In any case, Bob Parr was struggling. Dash needed help in school. Violet, who was supposed to go on a date with the kid, Tony, from the beginning of the movie, got stood up. And he himself was exhausted. Then, to make matters worse, the still very awake Jack-Jack mistook a raccoon for a robber, thanks to an old television show and the raccoon’s natural “bandit mask” markings. The babbling toddler – who also, apparently took his role as a child of superheroes very seriously – instantly grew suspicious of this furry new intruder. Instincts – and a case of “monkey see, monkey do” – led the little boy to become fiercely protective of his family and their new home. He went after the raccoon in a hilarious chase-scene style sequence, during which a dozen or more powers manifested in the toddler. In the end, the terrified raccoon got away and Bob was faced with the challenge of dealing with his son’s new superpowers – which had been witnessed by the audience, but not the parents – at the end of the first movie.
Bob was exuberant over Jack-Jack’s powers, not yet realizing what a challenge it would be to help his son get them under control. Up until then, Bob had lamented the fact that his youngest child appeared to be “normal,” with no unique powers of his own. Clark winced. He couldn’t imagine feeling bad if his own kids hadn’t inherited any of his powers, or developed unique ones of their own. It had never mattered to him if their Kryptonian heritage expressed itself as the ability to bend steel with their bare hands or soar through the sky, or if those genes had been suppressed and they were just as vulnerable and powerless as a regular Earthling.
Violet, in the meantime, had confronted Tony about their date and the boy acted like he remembered neither the date nor her. When he finally asked Violet if he knew her, Clark could see the devastation in her face. When she complained about Tony seeing her in her super suit and then acting like he didn’t know her anymore, Bob made an off-handed comment that it was for the best and that, back in his day as a super, their friend Dicker had to erase so many memories in order to keep the supers safe after their identities were discovered. Violet blew a gasket as she realized what had happened. Tony hadn’t been feigning his ignorance. Dicker had erased her from his memory. Clark grimaced as he snuck a peek at his daughter. He couldn’t really blame Violet when she moodily declared that she renounced all superpowers and superheroes. He never wanted to put his daughter in a position like Violet; where the family’s super activities caused her or any of his kids to be harmed – physically or emotionally. He’d suffered enough after Lois had figured out his identity and demanded some space to figure out her feelings about it. And he had firsthand knowledge of the special hell it was to have Lois literally forget who he was to a nasty bout of amnesia. Torture didn’t cover how gut-wrenchingly difficult those weeks had been for him.
Meanwhile, Elastigirl was enjoying going back to work as a superhero, despite how hard she’d tried to make Bob understand that breaking the law wasn’t the way to go about changing the law. Clark cracked a smile as even she admitted that she was being a hypocrite. But he couldn’t really blame her. The thrilling scene where she tried to outrace and save an out of control train on her brand-new motorcycle left him breathless and tingling with a rush of adrenaline. He was intimately acquainted with how addicting it could be to make rescues that should be impossible. And, while he didn’t need a motorcycle to get around, he’d raced trains too – some for rescues and some just for fun when his powers had first started to manifest. That thought send a warm feeling through his body. He’d been so young, back then. His speed had been exciting, not terrifying, the way some of his other abilities had been. He’d enjoyed competing against the speeding locomotives as a way to test his limits and gauge how much faster he’d been becoming by the day. He’d been blissfully unaware of how much the world would come to depend on his ability to cover vast distances in seconds. How many lives had been saved, simply because he could zip into and out of a fire in the blink of an eye, towing out those trapped within? How many people had been saved by his ability to span the globe in minutes, to lend his aid at natural disasters?
He was ridiculously happy for Helen Parr as she basked in the rush of a job well done once the train was stopped and the passengers were saved. But saving the train hadn’t been merely a plot device meant to get Elastigirl on board with Winston Deaver’s plan to reintegrate supers into society. As Helen demanded answers from the conductor, the movie’s villain was revealed – the Screenslaver, who used subliminal messages and flashing light patterns to get his victims to do his bidding. Clark involuntarily shuddered. He’d dealt with an underhanded magician’s assistant who’d used, admittedly cruder, technology to brainwash kids in order to kidnap them. And Clark himself had similarly fallen prey to hypnosis. That had been truly scary. He’d been completely under the control of someone else, and it had only been through the absolute force of his will that he’d been able to break the hold on his mind. His euphoria for Helen instantly cooled and was replaced by a palpable feeling of foreboding.
