After last season’s explosive finale, Amazon’s “Invincible” jumped back into the action last week with a dynamic three-episode premiere. As a longtime fan of both the show and original comic, I can wholeheartedly endorse both jumping back into the story of Mark Grayson for past viewers and starting the series for newcomers.
Season 4 sets a similar structure to the later portions of Season 3, with parallel stories on Earth and deep space covering the exploits of Mark and Nolan, respectively. Mark’s inner conflict over how to use his power to fight evil continues with the classic superhero “no-kill rule” trope being put to the test repeatedly. Mark’s half-brother Oliver faces similar dilemmas, and the two’s unique familial bonds are set up to be put to the test for the rest of the season. Despite these common action themes being present, they aren’t overused and contribute meaningfully to our heroes’ character development.
Season 4 continues to showcase Nolan and Allen’s journey as they embark on a search for weapons and means to harm the Viltrum Empire, giving way to numerous comedic moments. This storyline transitions into the most poignant moment of Season 4 by far: Nolan’s recounting of his childhood on Viltrum, where a culture of strength over all else provides valuable insight into Nolan’s past actions and present emotional turmoil.
Episode 2 provides potentially the most awaited moment since Conquest’s Season 3 reveal: Actually hearing Thragg’s imposing voice after being hyped up by the fandom for several years. Lee Pace meets expectations, and I’m personally excited to see more of both him and Thragg later in the season. On another note, regarding stellar voice acting, Jeffrey Dean Morgan reprises the voice of Conquest, who hopefully will be given consistent screen time over the rest of the season.
The final episode of the premiere is a frenetic one, with the return of an enemy once thought destroyed, the Flaxans, setting the rest of the season up for the progression of multiple comic storylines. Fans of the comic will recognize that this episode provides the setup for the first major storyline divergence in the series, and showrunner Robert Kirkman faces both timeline and narrative challenges in rectifying this side plot with the current main narrative of Mark and the Viltrumites.
Toward the end of the season, I predict fans will have complaints about the divergence from the numerous plot lines of the comics that Season 4 encompasses. The “Invincible” showrunners have wisely cut fluff from earlier seasons in favor of devoting more of the budget toward more relevant storylines, but Season 4 will be a test to see just how far they’re willing to go in the name of cohesion. I personally trust their judgment regarding how much comic fluff they can purge, but I am interested to see just where in the original story Season 4’s finale will land us.
“Invincible,” along with the brainrot on Instagram Reels that comes with it, is back, and I’m all the more excited for it. I’d highly recommend jumping into the show and, even coming from someone who usually dislikes comic books, I can endorse reading the source material as well for a more authentic experience.
