Spoilers for the first three seasons of Prime Video follow. Invincible. Season 4 debuts on March 18.
Invincible is back for season 4 on Prime Video, and without going into spoilers about how the season begins, it wastes no time getting back into the action. Fortunately, it has not been that Season 3 aired a long time ago – just a little over a year compared to some of the longer gaps in the early seasons that sparked many complaints from fans. But with so much going on all the time in the world of Mark Grayson (voiced by Steven Yeun), you might need a refresher before Season 4 premieres.
Hey, that’s what it is! It’s a rundown of everything you need to remember before season 4 airs. And while we won’t break down each only event that happened before the epic fourth season of the adaptation of the best-selling Image Comics series by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, we will give you the outline, from the beginning of season 1 to the end of season 3. Ready? Well. So let’s get [smash cut to title card] Invincible.
A normal teenager and an Omni-Man
Going back to the beginning, Mark was a pretty normal teenager. except for one big difference: his father is Omni-Man, aka Nolan Grayson (voiced by JK Simmons). Omni-Man is essentially the Superman of the Invincible Universe, albeit with “only” the powers of flight, strength, and near-indestructibility, compared to freezing breath/heat vision/having little versions of yourself fly out of your hands (read a book, children) powers that Superman has. Still, everyone loved Omni-Man… Until the world discovered that he had killed the Justice League/Avengers analogue known as the Guardians of the Globe.
However, before he ended up there, Mark gained his own powers and joined his father while he trained, assuming the identity of the costumed superhero Invincible. There were many more twists and turns in the first season, but the main thing you need to know is that Omni-Man was not only revealed to be a murderer for the entire planet, but he also had a devastating, prolonged, highly destructive and deadly fight with his son that left Mark nearly dead and entire cities destroyed. The reason? Omni-Man is an alien from the planet Viltrum, and his only goal was to have a son, who would be Mark, who would help him conquer the planet Earth and add it to the Viltrumite Empire.
To kill or not to kill?
For reasons that have become increasingly apparent in subsequent seasons, Nolan refrained from killing Mark (More on that in a moment), although Mark has spent the time since debating whether he will become her father. And almost constantly, the show has posed problems for Mark that put him in a position where he needs to decide whether to kill someone or let them live and potentially cause destruction another day. That became evident not only through Mark’s frequent conversations with the morally gray Cecil Stedman (voiced by Walton Goggins), the head of the human-staffed Global Defense Agency and the people who run the Guardians of the Globe, but also particularly once Mark accidentally killed multiverse-traveling villain Angstrom Levy (voiced by Sterling K. Brown) at the end of Season 2.
Angstrom, by the way, survived having his head completely split open in Season 2, and came back to haunt Mark in Season 3. That’s mostly been the pattern with this particular storyline… Mark was left heartbroken after thinking he’d killed Angstrom, and Angstrom returned. His fury and frustration over the event led him to lose control and kill the nearly unstoppable Viltrumite warrior Conquest (voiced by Jeffrey Dean Morgan), except, once again, Conquest is actually alive and held captive by Cecil when Season 4 begins. Mark really killed was a crazy version of the hero The Immortal (Ross Marquand) from a possible future version of Earth; and Mark only did that because Immortal begged him to do it.
Still, it’s important to note this progression because when season 3 ended, Mark took a turn and decided he wasn’t going to hold back any longer… If someone threatens Mark’s family, he’ll kill them (even if that hasn’t been as permanent as one would hope in the past). And it’s a surprising twist, too, since Angstrom’s plan in season 3 involved bringing a series of evil versions of Invincible from across the multiverse to attack and destroy Earth. So the entire planet has seen the Invincibles murder people and blow up cities. One would hope that Mark would be presented with this and take the other side, particularly now that the entire world hates him; instead, it seems to lean towards the modus operandi of the evil Invincibles.
Atom Eve (and Rainbow Goo)
Another important thing you should know about Mark? He’s finally reunited with fellow superhero Atom Eve (voiced by Gillian Jacobs), who has totally normal parents (she has a complicated backstory that was detailed in the Atom Eve Special, which isn’t important to know right now), they’re having a lot of sex, and something strange seems to be happening with her matter manipulation powers (after taking off Mark’s clothes at the end, they melted into some kind of rainbow goo).
Wow, that was a lot! Good summary. Just kidding, there’s a lot more to know about this extremely busy show where 50 different threats emerge at any given time.
