The story of Syndrome from the 2004 Disney/Pixar film The Incredibles.
Rejected by Mr. Incredible[]
Buddy as IncrediBoy.
As a child, Buddy Pine was a superhero fanatic and prodigy inventor who idolized Mr. Incredible, the strongest of all superheroes, having several amounts of Mr. Incredible's merchandise like toys, comic books, posters and newspapers clippings. He joined Mr. Incredible's fan club like many others and eventually got to meet his hero. Mr. Incredible was nice to him, posing for photos and signing every scrap of paper he gave to him. But Buddy was in reality obsessed with him; he wanted to be Mr. Incredible's sidekick even though he had no superpowers of his own and was a normal human, leading Buddy to design his own equipment.
One day, Buddy sneaked into Mr. Incredible's Incredibile, willing to be his self-appointed sidekick IncrediBoy. Mr. Incredible recognized Buddy from his fan club and said that he had done everything he asked him to do, but Buddy arrogantly informed Mr. Incredible that he didn't have to worry about training him since he knew everything about him, being his number one fan. However, rather than allowing IncrediBoy to accompany him, Mr. Incredible ejected Buddy from his car and sped off, with Buddy calling out from the road and telling him to wait, to no avail.
Later that night, right when Mr. Incredible saved pedestrian Oliver Sansweet from near-suicide convoluted into a bank robbery to stop Bomb Voyage, Buddy showed up again as IncrediBoy and told Mr. Incredible that he made new rocket boots and that he finally figured out who he is: his ward, IncrediBoy. However, when Mr. Incredible tells him that he's now officially carried it too far, Buddy unfairly assumed that it was because he doesn't have powers, despite the fact he didn't have any evidence to back him up and said that not every superhero has powers, and they can be super without them.
After Buddy asked Mr. Incredible if he could fly since he could with his rocket boots, Mr. Incredible responded (while holding up Bomb Voyage, who tried to escape during his and Buddy's conversation), "Fly home, Buddy. I work alone" (While Bomb Voyage also insulted Buddy's superhero costume).
Buddy pleaded with Mr. Incredible to just give him a chance, saying that he would show his idol how useful he was by fetching the police. As he turned away, however. Bomb Voyage used the opportunity to attach one of his bombs to the end of Buddy's cape (which Buddy was unaware of and would echo a later scene in the movie regarding the dangers of wearing a cape by Edna Mode).
Mr. Incredible tried to warn Buddy of the danger, but the boy wouldn't listen. Left with no choice, the superhero let Bomb Voyage escape to save Buddy's life. Grabbing the boy by his boots, he tried to grab the bomb from Buddy's cape, all the while shouting at him to either stop or land. Buddy, still ignorant of the bombs presence thought that Mr. Incredible was trying to hold him back and ended up flying wildly around the city. In the end the bomb fell onto a railway, destroying it, forcing Mr. Incredible to stop the incoming train from falling off the railway, injuring all the passengers in the process.
This was the final straw for Mr. Incredible. Sick and tired of Buddy's recklessness, the superhero handed his wannabe sidekick over to the police, telling them to take him home and speak to his mother so she could have a talk with him. Mr. Incredible then told the officers about Bomb Voyage's escape, stating that "Skippy" was responsible for that as well. Buddy, still believing that he could help Mr. Incredible angrily corrected him, but Mr. Incredible put his foot down, stating firmly that he was not affiliated with the boy in anyway.
After that, Mr. Incredible left for his wedding with Elastigirl, whilst Buddy was taken home (offscreen). Ultimately Buddy never achieved his dream of becoming Mr. Incredible’s sidekick. The victims of the train crash, which Buddy caused, along with Oliver Sansweet sued the superhero (despite the fact the victims of the train would have died and Mr. Incredible was unaware that Oliver wanted to commit suicide), forcing the government to millions of dollars in restitution. Following a series of similar lawsuits against other supers, Mr. Incredible and all of the other heroes were forcibly retired and forced into hiding.
It is not known how Buddy reacted to this development but given what happened, it was of no concern to him.
