Aaron Paul has been in his voice acting bag since leaving Breaking Bad, with one of his most recent being over on Prime Video’s Invincible. There, he played Powerplex, an electricity-controlling supervillain with a beef against Mark because his sister and niece died during the Invincible vs. Omni-Man fight during season one. However much you liked Paul in that role, turns out it was a one-and-done part that he won’t be reprising.
In a recent episode of the Kinda Funny podcast, the actor said he turned down an offer to come back for future seasons. His reason? It was “too grueling” on him, and he “didn’t feel comfortable” putting himself back in the animated skin of ol’ Scott Duvall. While a fan of the show and its team, he just simply “didn’t want to do it anymore. What it did to me, I didn’t like.”
Powerplex debuts in the season three episode “All I Can Say is Sorry,” where during his battle with Invincible, he accidentally kills his wife and son. It’s a downer episode that leaves Mark in a bad emotional spot, and Powerplex then appeared in the immediate follow up “What Have I Done?,” where he helped heroes kill a bunch of alt-universe Invincible variants and wanted to continue his vengeance against the prime Mark as he went off to save the day. Powerplex appears throughout the comics going forward, so we’ll be seeing more of him, and even with a new voice, he’ll likely be as dangerous as ever for Mark or anyone else crossing his path.
Invincible will return with season four in March. For those who want to hear Paul in a superheroic role that’s not a bummer, there’s always AdHoc Studio’s Dispatch, which was recently nominated at the Game Awards.
It’s never been a bad time to be a Lee Pace fan, but all of a sudden—some two decades into the tall, handsome, dramatic (yet quirky!) actor’s career—he is seemingly everywhere. With some high-profile projectson the horizon and an impressive list of films and TV already logged on his resume, we’re rounding up our favorites among his sci-fi, fantasy, and horror projects.
Across three seasons of the Apple TV+ Isaac Asimov adaptation, Pace has played Brother Day, filling the middle-aged spot in an ever-rotating trio of cloned rulers, all named Cleon. This means that we’ve seen Pace play multiple iterations of Brother Day, including an ambitious deceiver, a campy warmonger, and a lovelorn drug addict. It’s the same man in appearance only, and that allows Pace the chance to explore all the nuances (and hairstyles) that make Cleon such a complex character.
Season three’s shocking climax left Brother Day’s future uncertain, but Apple TV+ surely realizes Pace is a big reason why people tune into Foundation’s sci-fi dramatics, and we think Day will find a way to return.
Set during the early days of Hollywood, Tarsem’s lush 2006 fantasy imagines that a stuntman (Pace) befriends a young girl when they’re both hospitalized. He entertains her with the epic tale of a bandit (also played by Pace) fighting an evil ruler, with characters in the made-up story portrayed as exaggerated versions of people in their real lives.
Gorgeous locations and visuals are (rightfully) what everyone remembers about The Fall, but amid its celebration of storytelling is a bleaker plot about Pace’s depressed character encouraging the little girl to help him steal morphine. In the years after its release, The Fall has become a cult classic—a designation helped along by the fact that until a 2024 4K restoration by Mubi, it was notoriously difficult to track down in either streaming or physical form.
Ronan the Accuser, Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel
Pace’s Marvel moment came playing Ronan the Accuser, a Kree warlord who menaces the Guardians of the Galaxy misfits and tries to claim one of Thanos’ Infinity Stones for his own use. That doesn’t go so well for him, but Pace’s performance was so memorable—he’s a villain, but he’s far from one-note—that it was a delight to see Ronan return (briefly) for a failed attempt at battling the Skrulls in 2019’s Captain Marvel, which takes place before the events of 2014’s Guardians.
This 2004 Todd Holland-Bryan Fuller creation only aired a handful of episodes before being cancelled, though its singular season eventually got a DVD release. Perhaps its premise—about Jaye, a Niagara Falls shop clerk (Caroline Dhavernas, who went on to co-star in Fuller’s Hannibal series) who tries to make the world a better place, urged on by the seemingly magical trinkets she sells—was simply too out-there for Fox audiences.
