By PORTER STAGGERS/Staff Writer
After 2 years of waiting, the Amazon Prime Video series “Invincible” returned on November 3rd, 2023. The series initially captured hearts and interests with its subversive storytelling, adult themes, and complex characters. After all this time, did the season 2 premiere live up to the hype?
The synopsis of season 2 reads,
“Still reeling from Nolan’s betrayal in season one, Mark struggles to rebuild his life as he faces a host of new threats, all while battling his greatest fear – that he might become his father without even knowing it.” – Courtesy of Amazon.
After having seen the first and second episodes, I can confidently say that Invincible has not missed any steps. Even after the long wait, it feels like I was in this world just yesterday. The characters, setting, plotlines, themes, everything still feels like the same show I fell in love with 2 years ago.
The events of the season 1 finale cast a large shadow over each character, none more so than Mark and Debbie. After the devastating reveal of Omni-Man’s true motives, mother and son are left to wallow in the betrayal. Mark’s main struggles this season are his insecurities that he will turn out like his father, and become evil. We see him initially avoid any sort of super-powered enemies, as his main focus is to restore the damage caused by his father. Ultimately however, he agrees to work for government official Cecil Stedman, who wishes to keep a close watch on Mark, out of fear that he will turn into his father. Debbie is struggling with her former husband referring to her as a “pet,” and the hurt that comes from that. She is also wary of Stedman, as she thinks that he does not have Mark’s best interests at heart. Both characters are masterfully voice-acted by Steven Yeun and Sandra Oh, truly bringing raw and complex emotions to their roles.
The rest of the returning cast also have interesting storylines going into season 2. The new team of Guardians are still struggling to find their footing. Former member, the Immortal, becomes the new team leader, replacing Robot. The Immortal ruffles more feathers while on the team, beginning a relationship with fellow team member Duplikate, annoying Rex Splode. The new team is disorganized, still has much to learn. I hope to see their storylines continue to develop, such as Robot’s new emotions, the new member Bulletproof, and Immortal’s distrust of Mark.
After her special origin episode that premiered over the summer, Atom Eve finds herself continuing her quest to be a hero in other ways than crime fighting. Her origin shed a massive amount of light on her upbringing, endearing her even more so to fans. Eve attempts to help some local citizens whose apartment complex was destroyed in Omni-Man’s rampage through Chicago. Her good deeds end up backfiring, however, as she built a new playground atop unstable ground, causing a massive cave-in. Eve’s story through this season seems to be to develop her understanding of heroics, and her own powers.
Other supporting characters, such as Mark’s girlfriend Amber, and best friend William, are not given much to do as of the first 2 episodes. Amber is still working at the soup kitchen, while still being a loving partner to Mark. While this could not be the case, I got the feeling that Amber’s screen time has been reduced from last season because of the negative reception to her character from some fan groups. I personally really enjoyed Amber in the first season, and I hope that she will be given more to do as the season progresses.
The main villain of this season is shaping up to be Angstrom Levy, a genius-level scientist with the ability to travel through the multiverse. While multiverse stories have become overplayed in a lot of modern superhero media, the way that Invincible is looking to tackle it intrigues me so far. Levy collected many of his alternate universe selves, and attempted to transfer all of their collected knowledge into his own in order to solve all of the world’s problems. However, due to Invincible interfering, Levy stopped the transfer prematurely, causing all of his doppelgangers to die, whilst jumbling all of their memories into his own. This leaves Levy horribly disfigured, with him having memories that aren’t his own. Levy leaves to travel the multiverse, vowing revenge on Invincible. Actor Sterling K. Brown brings sincerity and madness to his portrayal, shaping his character up to be a fantastic villain. I am incredibly interested in what his plans are for Mark and the rest of the season.
The Invincible series continues to be a breath of fresh air in the overly-saturated superhero market. With its mature themes, deep characterization, stunning animation, and stellar voice cast, Invincible is 100% a series I would recommend to anyone looking for a new show to fall in love with.