Becoming a Supervillain[]
Buddy gives up on his ideal and decides to become a supervillain.
| “ | All I wanted was to help you. I only wanted to help, and what do you say to me? ... It tore me apart. But I learned an important lesson. You can't count on anyone, especially your heroes. | „ |
| ~ Buddy (as Syndrome) tells Mr. Incredible why he became a villain. The Incredibles. |
A flashback (shown later in the film) confirms that the police did as instructed. On Mr. Incredibles orders they took Buddy back home and notified his mom about her son's actions. We do not see what happened, but given Buddy's reaction (as seen in the picture on the right), it is safe to assume that Mrs. Pine scolded her son, sent him to his room and probably grounded him. Standing in his room, surrounded by his Mr. Incredible memorabilia, Buddy Pine finally realised that his lifelong dream had been crushed and that he would never be Mr. Incredible’s sidekick.
Far from reflecting on his actions, however, Buddy's life took a dark turn. Instead of accepting responsibility for his own mistakes and short-comings, the boy furiously believed that Mr. Incredible (and the other supers) had denied him from his right to be a hero, wanting all the glory for themselves. In no time at all, Buddy's admiration for his former idol turned to hatred. To symbolise this change of opinion, Buddy violently ripped a giant poster of Mr. Incredible off his bedroom wall and threw it aside angrily. He presumably destroyed the rest of his collection as well.
Deciding to forge his own destiny, Buddy Pine renounced his alias of IncrediBoy forever. Vowing to get revenge upon Mr. Incredible and become more powerful than he ever was, the young boy turned away from heroics towards villainy. On that day, Syndrome was born!
Over the next 15 years, Buddy quietly dedicated his life towards his revenge. He became a weapons designer, using his inventions to become rich (presumably by selling them on the black market). He did, however, make sure to keep the "best inventions" for himself. Eventually, Syndrome accumulated enough wealth to buy a remote island called Nomanisan where he built a base of operations. Hiring a group of thugs to serve as his security guards and engineers, Syndrome began to work on his ultimate weapon.
Operating through his agent Mirage, Buddy (now known by his new supervillain name Syndrome) contacts several retired superheroes, tasking them with the defeating of various prototypes of the enormous Omnidroid battle robots, with the explicit order to not completely destroy them. This is secretly a plan to test the robots against the supers. If the super dies, Syndrome recruits another and repeats the process. If the super survives and disables the robot, the data accumulated was utilized to improve the Omnidroid's design, and the victorious super is then sent to disable the new model. No super ever survived the second encounter. The ultimate goal was to make the Omnidroid powerful enough to defeat Mr. Incredible.
Finally, after years of hard work, the deaths of dozens of supers and eight prototype models, Syndrome was ready!
Formulating a Plot for Glory[]
Syndrome initially wanted to test it on Frozone but Mirage had discovered Mr. Incredible's whereabouts and informed him. Deciding that his Omnidroid is now good enough to fight Mr. Incredible, Syndrome has Mirage recruit his former idol, who is able to defeat the Omnidroid.
Syndrome revealing himself to Mr. Incredible.
After repairing and improving the machine, Syndrome sends it to fight Mr. Incredible. When the hero is outmatched rather quickly, Syndrome personally appears and discussing all the heroes his machine went through but it was all worth it to pit against Mr. Incredible. He soon reveals his identity by stating "I am your biggest fan", surprising the hero who calls his name. This leads to an angry rant (also saying that all he wanted was to help Mr. Incredible, but what made him snap was when he told him to fly home and that he works alone) and he declares that if he can't help him then he will be Mr. Incredible's new nemesis. Syndrome cruelly scolds Mr. Incredible for not letting him be his sidekick and ruin everything for him. Mr. Incredible sadly admits that he was wrong to treat Syndrome that way and apologizes for it. However, Syndrome assumes that, since he now has power over him, he is bluffing, and he goes on a monologue with Mr. Incredible. After Mr. Incredible takes advantage of the moment to throw a log at Syndrome (who dodges it), Syndrome immobilizes Mr. Incredible with his zero-point energy ray, which is shot from the pointer finger of Syndrome's glove. Syndrome was amused that Mr. Incredible got him monologuing.
Syndrome's zero-point energy ray causes a person (or superhero, in this case) hit by the ray to immediately become immobilized, lose all velocity, and levitate off of the ground, making them unable to speak or move. If their skin is exposed, then their facial movements are reduced to only being able to move their eyeballs, giving Syndrome complete control of their motion in all three dimensions. After using the ray to throw Mr. Incredible around several times to show his power over the superhero, Syndrome accidentally uses his zero-point energy ray to throw Mr. Incredible over a waterfall, much to Syndrome's irritation. Not wanting to take any chances, he then tries to finish him off with an explosive device to ensure his demise.
