You Should Be Watching: Invincible (Season 1)
It is somewhat hard for any Amazon produced show to fly completely under the radar, by now you have likely seen an ad or a banner on your Firestick for Invincible but I know just another superhero knock of show cause HBO Max has DC and Disney Plus has Marvel right??? Hell no! This is why you should be watching Invincible.
I will say this if nothing else watching the very first episode, specifically the final 5 minutes will have you hooked. The show mixes a bit from obvious superhero tropes and has blatant parallels to the popular heroes we know but it flips them on their head and even introduces some truly unique power sets and the ramifications for using them especially in the younger heroes. It’s like the adults all have a Justice League mirror but the kids have unique fresh power sets. Sure yes we have seen plenty of “What if Superheroes really existed?” takes focusing more on how the actual world would reconcile with super powered people but unlike say The Boys, another Amazon series, Invincible does it in the style of the golden age DC animation shows done by Bruce Timm. The show looks like it could seemingly fit right in with the Justice League, Batman: The Animated Series, and other shows that are cherished. This makes it all the more impactful when the show goes places we have not seen before in Saturday Morning Superhero animation. The series revolves around young Mark Grayson, a teenager growing up in the shadow of his Super Powered father Omniman. Omniman fills the role of Superman, he comes from another planet that allows him to be God-tier here on earth. I am hesitant to reveal too much more cause I want to save you the reveal but Mark at this age has yet to get his powers and it is causing some anxiety in the family. It is a little reminiscent of another favorite of mine I have covered in this feature My Hero Academia where the main character wishes to be a hero in the shadow of the greatest hero but has no powers. Inevitably, as you would guess by the marketing, Mark eventually gets his powers which thrust him into the Spiderman analog of the show, balancing the life of a teenager with High School and girls but also training to be the heir apparent to the greatest hero on earth.
The show sports a pretty impressive cast, Omiman is played by J.K. Simmons who now completes the trifecta of playing characters in Marvel, both Sony and MCU, DC and Indie Comics. Steven Yeun from The Walking Dead plays Mark and Sandra Oh plays the mother of the family Debbie. They are joined by an ensemble of other notable names like Walton Goggins, Gillian Jacobs and Zachary Quinto. Oh and of course Mark Hamill makes a cameo because I believe he is contractually obligated to lend his voice to a Comic Cartoon. The show is written by Robert Kirkman, yes that Robert Kirkman who created The Walking Dead so you can imagine a little better the edge he brings to the project. I won’t claim to have read the comics before watching the show but from my research and asking people who know better it seems the show does stay pretty faithful to the comic besides moving things around a little bit, in the comics the origin story and big reveal from episode 1 doesn’t happen till later in the run. Invincible strikes a great balance of having those wholesome, cheer moments we love in superhero stories especially those 90’s cartoons but also brings a grit and reality we have come to appreciate in our hero worship. It really is a 90’s Comic Animation series aged up to match that audience as we got older and started hating the world with our cynicism. Invincible is still in its first season with new episodes dropping every Friday so it is well worth catching up and experiencing the big reveals with the rest of us as they come.
