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All 17 Jack-Jack powers in the Incredibles 2, explained

There are a lot...

Eric Franklin Former Editorial Director
Eric Franklin led the CNET Tech team as Editorial Director. A 20-plus-year industry veteran, Eric began his tech journey testing computers in the CNET Labs. When not at work he can usually be found at the gym, chauffeuring his kids around town, or absorbing every motivational book he can get his hands on.
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Eric Franklin
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Who needs The Fantastic Four when we have this family? More movies please!

Pixar

Warning: If you don't want Incredibles 2 spoiled for you, turn away now and go see it. Continuing to read without seeing the movie is no different from donning a cape and fighting crime. Let's just say it's ill-advised.

Near the end of The Incredibles 2, Mr. Incredible enthusiastically remarks that his youngest son Jack-Jack has "17 powers!" At that moment I took it upon myself -- with some urging from my CNET colleague Patrick Holland and assistance from my other colleague, Patricia Puentes, who recently wrote about Elastigirl's role in the movie-- to try to name every power featured in the new Pixar film after seeing it only once.

Some of these might be considered a stretch, so if you noticed any I didn't, please mention them in the comments section below. If I can verify them, I'll add them to this list. Otherwise I'll consider this list pretty much canon. 

So, without further ado, here goes.

Multiplication

Jack-Jack can make multiple copies of himself. This happens at least three times in the film: once during a fight with a raccoon in a backyard, once in Edna Mode's home and once during the finale on the boat.

Demon transformation

Jack-Jack turns himself into a purple demon-looking thing. This power appears to be triggered when he gets angry, especially when he doesn't get a cookie. Jack-Jack also used this power in the first Incredibles movie.

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A normal kid is enough to keep most people sleep-deprived. Imagine one with 17 powers!

Pixar

Fire

Jack-Jack bursts into flames, Human Torch-style. He can seemingly still function normally in this state, it's just that everything he touches instantly catches fire.

Laser eyes

Green laser beams shoot from Jack-Jack's eyes. We see this several times during the movie. The lasers can be steady beams, or he can shoot them pulse-style.

Watch this: Incredibles 2 trailer splits up the superhero family

Growth

Jack-Jack grows many feet taller and wider seemingly at will. He also appears to become a lot stronger in this state.

Dimension hopping

Jack-Jack can traverse through different dimensions. When in the other dimensions (it's implied in the movie there are more than one he travels to), people in his own dimension can still hear him. Unfortunately we never actually see these other dimensions in the movie. One commenter below suggested that Jack-Jack can actually transport himself through dimension and teleport himself as two distinct powers. I'll need to see the movie again to confirm this.

My reaction when it was revealed how many powers Jack-Jack has. 

Pixar

Carbon-copy features (metamorphosis)

A few minutes after meeting Edna, Jack-Jack transforms his facial features to look like hers. He even replicates her hair.

Super strength

Jack-Jack tussles with and kicks a raccoon clear across his backyard as a demonstration of his strength. He also tosses a few lawn chairs around one-handed as if they were small toys.

Invulnerability

Despite wrestling for several minutes with a raccoon who has razor-sharp claws, Jack-Jack doesn't sustain so much as a scratch. Bob even mentions this in the movie.

Floating

Jack-Jack can seemingly make himself weightless and kind of floats around uncontrollably. It's not really flight, more just a zero-g float.

This is what it looks like when atguy with superhuman strength has to chase a baby with 17 powers around all night. Also, what I looked like when my kid got up at 4 a.m. this morning. 

Pixar

Telekinesis

On at least two occasions, Jack-Jack demonstrates limited telekinesis: once when fighting with the racoon, and once on the boat when he takes Elastigirl's goggles off without touching them.

Sneeze-induced flight

At least twice, the force of Jack-Jack's sneeze propels him into the air like a rocket. Luckily he usually uses his ability to walk through walls before hitting the ceiling.

Electricity emission

This happens for only a split second in the movie. You can see it in the GIF below. As I recall, he only uses this power once.

Four powers in four seconds!

Pixar

Walking through walls (and glass)

It's not clear if Jack-Jack becomes intangible to pass through walls, or if he changes the physical properties of the wall so he can walk through it. Either way, he makes it work.

Turn to metal

OK, I admit I didn't actually see this power demonstrated in The Incredibles 2, but he does turn his skin into a liquid-metal type of material at the end of the first Incredibles movie, so I think it's safe to assume he's retained this power. Yeah, let's go with that.

Blobbing

During the fight with the raccoon, Jack-Jack turns himself into a shapeless gelatinous blob that's tough for the animal to fight.

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This is not one of Jack-Jack's powers...yet. 

Pixar

Mimicry (maybe?)

OK, this one might be a stretch. Jack-Jack seems no older than 18 months, tops. Yet after spending a few days with Edna he can accurately mimic her walking gait and facial expressions. This is different from the metamorphosis power mentioned before. It could be that the kid is just a naturally skilled mimic (or it could just be a cartoon thing), but my kid was definitely not up to this level at 18 months. It's uncanny.

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