Pace had a supporting role as Jaye’s easygoing brother; his skepticism about her claims of having conversations with inanimate objects erodes over the course of the series and eventually makes him question his own beliefs about the cosmic order of things.
Pace re-teamed with Fuller for this cult-beloved ABC drama, which ran for two seasons from 2007 to 2009. Pace starred as Ned, a piemaker with the ability to revive the dead with his touch—and then send them back to the beyond with a second touch—who teams up with a private eye on murder cases. He also rediscovers his first love after her untimely murder, then must deal with the agony of never being able to touch her.
Pushing Daisies was equal parts sweet and macabre and favored a fantastical storybook palette in its production design—so it had a lot to love about it. But even with a fun supporting cast (including Kristen Chenoweth) and some memorable guest stars, Pace’s adorable character was really the big draw.
Thranduil, The Hobbit trilogy (An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug, The Battle of the Five Armies)
Thranduil, the Elvenking, brings big drama to all three Hobbit movies (particularly the second and third, released in 2013 and 2014). Is he a true villain—or just an icy, elegantly haughty antagonist? Peter Jackson’s mainline Lord of the Rings movies are near-universally accepted as superior to his Hobbit trilogy for many reasons, but when fans tick off things they do like about his Hobbit movies, Lee Pace’s indelible turn as Thranduil is always right near the top.
The rare horror outing for Pace is technically a horror comedy, with emphasis on the comedy, about a group of catty friends whose drug-fueled “murder” bash turns unexpectedly bloody. Pace plays the older boyfriend of one of the partiers (played by Bottoms’ Rachel Sennott) and becomes an early suspect—though (spoiler!) he meets his own untimely end pretty early on.
We’d love to see Pace add more horror to his resume; he has a couple of supernatural-themed entries we never actually heard of until compiling this list (2017’s The Keeping Hours is one example), but his ability to seamlessly blend comedy and drama makes him an ideal anchor for any high-tension setting.
Garrett, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2
Here’s your reminder that Pace did indeed pop up in the very last Twilight movie, released in 2012. He played an Alaska-based vampire so notably dreamy he attracted some fan notice. That’s no small feat in a movie that’s mostly about theatrically fraught vampire-on-vampire feuds as well as the very odd growth cycle of Edward and Bella’s freaky newborn daughter.
Does Marmaduke count as fantasy? The dogs talk to each other and have exciting off-leash adventures while the human characters (including Marmaduke’s owner, played by Pace) deal with boring life stuff. Marmaduke (voiced by Owen Wilson) and Phil do get involved in a high-stakes, raging-waters rescue at the end that ends up saving not just life and limb but also Phil’s job when a video of it goes viral.
Marmaduke was clearly a choice Pace made as an early career opportunity rather than a creative challenge, but who even remembers this movie? It’s silly, but at least it’s not embarrassing.
Pace fans, prepare to feast! Not only is he in Edgar Wright’s The Running Man as a masked hunter chasing after Glen Powell (in theaters November 14), but he also just joined the cast of the Prime Video animated superhero series Invincible, voicing Grand Regent Thragg in next year’s season four. He also has an as-yet mysterious role in the much-anticipated witchy sequel Practical Magic 2, due out in fall 2026.
It was hard to miss the title of the Invincible panel at New York Comic Con this year. The panel was called “Probably the Best Invincible Panel in the History of Invincible Panels,” which is saying a lot. Panels at San Diego Comic-Con, for example, have shown new trailers and footage, announced casting, and even revealed that there are full, new Invincible spinoffs on the way. To be “probably the best Invincible panel in the history of Invincible panels” was saying a lot. And it sounds like it delivered.
Co-creator, co-showrunner, and executive producer Robert Kirkman joined stars Steven Yeun, Gillian Jacobs, and others on the Empire Stage in New York Friday night to tease what’s happening in season four, which we now know is coming in March 2026. The Comic Con program mentioned questions like, “Has Invincible recovered from the fight with Conquest? Will things ever be the same with Eve? Will there be more Omni-Man in Season Four? Where is Season Five?” Some of those were at least floated during the panel but also, we got this brand new tease.
