Review: Invincible Season 4 Premiere: Our Hero on the Edge of Today
Mark Grayson faces the terrifying possibility that he’s becoming his father.
Wow, these three episodes are nothing shy of fantastic. The new season of Invincible kicks off with a three-episode drop, and a lot happens across these opening chapters.
There’s almost too much to unpack in one sitting for this must-see three-episode drop, but the short version is simple: this might be the best season of Invincible yet. Perhaps, even the best superhero-adapted storyline on television.
The story picks up immediately after last season’s chaos, with the cleanup reality after the brutal fight with Conquest, and the devastation caused when Angstrom Levy unleashed an army of alternate-universe Marks onto Earth.
The world is hurting. So the kickoff to this season sees our characters processing that damage. Much like our own real life reality, it’s a world that is still putting itself back together with great daily effort.
That tone lands thanks to a nuanced opening soundtrack of “If I Get High” by Nothing But Thieves. It’s a haunting indie track I initially mistook for the band Muse before realizing it was the British band, but it works really well in setting the tone for the season. Video of the original music video below.
The song’s themes of grief and longing for simpler times hit perfectly in the moment, capturing exactly where Mark Grayson is emotionally. It’s also very well-timed as it’s sort of what we as a society are feeling and I suspect the song is going to get a lot more popular after the season debut.
Now, one of the hallmarks of good writing, I think, is verisimilitude — the idea that even in a fantastical world, the emotions and reactions of the people involved feel relatable and real enough to believe.
Yes, this is a world of superheroes and alien/dimensional invasions, but what makes this season just absolutely so compelling is that despite how hard this struggle, every single character is trying their best to do right and get by.
Invincible excels at that this season thanks to its teams. The animation department, the directors, writers (who did a fantastic job adapting the comic this year), and voice cast, with kudos given to Steven Yuen, Gillian Jacobs, and most especially, Sandra Oh, who utterly blew it away this year.
The emotional tone feels nuanced in a way that fits the show, but what really stands out: is where its characters hit their breaking points. There are a couple of performances I cannot reveal due to embargoes, though I have to say, they’re really fucking good. So watch out for those three this season.
The truth is… beneath the alien invasions and superpowered brawls this year, there is a story that understands human exhaustion. And right now… everyone is tired beyond belief from the real-life state of the world. Invincible timely leans into that this season not by intention but by oddly poetic timing and cultural relevance, making us, the viewers, ask the question in our head:
How far can we keep this grind going?
Because in this season… Mark is non-stop fighting. He’s above all else… tired. The kind of tired that comes from carrying responsibility long after the adrenaline fades. What makes the superhero admirable is the theme that they keep trying to do the morally right thing...
But what happens when we have very little left to give but need to anyway?
It’s a weirdly relatable place to begin.
Picking Up the Pieces
Given the terrible state of everything, the Guardians of the Globe return as a team, though not without hesitation, as everyone remembers that Cecil and the Global Defense Agency keep contingency plans against the very heroes they recruit.
Trust is strained, but the world its heroes. Lest we forget, Rex is dead. The Immortal and Dupli-Kate: retired. There aren’t many folks left to pick up the slack, and that sense of responsibility hangs over the first episode.
Meanwhile, Oliver has grown up… quickly, physically resembling Damian Wayne less and looking more like Nightwing in terms of haircut and presence. Though he is still a kid.
Oliver’s accelerated Viltrumite biology means he’s aging far faster than the people around him, which leaves him in a strange place emotionally: outgrowing his friends while still trying to figure out who he’s supposed to be.
This plays big into later episodes this season, but I’ll talk about it in later episode reviews.
Episode one spends a lot of time reconnecting us with the characters we left behind. Mark and Eve’s relationship continues to evolve, while Debbie is trying to move forward with Paul and rebuild a sense of normalcy after everything she’s endured.
The show balances these quieter personal moments with the reality that the world is still incredibly dangerous. And at the emotional center of it all, though, is Mark.
The biggest conflict hanging over this season is the decision he made last year. Mark believes he killed Conquest, and it cost him everything.
At the same time, he can’t stop wondering whether he should have killed Angstrom Levy when he had the chance. Whether doing so might’ve prevented the destruction that followed.
