumps in to save her brother and activates a force field to protect them. After dispatching security, the siblings combine their powers to create the IncrediBall (named in the video game): Violet generates a force-field, and Dash runs along its inner surface, propelling the sphere at considerable speeds and mowing down everything in their path. Caught up in his momentum, Dash does not immediately realize that the force field has just hit his parents; Violet deactivates the force field and the family is finally reunited. But another wave of henchmen find and attack them: Dash runs around his family to create a cloud of dust that makes the superheroes difficult for the guards to see. Though the guards are quickly overpowered the family ends up losing as Syndrome breaks in to capture them all.
Later, members of the Parr family are held in Syndrome's containment unit and listen to him talk about his plans: to unleash the Omnidroid v.10 on Metroville and fraudulently become a superhero. After the villain leaves, amidst Mr. Incredible's apologies to his family, Dash notices Violet breaking free thanks to her powers. The teenager frees her family and they then run to the hangar in hopes of finding a plane to fly back to the mainland, Dash suggesting they use a nearby rocket as it is faster. Unfortunately, Helen has no knowledge of how to fly a rocket to which Violet comments that her only needed the coordinates from the last launch to use it. Syndrome's ex-co-worker Mirage, who became an ally of the family after folding her apparent relationship with him, handles that. With the coordinates entered, the rocket flies on autopilot, Elastigirl keeps it in the air by clinging to the flying machine while the rest of the family are aboard a van preparing for landing.
Upon landing, as their parents were sharing some moments together, the Omnidroid's claw is pointing at their van and crushes it, but Violet and Dash managed to run at the time. When they're running, the robot's claw nearly hits them, separating Violet and Dash from their parents. The Omnidroid attacks again, but this time Violet defends herself and Dash with her shield. The Omnidroid goes mad and punches Violet's shield several times until it slams its massive mass into Violet's force field, dissipating it and leaving her and Dash defenseless. Their parents show up to get their children to safety, ordering them not to get involved in the fight, especially since Frozone appearing to help them. The children ignore this and decide to join the adult heroes upon realizing Syndrome's remote control is capable of stopping the robot.
Mr. Incredible manages to retrieve Syndrome's remote control, but the battle robot spots it and tries to destroy. Dash calls out to his father to throw him the remote control and, once done, he rushes at full speed, running across the expanse of water in a pool, to catch it (garnering amazement from his dad). He catches the remote, causing the robot to corner him until Frozone appears to lead him out of the Omnidroid's range. The battle robot manages to make the superhero with ice powers fall, who just has time to generate a carpet of snow to cushion Dash's fall, who cannot stop the remote control from rolling further. After the family and Frozone finally get the remote, neither Dash nor Violet manage to neutralize the combat robot by pressing the buttons on the remote, but their mother is more effective: she manages to activate a fallen arm of the robot that Mr. Incredible then lets fall towards the Omnidroid and passes through it, destroying it. The superheroes defeated the robot and saved the city, which makes Dash see society's praise for people with superpowers.
On behalf of the government, Agent Rick Dicker receives and thanks the Incredibles. While his mother tries to contact Kari to find out about Jack-Jack, Dash is delighted to be in a limousine and excited about the superhero adventures he has just experienced. His excitement is dampened when the family learns through Kari's phone messages that she's had a replacement watch over Jack-Jack and they quickly learn that it's Syndrome. When the superheroes return home to confront him, the villain immobilizes them again with his energy beam, then launches them through the house and attempts to kidnap Jack-Jack. However, unbeknownst to the rest of the family, Jack-Jack uses his powers to attack his captor, who is forced to free him. Launched by Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl catches him at the same time as he throws a car at Syndrome's plane, who dies when his cape gets caught in a turbine. The plane explodes, destroying the Parr house, who are safe thanks to a force field generated by Violet. Dash now wonders if they have to move again to which his parents' answer is a playful yes. When the smoke clears, one of their neighbors, a tricycle-riding young boy named Rusty, is amazed by what happened yelling, "Oh, man… that was totally wicked!"