Not much in the way of footage, but a few morsels in there, lots of meta Invincible humor. Plus, it was announced that Lee Pace is joining the show in season four as Thragg, leader of the Viltrum Empire.
Season four ended with Invincible and Atom Eve almost completely broken after their showdown with the (almost) impossible-to-beat Viltrumite, Conquest. They triumphed, at great personal cost, and then we were left with multiple places the future of the show could go. Cecil kept Conquest’s body. Battle Beast was rescued in space. And, most interestingly, the character Damien Darkblood was teased. There were lots of places season four could go, and only some of that is teased in the footage.
Invincible will return with season four and has already been given a green light for season five. In addition, there’s a very cool-looking new game on the horizon, Invincible Vs., and you can read our interview with Kirkman about that at this link and watch a new teaser below. How excited are you for the future of Invincible?
Intelligence agent Cecil Stedman is the latest playable fighter in Invincible VS.
Invincible VS is a new 3v3 tag fighting game based on the beloved comic book and TV series.
Invincible VS comes to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and Xbox Cloud as an Xbox Play Anywhere title in 2026.
With decades of rich storytelling across comics and television, a dynamic roster of charismatic heroes and villains, and a universe packed with superpowered beings wielding brutal and diverse abilities, it was only a matter of time before “Invincible” made the leap to video games.
Now, several months after Invincible VS’ reveal during the Xbox Games Showcase 2025 in June, Skybound’s first in-house game development studio, Quarter Up, has been steadily unveiling a lineup of playable characters for Invincible VS, the 3v3 tag fighting game, and the latest addition is sure to be a fan-favorite surprise.
Recently, during Quarter Up’s developer livestream, which featured an appearance from “Invincible” co-creator Robert Kirkman, the team revealed that intelligence agent and Director of the Global Defence Agency, Cecil Stedman, has joined the Invincible VS roster as a playable character.
A fan-favorite from the “Invincible” TV series and comic, Cecil has been one of the most requested playable characters. Pragmatic and driven, Cecil is willing to do whatever it takes to save the world, even when that means crossing a line. Decades of espionage experience and near-limitless resources fuel Cecil’s mission, and he refuses to let anyone – enemy or ally – stand in his way.
While he’s been behind the desk for a long time, he’s more than happy to dust off those old bones and get his hands dirty back on the battlefield. Usually heard as a voice in Mark’s earpiece, Cecil enters the fight in Invincible VS with specialized weapons, including plasma pistols, projectile launchers and grenades to keep opponents at a distance.
His ranged gameplay style is paired with tactical combat, allowing him to play cat and mouse with enemies. Cecil can also summon a limitless supply of ReAnimen for backup; his access to The Hammer, a massive orbital laser, makes him a devastating force on the battlefield.
Cecil joins a growing lineup of fan-favorite superheroes in Invincible VS, including Mark Grayson (Invincible), Atom Eve, Bulletproof, Thula, Rex Splode, Battle Beast, and Omni-Man. Unlike the others, Cecil doesn’t rely on superhuman powers – instead he brings a tactical edge to the battlefield with a masterfully engineered arsenal of classic weapons, proving that timeless tech can go toe-to-toe with raw power.
Look for Invincible VS to launch in 2026 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and Xbox Cloud as an Xbox Play Anywhere title. Players can register for an upcoming Invincible VS Closed Alpha later this year here.
Invincible VS is a brutal superhero 3v3 tag fighting game set in the Invincible universe, where you can battle to the death as a team of fan-favorite characters in iconic locations. Unleash bone-breaking combos through fast combat and smart defensive tactics to leave a trail of blood and destruction. Land vicious Super moves and Ultimates to leave your opponents in a mess of blood.
Invincible VS features a variety of game modes including a captivating cinematic story mode with an original narrative from a writer of the animated series. Jump into Arcade and battle with your team, hone your combos in Training mode, and test your skills against the world in competitive and casual multiplayer. Show, comic fans, and fighting game lovers will experience unparalleled heroic brutality, where every earth-shattering blow will leave you feeling… Invincible.
