invincible S2

This is one of my favorite television shows of all time. 

Welcome to what will probably be my most ambitious, and definitely longest, pair of reviews yet, a look at seasons two and (when all the episodes come out, the newly-released) three of Amazon’s juggernaut superhero series. So without further ado (even though I’m doing this of my own accord, nobody’s paying me), it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you my review of Season Two of– – 

How to even start with an introduction for this show? Invincible is regularly described as akin to a Spider-Man story if it was allowed to end. The fact that a Big Two company wasn’t breathing down the creators’ necks during the original comic run allowed them to push characters in directions otherwise impossible, and let them grow and evolve and make irrational decisions or change their minds or think outside the box. The phrase “deconstruction of the superhero genre” is the “heavily inspired by Dark Souls” of the film and television mediums, and most of the time it turns out to be BS marketing for a cookie cutter, paint-by-numbers product. But here, it’s true. This is a genuine deconstruction of the superhero genre.

Invincible’s M.O. is that it is unabashedly unafraid to make its characters suffer. Characters have their limbs chopped off, are crushed, have their intestines forcibly removed, are thrown into walls, and lose enough blood to fill a swimming pool. Mark Grayson, famously losing almost every major fight and routinely failing to live up to his name, is pushed to his absolute breaking point, making for tense and edge-of-your-seat fights. But more than being physically challenged (we’ll talk about stakes in a bit), characters are mentally and morally challenged. Mark goes through a hurricane of character-redefining moments, one after the next, with hardly any time to breathe. This is where Invincible really shines. 

I love literally every single character in this show. Every one- every single, individual one- has nuance, a backstory, flaws, strengths, motives, a defined but malleable personality, and every single one has their morals placed in jeopardy. Mark’s journey to not become like his father,  Debbie’s journey of grief and moving on, Nolan’s path of redemption and changing his mind about his heritage, the Donald and Rick subplot, turning a sunglasses-wearing government yes-man sidekick into one of the most emotional characters on the show- they even managed to do the the impossible- make Amber a good character. After sucking hardcore in the comics and in Season 1, they pulled a 180 on her and made her make a ton of sense by saying and feeling realistic things about the struggles of dating a superhero. I almost shed a tear when they broke up, and I didn’t care for her at all in Season 1. Every character from the comics who felt like an afterthought is beautifully transitioned into being three-dimensional, and every character who worked was improved upon. Invincible is a strict upgrade to its origin on the page, by the way. By a lot. 

If Mark had a spider symbol or a bat logo on his chest, the series in its current moral-exploring form would be over. But because his no-kill rule is broken, he is allowed (yes, permitted) to move to a new part of his life- a journey of further self discovery, and that is what I want to see from superhero media. Yes, they can be larger than life, but superheroes are also meant to represent the audience and what us measly humans would do if we got superpowers, and the burdens and emotions that would come with it. It’s why people get so excited and floored when Mark kills someone, even if by accident, but everyone gets into a huge screaming match on the Internet when Superman snaps a guy’s neck and does a big cry about it. Because we know Mark has the possibility of changing, or learning from this.

Steven Yeun, man. Not only did this show single-handedly put him on the radar for me, but Yeun’s portrayal of Mark is quickly becoming one of my favorite performances ever for a fictional character. I grew up on superheroes like Superman and Spidey, but none of them really made me feel like I was there, or feel someone else's pain and happiness and youthfulness like Mark does. Yeun shows so much emotion and is so determined as an actor, you can feel every ounce of conflict in him. His “you don't get to call me [son] anymore”, “you have no idea how much I've been holding back” and the ever-iconic “I thought you were stronger”, and the little noise he makes right before it… Chills, man. Every single time. I hope Steven Yeun never dies, because he is– –

To say Simmons is second place is in insult to the third through twentieth place performances in this. This series is like the Avengers of legendary ensemble casts, and they spared no expense with this behemoth get-together. Mark Hammill, Seth Rogen, Walton Goggins, Zachary Quinto, Sterling K Brown, Ben Schwartz, Clancy Brown, Scoot McNairy, Rhea Seehorn, Lea Thompson, Tatiana Maslany, Zazie Beetz, Fred Tatasciore, the legendary Kevin Michael Richardson, Peter freaking Cullen?? Optimus Prime?? This cast is nothing short of phenomenal, with a perfect blend of celebrities and actual voice actors. Also, Jason Mantzoukas is hilarious. Hilarious. 

