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Invincible is, without a doubt, one of the most popular superhero animated series of all time. In the vein of The Boys, this Prime Video show is brutal, bloody, and vulgar. However, it is filled to the brim with far more heart, love, and soul that helps define this series as one not of ridiculous gore and shock value, but telling a story about heroism, the price of it, and what it means to truly be one as a young person.
Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun) is very well-written and the world around him is also very well-established. Not only does Invincible have the writing of the original Invincible (2003) comic series writer, Robert Kirkman, behind it, but a bunch of new writers helping out now, as well. Having a whole writer’s room supporting the show and giving new ideas and reframing old ones has helped Invincible become something even more amazing than the original book, in some people’s opinions.
10
“A Deal with the Devil”
Season 3, Episode 2
One of the most complex and interesting characters in Invincible isn’t just Mark Grayson, but none other than Cecil Stedman (Walton Goggins). No other episode fully depicts this like the likes of Invincible Season 3, Episode 2, “A Deal with the Devil”. The divide that inevitably comes between Invincible and the old, but badass man, is one of the best conflicts in the series. After the betrayal of Nolan Grayson (J.K. Simmons)—Omni-Man—Cecil’s trust in Viltrumites and, honestly, powerful people in general, is at an all-time low. Not to mention, the episode also depicts an origin of sorts for Stedman.
All of this culminates in a conflict that pulls the two apart. When it’s revealed that Cecil has been working with both Darkwing II (Cleveland Berto) as an agent and D.A. Sinclair (Eric Bauza) to create the ReAnimen—two people he considers to be vile killers—Mark flips out and attacks him, causing him to reveal his hand that he has implanted anti-Viltrumite technology in Mark’s head—a total invasion of privacy. This severs their alliance for seemingly good and puts Mark completely on his own, as well as sewing conflict in the members of the new Guardians of the Globe.
9
“I Thought You Were Stronger”
Season 2, Episode 8
Despite the fact that it sometimes suffers from mid-season slumps in animation quality, the Invincible team always goes all-out for their big finales, and the finale for Season 2, Invincible Season 2, Episode 8, “I Thought You Were Stronger” is a great example. This is one of the first times that Mark’s family is genuinely put in danger, and it causes him to put to test all moral standards that he holds for himself as Angstrom Levy (Sterling K. Brown) severely harms his mother, Debbie Grayson (), and holds her and his little brother hostage.
Not only does this result in an awesome fight, but it features Mark being sent to tons of other universes, including a great reference to Spider-Man and the story the two have together in the comics, as seen in Marvel Team-Up #14 (2005). Now Agent Spider (Josh Keaton), the Web-Slinger is voiced by none other than Josh Keaton, voice of The Spectacular Spider-Man himself. With a great cameo and phenomenal fight, the Season 2 finale is one to remember.
8
“Don’t Leave Me Hanging Here”
Season 4, Episode 8
The Season 4 finale—Invincible Season 4, Episode 8, “Don’t Leave Me Hanging Here”—emphasizes the fact that not only does Invincible thrive in action-based conflict, but the narrative-based conflict, as well. After the terrible fight with the Viltrumites and being gone from Earth for so long, Mark deals with the emotional fallout of it all, and is given a horrible choice.
Mark doesn’t just discover that Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs) was pregnant and had to make a difficult choice all on her own (causing him to feel extremely guilty), but he finds out that the Viltrumites have secretly invaded Earth, and Grant Regent Thragg (Lee Pace) comes to him with a choice: fight him now and let Earth be destroyed and conquered, or allow his people to live and breed on Earth, doing nothing about it and letting the planet live another day. It’s a terrible position to be in and, while he resists at first, Mark accepts. After a whole episode of what seems like PTSD causing him to think he’s seeing Thragg, the eventual reveal of the real deal is executed masterfully.
7
“Don’t Do Anything Rash”
Season 4, Episode 7
Everyone loves a good battle-oriented episode and one of the best comes in the form of Invincible Season 4, Episode 7, “Don’t Do Anything Rash” as Invincible, Oliver Grayson (Christian Convery), Nolan, Tech Jacket (Zoey Deutch), Battle Beast (Michael Dorn), Space Racer (Winston Duke), and the Coalition of Planets raid Viltrum to face the Viltrumites head-on. While the fight seems like it’ll go alright at the beginning, nothing goes the way they hoped it would.
This fight with the Viltrumites is brutal and has gigantic repercussions for the rest of the series and the characters present in the fight. Not only is Thaedus (Peter Cullen), leader of the Coalition, murdered, but Oliver is gravely injured, seemingly dead until revealed to have a chance at recovery. This episode also ends in the destruction of the entire planet of Viltrum, ripping almost everything Thragg loved away from him.