This is the debut title from the newly formed Quarter Up™—the first in-house studio at Skybound—led by former members of the core Killer Instinct (2013) dev team.
I’m not even going to humor you with an opening riff on the eighth episode’s events here, because if you’ve been following Invincible in any observable capacity and are wondering about this, I advise you to get a few sticky notes to counteract your very apparent object permanence struggles.
Folks, there’s no episode nine of Invincible season two; the eighth episode was the season finale, so that’s the last we’ll be seeing of Mark Grayson and company for quite a while. It’s just as well, because it doesn’t seem like Mark wants anybody to look at him right now. After all, he just killed a man.
Granted, that man was Angstrom Levy, whose inadvertent transformation turned him quite violently against Mark and, by extension, Debbie and Oliver. No one, then, is harboring even an ounce of criticism towards Mark for slaughtering him with his bare hands. But for Mark, it only highlights just how far removed his life is from the lives of others. Indeed, even the best support systems in the world would have trouble relieving Mark of the reality of the world he walks in.
It’s also a world in which he couldn’t even bring himself to tell Eve how he feels, despite being urged to do so by her future self, a world where Omni-Man has slowly come into his humanity against all odds and a world that may not have much longer in this universe if the Viltrum Empire gets their way.
So no, there’s no episode nine of Invincible season two. When we return for season three, hopefully Mark will have proven his commitment to becoming better. He can wallow in his guilt all he wants, but at the end of the day, he’s going to be the deciding factor once Viltrum is on the scene. And what a scene it will be to witness.
It’s time to tap into the animation sensation that is Invincible for its Season 2 finale! The Midnight Boys talk about what made the season overall a little different this time around (14:08). Then they tap back into the captivating Shogun and what they think may happen leading into the finale (55:38). And finally, they take on the drama between Storm and Forge in this week’s X-Men ’97 (88:55).
Hosts: Charles Holmes, Van Lathan, Jomi Adeniran, and Steve Ahlman Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Social: Jomi Adeniran
We’re three-quarters of the way through the second season of Invincible, and the game has never been more afoot. Between an increasingly dynamic love triangle, the secret Earth invasion by the Sequids, and the reveal of Shrinking Rae’s unlikely survival, Invincible‘s penchant for drama is as sharp as ever.
And that’s just the surface of the sixth episode’s developments. Elsewhere, Mark’s brother Oliver is aging faster and faster each day, Mark may have gifted Allen the key to taking on the Viltrumites, and Angstrom Levy isn’t out of the picture just yet. Suffice it to say, then, that the incoming seventh episode has a lot of work to do as we prepare to springboard into what’s presumably an explosive finale of cosmic proportions.
So, when exactly will episode seven be strutting its stuff on Prime Video?
When does episode seven of Invincible season two release?
In case you’re not instinctually synced with the program at this point, a new episode of Invincible drops every Thursday until the season two finale debuts on April 4. Since the sixth episode just aired on March 21 (a.k.a. last Thursday), it stands to reason that the seventh episode will drop on March 28 (a.k.a. next Thursday), which, surprise surprise, it will.
Just keep the word “Thursday” in mind if you’re having any trouble remembering the drop date. After all, you don’t want to miss Mark Grayson experiencing yet another devastating moment. Between being isolated from your loved ones, having a father who murders countless thousands, and never knowing if your friends will survive the day, Invincible has taught us all by now that being a superhero actually kinda sucks.
Good news, Invincible fans: Season two’s fifth episode is on the way. November opened with an explosive series of episodes expanding on season one’s finale, introducing us to an alternate universe, life after Nolan Grayson’s major reveal, and Mark figuring out what comes next, among other significant plot points. Let’s just say that if you haven’t seen the first four episodes from fall 2023, then you’re deeply missing out.
Luckily, Invincible’s second season isn’t over yet. There’s more coming on the way, although you might have to wait a bit before you learn more about Mark Grayson’s story. Here’s what we know so far about the fifth episode’s premiere.
