Invincible is a unique creature in the world of superhero television. It’s a Western cartoon that follows its source material so closely that we can kind of pinpoint where the show is in the original narrative. Invincible just wrapped its fourth season on Amazon Prime, which covered issues #66-78 of the comic book series.
By now, the world of Invincible has been fairly well established, so four seasons in, it’s a 
matter of deepening its lore. Not only do we know more about the Viltrumites and Nolan’s motivations, but we have been introduced to a fairly good amount of Earth heroes and Mark’s supporting characters. Unfortunately for Mark, this season starts with him estranged from Cecil and other heroes and unsure of how to handle his younger brother’s superhero career all while Invincible needs to recover from serious injuries after fighting Conquest.
Invincible is a show that doesn’t pull its punches, and while many superhero stories deal with killing and enemy and its consequences, Invincible has done a remarkable job of it. Mark doesn’t want to be a killer like his father, he doesn’t want his younger brother to think killing is a viable solution, but Mark faces some tough choices this season. With all that weighing on him, there’s the hanging threat of the Viltrumites, which is now closer than its ever been. Mark knows he’s probably going to have to kill them to protect his loved ones, and he’s uncomfortable with that choice. It’s a great question that underscores the season and highlights Mark’s issues.
The first half of the season is Earth-based, and the second half of the season is a multi-episode space arc. Here’s a breakdown of the eight episode season.
“Making the World a Better Place” – Invincible deals with the fallout from the previous season, but he doesn’t get much rest when he has to help the Guardians of the Globe deal with the Sequids, an alien race of Starro-like creatures that can take over people’s minds and bodies. It’s a strong start to the season.
“I’ll Give You the Grand Tour” – Nolan and Allen the Alien go from planet to planet to track down all the known weaknesses of Viltrumites to help them in their upcoming battle. It’s a good spotlight on Nolan, and there were some funny bits mixed in with the serious, but it also could’ve been a subplot mixed in with something Mark was doing.
“I Gotta Get Some Air” – This episode somewhat clears the deck of the Earth characters. We check back in on the power struggle of supervillains with Titan, Machine Head, and The Dragon while the Guardians of the Globe face a resurfaced alien army that has serious consequences for the team. While the plots are engaging, there isn’t a lot of development to the Earth heroes during the season, so it ultimately comes off as not as important as the space stuff.
“Hurm” – Heroic demon Damien Darkblood returns, and this time we see him in his natural element – Hell. The Invincible version of Hell is less supernatural and more like another civilization that’s older than humans and in an inaccessible part of the Earth. While casting Bruce Campbell as Satan himself is an amazing choice, it’s not the strongest episode. The exposition gets heavy, and even the fight scenes, with regenerating demons and all, dragged on a bit too much. It was funny to see Mark throwing all these theological questions at Damien, but the lighthearted tone felt like too much of a departure of how Mark had been acting all season. He also ditches his new blue and black costume for the classic blue, black and yellow, but even that feels unearned.
“Give Us a Moment” – Nolan and Allen finally arrive on Earth to pick up Mark and some other allies. It’s one of the most emotionally charged episodes, and it’s great to see Nolan try to make things up with Debbie while she’s completely not having it. It ends with the most brutal fight of the season, if not series, when Invincible has a rematch with Conquest.
“You Look Horrible” – The fallout from the previous episode leaves Nolan and Oliver alone together for some time. Oliver’s resentment of Nolan had been quietly building, but bigger issues kept getting in the way. Here, they finally have the chance to interact one on one. Oliver becomes a stronger character when we see his innocent and more vulnerable side in this episode. There’s even a hint that he’s going to have a tough time going through puberty.
“Don’t Do Anything Rash” – The biggest fight of the season takes place in the penultimate episode where Invincible and his allies take the fight to the Viltrumites. While not as violent or shocking as Invincible’s fight with Conquest, there were some surprise moments where you really couldn’t predict who was going to make it out alive.
“Don’t Leave Me Hanging Here” – Mark returns to Earth and struggles to clear his head after a series of traumatic events. It’s a slower episode that serves more as an epilogue to the previous episode and a way to set up the status for next season. It’s important to show how fighting the Viltrumites shook Mark to his core, but there were a lot of unnecessary fake outs here that felt violent just for the sake of getting in some gore in the final episode.
Four seasons in, and Invincible is confident in its own identity. While making wise choices 
when it comes to grouping individual comic book issues and arcs into an hour long animated series, it also adds unique elements like sneaking the word “Invincible” into the dialogue to show the title card. It remains a well acted show, and the main voice cast really hit the proper emotional beats when they needed to.
The show also knows where to spend its money and where to take shortcuts. You can’t really blame them for having montages of still frames set to music or even telepathic conversations that don’t require animating lip movements when the show really prides itself on the action scenes. Invincible has a lot going for it, but the brutal and bloody fight scenes got people talking about the show from the very beginning. This is the kind of superhero show whose superhumans will cause massive amounts of damage and destruction. It’s both a blessing and a curse because, while the violence makes it unique, there’s always a need to go further with every season and every fight. We’ve seen Invincible come back from having his face punched in, so the next huge fight has the need to show his stomach being ripped open.
On the lighter side of things, Invincible is a truly funny show. It doesn’t hesitate to point out the absurdity of some situations or have one of the characters voice what the audience must be thinking. Seth Rogen as Allen the Alien continues to add much needed levity when the heroes are in really dire positions.
Yes, Invincible is divided into seasons (and, going by the trajectory and the statements by series creator Robert Kirkman, we’re four seasons in to what could be a nine season show), but it’s really a long, connected epic story. This season was light on the Guardians of the Globe, and even Eve, while having a serious story to deal with, feels more like she is cast in the role of Mark’s girlfriend rather than a hero in her own right. However, that’s just because this season dealt more with the Viltrumites and the Grayson family drama. Having the spotlight focus on some characters more than others isn’t an indication of the show’s drop in quality.
Ultimately, many characters have their own trajectories and are going to come in and out of focus as they intersect with Mark’s life. We just have to trust the creative team to pay off the things they have been setting up since episode one. While some plots resolved themselves this season, others began, and there is plenty more payoff in Invincible‘s future.
