Spoiler warning for the newest season of “Invincible”
The Amazon Prime hit show “Invincible” has now aired all eight episodes of its third season. From moments like Mark Grayson’s (Invincible) internal character struggle to Rex Splode’s heroic sacrifice, season three was the most emotional season yet.
“Invincible” season three features some of the show’s greatest writing and storylines. The season finale of “Invincible” also has the second highest IMDb rating of any television episode with a 9.9/10, and for good reason.
However, season three’s animation could have used a little more work. The first few episodes of the season were subpar with the animation. It felt like the animators were just moving a PNG image of Invincible around when he was flying. The first half of the season felt like the animation was taking away from the experience.
That was until I saw the animation of the final three episodes of the season.
It was clear that “Invincible” saved its animation budget for the last few episodes of the season, with the fight scenes being some of the greatest animation in the series. There was actually shading in some of the shots and the characters moved around more fluidly.
In my opinion, the best animation sequence in the whole show is in the season finale during Mark and Conquest’s fight scene. The entire time I was dumbfounded at the quality of the animation and had literal goosebumps when watching the scene. It brought tears to my eyes.
“Invincible” fans know that each time the title card plays around the beginning of the episode, it foreshadows what is to come in the season. In season one, the title card foreshadowed the gory showdown between father and son Omni Man and Mark. In season two, the title cards foreshadowed Mark’s character shift he would have in season three.
Season three’s title cards glitch and turn different colors, which foreshadowed the different Invincible variants that Angstrom Levy sent to Mark’s universe to start the “Invincible War.”
The first few episodes of season three feature major shifts in the show’s plot, such as Mark breaking off ties with Cecil, the Guardians of the Globe splitting and Mark’s new romance with fellow hero Atom Eve.
One of the most prominent moments of the season was in episode two, where Mark adopted a new blue and black suit contrary to his previous yellow and blue one. This change was hinted at in season two’s title cards, and signals the beginning of Mark’s shift towards a darker persona.
Additionally, Oliver, the purple Thraxan-Viltrumite half-brother of Mark, begins his journey as a superhero, but shows signs of his Viltrumite side when he brutally murders the Mauler Twins and shows no remorse for killing, unlike his brother Mark, who does not kill.
As the show progresses, we see characters wanting to make a change for themselves. Eve and Mark move forward with their relationship and develop Invincible Inc., which freelances Mark as a hero to whoever pays for his services. Rex Splode and Shrinking Rae also form a connection and take steps to live a more normal life.
One of the show’s highlights is the character Powerplex, who becomes vengeful towards Mark because his fight with Omni Man in Chicago led to severe fallout, including the death of Powerplex’s sister and niece. Powerplex becomes so consumed with his hatred towards Mark, that it leads to his wife and child getting vaporized during his fight with Mark.
Moments like this show the complexity that “Invincible” has to offer. It intentionally left the viewer not knowing who to root for, as both Mark and Powerplex had valid reasons to fight each other. The moment symbolizes that hate, no matter how it is derived, will never win.
Other highlights of the show include the heroic sacrifice of Rex Splode, who blew himself up to defeat an evil variant of Invincible during the Invincible War. This moment was surprisingly heartbreaking for me, as I was not a fan of Rex Splode until the moments leading up to his death, where he had matured as a character.
However, the biggest moment in the show arrives in the final episode of the season where Mark has a brutal face-off with Conquest, a Viltrumite who was sent to conquer Earth. This fight showed Mark’s development in strength as he was able to hold off Conquest, but barely. Mark was getting slammed into skyscrapers, punched into outer space and broke his hands.
Eve arrived at the scene and helped Mark fight Conquest, but it wasn’t long until Conquest killed Eve. As Mark was just about dead, Eve was brought back to life by her powers, automatically rebuilding her body. During Eve’s transformation, a surge of energy blasted into Conquest, helping Mark fend him off.
At the end of Mark and Conquest’s battle, Conquest broke both of Mark’s hands, leaving Mark with only his head to do some damage. Mark began repeatedly slamming his head into Conquest and broke his face, leaving viewers uncomfortable at the dark and unsettling image of Mark’s face.
This moment was the definitive turning point of Mark’s character that the season had been leading up to. Mark makes it known to Conquest that he won’t hesitate to kill anyone who harms his family or loved ones, which goes against his previous no-kill policy. For Mark, this is his moment of no return, and he will never be the same again.
Overall, “Invincible” season three is my favorite season yet, as I love a good character arc and detailed fight scenes. This was the most the show had me at the edge of my seat and the longest I have felt waiting for the next episode.
Luckily, the show was renewed for season four back in July 2024, but the release date is yet to be known.