But nothing more insidious happened next other than Helen being introduced to a small gang of other supers, each with a unique ability of their own. She seemed to be a little uncomfortable at first and Clark could relate to that a bit. It was always a bit awkward, though flattering, to find out that he had inspired someone to become a first responder, to go into the military, to use their own powers for the greater good. Sure, it felt great to know he was making an impact in the world, and that it was having a ripple effect of calling others to throw their abilities into the mix as well. But, even after all these years of being in the lime light as Superman, it still felt distinctly odd to think that his actions had altered the lives of others so drastically. But Helen handled the situation gracefully and Clark had a little hope that she’d made some new friends that would be out in public, using their abilities, just as soon as supers were made legal again.
Back at home, Bob angrily called up his friend, Dicker, and complained about the memory wipe. But the older man seemed barely fazed, if at all, brushing it off with a comment that memory wiping wasn’t an exact science. But Bob, ready to help and defend his daughter, got some information out of Dicker before the end of the phone call, including the name of the restaurant where the kid worked. Trying to be helpful, Bob took his kids for dinner at The Bored Platter, where Violet was absolutely mortified by her father’s attempts to get Tony acquainted with Violet. Here Rebecca shot Clark a warning glance, her expression all business and all Lois. It practically screamed at him to never do what Bob was doing. As it was, Clark had earned her – albeit, brief – scorn the previous year when he’d taken it upon himself to try and help her and her friend, Tammy, after the girls had had a falling out over a boy they’d both liked.
Becca shook her head and mouthed the words “Don’t you dare get any ideas, Dad!” Clark nodded and quickly crossed his heart in a promise. Of course, he couldn’t completely swear not to intervene in a situation if it got bad enough. But he would do his best to uphold his oath not to embarrass his daughter any more than it was inevitable for a young teen to be embarrassed by the fact that she had parents at all. Becca frowned, as if she could read his thoughts, then pointed back to the screen.
Clark had been right to worry about the Screenslaver. The villain hadn’t just wanted to derail – so to speak – the brand-new train line in the city. He wanted to make a statement, get the world’s attention, and taunt Elastigirl. When she appeared on a television interview about the near-crash, the Screenslaver struck again, this time endangering the lives of an Ambassador and her staff. It was only through quick thinking and a lot of pushing her limits that Elastigirl managed to keep everyone alive. And now, she had the beginnings of an idea to track and trap the villain. She would do a remote, audio-only second interview, during which she would use a device built by Evelyn Deaver and track the signal when the Screenslaver struck again. The plan worked flawlessly and soon Helen was in the Screenslaver’s lair. He did his best to kill her and escape, but she, like Clark’s own amazing wife, wasn’t going to let a little detail like that stand in the way. She chased the criminal down and finally brought him to justice, but not before he’d destroyed all of the evidence linking him to his crimes.
Clark frowned. That was too easy. The movie was only, what? Maybe halfway through its run time? Something fishy was going on…
As usual, his instincts were right. The Screenslaver was nothing more insidious than a pizza delivery boy. Could it be? Had Helen captured the wrong man? Or had the delivery boy been used? A nauseous feeling tightened Clark’s intestines into knots. He was, unfortunately, familiar with catching the wrong person and pinning a crime on them that they weren’t responsible for. Granted, most of those mistakes had been made a long, long time ago, back when he’d been a very green reporter who’d been too trusting of sources who hadn’t had his best interests at heart. Baron Sunday had been a prime example of that. Clark had blindly listened to his sources without doing his due diligence, eager to break the story and prove his worth as a reporter. But he’d been deliberately fed bad information and an innocent man had gone to jail. An innocent man who’d later on tried to exact his revenge by attempting to kill Clark.