Omni-Man hits a low point
Let’s turn it over to Nolan, who left Earth after kicking his son (this show is so funny, guys) and has been on a soul journey ever since. Or rather, a journey to get his bone, while abandoning his earthly wife Debbie (voiced by Sandra Oh), whom he horribly compared to a pet, for an insect lady named Andressa (voiced by Rhea Seehorn). Andressa and Nolan later had a son who looks more human than insectoid. called Oliver (voice of Christian Convery) Oliver came to Earth with Mark after Nolan was captured by some Viltrumites, and is quickly gaining the same powers as Mark and Nolan, as he ages faster than humans (and is also purple). Oliver has assumed the identity of Kid Omni-Man, much to the concern of everyone around him, and also seems to have fewer qualms about killing than Mark.
Hey! That was about Oliver, not Nolan! Yes, but it established that Nolan reached his lowest point when he was captured by the Viltrumites and was ready to die for betraying his “might makes right” cause, as well as betraying Debbie, Mark, Andressa, etc. Except he was imprisoned next to the strong but not as strong as a Viltrumite and extremely friendly and one-eyed Allen the Alien (voiced by Seth Rogen). Allen’s serious and cheerful demeanor led him to convince Nolan to help him escape from prison, rather than die. In the process, they also released the unstoppable and bloodthirsty Battle Beast (Michael Dorn), who was delighted to kill Viltrumites and was last seen heading off to commit some more killing.
Viltrumite Revelations
But this prison break also led to two surprising revelations. The first is that there are less than 50 Viltrumites left in the universe, which means that the Coalition of Planets (the organization Allen belongs to that is fighting the Viltrumite Empire) might have a chance. And the second revelation is that when Nolan was a science fiction author on Earth, he secretly planted ways to defeat the Viltrumites in his novels. So while Nolan isn’t entirely on board with the Coalition’s cause so far, Allen has two key pieces of information that could turn the tide.
Let’s stick with the Coalition for a moment: first, they are led by a guy named Thaedus (voiced by Optimus Prime… Sorry, Peter Cullen) who is secretly a defecting Viltrumite. And second, there is a mole in the Coalition. Who is the mole? We’ll have to wait and see, although eagle-eyed viewers probably already have a clear idea. And lastly, Allen has a girlfriend named Telia (Tatiana Maslany), who is a high-ranking Coalition officer. So now you know!
On the other side of the equation, there are some Viltrumites that have appeared before. There’s Conquest, who we already mentioned. Plus, you have the cyborg-eyed General Kregg (voiced by Clancy Brown) who captured Nolan on the bug planet. And there’s Anissa (voiced by Shantel VanSanten), who was sent to Earth to check on Mark’s progress in conquering the planet (spoiler: he hadn’t done it yet). The last one you need to know has been mentioned, but not introduced: Thragg, the head of what’s left of the Viltrumite Empire, voiced by Lee Pace, in a large stretch of his role as Emperor in the Apple TV Foundation.
Scraps
But wait, there is even more. Some more things you need to know include the status of the Guardians of the Globe in Season 4… After being decimated by the Invincible War (the thing with the evil multiversal Invincibles), including the death of hero Rex-Splode (voiced by Jason Mantzoukas), the Guardians heroes have rebuilt as a team again, with Robot (also voiced by Marquand) renaming himself Rex in honor of Rex. (It’s all a cloning thing, don’t worry.) There are also more secrets than Conquest hidden in the GDA, including the Reanimen, corpses reanimated by a formerly evil scientist named DA Sinclair (Eric Bauza) who are almost as strong as Invincible. And Debbie has been dating a normal real estate agent named Paul (voiced by Cliff Curtis).
without giving also Far away, there are four other plots you probably need to know about because of the whole “not wasting time” thing. First, there are mind-controlling alien squids called Sequids, who have taken over the brain of an astronaut named Rus Livingston (voiced by Ben Schwartz) who has been building an army in the sewers. We were previously told that if one of them reaches Earth, it will be game over for humanity, so that seems pretty bad. Second, there was a plot where crime boss Machine Head (voiced by Jeffrey Donovan) took over a Legion of Doom-style organization called The Order and agreed to leave fellow crime boss Titan (voiced by Todd Williams) and his family alone after they manipulated Invincible into taking out a third crime boss named Mister Liu (Tzi Ma) who can turn into a dragon. Just like the whole Invincible-killing-characters-but-not-really thing, Machine Head thought he killed Liu, but he’s actually very much alive. Thirdly, there is a race of aliens called The Flaxans who continue to attack Earth, even though they have always been rejected; They also age quickly because time passes differently on their home planet.
Last but not least, the mid-credits scene of the season 3 finale teased a whole new story, one that Kirkman never got to do in the comics. Demon detective Damien Darkblood (also voiced by Brown), who was banished to Hell by Cecil in Season 1, summoned his master, a decrepit demon voiced by Bruce Campbell, and the two discussed that Damien had encountered a being of incredible power who could aid their cause. Is Invincible headed to hell for his final Friday? We will find out in season 4 of Invincible…
What other major plot points do you need to revisit in preparation for Season 4? Let’s discuss it in the comments!
