{"id":3998,"date":"2019-01-16T19:28:56","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T19:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog-proxy.atomtickets.com\/?p=3998"},"modified":"2019-03-06T21:06:03","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T21:06:03","slug":"do-the-characters-in-glass-have-actual-superpowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/do-the-characters-in-glass-have-actual-superpowers\/","title":{"rendered":"Do The Characters In\u00a0&#8216;Glass&#8217;\u00a0Have Actual Superpowers?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been a minute since director M. Night Shyamalan brought us into his own unique version of the superhero genre via 2016\u2019s\u00a0<i>Split<\/i>, which managed to surprise viewers when it was revealed late in the third act that it was actually a sequel to Shyamalan\u2019s 2000 film\u00a0<i>Unbreakable<\/i>, starring Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson. With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atomtickets.com\/movies\/glass\/240900#info-and-cast\"><em>Glass<\/em><\/a>, the third (and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/2019\/01\/m-night-shyamalan-no-glass-sequels-split-character-unbreakable-script-1202033564\/\">likely last<\/a>) film in the series hitting theaters on Friday, it might be good to refresh our memories on the characters at the heart of\u00a0<i>Unbreakable\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0<i>Glass\u00a0<\/i>\u2014 Elijah Price (played by Jackson), David Dunn (played by Willis), and Kevin Wendell Crumb (played by James McAvoy) \u2014 and especially revisit the question of whether or not\u00a0the characters in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/all-the-connections-and-easter-eggs-so-far-in-glass-unbreakable-and-split\/\"><i>Glass\u00a0<\/i><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/all-the-connections-and-easter-eggs-so-far-in-glass-unbreakable-and-split\/\">have actual superpowers<\/a>.<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/K3UB6ZBPY9Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>But first, before we can do any breakdown around actual superpowers, we need to do a little plot refresh because this franchise is nearly 20 years old and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/all-the-connections-and-easter-eggs-so-far-in-glass-unbreakable-and-split\/\">there\u2019s a lot to remember about the first two installments<\/a>. In\u00a0<i>Unbreakable<\/i>, we\u2019re first introduced to Elijah, who is born with a rare genetic disorder that renders his bones as fragile as glass. Working as a comic book dealer, Elijah becomes convinced that if he is, ostensibly, the most fragile man to ever live, there must be someone who is the complete opposite of him, someone who possesses incredible strength. Elijah believes that person is David, a man who has never been injured or sick a day in his life, who has visions that show him crimes committed by any given person he touches. The two quickly fall into the archetypal villain and hero roles, respectively, as Elijah engineers scenarios (unbeknownst to David) where David can put his alleged powers to good use.<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt4972582\/?ref_=nv_sr_1\"><i>Split<\/i><\/a>, we\u2019re introduced to the multiple (and sometimes menacing) personalities of zookeeper Kevin Wendell Crumb (played by James McAvoy), who is being treated for dissociative identity disorder (DID). While under the control of a handful of his more sinister alternate identities, known as the Horde, Kevin kidnaps three teenage girls (played by Jessica Sula, Haley Lu Richardson, and Anya Taylor-Joy). One of the girls, Casey (Taylor-Joy), quickly figures out that the three of them are <a href=\"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/glass-fan-theories\/\">part of a more sinister plot<\/a> wherein some of Kevin\u2019s alternate identities are preparing for the arrival of a new personality, \u201cThe Beast,\u201d who would take over Kevin\u2019s body and turn him into a flesh-eating monster.\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Sounds pretty intense, huh? With all of this in your mind, let\u2019s break down whether\u00a0<i>Unbreakable<\/i>,\u00a0<i>Split<\/i>,<i>\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0<i>Glass\u00a0<\/i>actually believe (and in turn, want us to believe) that Elijah, David and Kevin have actual superpowers.\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Elijah Price, a.k.a. \u201cMr. Glass\u201d<\/h2>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atomtickets.com\/movies\/glass\/240900\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/images.atomtickets.com\/image\/upload\/h_960,q_auto\/v1532390572\/ingestion-images-archive-prod\/archive\/1532390572077_240900_cops_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2293\" height=\"960\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In both\u00a0<i>Unbreakable <\/i>and<i> Glass,<\/i>\u00a0we could argue that<a href=\"http:\/\/unbreakablemovie.wikia.com\/wiki\/Mr._Glass\">\u00a0Elijah\u2019s superpower<\/a>\u00a0is being an effective criminal mastermind with an incredibly high, genius-level intelligence. In a way, it\u2019s his disease that acts as the inciting incident, the push that gets him into the place he needs to be to assume his criminal identity as Mr. Glass. While Elijah can\u2019t exactly use his extremely fragile bones for any kind of criminal activity (unlike David, who can touch people and see if they\u2019ve committed a crime), it certainly creates a good excuse for him to go around prodding David into becoming the hero to his villainous mastermind.\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In the\u00a0<i>Glass<\/i>\u00a0trailer we see that once Elijah is weaned off the medication keeping him heavily sedated, he realizes what kind of possibilities could arise from plotting to get Kevin to reveal The Beast and breaking them both out of the psychiatric facility where they\u2019re being held.