Let no one say that nothing ever happens in Invincible. The Prime Video series, based on the graphic novels by Richard Kirkman, is famously eventful, notoriously gory, and unabashedly adult. Even when it focuses on the “quieter” aspects of its superhero world — like the trauma every day people experience in the wake of a villain attack or alien invasion — it’s all in service of a greater goal. It only makes its characters feel more real and watchable; their circumstances easier to relate to.
That said, I’ve been waiting a long time for something very specific to happen in Invincible. For years now the series has been building up to a major event, the Viltrumite War, which will see the title superhero, aka Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), teaming up with his father to free the galaxy from the planet Viltrum. Granted, it’s the kind of thing that can’t be rushed, as J.K. Simmons’ Omni-Man is a Viltrumite himself, and until very recently was working to colonize Earth to bring glory to that fascistic, warmongering empire. He beat his son bloody when he refused to help him in that pursuit, and likened his human wife (an immaculate Sandra Oh) to... a pet. He was utterly irredeemable — until he wasn’t. In Invincible’s second season, after a lot of introspection, Omni-Man utters the words that hit like the Viltrumite’s trademark finishing move: “I think... I miss my wife.”
