‘Incredibles 2’: How Super Heroes Are Still Important To Samuel L Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson has played a lot of super-roles, from supervillain to super-Jedi to superspy, but Frozone in “The Incredibles” franchise remains the only full-blown superhero he’s played, and the screen icon reveals just why he loves his alter ago.

Also, after explaining exactly how he discovered how to make the most of his inimitable voice when it came to vocal-only performances, Jackson revealed the how and why of his longtime, deep-dive love of comic books, which has endured from childhood well on into adulthood.

“I go all the all the way to the original Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Flash, Silver Surfer,” chuckles Jackson. “Kid Colt! People go ‘That’s not a superhero.’ “Yeah, but that’s a comic book!’”

“All of that stuff was literature and escapism for me,” he explains. “The rule in my house was for every three to four comic books I read, I had to read a classic, so I was balanced in that particular way also. The only difference between reading Treasure Island and an Archie comic book book was there were pictures in one, and the others were just words and I had to make my own pictures. So it’s reading, it’s mind enhancement. It’s escapism. It’s a way of leaving the world that I live in that’s not so great for a world that I chose to spend time in.”

In Incredibles 2, Helen Parr (Holly Hunter) is called on to lead a campaign to bring Supers back, while husband Bob (Craig T. Nelson) navigates the day-to-day heroics of “normal” life at home with Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Huck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack, whose superpowers are about to be discovered.

Their mission is derailed when a new villain emerges with a brilliant and dangerous plot that threatens everything. But the Parrs don’t shy away from a challenge, especially with Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) by their side.

New to the series are Sophia Bush as Voyd, Jonathan Banks as Rick Dicker, and Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener as Winston and Evelyn Deavor, respectively.

Incredibles 2 opens in theaters now.