- “Behold the Underminer! I am always beneath you, but nothing is beneath me! I hereby declare war on peace and happiness! Soon, all will tremble before me!”
- ―The Underminer[src]
The Underminer (real name Doug Talpid[1]) is a minor antagonist who appears at the end of the 2004 Disney/Pixar animated film The Incredibles and the beginning of its 2018 sequel. He is a mole-like supervillain who is also a bank robber, and terrorist. His ambition is to destroy peace and joy.
Background[]
Personality[]
The Underminer is a supervillain with a lot of bravado, as he is bold enough to make himself known to the public and declare his intentions. He can also be described as 'loud and proud', announcing to the world that he wants to destroy peace and joy. He greatly enjoys causing crime, as he loudly cackled while undermining the Municiberg Bank and several buildings.
Physical appearance[]
According to official sources, The Underminer is in his fifties, 3'6" (106 cm) in height and 175 pounds (79 kg) in weight. He is a short, stocky man with a large torso and short legs. His eyes are obscured by the miner helmet he wears on his head, while his face resembles that of a mole or beaver, having a long snout and rodent-like teeth. He has two robotic hands on each of the end of his arms and are very articulate. Each have two fingers and one thumb. Whether they are worn as gauntlets or prosthetic replacements is currently unknown.
Appearances[]
The Incredibles[]
Close to the end of the film, the Underminer's gigantic subterrene emerges from the ground just outside the Metroville stadium. The Underminer himself then emerges from the vehicle to show his existence and he declares his war on peace and happiness, prompting the Parr family, who were nearby, to put on their superhero masks and spring into action.
Incredibles 2[]
The Underminer first appears in a flashback as Tony Rydinger is going through an interrogation by agent Rick Dicker. The former is also booked as a Terrorist and Bank Robber.
During the flashback, which took place at the end of the first film, the Underminer emerges from his subterrene and says his infamous quote while Tony hid behind a car before running away to hide underneath another car. After declaring war on peace and happiness, the Underminer goes back into his subterrene and drills underground while being pursued by Mr. Incredible.
At the start of the film, which took place prior to Tony Rydinger's interrogation, the Underminer detonates a series of bombs he had planted on the ground area holding up several buildings and the Bank of Municiberg, causing them to become undermined. Breaking into the bank's vault, he uses a big vacuum hose to rob all of the money inside just as Mr. Incredible arrives to stop him but is accidentally sucked into the hose and into the Underminer's subterrene and the villain complains about having to put Mr. Incredible on the agenda. Inside the vehicle, a brief fight ensues between hero and villain until Mr. Incredible recklessly threw the Underminer onto the subterrene's control panel, damaging it in the process.
Consequently, this caused the subterrene to go out of control and it begins to drill upward. The Underminer then escapes in an escape pod (which is a smaller version of his subterrene), leaving Mr. Incredible and his family (along with Frozone), to deal with the out-of-control subterrene as it went on a destructive rampage throughout Metroville. It was successfully disabled before it could destroy City hall, causing only partial damage to the building.
However, because the incident resulted in collateral damage to Metroville and the Underminer escaped with the stolen money, this prompts the government to shut down the Superhero Relocation Program, in which they stopped sending financial funds to other supers who are in hiding. As for the Parr Family, they were immediately arrested but were bailed out by Rick Dicker.
Ever since his escape, the Underminer is never seen again afterwards and is only mentioned a few times more (such as when a detective questions Mr. Incredible if he stopped the Underminer from causing more damage and robbing the bank. It was also demanded if the villain has been captured, which Mr. Incredible denies). Much later, the Underminer (unseen but in his escape pod) can be seen in the end credits. At the end of the credits, he can be seen again coming up off the ground before heading to parts unknown.
