Invincible Pulls No Punches With its Third Season

 Invincible (2021-2025) has created stunning success through its layered characters and its brutal sequences, and its third season retains what made it so impactful. The season explores the aftermath of Invincible, a.k.a. Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), brutally murdering Angstrom Levy (Sterling K. Brown) in the Season Two finale to protect his family. The season, Invincible’s most powerful yet, follows new familial and relationship dynamics for Mark, the most intense and brutal action sequences yet, and an ideological dilemma of what it means to be a hero. 

Season Three begins by establishing the long-awaited romantic relationship between Mark and Eve Wilkins (Gillian Jacobs). Simultaneously, it displays the ideological differences between Mark and government agent Cecil Stedman (Walton Goggins); Cecil is willing to work with supervillains to protect the world, which Mark is vehemently opposed to. Throughout the season, Mark grows accustomed to the murder of supervillains, driven by his family’s peril. However, Mark refuses to condone Cecil’s rehabilitation of his villains, so they fight, and Mark stops working with him. Additionally, the familial relationship of Mark, Debbie (Sandra Oh), and Oliver (Christian Convery) continues to bloom, as a young and immature Oliver attempts to be a hero. Despite Mark and Debbie attempting to postpone his desire to become a hero, he continues to push against them—and he’s more brutal than they’d hope, slaughtering the recurring Mauler Twins in an act of spontaneous mercilessness. The season also furthers the war between the alien Coalition of Planets and the Viltrum Empire. Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons), Allen (Seth Rogen), and Battle Beast (Michael Dorn), the series’ most powerful characters, team up to escape from a Viltrumite prison. The season ends with the return of Angstrom Levy, who survived his encounter with Mark. Levy, hoping to ruin Mark’s reputation, brings variants of Invincible from across the multiverse to invade Mark’s world, creating an “Invincible War.” Immediately afterwards, the Viltrumite Conquest arrives, putting everything Mark loves at risk once again. 

This season truly delivered on the action, crafting sequences that highlight the mortality of every character, especially Invincible. The showdown between Conquest (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Mark is both visually and emotionally stunning, featuring both personal and world-ending stakes. While Mark fights with every ounce of strength, he doesn’t match Conquest, and is clearly unable to save the civilians or his loved ones alone. Despite appearing substantially in just one episode, Conquest feels fleshed out—the show even includes a monologue absent from the comics to further display his motivations; while he toys with and nearly kills Mark, he explains that he has nothing and nobody, only a purpose that drives his sadistic nature. 

This season delivers amazing voice acting performances, but Steven Yeun remains the clear standout. Yeun is at his best here, showing the true range of emotion needed for the character, as well as incredible line delivery. With iconic lines from the comics like “I can see the future. You don’t live to see tomorrow” against Conquest, or the desperation in his voice when he sees Eve hurt, the season continuously demonstrates not only how far Mark has come as a character, but also Yeun as an actor. Goggins is also a standout here, powerfully hammering home Cecil’s simultaneous moral ambivalence and drive to save the world. This season delivered the most compelling performances thus far, an upwards trajectory that seems like it will continue. 

Unfortunately, one of the most lacking aspects of Invincible is its animation quality. With animation that many have criticized for appearing like a PNG file being dragged across the screen, as well as its overuse of still frames, the animation is immersion-breaking, an issue that became increasingly apparent with the sped-up production and release of Season Two. The animation issues persist in the first five episodes of Season Three, with many scenes feeling like the animation needed more time and development. However, the animation in the final episodes of the season is stellar in comparison. Almost every action sequence in these three feels dynamic and full of life, particularly Mark’s fight with Conquest.

Invincible’s third season is brilliant, with the culmination of several important storylines in consistently great episodes. Additionally, without a disastrous mid-season break similar to that of Season Two, the momentum carried over every episode, making the show feel intense and volatile and making the season feel more complete. With its bold character arcs, brutal action, and exploration of the moral grays in superheroism, the show continues to push the boundaries of the genre. An upgrade in every way from its predecessor, Season Three deepens the world and brilliantly sets the stage for upcoming war between the heroes and the Viltrumites. The fight with Conquest promises the audience that the real war has only just begun.