Syndrome believes he's succeeded in killing Mr. Incredible.
Mr. Incredible is now scared and sees the explosion in the water, but Syndrome sends his life-detector to see if Mr. Incredible survived the explosion. Mr. Incredible uses Gazerbeam's skeletal remains (who had been presumably killed by Syndrome for knowing too much about his schemes) to make Syndrome think that he was killed by the bomb, which works.
Unfortunately, Syndrome is able to capture Mr. Incredible when he tried to infiltrate his base later on (during which Mr. Incredible discovers Syndrome's computer and discovers that Syndrome had killed former superheroes before him with his Omnidroids, and had tracked down other retired superheroes as well), also realizing that he used Gazerbeam's remains to trick the probe into thinking that he was dead to being with. He admits that he was right to idolize Mr. Incredible, despite his grudge against him, though he is disappointed that he decided to call for help and that it was lame.
Due to the fact that Elastigirl had activated the tracking device on his supersuit in an attempt to find where Mr. Incredible was (thus causing Mr. Incredible's beeping badge, that led to his capture, to trigger the alarm), Syndrome and Mirage believe that he had made contact for reinforcements and begin to interrogate him. Despite Mr. Incredible's intents that he never knew about the homing device and that he wasn't contacting anyone, he inadvertently recognizes Elastigirl's voice on the transmission line as she's flying a government plane (borrowed by her old friend Snug Porter) to the island, making Syndrome believe that he had in fact been lying to him. With this knowledge, Syndrome decides to send a little "greeting" by having missiles to take down Elastigirl's plane.
Horrified by Elastigirl's pleas, Mr. Incredible begged Syndrome to call off the attack, offering to do anything he wanted in exchange. Relishing in his former idols torment, Syndrome coldly refuses, spitefully adding that it was "15 years too late". Even the revelation that there were children on board the plane did nothing to dissuade Syndrome. As the missiles destroyed the plane, Syndrome (unaware that the occupants survived) mockingly used Mr. Incredible's words against him, reminding him of how he preferred to "work alone".
Furious, Mr. Incredible made a grab for Syndrome, who was pushed out of the way by Mirage. Seizing the henchwoman instead, Mr. Incredible ordered Syndrome to release him, threatening to kill Mirage if the villain did not comply. Although taken aback momentarily by this dark display, Syndrome, showing no concern for his followers wellbeing, told the superhero to go ahead and do it. Ultimately, however, Mr. Incredible couldn't bring himself to do it. Realizing that it wouldn't make any difference, he let the woman go. Syndrome rubbed further salt in the wound by stating that Mr. Incredible was weak and that he'd outgrown him, before leaving the crying man to rot in his cell.
Syndrome did not know it yet but his actions in that room would prove pivotal in the events that followed. Although she had been a willing participant in scheme's until that point, Mirage was taken aback by Syndrome's complete and utter display of callousness. Feeling sorry for Mr. Incredible and furious at her boss's willingness to sacrifice her own life, she called Syndrome out for his cruelty. Syndrome tried to reassure her that he had the situation in hand but Mirage, quitting on the spot told him "Next time you gamble... bet your own life!", leaving Syndrome confused.
Mirage later learns that Mr. Incredible's family survived the crash and are on the island. She then frees Mr. Incredible from captivity, informs him of his family's survival, and helps him escape and reunite with his family. However, Syndrome (being unaware of Mirage's recent actions) is able to recapture Mr. Incredible along with his family by immobilizing them with his zero-point energy rays, and finally deduces that Mr. Incredible had married Elastigirl, whose previous location and status was unknown in his database. He is then surprised to find they had children. Believing that he has hit the jackpot by capturing an entire family of superheroes, Syndrome imprisons the Incredibles in one of his multi-prisoner containment units and shows the recent broadcast of his Ominidroid landing in the city. He takes the opportunity to brag about how he had beaten them, even without having any superpowers for himself. As such, Syndrome reveals his true plan to the Incredibles: he intends to set the Omnidroid on Metroville to go on a rampage, and then stop it himself, therefore taking the credit and setting himself up as the city's new hero for years until he retires. Syndrome also announces that after his retirement, he will sell his inventions to the world so that others can be super, thus destroying the concept of supers and making the term meaningless. In his own words, "Everyone can be super! And when everyone's super... no one will be."