Clark was a different person these days. He’d been a much better, smarter reporter by the time the Baron had enacted his revenge plot, but learning that he’d been responsible for Baron Sunday’s needless incarceration had really hammered home to Clark how important it was to take nothing at face value ever again. It had been heartbreaking and humiliating to find out he’d caused senseless suffering in the man’s life. In the years since, it hadn’t been uncommon for he and Lois to follow leads only to discover that the person they were investigating was innocent, and that someone else was responsible for a crime – someone who they’d work tirelessly to find and bring to justice. Maybe the experience with Baron Sunday should have discouraged Clark from continuing on his reporter’s path, but he wasn’t so easily disparaged. The whole thing had been invaluably eye-opening instead, and it had made both of them better reporters in the end.
He bit his lower lip as he watched the movie play out, feeling a great sense of comradery with Elastigirl. He knew how awful she had to be feeling in that moment. How confused. How vulnerable. And how horrified and frightening it was to know that the real villain was still out there, enjoying watching someone else take the fall for him.
It’s got to be Winston Deaver, he thought, his earlier unease with the billionaire bubbling back up to the surface.
Meanwhile, Bob was busy at home, with his son, working on decimals for his math homework, when something on the television caught his attention. A show was on talking about the Incredibile, Mr. Incredible’s old car, briefly glimpsed in the opening of the previous movie. Stunned, Bob mentioned that he’d been told the car was destroyed beyond repair. But to his horror, a collector now owned it. Furious, Bob found the old remote to the car, pressing all kind of buttons that made an array of things happen in the car – like water jets and the appearance of a rocket launcher. But before he could steal back his own car, his sense of morality – and maybe just a little bit of being too mentally down beaten to care enough – he stopped himself and disengaged the gadgets that were currently terrifying all the people on the television screen.
A scream rang out. Violet had discovered that Jack-Jack had powers. Bob reluctantly informed his older children of their younger brother’s abilities and Violet – quite rightly, in Clark’s opinion – asked if he’d told their mother yet. Bob admitted that he hadn’t, because he didn’t want Helen to worry about things at home. Clark suspected that the real reason was much more selfish. If Bob told Helen about Jack-Jack’s powers and the ensuing difficulties they were enduring, Helen would certainly abandon her work in favor of being home with the kids, which would cripple – if not outright kill – the push to legalize supers again. And if that happened, Bob would never be free to resume the identity of Mr. Incredible; at least, not publicly. Instead, in a perhaps boneheaded move, Bob kept the information under wraps until he was nearly insane from lack of sleep and the inability to predict when his son might burst into flame or pop off into another dimension.
Clark silently shook his head ever so slightly. He couldn’t even begin to fathom keeping a secret like that from Lois. He’d been so excited and proud to share each new power his sons and daughter had developed with Lois. Sometimes, she’d been there to witness it or to have one of the kids confide in her about their newest ability. Each time, she’d called him up on his phone or, if that wasn’t practical, called out for Superman, luring him to where she was. Then she would bubble over with enthusiasm as she told him what was going on. And he’d done the same for her if he was the one who discovered a new power in their children first. He remembered with a smile how he’d been so thrilled about finding out about Michael’s first emerging power that he’d tripped over his own two feet in a rare moment of gracelessness and plunged down the stairs head first until he’d crashed into the wall hard enough to make a vaguely Clark-shaped imprint in the drywall. He’d spent the next day repairing the damage with the biggest, stupidest grin on his face.
Remembering it now made that same grin cross his lips again. How different things were as a parent! He still could easily recall the blinding terror caused by each of his powers making themselves known. Back then, he hadn’t really had any way of knowing what to expect. No one on Earth could do the things he’d found himself suddenly able to do. But with his parents’ determined and gentle natures, he’d found ways to control each of his gifts until his restraint on his powers had become as natural as breathing. Now, as a father himself, Clark had been able to step back and be the calm center in the storm of his children’s lives. He’d experienced what they were going through and he had the perspective of hindsight to aid him. Using and adapting many of the techniques his parents had employed with him, he’d guided his sons and daughter in testing their powers and finding their own, unique ways of controlling them.
