Invincible is finally back on Prime Video for Season 2. And as of the first episode, “A Lesson For Your Next Life,” it’s teasing a terrifying idea for the series: does Mark turn evil in Invincible? Does Invincible turn evil???
Naturally, we won’t know the full scope of how the plot works out until at least later in the season, or until the season finale airs. But this is the essential question haunting Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), aka Invincible, in Season 2. Also naturally, we’ve got some answers to this question from the comic books by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley from Image Comics.
First, a little bit of recap on how we got here, and then we’ll break down what to know from the source material.
Will Invincible Turn Evil? That’s Season 2’s Big Question:
In the Season 1 finale of Invincible, Mark was beaten to a bloody pulp by his father, Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons). The reason? Omni-Man, aka Nolan, is part of an alien race called the Viltrumites, nearly invulnerable, super-strong conquerors who manage to take whole planets all by themselves. Nolan was biding his time on Earth pretending to be a superhero, but that time was over, and he wanted Mark — a half-Viltrumite — to join him in taking over the world.
Mark refused and ultimately stopped Omni-Man’s reign of destruction by essentially saying he still loves him, after everything he’s done. Omni-Man left the planet, and Mark and everyone else to recover.
When we pick up in Season 2, we start right off with a look at an alternate universe where Mark chose to join his father. This Earth is in ruins, and both Mark and Nolan kill people without a second thought. And, thanks to Angstrom Levy (Sterling K. Brown), a character with the power to traverse dimensions, we discover that “our” Mark is the anomaly: in most scenarios, father and son join together to take over the world.
So, there are your dramatic stakes for the season. Mark is wrestling with the idea that he’s not his father (he even angrily says just that in a scene with Walton Goggins’ Cecil Stedman). But perhaps he is? Omni-Man is still out there somewhere in the universe. There are other Viltrumites. And Mark is not in a great place right now with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Will he go dark? We’ll have to stay tuned to find out, but keep reading for some spoilers from the comics.
Does Mark Turn Evil In Invincible? What We Know From The Comics:
Do you really want to know whether Invincible turns evil? Okay, here goes: no. Invincible does not turn evil in the comics. Mark often makes some bad choices, lets his rage get the best of him, and even kills a few people (villains, mainly). But he’s a good guy always trying — and sometimes failing — to do the right thing.
That said, as you might have guessed based on the introduction of Angstrom Levy and the multiverse, the book explores multiple variations of Mark throughout the run of the series. We get to see a cannibalistic version of Mark, evil versions of Mark, and many more variants (to borrow another franchise’s term).
Oh, and then so many more Marks, in a massive Image Comics crossover event titled “The Invincible War.” Running from Invincible #60 through Invincible #65 — though the “event” was in the first issue with the fallout in the next five issues — Angstrom Levy brings 16 alternate, evil versions of Mark to his Earth to get revenge on Invincible. They lay waste to the planet, but are ultimately stopped by an assembly of heroes from across the Image Comics universe.
Mark is cleared of wrongdoing by the news, but in the process, cities are laid to waste, and thousands of people die… And perhaps worst of all, it paves the way for the introduction of a nearly unstoppable Viltrumite warrior named Conquest.
There are a lot more twists and turns throughout the series as the Viltrumites try various tactics to coerce Mark into helping them that we won’t get into here. But the short version is that in the comics at least, our Mark is never evil. On TV, though? We’ll have to wait and see…
Invincible Season 2 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
Invincible Season 2 officially premiered on Prime Video on Thursday, November 2 at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT. Though Season 2 will be eight episodes long, only one episode will premiere on Thursday, followed by the next three Thursdays. Then there will be a break, and the second half of Invincible Season 2 will premiere sometime in 2024.
Here’s the full list of episodes in Invincible Season 2:
- Thursday, November 2, 2023: Invincible, Season 2, Episode 1 – “A Lesson For Your Next Life”
- Thursday, November 9, 2023: Invincible, Season 2, Episode 2 – “In About Six Hours, I Lose My Virginity to A Fish”
- Thursday, November 16, 2023: Invincible, Season 2, Episode 3 – “This Missive, This Machination!”
- Thursday, November 23, 2023: Invincible, Season 2, Episode 4 – “It’s Been A While”
- 2024, TBA: Invincible, Season 2, Episode 5 – “TBA”
- 2024, TBA: Invincible, Season 2, Episode 6 – “TBA”
- 2024, TBA: Invincible, Season 2, Episode 7 – “TBA”
- 2024, TBA: Invincible, Season 2, Episode 8 – “TBA” *Season Finale*
One thought on “Does Mark Turn Evil In Invincible?”