So, when is Invincible Season 2, Episode 5 premiering?
We finally have an official, confirmed release date for Invincible season two’s fifth episode! Invincible season two, part two premieres on March 14, 2024. That means we’ll be getting episode five on, yep, that exact day: March 14.
Fans were waiting for quite some time for episode five, given episode four premiered on Nov. 24, 2023. Four days later, Invincible executive producer Simon Racioppa hopped on Geekcentric for a 16-minute interview where he hinted at episode five’s release window.
“Those four episodes were hopefully emotionally draining in some places, exciting in others,” Racioppa said, referencing season two’s first part. “Hopefully, they make you think for the next few weeks or months to just make you reflect on it, so that you don’t just forget it. That’s what I’m hoping people will take back.”
We all knew at the time that Invincible wasn’t getting its next part until 2024, but talk about ambiguity! Hype! A long wait! Luckily, all that’s behind us now. You might have to sit tight until March for more Invincible, but February is a short month, so the wait won’t be long.
Invincible is a great animated superhero series that first started airing on Amazon Prime Video back in 2021. The first season of the show has eight episodes and a special episode also came out earlier this year. The much-awaited second season of the show hit the streaming platform on 3rd November of 2023, and the fourth episode of the season was released on the 24th of the same month. But then, the series went into another hiatus, leaving the audience to wonder when it will be returning.
When will the show return and who will be joining the cast?
Created by Robert Kirkman and based on the comic series of the same name, Invincible luckily has not been abandoned. Kirkman confirmed that the show will indeed be returning to the streaming service soon. The gap between the two parts of the second season of the show will thankfully not be as big as the one between the first and second season of the show. This means that the show will be back with the latter four episodes of the season in 2024.
The much praised cast of the show already consists of names such as Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, and J.K Simmons. It is also rumored that I Think You Should Leave star Tim Robinson will also be joining the cast for the second part of the second season, which is exciting news for the fans.
What will be the possible plot of the second part?
Robert Kirkman has revealed that the reason that season 2 of the show was split into two parts was because he did not want the show to get lost in the holiday rush as the story picks up more pace. The first part of the season left the audience with quite a cliffhanger as we got to know that Invincible and Omni-man are being hunted by Viltrumites. It’s quite easily understood that the story will pick up from there and will probably also change directions when Mark finally comes back to earth. Which is yet to happen.
The second season is set to air in the first half of 2024, which means people do not have to wait too long. Another great news for the fans is that the series will also get a season 3 after season 2 finally wraps up
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Listen as Charles, Jomi, and Van diveinto the midseason break of Invincible Season 2! The guys discuss Mark’s first interaction with his father since Omni-Man killed thousands and fled Earth and the complicated feelings that come with it.
Hosts: Charles Holmes, Van Lathan, and Jomi Adeniran Producers: Jonathan Kermah and Isaiah Blakely Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal and Steve Ahlman
Invincible has always had a knack for delivering dramatic conclusions.
In the pilot of the animated series, Mark Grayson (voiced by Steven Yeun) begins to develop superpowers, and with the guidance of his alien father, Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons), Earth’s greatest hero, Mark takes up the name Invincible and becomes a superhero in his own right. But what begins as a feel-good, familiar origin story for Invincible soon becomes a sinister introduction to who Omni-Man really is: Earth’s most fearsome villain. Just as the series premiere appears to be ending, Omni-Man ambushes the superhero team known as the Guardians of the Globe and brutally kills them all.
In Invincible’s explosive first-season finale, Omni-Man shares his true motives with Mark: He’s been tasked by his homeworld Viltrum with conquering Earth and preparing its population to join the expanding Viltrum Empire. After Omni-Man fails to convince Mark to help his cause, the Viltrumite devastates Chicago and nearly kills Mark to demonstrate the futility of resistance. However, Omni-Man stops just short of ending his son’s life, and then he flees the planet without explanation.
