Invincible’s fourth season performs a much-needed reset, setting a definitive course for its character arcs right from the word go. In the first 6 of its 8 episodes, the show’s signature gore is matched by its emotional brutality, as it confronts questions that have been hovering in the background by finally placing them front-and-center – namely, is Mark/Invincible really like his father? Can Nolan, the former Omni-Man, ever be forgiven for his crimes? And is it truly possible for them to become better people?
All of this drama unfolds against the backdrop of the looming Viltrumite War, an arc in Robert Kirkman’s source comics (published by Image). In it, the Coalition of Planets – led by Viltrumite turncoat Thaedus – finally takes on the remains of the ruthless Empire, led by this season’s villain, Grand Regent Thragg (voiced by Lee Pace with an icy chill). Before the conflict begins in earnest, and sooner than you might expect, we’re re-introduced to Mark on Earth as he recovers from Conquest’s beatdown at the end of Season 3. The swarthy, one-armed sadist is secretly being kept alive by Cecil and the GDA (Global Defense Agency), but as far as Mark is aware, he killed the invading warrior in a fit of rage for what he did to Eve, and he’s since decided to do whatever is necessary to keep his loved ones safe…even if it means taking a life.
The Mark we meet in Season 4 has a much harder edge, and Steven Yeun plays him with a withdrawn quality as he begins to wonder whether this is who he is or who he wants to be. As always, the Grayson family drama is the series’ strong suit, with a now-teenaged Oliver (Mark’s half-brother) eager to take up a superhero mantle and reclaim the Omni-Man logo, while their mother Debbie just wants to live a normal life with her ordinary boyfriend, Paul. Mark’s life is further complicated by his relationship with Eve, whose parents have some understandable concerns about their daughter nearly dying whenever she’s around Mark. It certainly doesn’t help that her own powers hit a bit of a snag for some very interesting reasons.
This time around, existential threats are the name of the game, with Mark’s new fatalistic worldview coming into immediate conflict with a number of major villains that force him into ethical dilemmas. There are super-smart dinosaurs who want to end the world, nuclear power-hungry goddesses, and yes, even more mind-controlling Martian Sequids and interdimensional Flaxans. But if anything in Season 4 ever feels like a retread, it usually has a purpose; if existing threats keep coming back, surely Mark and his comrades will eventually be forced into questioning their methods. In fact, the most interesting thing about all this is the idea that Mark, with his new “shoot first, ask questions later” credo, might actually be right…though this ends up being challenged in some unexpected ways.
For the most part, the show’s repetitive elements are purposeful, save for a lore-heavy detour to a fiery, subterranean realm in Episode 4 alongside demon detective Damien Darkblood. This sounds much more exciting in theory, even if it does feature the great Bruce Campbell in a surprising role. If something doesn’t fully click this season, it’s usually because it isn’t quite as strong as the central drama of Mark’s shifting morality.
For instance, the other Earthbound heroes – aka the Guardians of the Globe – and their street-level villains, the Order, don’t have the most interesting things to do. But given how far their subplots meandered last season, this might be for the best. The show also still retains some flaws from previous years, like an over-reliance on celebrity names and traditional screen actors who don’t quite have the right skill set for animation, resulting in some dramatic dead air. For what it’s worth, the creators seem to rely far more on what already works about the show, and they find new ways to complicate Nolan’s deep space self-reflections.
Far-flung from those he betrayed, Nolan gets to spend some much needed time with Allen, Seth Rogen’s jovial and forgiving one-eyed alien hero, who makes for a fantastic foil to J.K. Simmons’ gradually-reforming antihero. As established in prior episodes, the pulp novels Nolan wrote on Earth hold clues to real allies and weapons that could be used to defeat the Viltrumites, so his scenes with Allen take on a similarly pulpy, fetch-quest quality, as they’re joined by characters inspired by everything from mecha anime to ’50s American sci-fi to Greek and Hindu mythology. By the time the war kicks off and the show grows in scale, it feels like every possible subgenre has been roped into it.
However, what works best about Nolan’s arc is what we slowly learn about his people, especially in Episode 2, which makes for a series highlight. The Viltrumites are still cold and cult-like, but the losses they’ve endured over the centuries can’t help but bring to mind real-world stories like the COVID pandemic and even modern geopolitics, where nation states use the horrors of past genocides to justify carrying out atrocities in the present. The villains are by no means made likable, but their twisted outlook is in its own way empathetic. They end up reflecting key comic works like Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel, Maus, a major theme of which is the idea that suffering doesn’t necessarily make you a better person; it just makes you suffer.
This feeds wonderfully into Nolan’s character arc, which is rooted in the question of just how much of his Viltrumite self he’s willing or even able to shed in search of absolution. But it isn’t all doom and gloom despite these incredibly heavy themes. Invincible has always skirted the line of superhero parody, and while it’s gotten far too serious on that front to start joking about the genre again, it does feature a delightful send-up of Star Trek: The Next Generation during Nolan’s galactic pursuit.
As usual, the montages set to popular needle drops help capture a melancholy mood while acting as connective tissue between major events. This especially applies to scenes of space travel, which the show remembers takes time, affording major characters like Nolan, Mark, and Oliver some much needed downtime in the process. Things come to a head this season, with inevitable meetings and reunions fans have long been waiting for, but the series earns each and every one of them and immerses viewers in some of the most rigorous drama Invincible has seen thus far. The show has carnage for days…but more importantly, it backs it up with meaning.
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