Gazerbeam, real name Simon J. Paladino, was a minor character in Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles. He only briefly appears alive, with his disappearance and death setting events into motion.
Background
Personality
Gazerbeam was generally known for a rather dull personality, generally speaking in a monotonous tone. He was a member of a superhero team called the Phantasmics, but conflicts with Everseer lead him to leave the team and he soon joined the Thrilling Three as their new leader upon the death of Dynaguy. During the superhero ban, Gazerbeam was an activist for superhuman rights, though this may have allowed for easy tracking when Syndrome's organization was going after the supers.
He was also smart and elusive as he had survived the Omnidroid long enough to discover Syndrome's plan. His final act before dying was using his powers to carve "KRONOS" on the cave wall in which he was hiding in the hopes that someone would discover it and put an end to Syndrome's evil schemes. His final act was crucial in aiding the Incredibles' in their mission.
Powers and abilities
- Solid Eye Beams: Gazerbeam's superpowers consist of eye beams that he controls with his visor, similar to the Marvel superhero Cyclops.
Appearances
The Incredibles
Gazerbeam appears alive at the wedding of Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible. 15 years later, he would be one of the most recent victims of the Omnidroid, with Bob having noticed his disappearance becoming a story in the newspaper. When Bob narrowly escaped an explosive device of Syndrome's, he found Gazerbeam's corpse in a hidden cave and looking from his view carved into the walls, the password to Syndrome's computers: KRONOS. Bob later managed to use Gazerbeam's corpse to fake his death to one of Syndrome's probes sent to make sure of his demise. Gazerbeam was avenged when Syndrome finally met his death.
Toy Story of Terror!
Gazerbeam, or rather his secret identity, made a cameo as a name on a tombstone in the beginning of the Halloween special, which also noted him in the epitaph as being "a public servant with a unique vision."
Incredibles 2
Gazerbeam makes a cameo appearance in one of Winston Deavor's flashbacks. He's seen shaking hands with Winston's father indicating they had been close friends along with a fellow Super, Fironic. His parents also had two phones to contact Gazerbeam and Fironic should trouble arise.
A deleted sequence would have featured Gazerbeam's story being told at a funeral service for him and the rest of the supers killed by Syndrome.
LEGO The Incredibles
Gazerbeam is a playable character in the LEGO The Incredibles game. Like in the first film, Mr. Incredible finds him in a cave behind a waterfall, but alive and suffering from amnesia. He accompanies Mr. Incredible as they infiltrate Syndrome's base and uncover his evil plot. After they are captured, Gazerbeam is not seen in custody.
Trivia
- The Marvel superhero Cyclops is a full-blown rip-off of Gazerbeam, you can clearly see it in the following points :
- They both fire beams of solidified energy from their eyes.
- They both wear a visor on their eyes to keep their eye beams from harming others and control and stabilize their powers.
- Cyclops's personality, much like Gazerbeam's, is usually shown to be that of a straight-laced leader whose teammates chafe under his command.
- His superhero name comes from the fact he can shoot beams from his eyes.
- It is unknown how Gazerbeam's corpse ended up in that cave, considering how an Omnidroid would be unable to fit inside it. It is also unknown why his body was not removed and his carving erased by Syndrome. A possible explanation is that Gazerbeam was critically injured during his battle with the Omnidroid yet made his way into the cave and died from his injuries after carving the password on the cave's wall. Another possibility is he was hiding out in the cave and died of starvation. It is also possible that Syndrome had dumped him in there to keep his skeleton as a trophy (since he had been a super rights activist) but left before Gazerbeam actually died, enabling the latter to proceed with the carving in his final moments.
- Geordi La Forge has a visor that has been very clearly and completely ripped straight from Gazerbeam's design.
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