\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>All things considered, Elijah\u2019s superpowers aren\u2019t what you\u2019d immediately think of when it comes to a villain in a comic book. He&#8217;s not a scientist. He doesn&#8217;t have advanced tech or a squad of goons. It\u2019s really his elevated intelligence that helps serves his criminal plans, and the fact that he is a genius in multiple areas of intelligence: strategy, manipulation, psychology. Combine the fact that he has come to understand his condition and the world he lives in through a comic book lens, aligning himself with another villain and working to defeat a man he believes is his exact foil, and it seems that whether or not Elijah has any superpowers is entirely beside the point. He\u2019s brilliant enough and motivated enough to be a villain capable of as much destruction as a comic book supervillain. Honing and controlling the abilities of other villains like The Beast, and manipulating heroes like David make Elijah a pretty twisted Professor X, in a sense.\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>David Dunn, a.k.a. &#8220;The Overseer&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/M\/MV5BMTg2OTAxOTk3MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMjg5ODU5NTM@._V1_SX1777_CR0,0,1777,744_AL_.jpg\" width=\"1777\" height=\"744\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>For all intents and purposes, within the confines of Shyamalan&#8217;s<i>\u00a0<\/i>universe, it would be fair to say David has superpowers. While there are never any specific declarations that\u00a0David is a superhero\u00a0or has superpowers in\u00a0<i>Unbreakable,\u00a0<\/i>he certainly grows into the idea fairly quickly after Elijah plants the seed of possibility in his head by questioning certain events in his life (like a life-threatening car crash that he emerged from with no injuries when he was a teenager) and David begins<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fFTvDvWlwww\" data-rel=\"lightbox-video-0\">\u00a0testing his abilities at home<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SpI6OqOjZ24\" data-rel=\"lightbox-video-1\">at work<\/a>.\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>So sure, David never says anything like \u201cMy Spidey-sense\u00a0is tingling,\u201d but Shyamalan makes it clear that David is certainly not like other guys\u2013or humans, for that matter. At various moments in\u00a0<i>Unbreakable<\/i>, we see him test his strength, lifting impossible amounts of weight, and we have undeniably clear moments when we see that as David touches someone or brushes past them in a crowd, he gets visions of their behavior which alerts him as to whether or not they\u2019re a criminal he needs to subdue. David is the hero that will stand in opposition to Mr. Glass and The Beast and, unlike the other two, is the only one to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GlassMovie\/status\/1049675857923457025\">not give himself his own codename<\/a>\u00a0(that we know of, at least).<\/p>\n<h2>Kevin Wendell Crumb, a.k.a. \u201cThe Horde\u201d and \u201cThe Beast\u201d<\/h2>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/M\/MV5BMTU0NjQ4MjIyOV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNTg5ODU5NTM@._V1_SX1777_CR0,0,1777,744_AL_.jpg\" width=\"1777\" height=\"744\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While\u00a0<i>Split<\/i>\u2019s conflation of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2017\/jan\/12\/cinema-dissociative-personality-disorder-split-james-mcavoy\">mental illness as superpower is problematic<\/a>, there is no confusion that\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/unbreakablemovie.wikia.com\/wiki\/The_Horde\">Kevin\u2019s abilities as The Beast<\/a>\u00a0enter into superpower territory (as do James McAvoy&#8217;s acting abilities, but that&#8217;s another story). While Kevin\u2019s other personalities manifest as fairly normal alternate characters (e.g. a young boy with a lisp, a prim Englishwoman, and a control-freak enforcer), known collectively as \u201cThe Horde,\u201d when Kevin becomes The Beast, his strength is amplified to an inhuman degree and he is seen on numerous occasions climbing the walls like he\u2019s Spider-Man, except he does it with bare hands and feet.\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s implied in\u00a0<i>Split\u00a0<\/i>that the emergence of The Beast in Kevin\u2019s consciousness fundamentally changed his brain chemistry and physical abilities, much in the way superpowers manifest and change their superhero hosts in other comic books and superhero films. We see further evidence of this in the\u00a0<i>Glass\u00a0<\/i>trailer, as The Beast climbs the walls at an absurd height, leaps and bounds across the grounds of the psychiatric hospital in a distinctly non-human way, and is briefly seen using his bloodlusty strength to subdue hospital workers, crunching them into unnatural angles.\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>If you made it this far, then hopefully any questions about whether or not Elijah, David, and Kevin have superpowers have been answered. Shyamalan has delivered to his audience three unique characters, rooted in the modern world \u2014 a world we know and understand \u2014 while fashioning them into the kinds of characters we might more immediately recognize in the pages of a comic book. It will no doubt be interesting to see how\u00a0<i>Glass\u00a0<\/i>plays out now that all three of these characters are in one thrilling story.<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>Glass\u00a0<\/i>arrives in theaters Friday, January 18. You can purchase your tickets\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.atomtickets.com\/movies\/glass\/240900\">here<\/a>.<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>You Might Also Like<\/h2>\n<hr style=\"color: #000; width: 95%; margin-left: 0;\" \/>\n<!-- The Grid Plugin Version 2.7.4 --><div class=\"tg-error-msg\" data-grid-name=\"Home Featured\">No post was found with your current grid settings.&#xa;You should verify if you have posts inside the current selected post type(s) and if the meta key filter is not too much restrictive.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been a minute since director M. Night Shyamalan brought us into his own unique version of the superhero genre via 2016\u2019s\u00a0Split, which managed to surprise viewers when it was revealed late in the third act that it was actually a sequel to Shyamalan\u2019s 2000 film\u00a0Unbreakable, starring Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson. With Glass, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":4063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-3998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial","tag-featuredpage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3998"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4070,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3998\/revisions\/4070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}