Still, like Bob, he’d occasionally found himself getting burnt out between his duties at home, at work, and out in public as Superman. There had been times when he’d been so tired that he’d nodded off for brief moments as he’d patrolled the city. There had been times when he’d wanted nothing more than a quiet dinner alone with Lois. He’d been – and still was – beyond thankful that he’d been able to rely on his and Lois’ parents to babysit for them, giving them the respite they needed to recharge and reconnect with each other. So he was pleased to see Bob bringing his youngest child to Edna Mode, family friend and costumer to heroes. On a personal note, Clark had grown to really like the character of Edna as the years had passed and he’d watched the movie more time than he could count, so he was thrilled the filmmakers had managed to squeeze her into the sequel. Edna agreed to help Bob by watching Jack-Jack overnight and making the baby a new supersuit to help with controlling the child’s numerous powers. But it was what Edna said to Bob that struck Clark far more than her offer to help him.
“Done properly, parenting is a heroic act,” she told him before emphasizing once again, “Done properly!”
Clark couldn’t agree more. Out of all the things he’d ever done in his life, out of all the wrongs he’d righted, out of all the disasters – natural and man-made alike – he’d helped avert, out of all the lives he’d ever saved, the most important thing he’d ever done was to be a father. It was true that most men could sire a child, but he knew from experience that not all of those men could be called a father. He’d been lucky in his life to have not one, but two fathers. Jonathan Kent was the best father Clark could have ever have hoped for. He’d always, always been there for Clark, no matter what. Nothing had ever seemed to scare Clark’s father. Not finding an orphaned baby in a spaceship, not his son’s unexpected, emerging powers, not Clark’s determination to bring Superman into the world, not even Clark’s decision to leave Kansas behind to travel the world and, eventually, settle in Metropolis. Clark was eternally grateful to have his dad in his life. But he also had to acknowledge his biological father, Jor-El; a man who’d loved his infant son so much that he’d sent the child to Earth in the hope that he would escape Krypton’s imminent, violent death. Without Jor-El’s selflessness, Clark would have been long dead before he’d even had a chance to live.
As a father himself, Clark counted himself lucky every day of his life for the three amazing children he’d helped bring into the world. They were equal parts Lois and himself; unique souls blended of Earthling and Kryptonian genes – a heritage never before seen anywhere in the universe. He loved being their father. Everything about raising his children had brought him peace and belonging – from changing the worst blowout diapers, to rocking them to sleep in the dark, to teaching them how to read, to helping to mend their broken hearts when they felt the alienation that came from their Kryptonian genetics and the resulting powers it gave them.
Of course, he’d never considered those actions to be “heroic” before. He’d always just thought of them as being part of what it meant to be a parent. But Edna’s deliberate choice of words – “parenting is a heroic act” made sense now that he thought about it. Parents – all of them, not just himself or even Lois and himself – were heroes in their own right. Raising tiny people to become productive, polite, functioning members of society was not an easy task, super powers aside. Every child had the same opportunity to use their own unique gifts to either the benefit of society or to its detriment. Unfortunately, as both a Daily Planet reporter and a superhero, Clark had seen plenty of examples of those who’d channeled their efforts into the wrong kinds of things.
Clark smiled to himself. He’d raised – was still raising – the next generation. And his sons and daughter were shining examples of goodness. Already his boys were out there, helping in the roles of new supers and Rebecca, though still barely into her teenage years, had often expressed a desire to join their ranks when she became old enough. Clark was insanely proud of his kids. He would have been even if they’d chosen to steer clear of the superhero path.
I wouldn’t have blamed them to opting out of that line of work at all. It’s not an easy burden to bear, he thought to himself as he scratched behind one ear. It’s rewarding but…there’s a lot of sacrifice involved. How many times did I nearly lose Lois before she knew I’m Superman? How many honors convocations and dance recitals and karate competitions and field trips have I narrowly missed because Superman was needed? How many goodnight stories [i]did I miss because of a cry for help?[/i]
He sighed. It took a lot of courage to walk the road of superhero work and he’d never sugar-coated it for his children once they’d discovered his secret. To know that they were willing to take that on both terrified him and made his heart swell with pride.
