Invincible is an animated superhero show from Robert Kirkman’s Invincible comics. His other comics (such as the Walking Dead) have also been adapted to TV and video games. Many of the actors from The Walking Dead appear in Invincible, like Steven Yeun, who plays the main character Mark Grayson/Invincible.
The show grapples with violence and the hardships of being a superhero. A standout aspect of the newly released Season Three is the character development. Mark Grayson at this point is no longer the naive teenager from Season One who looked up to his dad. After standing up to his father and seemingly killing someone, Mark has become mentally scarred and battered.
Season Two deals with the trauma the characters have from life and the first season. Mark’s fear of becoming like his father Omni-Man is the darkness looming over him and even the whole world in a way. In the end he does exactly what his father does and accidentally kills a villain in the same way.
But Mark also has to balance being a superhero and raising his half brother at the same time. Oliver (his half brother) has powers too and kills the villains known as The Mauler Twins. Mark, still reeling from when he killed his villain, says killing is wrong, trying to be a good role model for Oliver. At the end of the season he tells Oliver that he was right and the extremely bad villains deserve death.
Throughout the season Mark has felt guilt for seemingly killing a villain; desperately trying not to be like his dad. In reality Mark didn’t kill said villain, but caused the deaths of the people around him. In one of the best episodes of the whole show, alternate versions of Invincible attack the world. Innocent people die along with some superheroes and a few of Mark’s friends. By the end he is so worn down that he swears that he will protect those closest to him at all costs, contradicting his previous code of ethics that he tried to uphold with Oliver, becoming more like his immoral boss.
This season also shows new perspectives from the villains and Mark’s boss, Cecil Stedman. One of the only times you see the villain’s perspective is when Tether Tyrant and Magmaniac try to live as law-abiding citizens. They get fired and evicted, showing why so many people turn to crime for some semblance of stability. Tyrant almost strikes Mark’s half brother Oliver but stops and clings on to some of his humanity. It gives Invincible the chance to beat Tyrant and Magmaniac and you see as the last petal of their flower fall. The show portrays a more grey view of villains and heroes, leaving viewers to ask, “Who is right?” rather than rooting solely for the white knight superhero portrayed in many movies.
The show also does a good job showing Cecil’s point of view. Before Cecil was head of the Global Defense Agency he also mirrored Mark’s ethical views. His whole body gets burned when stopping a chemical attack, and he leaves a scar on his face as a reminder that a few people still died. The villains who did this are then brainwashed and used as tools for the GDA. Cecil shoots them believing that they shouldn’t get another chance or should be in jail.
Over time his idealistic views are destroyed when seeing the truth and reality. Cecil thinks the goals justify the methods he uses. Protecting Earth no matter how and using villains is a necessary part of that. Even if villains have done terrible things they are still useful tools to do something good when brainwashed or turned. Is using villains as a tool for good justified?
Invincible Season Three is remarkable and shows the hardships of just trying to be a good person. It combines thought provoking themes and emotional depth to make a great show that seems at this point to be Invincible.
