Despite promising a bunch of family fun, Prime Video’s Invincible delivered the other thing in this week’s new episode, “This Missive, This Machination!” We got a huge character return, we got another got-punch for Debbie (Sandra Oh), and we also got a cute date with Rudy/Robot (Ross Marquand) and Monster Girl (Grey Delisle). Oh, and also — spoilers past this point — Allen The Alien (Seth Rogen) died, killed by Thadeus (Peter Cullen, aka the voice of Optimus Prime).
Once you’ve stopped screaming and sobbing, you might be wondering if Allen is dead on Invincible, for real. We don’t see his funeral — and perhaps of note, things go down very differently in the comic books by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley.
Here’s what to know about Allen the Alien’s fate on Invincible while we anxiously wait for the next new episode.
Is Allen Dead? Allen The Alien’s Death Explained:
We won’t give a full recap of the episode but as Mark (Steven Yeun) and Amber (Zazie Beetz) have sex for the first time, a narrator hilariously pops in to take the viewer away from that, and into space. So instead we get a mini-episode of Allen The Alien, complete with a title card aping the one for Invincible.
In the segment, we find out Allen’s origins. His race, the Unopans, was one of many planets attacked by the conquering Viltrumites. But unlike other planets, they didn’t give up… They resisted and ultimately joined the Coalition of Planets. They also brought along their special skills, a breeding program.
While it was mostly unsuccessful, they did have their biggest success with Allen, who was super-strong from the time he was a baby. As he grew, he only became stronger and was one of the main lines of defense against the Viltrumites and other threats.
However, as we saw in Season 1, he’s also not perfect. In fact, he mistook Earth for “Urath,” fought Invincible, and ultimately they came to respect each other.
That’s where we pick up in this episode, which is a pretty close adaptation of Image Comics Invincible #23. In it, we see Allen coming back to Talescria, the home planet of the Coalition. He tells them about Mark and urges them to take advantage of a good half-Viltrumite. The Council at the head of the Coalition seems dubious, but led by Thadeus (Peter Cullen) they agree to look into it. Before Allen leaves, though, Thadeus tells him he thinks there’s a mole reporting to the Viltrumites, and tasks Allen with looking into it.
After a brief interlude where Allen hooks up with his girlfriend Telia (Tatiana Maslany), a general in the Coalition, which confuses the narrator, they go out to dinner… Only to be approached by three Viltrumites; Lucan, and two others. They question Allen about why Nolan (J.K. Simmons), aka Omni-Man, left Earth and his son, to which Allen confirms it happens, and taunts them — presumably to draw their ire towards him instead of Telia and other onlookers. They proceed to tear Allen apart.
Surprisingly, that doesn’t kill Allen. When we next see him, he’s in a coma in the hospital, being kept alive by the machinery in the room. When nobody is around, Thadeus pulls down a dial on Allen’s life support, the light dims, and the beeps of the heart monitor slow and stop. It seems that not only is Thadeus the mole, but Allen is… Dead?
How Does Allen Die In The Comics? All About Allen The Alien’s Death (Or Lack Thereof):
That’s the thing: Allen doesn’t die in the comics. Things happen a little differently in Invincible #23, with Thadeus revealing there’s a mole to Allen while Allen is in the coma – not before. We don’t pick up with Allen again until Invincible #38 when — BIG SPOILERS HERE — Allen wakes up out of the coma, and discovers that he’s grown even stronger in the intervening time. In fact, he’s so strong he breaks out of the machine he’s in, and Thadeus tells him he’s almost as strong as a Viltrumite. Perhaps even stronger.
Allen questions how Thadeus can know this, so Thadeus rips off his beard, revealing… He has a mustache. Yes, Thadeus, the leader of the Coalition, is a secret Viltrumite. He was the first one to defect, and believes that the now super-strong Allen, and Mark, are the key to beating the empire. The two of them head back to Earth to recruit Mark to their cause. He is also, in the books, not the mole.
So given all this, what the heck is happening on Invincible the TV show? It certainly seems like Thadeus is the mole, Allen is dead, and everything is totally different. But there’s another possibility here, based on what we just laid out in the books. What if Thadeus is lowering Allen’s life monitors not to kill him, but to jump-start his healing process/strengthening? There’s a good chance we’ll still get the “Thadeus is a Viltrumite” reveal, mainly because someone ripping off their beard to reveal a secret mustache is too good a comedy bit to miss.
But it’s possible they’re playing on fan expectations here, and giving us a cliffhanger that will leave viewers dying to know more. Not dying like Allen. You know. Emotionally.
We’ll hopefully know more when Invincible airs the its next episode — or if not, in the latter half of the season next year.
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 “Is [SPOILER] Dead On Invincible? What To Know From The Comics”