It isn’t until the final seconds of the third episode of Season 2 that Omni-Man and Mark are reunited, as Omni-Man manages to lure Mark to a distant planet under the pretense that it needs to be saved from a meteor shower. Omni-Man’s return paves the way for another shocking ending in Episode 4, “It’s Been a While,” a midseason finale that gives Mark his greatest test yet and reestablishes the looming threat of a Viltrumite invasion.
Due to a number of factors, including the challenges of the show’s animation process and delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, more than two years elapsed between the end of Invincible’s first season in 2021 and the start of its second in early November. But the extended layoff hasn’t hurt the show: Through the first four episodes of the latest season, Invincible remains one of the best superhero programs on TV as it builds on the momentum of Omni-Man’s betrayal.
Season 2 started with something of a misdirection, one that played with the audience’s expectation to receive some answers about what happened to Omni-Man and see the continuation of his conflict with Mark. The premiere opened with Mark fighting the Immortal (Ross Marquand), only to reveal that Omni-Man was back, as he teamed up with Invincible to kill the millenia-old superhero (again). But before long it became clear that this wasn’t the show’s main version of Earth at all. It was another universe entirely, a timeline in which Mark never stood up to his father but instead joined his efforts to prepare the world for the inevitable Viltrumite takeover.
With the introduction of a dimension-hopping new character named Angstrom Levy (Sterling K. Brown), Invincible has become yet another superhero story to enter the multiverse. Between the two Spider-Verse films, The Flash, and Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga (along with non-superhero projects like Everything Everywhere All at Once), the concept of the multiverse has become a well-worn narrative device in recent years that’s grown more tiresome with every misfire. Much like The Boys and its spinoff series Gen V, Invincible emerged as a standout in the crowded superhero landscape because of the ways it subverted the familiar beats and tropes of a genre that has dominated Hollywood for more than a decade. Yet in its second season, the show’s embrace of the multiverse has threatened to propel the series into all-too-familiar territory.
Fortunately, Invincible manages to maintain its novelty. While the multiverse is often used to transport heroes to parallel dimensions or bring alternate versions of the same hero together in one universe, Invincible introduces the concept by way of a villain’s origin story. Angstrom first appears in the universe that saw Mark team up with his father to conquer Earth; as he later explains, the two “heroes” team up to take over the planet in most dimensions. Angstrom’s mission starts off well intentioned: By bringing together all the versions of himself from across the multiverse, Angstrom can pool the knowledge and resources from each Earth and share the collective findings among them to solve all of their individual problems.
But when Angstrom returns to the main Invincible universe and hires the Mauler Twins (Kevin Michael Richardson) to help him transfer the memories of every one of his multiversal counterparts into his mind, Mark intervenes as the volatile process is already underway. The Maulers’ machine is destroyed during the conflict, killing everyone at the scene save for Mark, one of the Maulers, and the superpowered Angstrom, whose brain mutates amid the massive download of newfound knowledge and memories. Rather than seeking to fix every world, Angstrom instead vows to get revenge on Invincible, and begins to travel between dimensions to gather intel on how to defeat him.
After the Season 2 opener, this multiversal threat fades into the background as Mark and the so-called Global Defense Agency (GDA) write off the encounter as just another run-in with the Maulers. Angstrom’s plotline will surely resurface when Invincible returns for the second half of its latest season in early 2024, but its absence for much of the remainder of Part 1 leaves room for the series to grow in more interesting ways, grounded within its main timeline. Where Season 2 really thrives is in its narrowed focus on the show’s central characters and their adjustments to a world without a heroic Omni-Man.
Omni-Man’s betrayal and departure have created a need for a new primary protector, and Mark slowly eases his way into the role. As he starts to work for Cecil (Walton Goggins) and the GDA, all of his choices are weighed against the guilt he harbors for his father’s actions. Even though Mark opposed Omni-Man and the world knows it, he still feels as if he needs to prove to everyone—and himself—that he isn’t going to turn into the world-conquering Viltrumite he was raised by (and raised to be). Meanwhile, Mark’s mother, Debbie (Sandra Oh), bears a different kind of guilt as she tries to reckon with why she never saw through her husband’s lies in nearly 20 years of marriage. She turns to alcohol as a coping mechanism and descends into a drunken depression as she grapples with the fact that she was never more than a “pet” to the man she knew as Nolan Grayson. Without any proper outlets to channel her grief or process how she could have been partners with someone capable of inflicting such cruel and senseless destruction, Debbie spirals and grasps for some semblance of control in her life.