Focus, Clark, he chided himself a moment later, in an effort to bring his attention back to the action on screen.
Elastigirl was being toasted by Winston Deaver, for her hand in bringing the Screenslaver to swift justice. Clark smiled to himself a little, knowing exactly how proud Helen had to have been feeling in that moment. While he’d never needed the pomp and circumstance of an actual party to celebrate his victories, he’d be lying if he said he’d hated seeing the praise Superman received from the media. Even now, after decades in the suit, he loved knowing that most people around the world regarded him as a kind of distant friend and as a pillar of justice. But Elastigirl’s triumph was short lived. In a twist that blindsided Clark, it was Winton’s sister, Evelyn, who was the real Screenslaver. In a devious, well-executed move, she captured Elastigirl, monologued about her motives for doing so, and absolved Winston of any wrongdoing, painting him – with a hefty amount of disgust – as a soft-brained idiot who still clung to the illusion of safety and goodness that superheroes had once given the world.
The next morning, a much more well-rested, optimistic Bob picked up his son from his overnight stay with Edna. While Bob’s head spun a little, Edna showed him the gadgets and gizmos she’d imbued Jack-Jack’s new suit with, calling him a “polymorph” because of his multitude of powers. That made Clark smirk a little. Would Edna call Superman – and his children – a polymorph as well? After all, he and his children all had a host of abilities at their beck and call. However, unlike little Jack-Jack, their powers had manifested one at a time, for the most part, not all at once like the toddler on screen. That had always been a relief to Clark. Sure, it had sometimes felt like he’d never stop developing powers when he was young, but at least the long, drawn out process of gaining all his abilities had given him time to master each one before something new came along and disrupted his new sense of normal.
A newly hopeful Mr. Incredible brought his son home and, after a while, he showed his other children how to use the suit’s tracker to see which power their baby brother was about to use, and how to handle it. Everything was going well and everyone seemed happy. Clark knew it was too good to last. And, just a few moments later, Bob got a phone call luring him to the ship at DEVTECH, where the Deavors were hosting a gathering of lawmakers who were all ready to officially sign superhero legality into immutable law. He left his kids in the care of Lucius, and then, like a moth to a flame, he went to where he was told his wife was in trouble. The other supers Helen had met – now also enslaved by Evelyn’s special Screenslaver glasses – attacked and overpowered Lucius. But Violet and Dash managed to get the remote to the Incredibile and escape with their little brother. Using voice commands, they directed the car to take them to the ship as well.
Sneaking aboard, the three Parr siblings had to dodge the other supers, fighting back with everything they had, and managing to disable, break, or remove the mind-enslaving goggles from them; all the while chasing after their wayward toddler brother, who, like most kids his age, hadn’t been able to stand still and had wandered off. It took some doing, but eventually the kids had rescued everyone, including their proud and very relieved parents. But it wasn’t time to celebrate yet. The yacht was on a collision course with the city’s shoreline and nothing but good old-fashioned superhero muscle and smart thinking could save the day. Evelyn tried her best to escape the impending disaster, but Helen stopped her. In the end, a catastrophe was very, very narrowly averted, Evelyn was taken into police custody, Winston’s name was cleared of wrongdoing, and the supers, much to their delight, were made legal again.
Clark found himself breathing a sigh of relief as the credits began to roll. Of course, it had been a family-friendly movie, so there’d been no doubt in his mind that the city would be saved. Nor was it a surprise that the superheroes had been reinstated to their former position of legality and acceptance. But he still couldn’t help but to feel a sense of relief to see the asinine banning of superheroes and superhero work be reversed. And it felt satisfying to see the Parr children be a crucial part of that process. If it hadn’t been for them, the city would have been doomed. Their parents likely would have died in the resulting crash from the boat running at full speed into the shoreline. Superheroes, in general, may have gone from simply being forced to live underground lives in a world where their powers were illegal, to being actively hunted down in the ensuing fear and anger that surely would have spawned from the yacht’s crash.