After the adventure the family has been through, Helen and Bob finally agree to give Dash the chance to play sports, allowing him to use his powers as he dreamed. Three months later, the entire Parr family gathers to attend a track and field competition in which Dash is participating. During the race, his family encourages him while telling him to find the right speed to run, much to the confusion of some people in the audience. As he runs, Dash realizes that he cannot do anything to compromise the secret of the Incredibles nor grant himself an unfair advantage over the other contestants, so he holds back and runs only fast enough to win second place. His family applauds him, happy for his victory and proud that Dash has learned to control his speed. Dash happily leaves the stadium on his father's shoulders celebrating his athletic achievement, but his victory is interrupted when a new super-villain named the Underminer emerges from the bowels of the city aboard a gigantic tunnel boring machine and threatens the population. Without hesitation, Dash and the rest of his family dons their costumes and masks showing their re-dedication to fighting crime.
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In the sequel, the fight with The Underminer picks up where it left off and concludes with the Incredibles being arrested for the damages The Underminer caused. Rick Dicker bails them out and, with their home destroyed, escorts them to a motel.
The next day, Dash learns that his mother has a new job and that they're moving into a new house. Dash loves his new house and that his father is helping him with his homework. One day, Dash and Bob see a news story about how a rich guy bought the Incredibile. Dash is amazed his father used to drive such an... incredible... car while Bob is furious since he was told it had been destroyed. Dash is disappointed when his father restrains himself.
He later laughs after his sister embarrasses herself in front of Tony Rydinger. Much later, he is amazed when his baby brother Jack-Jack reveals that he has powers while disappointed when its revealed Bob knew all along and didn't tell them. Dash confronts him on this until he is shocked into silence after Bob rants about how overwhelmed he is. That's when Violet and Dash decided to call Lucius for help.
Later on, he and his sister join Bob in testing Jack-Jack's new powers.
The following night, they are attacked by Evelyn Deaver's mind controlled Supers. With help from Frozone, Dash enables the escape in the Incredimobile, which he called in. Dash, Violet, and Jack-Jack sneak on board the DevTech's ship to rescue their parents. After freeing their parents and Lucius from Evelyn's mind control, Dash, Violet, and Jack-Jack help them defeat her and make Supers legal again.
As Helen mentions, his full name is "Dashiell Robert Parr". However, he goes by the shortened nickname of "Dash", which is not only an abbreviation of his name but also a reference to his power.
Dash is based on speedster superheroes, specifically The Flash from DC Comics, Quicksilver from Marvel Comics and SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog. All of these characters can run at supersonic speeds, implying the pre-pubescent Dash has not yet reached his top speed.
Specifically, Dash could be seen as visually based on the Barry Allen version of the Flash, with the red costume and blonde hair.
Some localizations evidence this connection by changing Dash's name from "Dash" directly to "Flash". For instance, the French dub calls him "Flechette", which translates as "arrow".
In voice recordings for the first film, to give Dash a realistic out-of-breath voice in certain scenes, director Brad Bird made Spencer Fox run laps around the Pixar studio.
Because he hitting puberty long since the original film, Spencer Fox was unable to return as Dash's voice actor in the sequel, being replaced by Huck Milner.
Dash is the only member of the Parr family whose voice actor did not return in Incredibles 2.
He and Rick Dicker are the only characters who appeared in The Incredibles who do not have the same voice actor in the sequel.
Although he is one of the youngest supers, Dash currently holds the record for having the highest body count, all of them being Syndrome's guards. However, these deaths were accidental and self-defense on Dash's part, as he was running for his life and the guards died by flying into walls or into each other.
Early in production, Dash's introductory scene would reveal the reason why he ended up in the principal's office at the start of the film. Mr. Kropp is not a good teacher to his students, so in revenge during a class Dash decides to humiliate him by sticking papers on his back without being discovered thanks to his super speed. The scene ended with the teacher pulling Dash's ear to take him to the principal's office.[3]
One of the biggest complaints about Incredibles 2 was Dash's role in the film, as critics and fans alike agreed that the character was underused in the sequel and relegated to the sidelines for most of the film. Compared to the character development Dash had in The Incredibles, he receives less screen time in the sequel, meaning he was the only member of the Parr family who didn't have a story of his own and didn't get a chance to show any improvement in his powers in the final battle (unlike Violet and Jack-Jack).[4]