The character-driven nature of Invincible has always been one of the series’ strongest qualities, and the emotional beats involving Mark and Debbie work particularly well this season. Their struggles reflect lasting consequences from the first-season finale as their lives carry on, with Mark graduating high school and starting college, and Debbie navigating the transition into an empty nester on her own during her darkest hour. By delaying Omni-Man’s return until the end of the third episode, Invincible allows these characters to grow while also building up the anticipation of a potential rematch between Mark and the show’s most captivating antagonist.
The midseason finale capitalizes on the groundwork laid throughout Part 1’s first three episodes to become the strongest installment of the season. Omni-Man reveals his new life as the emperor of Thraxa, a planet inhabited by insectoids who have a lifespan of only nine months, and he introduces Mark to his wife, Andressa (Rhea Seehorn), and their child. It’s a lot for Mark to process at once, and before he can even attempt to do so, Thraxa gets invaded by a trio of Viltrumites who have been hunting down Omni-Man for deserting his post back on Earth.
“It’s Been a While” boasts some of Invincible’s trademark action mixture of stunning and grotesque violence as Mark and Omni-Man team up to defend the planet and Omni-Man’s new family. The duo defeat the Viltrumites, but the victory comes with steep costs: Mark is nearly killed, Omni-Man’s spine is snapped, and much of the Thraxan civilization is destroyed. Just as Omni-Man returns to the forefront of the story, he’s taken away in a Viltrumite ship to be brought back to his homeworld for execution. Yet even in Omni-Man’s limited screen time, Invincible shows how much he, too, has grown as a character. He killed thousands of civilians in Chicago in the first season simply to convey to Mark how little their brief lives mattered in the grand scheme of things, and here he defies his fellow Viltrumites to defend a planet of beings whose entire life cycles last less than a calendar year.
Mark is spared by the Viltrumites so that he can return to Earth and supposedly assume his father’s role in preparing humanity for the Empire’s invasion, which sets up the second half of the eight-episode season. What with all of the other ongoing story lines in Invincible, including Angstrom’s multiversal revenge spree, the Coalition of Planets’ growing efforts to quell the Viltrum Empire in the far reaches of space, and Atom Eve’s (Gillian Jacobs) journey of self-discovery after giving up crime fighting, Season 2 can feel a little scattered as it divides its time among its moving parts. But the fourth episode reminds the audience what’s at stake by refocusing on the central conflict between Mark and Omni-Man, and the impending Viltrumite invasion, just as Invincible enters another hiatus.
Amazon Prime Video has yet to announce exactly when the series will return next year, but the streaming service already renewed the show for a third season back in 2021, and the surprise release of a stand-alone Atom Eve prequel special in late July could be the first of many of its kind. With a growing cast of dynamic characters (and an absurd wealth of talent voicing them), the Invincible universe is expanding. And as long as the series continues to develop those characters so deftly amid the chaos of the multiverse around them, there may be no limit to the narrative heights Invincible can reach.
Plus, Mal and Jo dive into the Season 2 premiere of ‘Invincible’
We do love your mother, but she’s more like a … a pet to us.Invincible is back and so are Jo and Mal, who are suiting up to soar into Amazon Prime’s bloody adaptation. First, they discuss Invincible’s comic book origins and role in the superhero critique era (11:00). Then, they revisit some of Season 1’s most memorable highlights (43:00). Finally, they dip into the anticipated Season 2 premiere (1:30:00)!
Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson Producer: Jonathan Kermah Additional Production: Arjuna Ramgopal Social: Jomi Adeniran
Invincible creator Robert Kirkman has given an update about the live-action movie adaptation of his acclaimed superhero comic.