6
“It’s About Time”
Season 1, Episode 1
A good pilot can define whether a series will find success or not and the pilot of Invincible, Invincible Season 1, Episode 1, “It’s About Time” is an amazing one. While it may start out seeming like the standard superhero series with a bit of brutal The Boys flair, the big twist at the end of the episode solidifies this as a show that will be subverting expectations and unlike what people believed it would be in the majority of the first entry in this series.
After Mark has his big “first fly” as Invincible, in his new suit, set to an awesome soundtrack, audiences watch as his father, the ever-beloved Omni-Man, murders the Guardians of the Globe in cold blood. Why does he do this? No one is sure, and that leads to a mystery and season-long conflict that has viewers invested from start to finish.
5
“What Have I Done?”
Season 3, Episode 7
The “Invincible War” arc from the comics is one that fans of said source material were looking forward to being animated more than most parts of the series up until this episode. Invincible Season 3, Episode 7, “What Have I Done?” depicts Angstrom Levy’s attack on the world via an army of evil Invincibles from across the multiverse in hopes of destroying the Invincible name for good.
This doesn’t just showcase how easy it would be for Mark to take over the planet if he wanted, but how much he is genuinely stronger than his fellow heroes. While a lot of them have died by the end of the episode, the hero can only stop the invasion for good by locking both Angstrom and the leftover Invincibles in another dimension. It’s a brutal episode that doesn’t just ruin the name of Invincible, but ends up in the death of Red Splode (Jason Mantzoukas).
4
“Give Us a Moment”
Season 4, Episode 5
Conquest (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Is. Back. He isn’t just simply back, but he’s back and badder than he’s ever been. As the team is assembled by Allen the Alien (Seth Rogen) and Nolan, soon leaving Earth and heading to space to face the Viltrumite Empire, Mark finally gets his rematch with Conquest… and it doesn’t go as anyone hopes.
When the two go face-to-face again, Mark manages to actually kill Conquest this time, but at a terrible cost. In one of the most brutal, gory, and hard-to-watch scenes in the series, as he chokes Conquest to death, the evil Viltrumite slices the young protagonist’s abdomen open and pulls out his guts. Mark doesn’t give in and kills Conquest, but it puts him into a coma that will come to last for months.
3
“It’s Been a While”
Season 2, Episode 4
When Mark is called to an alien planet to help them, he finds someone he could have never, ever expected to see there: his father, Nolan. Having not seen him since their big fight at the end of Season 1, when he fled Earth after beating Mark almost to death, the young man, understandably, doesn’t have a great reaction to seeing his dad again. To make matters worse, his good ‘ol pops reveals to him that he’s had another son with a member of the alien race on the planet he’s been residing on.
Although, at the end of the day, Mark is still grateful to see his father because, well, he’s still his father. Audiences get to see where Nolan went and what he did after leaving Earth, getting to witness the fact that he’s actually on a path to redemption and the call on Mark to save this planet was genuine. This is because the Viltrumites are coming and Nolan genuinely doesn’t want the people of this planet to suffer the way Earth did with him. So, together, in a fight scene that is absolutely iconic, father and son team up to take on the oncoming Viltrumites and save the planet. Nolan is taken, and Mark is left with his new baby brother.
2
“I Thought You’d Never Shut Up”
Season 3, Episode 8
The finale of Season 3, features one of the best, most brutal, and hard-hitting battles in all of Invincible. After Conquest comes to Earth at the end of the previous episode, he and Mark finally get to fight, and it’s an episode-long trading of blows that is unlike any other in the entire show—potentially only rivaled by that of his fight with Nolan in the Season 1 finale.
Invincible Season 3, Episode 8, “I Thought You’d Never Shut Up” is meant to show not just Mark, but the viewers how truly unrelenting the Viltrumites are. Conquest doesn’t hold back for a single second and almost kills young Oliver, and full-on murders Atom Eve. He doesn’t even begin to entertain talking with Mark and the hero is only able to “kill” him by smashing his head into him over and over (after having almost all of his limps immobilized and broken). Thankfully, Atom Eve doesn’t fully die, but this fight leaves Mark in a space that redefines how he sees heroism as a whole.
1
“Where I Really Come From”
Season 1, Episode 8
There’s truly zero question about the fact that the best episode of Invincible, to this very day, is Invincible Season 1, Episode 8, “Where I Really Come From”—aka the big finale of the first season outing. When Nolan’s villainy is finally revealed, it seems as if no one stands a chance against him besides his own son, Mark. Before they fight, though, Nolan tries to avoid this outcome by explaining to Mark, as the title states, where he really comes from.
It’s here the audience and the young hero finally get to hear the truth about Nolan and the Viltrumite race. Because he’s a good person, Invincible immediately denies this plan to take over the planet and fights his father, who is still abundantly stronger than him. In reality, it’s an episode of Nolan beating the ever-loving snot out of his son and almost murdering him. Not to mention, the fight ends in the best monologue in the series from the villain that is still quoted today. Until the end of time, this episode will remain unforgettable.
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Eddie Possehl
Almontather Rassoul
