So I’ve seen Incredibles 2 twice now and I’ve come to the conclusion that Evelyn Deavor is basically one step away from being in actual serial killer territory. I swear I was getting serious Criminal Minds vibes from this woman anytime she was on screen
B u t w h e r e i s t h e p r o o f? you ask
*deep breath*W E L L brace yourselves for an unnecessarily long-winded analysis of this character
1. She singles out and purposely isolates her victim. We hear Winston saying that it was Evelyn who did the collateral damage statistics on each of the supers, which purposely highlighted Helen/Elastigirl as the best option for the “bring back supers” campaign. It’s not a huge stretch of the imagination to assume then that Evelyn had zeroed in on Helen as her primary victim from the minute Winston first suggested his plan. Why did Elastigirl even need to be the Mockingjay of the pro-super movement to begin with if they could’ve just attached cameras to all of them and released that collective footage to the press? There’s really not much reason unless Evelyn had been the one pulling the strings from the get-go and suggesting to her brother to pick one of the supers to use as a poster child to get momentum going. It’s easier to start by manipulating one person first instead of tackling a whole group of people. Helen was the best option because out of the three, she would be the easiest to form a sense of camaraderie with and therefore the easiest to manipulate (which leads into bullet point #2). Also, getting only Helen for the job ensures that she’s going to be cut off from her regular support system and separated from them, which, again, makes her an easier target for manipulation.
2. She bonds with the victim and emotionally manipulates said victim into developing a false sense of trust. Evelyn plays the part of the fake friend flawlessly from the beginning, drawing Helen in and making her think that she has a companion or confidant she can count on. In the scene where Winston offers Helen the job, Evelyn makes a point to mention that she designed the cameras and to make eye contact with Helen, supposedly creating a mutual sense of respect between the two of them. She continues to cultivate this “close girl friend” dynamic as the film continues, pretending to be supportive of Helen’s efforts and listening to Helen’s ideas (interesting to note here that the lack of sincerity on Evelyn’s part is somewhat directly contrasted with Bob’s legitimate attempts to vocally support his wife as well as with his genuine concern for her).
3. She gives the victim presents and/or incentive to stay close and continue to trust her. Evelyn seemingly did her research and knew Helen would be nostalgic over the Elasticycle so she went and designed her a completely new model, which she has personally delivered to Helen’s home along with a friendly note. Helen is pulled in by this bait immediately – hook, line, and sinker. It’s also implied that Evelyn has a hand in having the other supers brought to Devtech headquarters in order to convince Helen that she is doing valuable work and to ease her doubts about the mission. The emotional reward of knowing she’s inspired other supers to come out of hiding is enough to alleviate Helen’s misgivings for the time being and keeps her within Evelyn’s reach.
4. She toys with/plays a cat-and-mouse game with her victim in order to get under the victim’s skin and string the victim along. Evelyn milks the Screenslaver plot for all its worth and even indulges Helen’s own ideas about how to catch the villain, constantly baiting her with bits and pieces of clues to keep her in the game for as long as possible. Evelyn does what many organized, manipulative criminals are known for – playing chess with their victim – but instead of the victim being the opponent, they’re unknowingly being used as one of the pawns. Evelyn even goes so far as to somehow get the little girl in the crowd to hold up the sign saying “The Screenslaver is still out there” as a way of goading Helen on (also it’s just creepy as hell; did she kidnap that child and force her to make that sign or something??). More about this in point #6.
5. She has an unhealthy obsession/fixation with her victim. Everything else previously mentioned serves as evidence for this point, but in addition, Evelyn also makes some rather odd and uncalled-for statements about Helen’s competence as a superhero. She first implies that if Helen had been the only one fighting the Underminer, things wouldn’t have ended so problematically, indirectly throwing shade at Bob, Frozone, and the kids and propping Helen up as the superior one of the group. Then later she insinuates that Helen should be happy to be “out front” in the public eye because she’d always been in “Mr. Incredible’s shadow” and deserved more recognition. It’s never made entirely clear why Evelyn makes these statements (which, interestingly enough, Helen either ignores or blatantly disagrees with) but it seems to either be some warped form of hero worship or Evelyn is simply further trying to isolate Helen/separate her from her support system. 6. She enjoys messing with her victim. This connects back to point #4. Why does Evelyn play this convoluted game with Helen in the first place? For one thing, yes, it is to attract public attention. But it’s also because Evelyn actually just enjoys playing the game and using Helen as a pawn in her plan. When Helen has been captured and she asks, “Are you going to kill me?” Evelyn responds, “Nah, using you is more fun.” She’s not one of those villains who is regretful and in turmoil about the course of action she’s taking – she’s having the time of her life treating Helen like a human chess piece and she openly admits it.
7. She uses the primary victim to lure in other victims. After Evelyn hypnotizes Helen, the other supers appear at the Parr residence wearing the same goggles. This, along with the “using you is more fun” statement, pretty much shows that Evelyn manipulated Helen into putting the goggles on the rest of the supers in order to carry out the plan. However, Evelyn’s biggest play was to use Helen to successfully manipulate Bob. In the job offer scene, Evelyn is in the background carefully observing everything going on and she seems particularly attuned to Helen and Bob’s body language/interactions as evidenced here:
If seeing the super family together wasn’t enough evidence that Helen was a perfect tool to use to get to Bob, then this setup definitely was. Helen and Bob sit very close together during the entire duration of this scene, and this is the the kind of thing that devoted couples usually do even if they’re not entirely conscious of it. Evelyn clearly notices this and it’s not hard to assume that seeing this kind of body language between the two solidified her plan to use Helen as bait to lure in Bob. They’re obviously a couple and obviously close, so this is easy pickings. And Evelyn’s keen observational skills pay off, because upon getting the call that Helen is in trouble, Bob immediately rushes to go help her without missing a beat. Also, if you watch the fight between them carefully, the main reason he loses (besides the kiss) is because he’s holding back the entire time in an attempt not to hurt Helen. Evelyn not only gets Helen to kiss him to throw him off guard, but also seemingly knew in advance that he wouldn’t use his full strength in the confrontation because he’d be too worried about potentially hurting his wife.
8. She taunts her victim while said victim is in pain/incapacitated/dying. When Evelyn first captures Helen, she not only locks her in a freezing cell of sorts, but she jokingly warns her not to stretch or she’ll “break”; the tone of voice Evelyn adopts here is pretty condescending and even somewhat amused. This same type of thing happens later when Helen breaks into the plane in an attempt to stop Evelyn from getting away. It’s not enough for Evelyn to attempt to kill her – no, she has to taunt Helen while attempting to kill her. As Helen is staggering around the cockpit suffering from oxygen deprivation, Evelyn launches into a speech describing exactly how Helen is probably going to die and once again is seemingly pretty amused by the entire situation. Evelyn’s behavior in both scenes tie back in to the idea in point #6 that she simply enjoys and gets a sick sense of satisfaction from toying with people and watching them suffer at her hands.
So…TL;DR it is a really, REALLY good thing Evelyn Deavor got locked up. She basically exhibits the same traits as any classic serial killer and probably would’ve turned into one if the movie wasn’t rated PG lmao. Winston needs to use his money to pay for an in-depth psych eval for his sister because she clearly went off the deep end after their parents died and needs serious help