Clark shuddered to think of a world in which everyone was out to kill his family and himself, instead of just the occasional nutcase or genuine villain. It was terrifying enough to deal with the people who thought they could threaten Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent to get their way or to get to Superman. And it was exhausting enough to deal with the lunatics who wanted Superman dead – for one reason or another. He didn’t think he could deal with having the entire world out for his blood, not to mention the added pressure of keeping his children out of harm’s way.
It wasn’t as if it was new to him, to worry about some psychopath going after his kids to get to him, but it was, luckily, a rare event. But it was never far from his mind just how quickly things could change.
Still, Clark had to internally smile at the way the movie had spun events so that the Parr children, rather than the adults, had saved the day. It had been a nice, unexpected turn of events that Clark really hadn’t predicted when the movie had first started. But, deeper than that, it hit home for him. His sons had, on more than one occasion, helped him out of a tight spot. Nothing life or death, thankfully, but their help had always proven to be invaluable. And though Rebecca was still developing her abilities, Clark didn’t doubt that Lois Lane’s daughter might one day outshine all other heroes.
For a long time, Clark had been a loner superhero. Then, little by little, others had emerged from the shadows – some with legitimate powers and others with nothing more than gadgets and gizmos that gave them the upper hand in a fight. Suddenly, Clark hadn’t felt so alone – especially once he forged friendships with some of the other supers. It had been nice to know that there were others who understood the things he often went through as Superman. And once the Justice League had been established, it had really solidified for Clark how much he could depend on his newfound friends.
And yet, even with the League in place, Clark had still done most of his work alone. He was used to working a certain way, and it didn’t help that most of the others couldn’t do the things he could do. Batman couldn’t save a disabled airplane. Wonder Woman couldn’t hear the cries for help coming from half a city away. Flash couldn’t lift thousands of pounds of rubble in an earthquake rescue effort.
But Clark’s children could. And when his boys had first donned their own super suits, Clark had really known what it was like to not be alone. He loved knowing that his kids were fighting alongside him, rescuing people, putting criminals in jail where they belonged, righting wrongs, and doing their best to help make the world a better place. So it was nice to see the movie acknowledging that super-powered children could be just as important – and just as effective - in saving the world as their more famous parents.
“You guys want to get some dinner out?” Clark offered as they all stood up and exited the row of theater seats while the credits continued to roll and the ending music blared in the darkness.
“Absolutely!” Michael enthused. “Pizza?”
“Nah, Chinese, bro,” Chris grinned, draining the last bit of his drink.
“I was kind of hoping for seafood,” Rebecca said quietly, a contemplative look on her face.
“Hey, are you okay?” Clark asked as he stepped to the side, letting Lois and his kids walk out into the aisle first.
“Yeah, fine,” Rebecca said distractedly. “It’s just…that was a lot to take in, you know?” she added in a near-whisper.
Clark nodded his understanding. “We’ll talk in the car,” he promised.
Rebecca’s face lit up in a brief smile. “Okay.”
No one said anything more until they were out of the theater. It was Lois who broke the silence as she jerked a thumb in the direction of the ladies’ room. Everyone agreed that a stop into the restrooms was in order before they left the building. Ten short minutes later, they were all heading out into the humid summer evening. The car was at the far end of the movie theater’s parking lot and, normally, the family would have lightly chatted about what they had just seen - the best parts, the worst parts, and their overall impression of the film. But not today. Today they were all holding their tongues until they were in the safety of their car, away from prying ears.
“Dad? Was it like that, the first time you saw the first movie?” Rebecca asked as she shut her door.
“Like what?” Clark asked as he buckled his seat belt.
“Terrifying. Like…like the walls were kind of closing in around you?” she elaborated vaguely.
Clark rested his wrists on the steering wheel as he sighed. “Yes. Your brothers were way too young to really notice how uncomfortable the movie made me…how on edge I was…but…yes. I felt like I had this…invisible spotlight on me, announcing to the world that I was just like the Incredible family. That Superman lived among them, passing himself off as a normal person…or at least, trying to…so that he could have a normal life. That he, like Bob, had a wife and kids, the same as any ordinary man.”
