Samuel L. Jackson’s Elijah Price made for a memorable, complex villain in both Glass and Unbreakable, but what was Mr. Glass’ real superpower? Unbreakable was M. Night Shyamalan’s follow-up to his smash hit The Sixth Sense, with the movie now commonly regarded as one of his best movies. Unbreakable centers on David Dunn (Bruce Willis), a normal man who survives a horrifying train wreck without a single scratch.
He soon encounters Price, a man suffering from a brittle bone disease who believes Dunn could be a real-life superhero. Unbreakable follows David as he comes to realize he really is superhuman, but the movie reveals it was actually Elijah who was responsible for the crash. Shyamalan’s 2016 thriller Split follows a character named Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) who has 23 alternative personalities, including a super strong, cannibalistic monster dubbed The Beast. The final scene of Split reveals it was a secret sequel to Unbreakable, with David Dunn watching a news story on Crumb and coming to realize other superhumans exist.
Glass united Dunn, Price and Crumb for the final part of the “Eastrail 177 Trilogy,” revealing shocking secrets and resolving each character’s story arc. The movie also reveals the existence of an anti-superhuman league who suppress the existence of superhumans, so Price - who is now in an institute - cooks up an elaborate plan to expose the truth to the world. This plan results in a fight between David and Crumb, and in the end, all three men are killed, but their loved ones later broadcast the truth to the world.
While the super abilities of both David and Crumb are obvious, Elijah Price has a more unique set of skills. Price’s true power is his uncanny intellect, which allowed him to plan, predict and execute his elaborate schemes almost flawlessly. In appearing catatonic for the years between Unbreakable and Glass, he waited and gave himself time to formulate his ultimate plot, which was to expose the existence of superhumans against the will of the organization working to suppress their existence.
Elijah Price also has a skill with manipulating mechanical objects and explosives. While Price ends up dead by the end of Glass, he still succeeded in both confirming the existence of superhumans with both Dunn and Crumb and revealing them to the world, which to his mind validates his entire life. He explains to David in Unbreakable that a hero’s nemesis is often their polar opposite, so where David is literally unbreakable, Elijah breaks easy, so he embraces the nickname childhood bullies gave to him - Mr. Glass.
