When the couple resumes their superhero careers after a fifteen-year hiatus, Edna is summoned out of retirement to help both characters – now parents – with their costumes, personal lives, and family matters.

Bird also decided to voice the character himself after several actresses originally considered for the role failed to replicate Edna's unique accent.

[4] Having watched several superhero-themed films and television shows prior to developing The Incredibles, Bird had often found himself wondering who is responsible for making the superheroes' elaborate costumes.

[6] The director elaborated, "The way I saw it, the costumes had to be created by somebody with a scientific and engineering background", thus conceiving Edna as "a half-German, half-Japanese, tiny powerhouse of a character".

[15] Several actresses were considered for the role of Edna, including a performer who repeatedly asked Bird to demonstrate her dialogue until eventually telling him to simply voice the character himself.

[20] In the Italian and French-language dubs of the film, Bird's comic accent is replaced by that of French entertainer Amanda Lear, who offers a more seductive, "biting" interpretation.

[19] Inspired by the large impact countries such as Japan and Germany have on the world despite being comparatively small in size, Bird decided Edna would reflect this theme by being "a tiny character that dominates the room when she gets into it".

"[6] In terms of animation, Bird wanted all of the film's characters to move differently from each other, providing Edna with a very confident walk to represent the fact that she has "never experienced doubt in her life.

[7] Describing Edna's physical attributes as "severe", Bird had envisioned the character with glasses and a pageboy haircut, while remaining modern and elegant.

[27] However, animator Teddy Newton, who co-designed Edna with Bird, revealed he was inspired by the film Unzipped (1995), a documentary exploring the petulance of fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi and stylist Polly Allen Mellen.

[32] In an article discussing who Edna is based on, Entertainment Weekly's Steve Daly cited Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, designer Coco Chanel and actress Lotte Lenya as possible influences, while drawing similarities between the character's use of large-framed glasses to architect Philip Johnson, producer Robert Evans, talent agent Swifty Lazar, studio executive Lew Wasserman, and fashion editor Carrie Donovan.

[33] Acknowledging that there are several female fashion designers who wear glasses upon whom Edna could have been based, Bird admitted he drew inspiration from Head, author Patricia Highsmith, and actress Linda Hunt.

[37] Similarly, Imagire agreed that fashion designers such as Kawakubo, Ishioka, and Abe always dressed comfortably in comparison to their models, a contrast she wanted Edna to reflect.

[39] Vogue Italia published a biography of Edna, in which author Valentina Fabbri described her as a character who "knows she's the best and she doesn't hide it, and her lack of modesty is equalled only by her intuition", with whom it is virtually impossible to have a conversation because "she tends to dominate.

"[21] Due to her combination of genius-level intellect and "craziness," Fabbri identified Edna as "a fun, bubbly caricature of the magicians of fashion" by "embod[ying] their talent and charisma, their vices and virtues.

"[21] Screen Rant's Victoria Robertson observed that the character "has a lot of personality packed into a small exterior, taking stereotypical traits often attributed to designers and making them her own", firstly remaining proud of her own work at all times.

[25] Q13 Fox described Edna as "a gifted designer, an assertive life coach and a witty talker,"[2] using her mind and intelligence as a means of solving everyday issues.

"[42] Scott Tobias of Rolling Stone called Edna "a reminder that the superhero suit needs to the perfect synthesis of form and function", without which "greatness as both a crimefighter and an icon is impossible".

[21] Estimating her height to be of approximately three feet, The Tyee's Dorothy Woodend wrote that Edna is dressed in Issey Miyake pleats while being of "indeterminate gender".

[27] Racked's Carlye Wisel observed that although the sequel "may have deep roots in midcentury-modern design ... Edna remains true to her forward-looking style, wearing a red silk kimono".

[1] In addition to citing her resemblance to Wintour, journalist Hadley Freeman of The Guardian believes Edna's use of fashion in the film represents "The highest pinnacle of human achievement", without whom the world would end".

Bob initially asks Edna to simply repair a tear in his original super suit, but she ultimately convinces him to allow her to design an entirely new outfit, on the condition that capes not be incorporated whatsoever due to numerous safety concerns.

She discovers that Edna, mistakenly assuming that Helen and the children know of Bob's new work, has created a complete matching set of super suits for the entire Parr family.

[42] Although their reunion is brief, Edna provides an initially distraught Helen with the encouragement she needs to resume her identity as Elastigirl in order to save her husband (and their marriage).

[7] Ken Hanke, writing for the Mountain Xpress, considers Edna to be among the film's most delightful gags, particularly highlighting the character's anti-cape monologue while deeming her "worth the price of admission".

Nell Minow of Common Sense Media said Bird "plays the funniest character in the film",[60] while AllMovie's Perry Seibert described his performance as "screamingly funny".

[17] Similarly, Entertainment Weekly placed Edna fourth on their ranking of "The 10 greatest Pixar voice performances", with author Marc Snetiker calling it "an all-too-short but memorably delicious appearance" in which Bird "left an indelible mark on his own universe".

[43] Contributor Scott Tobias wrote that the character "stops the action cold just to have a sequence about appropriate action-wear for the specially abled, culminating in a brilliant screed on the impracticality of capes.

[27] Describing her as "effortless and memorable," Wisel concluded, "at a time when a label like Gucci is exploding its brand with misspellings and magpie tendencies to draw attention, she remains classic.

[21][25] In 2013, the D23 Expo hosted its first official cosplay competition, naming it "Heroes and Villains à la Mode" in honor of Edna; contestants competed in five categories, with the winners being awarded miniature statuettes of the character.