Printed material[]
In the comic series, the Underminer makes an appearance in the "Terror from Beneath" story arc, in which he briefly allies with Dash to fight off alien invaders. However, the appearance is revealed to be part of an extensive hypnosis-induced dream. He later makes an actual appearance as a member of the Unforgivables, the criminal alliance headed by Xerek. As part of a plan to ruin the reputation of the Incredibles, Underminer is given control of a giant robot painted in the Incredibles' colors and rampage through Municiberg. Xerek later eliminates the Underminer upon completing his purpose.
Video Games[]
The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer[]
The Underminer appears as the titular main antagonist in the game The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer, which, 13 years ago, was originally the sequel to the first film but has since been ret-conned. In the game, he intends on achieving world domination and has robot minions under his leadership. It was discovered that he has created a powerful machine known as the Magnomizer, which is capable of reversing the Earth's crust, leading to extreme pollution, thus creating an artificial underground (as the Underminer claimed from the beginning that the entire world will be like the "Underworld"). In the end, during a final showdown with Mr. Incredible and Frozone, he was ultimately defeated and he crashed into a gilgenbot, which resulted in both the robot's destruction and the Underminer's death.
LEGO The Incredibles[]
In Lego Incredibles, the Underminer, like in the second film, serves as a minor antagonist, however this time, he is also a playable character. Unlike in Rise of the Underminer, his henchmen/minions consist of human miners, who would do their boss's bidding. In several post-story missions, the Underminer serves as the overarching antagonist, as he sends his miners to cause destruction and havoc in Municiberg. He then appears in the mission This is Not a Drill as the main antagonist, where he intends to take over Municiberg Town Hall. During his boss battle, he can perform a powerful ground smash from above but it leaves him stunned. In addition, he can burrow underground to attack from underneath.
Other games[]
In The Incredibles DLC pack for Minecraft, the Underminer serves as the first boss the players had to fight. After the Underminer is defeated, he'll be sent flying into his subterrene, causing it to uncontrollably drill deeper underground while the Underminer escapes.
Gallery[]
Screenshots[]
Video games[]
.jpg "The Underminer (Minecraft).jpg (146 KB)")
Miscellaneous[]
Trivia[]
- The Underminer (in keeping with the tradition of having most of the cast be based off of Marvel characters), is likely based on the Mole Man who was the very first known villain of the Fantastic Four.
- The Underminer was planned to appear in Disney Infinity but was scrapped and only was seen in concept art although he does not actually appear in the game. However, customizations for buildings based on The Underminer can be unlocked in The Incredibles Playset.
- The Underminer was intended to appear in Disney Infinity: 2.0 Edition according to concept art.
- The Underminer has two robotic hands. They are very articulate and have two webbed like fingers and one thumb on each hand. Whether these are used as mining equipment (As the appearance of them resemble something used for excavating), as weapons, or as prosthetic replacements are currently unknown.
- The Underminer is one of the few Disney or Pixar villains to succeed in his goal. He manages to rob a bank and escape with all of the money and is never caught afterward.
- He is the second Incredibles villain (after Bomb Voyage) to not be captured by the hero and is able to get away with a crime (both instances involving bank robbery). Additionally his and Bomb Voyage’s actions led to several lawsuits against supers (Bomb Voyage with the Anti Super legislation act and the Underminer (and inadvertently Mr. Incredible) leading to the shutdown of the Superhero Relocation Act).
- Much like Syndrome, the Underminer does not have any actual superpowers, instead utilizing his inventions to cause chaos and wreak havoc on the world. This is proven when Underminer tries to fight Mr. Incredible in hand-to-hand combat, but the latter is easily able to throw him across the room.
- The Underminer scene originally went through many changes during the movies' development, but they were all scrapped in favor of the runaway tunneler. The scene was originally going to have giant clay golems bursting out of the ground, robots, giant earthworms, and even human miners. The human miner idea eventually had a half-life in the LEGO Incredibles game.
- The Underminer is the only villain who appears in both Incredibles movies.
- His real name is Doug Talpid, as revealed in the Incredibles' Official Handbook for Young Supers.
References[]
- ↑ "Official Handbook for Young Supers Part2". Tumblr. Retrieved on October 25, 1018.
External links[]
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