I gotta start keeping this shorter and sweeter, so real quick, the score from John Paesano is absolutely amazing. The main theme gets me pumped up every single time I hear it. It’s funny that the two best superhero shows of all time, this and Daredevil, are scored by the same guy who knocked it out of the park each time. This score makes me feel– – 

Now I have to do the uncomfortable part, which is to talk about criticisms. I’ll talk about animation next month, because this is already running too long. But even with everybody talking about Invincible’s “terrible” animation, my absolute biggest criticism with this show is the characters' inability to die. The first time I watched this season, which is when it came out, I felt gradually more and more frustrated when more and more characters started coming back to life. Immortal is right there in Episode 1 after getting his head chopped off by Omni-Man, but I guess it’s in his name, so I let it slide. Then Donald was revealed to have survived, but his arc of self discovery is incredibly emotional, so I still enjoyed it. Then I felt sad for Allen when he got demolished by Viltrumites in space, even having his eye ripped out and his intestines floating around, and I naturally “mourned” his character, but nope. He came back to life too. So I guess Allen is– –? 

But the real kicker for me was the Lizard League fight, where Dupli-Kate is killed, Rex is shot directly point blank in the head, and Shrinking Rae seems to die as well. Rex surviving that shot frustrated me so much, not because I dislike Rex, but because it showcased the series’ reluctance to have a permanent death in these characters’ lives. I certainly care about the world-ending stakes, the preparation for the arrival of the Viltrumite Empire, but for smaller, personal stakes, I became reluctant to care about the action sequences when I know the characters can’t be killed. It made me reevaluate why I even watched the show in the first place, as it seemed to conflict with the whole purpose of the show, the “make the characters suffer” thing. I don’t know, I got over it, but I really wished Kate had stayed dead, or Rae never recovered in the hospital, or Rex was shot in his shoulder instead so that the personal stakes could be raised a bit and I could care more. 

Geez, I need to wrap this up. Angstrom Levy as a character needed tweaking, yes, let’s finish up here so we can go home. I really loved the angle of him getting his memories smashed together and hating Invincible because he’s a bad guy in every other universe. However, that didn’t really come through until the last episode. It’s touched upon, sure, but he says a lot of things like “you turned me into a monster” and “look what you did to my face”, so it was unclear what his motivations were for a while there. You expect me to believe this dude turned into a terrifying, evil villain who threatened to kill a baby just because he thinks Invincible looked funky? The other angle is so, so much more interesting, so I wished we had seen more of that angle for Levy’s motivation to make him truly unforgettable. I mean, he’s unforgettable now, I’m kinda just nitpicking because writing for this is more fun than attending to my responsibilities.

Invincible is not what I expected it to be, but when I first saw Omni-Man tear through the Guardians in the pilot all the way back in 2021, I was hooked instantly anyway and knew I was in for something special. I love the no-holds-barred action, and seeing larger than life characters crash into each other. I love the studios’ self-aware relationship with the fanbase and little teasers they put out. I love the title cards and how they change slightly from episode to episode with little cracks. I love Sony’s refusal to cooperate and put in Spider-Man so they just put in Spider-Man anyway with a different name. I love the voice cast, I love the stakes, I love the story and how excited I get to watch the next episode, and I love love love the characters, so, so much. Invincible is a glowing beacon of hope for the superhero genre and is a crown jewel of its nearby brothers and sisters, showcasing a perfect transition and improvement from page to screen on top of the appeal of the medium of animation. Things like this only come once in a lifetime, so they must be savored when they do arrive. Invincible isn’t just the greatest flights-and-tights show of all time, it’s one of the greatest television shows I’ve ever had the pleasure of digesting, and I will be here for every single episode for as long as the show continues to grace us with our presence. 

Do yourself a favor.