While speaking with Variety, Kirkman was asked about what stage the live-action Invincible movie is at in terms of production. The creator noted that it’s still very early days for the project, but that things will likely speed up after the script is “where it needs to be.”
“[It’s] still in the script development stage,” Kirkman revealed. “I think once we get the script to where it needs to be, I think we’ll be in a good place, and can move fairly quickly after that. But all of the factors that I just discussed are things that we’re thinking about: How does this feel new? How does this feel different? How is this going to feel like something that’s special? Those are very tall orders. We also need to find a way to play off the animated series, but also differentiate ourselves and give the movie a reason for existing. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. But we’re hopeful.”
When does Invincible Season 2 debut?
The new season is set to premiere on Prime Video on Friday, November 3, on Prime Video. Invincible Season 1 centered around Mark Grayson, a 17-year-old boy who begins to develop superpowers like super strength, flight, and super speed. He then begins to train to use his abilities under the guidance of his father, Nolan Grayson, who is one of the most powerful superheroes on Earth, Omni-Man.
Returning for season 2 on November 3, Amazon Prime’s Invincible is full of wildcard moves like shocking superhero twists that disrupt a charming coming-of-age narrative. And its myriad cast of voice actors is no exception. At New York Comic-Con, series/comic creator Robert Kirkman and showrunner Simon Racioppa spoke to reporters in a roundtable setting and told The Mary Sue all about it.
It seems like Invincible‘s voice cast falls into three categories: superhero alumni, comedians, and The Walking Dead alumni. Undeniably, if you’re a TWD fan and not watching this show, you’re missing out. All the besties have reunited! The main cast includes Steven Yeun, Gillian Jacobs, Andrew Rannells, Zazie Beetz, J.K. Simmons, and Mark Hamill. I could keep going!
But forming cliques was not the intent. “I think that we always try to think of the best actor for the role,” said Kirkman during the discussion. “I love that we have a wide range […] not only do we have big movie stars like Seth Rogen, but we have great actors like Grey DeLisle. She’s an excellent voice actor that’s done, you know, a ton of different things.” Also known as Grey Griffin, the performer Kirkman shouted out plays Shrinking Rae, Monster Girl, and Olga in Invincible.
If nothing else, the cast keeps voice sessions fun and different, according to Kirkman. “It’s great having Kevin Michael Richardson and Sterling K. Brown in scenes together, you know,” Kirkman continued. “And you’ve got absolute lunatics like Jason Mantzoukas and Ben Schwartz, [who] just will not do our dialogue, no matter how hard we try to get them to do our dialogue exactly the way that we’ve written it. It’s just a great mix.”
“I think it’s that diversity that actually brings something really great to the show,” continued Racioppa. “Linda Lamontagne is our casting director, and she just brings us a great variety of names. And we also ask for, like, a wild card pick. We’re like, ‘Who’s the craziest person you could think of for this role?’ And she gives us a couple of names of people you might not consider. You’re like ‘Wait a second, actually…’ and you talk about that.”
Besides Brown and Schwartz, some of the new Invincible cast members in Season 2 include Tatiana Maslany, Chloe Bennet, Cliff Curtis, Rob Delaney, Daveed Diggs, Calista Flockhart, Luke MacFarlane, Scoot McNairy, Ella Purnell, Tim Robinson, Rhea Seehorn, Lea Thompson, Jay Pharoah, and Paul F. Tompkins. “So I think we’re very lucky that, again, we have such a broad cast in so many different ways and they really just bring something different and something special to the show that you can’t get anywhere else,” said Racioppa.
However, that doesn’t mean the producers don’t have a wish list for potential future seasons of Invincible. Earlier this year at San Diego Comic-Con, Kirkman said that Bryan Cranston had to turn down a role on Invincible for scheduling reasons. Comedian Connor O’Malley (I Think You Should Leave, Joe Pera Talks To You) simply declined. (And as our Rachel Leishman observed at PaleyFest this year, Kirkman brought up O’Malley as a dream ‘get’ again! Come through, sir!)
This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the work being covered here wouldn’t exist.