That moral dilemma becomes one of the driving forces of the season. Mark nearly kills someone again, questioning whether permanently eliminating threats might actually be the better solution.
It’s a classic Robert Kirkman theme, one that echoes the ethical gray zones he explored throughout The Walking Dead.
Finally, it wouldn’t be Invincible without the battles, so I will say that episode one builds to a chaotic battle with the Sequids, in a massive confrontation that pushes Mark closer to that edge.
It’s intense, messy, and emotionally charged, but these kinds of ‘issues of the week’ are only the beginning for the problems Mark is facing.
A Bigger Universe
By the time episodes two and three roll around, Invincible begins expanding its scope, dramatically expanding its lore and delving into the world of each of its cast of characters.
The biggest thing in this season’s debut, which I cannot talk about much because I like reviewing Amazon Prime shows and don’t want to get on their shitlist: is that this season takes a deeper into the history of the Viltrumite Empire just as the story begins setting up the next major storyline from the comics: the Viltrumite war.
I will say, though, that the tone of some of this debut drop starts to lean into classic science fiction territory — an authoritarian empire imposing “order” across the galaxy while a fragile coalition of rebels tries to resist it.
Yes, the parallels to Star Wars are hard to miss, though Invincible has always been a referential series homaging classics of the superhero genre, and even, a bit of Star Trek this year. Just… In a brutal head-splodey way.
Episode 2 explores Viltrumites and their culture, how they came to power, and why their ideology persists. Without getting too into spoilers, these themes revolve around power, legacy, and the belief that strength alone should determine who rules. And I have to say that in this review because…
It’s not hard not to see echoes of these themes in our real world. The way systems consolidate power, societies justify domination, the way global crises reshape the balance of authority — all of it feels oddly relevant right now.
Thus, the Coalition of Planets becomes a major part of the story moving forward, led by Thaedus who’s voiced by the legendary Peter Cullen, known for his voice as Optimus Prime, and who’s about as legendary in that role as Kevin Conroy was playing Batman for years.
It’s a fitting casting call for someone whose voice is quickly recognized as representing intergalactic resistance and being the hero, and I think I speak for everyone born in the 80s that every time we see him speak, I go: Squee.
I’ll also share that episode two introduces a new character with General Telia, who serves as an original take of a badass leader who’s also Alan the Alien’s girlfriend. It’s an important figure within the coalition, and honestly, it provides some fun scenes for an episode loaded with worldbuilding. As the universe of Invincible gets so much larger.
A Hero on the Brink
This takes us to episode three, where the emotional direction of the season becomes clear…
Mark is breaking. Just like we are breaking.
And I think that’s why I love this season.
How did we get here? Well, the Flaxans return with another devastating invasion, a reminder that Invincible often uses familiar superhero tropes before pushing them into darker emotional territory. Mark wants to take a break, but the world won’t let him. Life just keeps getting harder, and that tension drives the entire premiere.
He can’t juggle everything anymore — being a hero, maintaining relationships, dealing with trauma, and constantly saving the world. It’s the pressure of having to be the most powerful hero on Earth while having to make the hard calls no one else can… all of it becomes overwhelming enough that Mark starts delving into thoughts of the dark side: the simplest solution available.
I’ve seen it in countless episodes of The Walking Dead. It’s something I feel like Invincible’s creator, Robert Kirkman, could teach a moral and ethics class on at this point.
Because the real theme running through these episodes is what happens when a hero starts to rationalize that killing may be the best solution. Each battle and impossible decision pushes Mark closer to the thing he fears most — becoming more like his father, Omni-Man.
It’s so bad that by the end of the three-episode debut, Invincible leaves its protagonist exhausted, morally conflicted, and staring down the beginning of the next massive arc. The Viltrumite war is coming and the show is preparing for something huge.
Now, if these episodes are any indication, the series is entering its most ambitious era. It’s an epic season of build-ups that tie everything together and make Mark question everything regarding his hero’s journey.
Which is why you should read these reviews every week, as I get into why this might just be Invincible’s best season ever.
Invincible airs on Wednesdays at 12:00 am PST on Prime Video. The 3-episode premiere on March 18th follows single-episode weekly drops after.