Explosive!
Summary
Invincible may have some familiar superhero tropes but the voice cast are all superb, the action huge and violence brutal making this one of the better superhero shows I’ve seen for a few years. Bring on Season 2.
Plot: An adult animated series based on the Skybound/Image comic about a teenager whose father is the most powerful superhero on the planet.
Review: I don’t normally cover animated TV shows or movies here (at least not very often) but I finally caught up with Invincible and binged it last weekend. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it with various people suggesting I would love it.
After finishing it last night I can safely say I agree with them; Invincible is my kind of superhero show with graphic violence, swearing and bone crushing action sequences in the style of The Boys.
It also has one of the best voice casts I’ve seen for some time including J.K. Simmons in one of his best ever roles as Omni-Man; he’s the most powerful superhero in the world and when his son Mark Grayson comes of age and begins to develop his own set of superpowers Omni-Man begins to train his son in the ways of the superhero.
As anyone who has seen the show (or read the comics which I obviously have not) knows this does not end well and Mark will have to make some incredibly hard decisions. I think the one character I sympathize with the most is Debbie Grayson (Sandra Oh) who goes through such a huge ordeal that you wonder if she’ll ever fully recover.
The characters are all well fleshed out with Mark trying to balance his school life, relationships and being a superhero which all sounds very familiar but it’s executed so well that I was emotionally engaged with it straight away.
Even thought Invincible as animated it still manages to shock with some of its violence with the final episode having a scene involving a trainload of passengers being the most memorable; if you’ve seen the show then you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
There are some hilarious moments of humour too with the running gag of any time someone is about to say “Invincible” it cuts to the title card which has me laughing every time.
Steven Yeun is perfectly cast as Mark/Invincible making him sympathetic while also having his own flaws. The supporting cast also includes Walton Goggins as Cecil, Zachary Quinto as Robot and Mark Hamill as Art Rosebaum to name just a few.
Season 2 is apparently coming later this year so I’m glad I waited as long as I did to watch this so it should still be relatively fresh in my head when the new series starts.
Overall, season 1 of Invincible makes most comic book movies look amateurish in comparison with its stellar voice cast, over the top violence and regular action scenes all while maintaining its heart making this one of the best superhero series I’ve seen for some time.