“More than that,” Lois chimed in with an amused smile. “He called an emergency meeting of the League to discuss the possibility that the movie might make everyone start looking to expose all of the supers’ identities.”
Clark felt his cheeks heat up in a blush. “I was really worried,” he defended himself. “All of us had been targeted before by people looking to score their fifteen minutes of fame that would come from unmasking the true identity of a superhero. I’d had a number of really close calls myself…I mean really close calls.”
“That’s true,” Lois put in thoughtfully.
“Are you worried about this new film?” his daughter prodded. “I mean, it could stir that up again, can’t it?”
Clark sighed again as he turned the question over in his mind. “I guess I’m a little worried, but maybe not as much as I was the first time around.” He gestured vaguely in the direction of the movie theater. “It’s true that it’s getting harder for all of us to retain our privacy. Between cell phone cameras and surveillance equipment and social media, it’s becoming increasingly more complicated to find that balance between being present superheroes that the public sees and trusts and keeping our privacy and identities intact. But there have been so many superhero movies and cartoons and comics and whatnot by this point that…while this movie might make people think about the whole secret identity thing again, it’s kind of old hat now. People have been surrounded by the idea for so long that they probably won’t be phased too much by this movie.”
Rebecca hummed thoughtfully, but did not speak. For a moment, silence reigned again, only to be shattered by the rumble of Lois’ stomach. Clark laughed as what tension he’d had in his body over the movie bled out of him.
“Hungry?” he chuckled.
Lois laughed in turn. “I guess so.”
“How about that steakhouse in midtown?” Clark offered. “Since nobody can agree on any other place.”
There was a general sound of assent in the car and Clark nodded as he pulled out of the parking space.
“So, what do you think the chances are of getting a third movie?” Michael asked as Clark took a right at the light at the exit of the parking lot.
“I don’t know,” Clark admitted with a shake of his head.
A part of him hoped the franchise was over while the greater part of him almost hoped the movies would become a trilogy one day. After all, the films had been excellently done, even if they caused actual superheroes no small amount of anxiety.
“Sorry, Clark,” Lois apologized as she answered. “But I think there’s a good chance of another one. First of all, the movies have been really good. People love them. And secondly…the Underminer is still out there,” she added with a laugh and a wink.
“That’s right,” Michael piped up brightly. “They never did bring him to justice.”
“And Frozone hasn’t gotten a movie centered around him yet,” Chris tacked on happily.
“True,” Michael replied, and Clark could see in the rearview mirror the sage nodding of his eldest son’s head. “It wouldn’t be fair to have one movie for Mr. Incredible, one for Elastigirl, and none for Frozone.”
“He’s not an Incredible though,” Becca teasingly argued. “He’s from a different family.”
“So? He’s just as awesome as the others,” Chris defended lightly.
“Nerd,” Becca shot back with a laugh.
Clark chuckled and shook his head. “I guess only time will tell,” he mused. “It’s too early to know yet. But I think your mother’s right. If the movie does half as well at the box office as I think it will, I’d say the odds of a third movie are probably pretty high.”
“Let’s hope so,” Chris said, and Clark didn’t have to sneak a peek at him to know his son was grinning.
The car grew quiet again for a while. Clark was just starting to fully relax as he navigated the city streets – sluggish in the sticky summer heat – when Christopher spoke up once more.
“Hey, Dad?” he asked.
“Hmm?” Clark asked, throwing a glance at his son in the rearview mirror.
“Can I ask a question?”
“Sure,” Clark nodded, “what’s up?”
“So, in the movie, Mr. Incredible had this really cool car, right?”
“Right,” Clark hesitantly said, drawing the word out in slight suspicion of what his son’s question might be.
“And Uncle Bruce has the Batmobile…”
“Yes?” Clark prodded, dragging this word out as well.
“So why do we schlep around in a fifteen-year-old Jeep? How come you never had a cool car too?” Chris asked cheekily.
Clark shook his head slightly in amusement before answering. “Because, son, unlike Mr. Incredible and Batman, I can fly.”
The End.