Believing that he had finally beaten the best superheroes, Syndrome went to Metroville to finalize his plan, putting up a show 'fighting' against the Omnidroid-stopping it from nearly killing a woman and her baby. He proclaims he is a new "hero" and attacks the machine while quietly dismantling it. However, Syndrome had miscalculated; realizing too late that the Omnidroid's ability to learn allowed it to identify him as a threat. Acting in accordance with the villains programming, the giant robot, using Syndrome's boasting to its advantage blasted the villain's remote-control wristband from his wrist. Panicking, Syndrome attempted to flee, knocking aside several bystanders, before the Omnidroid destroyed one of his rocket boots, sending him flying out of control until he crashed into the side of a nearby building, with the impact knocking him out.
When Syndrome finally regained consciousness, he saw that his plans had been undone. The Incredibles' had escaped the island and, with a bit more help from Mirage, returned back to Metroville. Teaming up with fellow superhero Frozone, the family managed to defeat and destroy the Omnidroid much to the elation of the cities residents. Cursing this failure, Syndrome quietly slipped away before the authorities could arrive.
Death[]
Syndrome kidnapping Jack-Jack.
With Syndrome's plot now exposed to the public, his assets are frozen by the government, and a warrant is put out for his arrest (as stated by Rick Dicker). Angry to see what is happening to him, Syndrome makes one final attempt at revenge by breaking into the Incredibles' house and abducting Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl's infant son Jack-Jack. He persuades his current babysitter that he is a replacement, telling her that the S on his shirt stands for Sitter and that he cannot run around with a "BS" on his shirt in public. Kari believes him without question, wanting to get away from Jack-Jack as she was having a lot of trouble with the superpowered baby. When the Incredibles arrive to rescue Jack-Jack, Syndrome zaps them with his zero-point energy ray with his finger and reassures them that he'll be a good mentor to Jack-Jack, and probably even raise him as his sidekick in time. He then throws the Incredibles out of their home and crashes through the ceiling and up to his jet plane while holding a crying Jack-Jack.
Unfortunately for Syndrome, this plan fails when Jack-Jack's transforming superpower manifests and allows him to beat Syndrome up. Elastigirl is then thrown into the air by Mr. Incredible to rescue her baby (who fell out of Syndrome's arms when he hit the wing of his plane due to Jack-Jack having disabled one of his rocket boots that made him fly uncontrollably) and then she uses her body as a parachute to glide back down to safety. Finally realizing that he lost, Syndrome leans from the side door of his jet plane, vowing revenge on the Incredible family, and yells at them that their battle is "not" over and he will get Jack-Jack one day before proceeding to cackle evilly.
Syndrome right before his well-deserved death.
Pushed beyond his limit and seeking to make amends for his failure from 15 years previously, Mr. Incredible not wanting Syndrome to get away, looked around for something to throw at him. Spotting the car that he had bought with Syndrome's money, Mr. Incredible lobbed it at the plane, knocking Syndrome off-balance. The villain landed inches away from the plane's air turbine.
Syndrome attempted to escape but is killed for good when his cape snags him in the turbine, pulling him in and shredding him to pieces before the aircraft explodes, putting an end to Syndrome's menace on the Incredibles/Parr Family, as well as Frozone & avenging all the supers he killed.
Aftermath[]
Due to his death, Syndrome obviously doesn't appear in the sequel in person, but he is briefly alluded to by Bob when he references that the jet blew up and took his suits and their old house with it, which was caused by Syndrome's death in the jet turbine. Therefore, Buddy's actions left a major impact considering that he ended up indirectly forcing the family to move which serves as a huge source of tension throughout the film.
It's shown later on that despite all the supers killed by the Omnidroids, Syndrome was unable to trick new supers, like those gathered by Winston Deavor, into going to the Nomanisan Island, as they were forced to hide their powers due to their unavailability to be heroes legally. Once the Screenslaver is defeated and the supers are made legal again (thus undoing Oliver Sansweet's actions), these new supers, along with the Incredibles and Frozone, are able to fill up the places of all those fallen supers, so the world can be safe once again in good hands despite Syndrome's efforts to eradicate superheroes.
Syndrome also appears in the end storyboard that shows Gazerbeam being killed by one of the Omnidroids.