Invincible Season 2 Review | There Is No Such Thing as Superhero Fatigue

Summary

• Invincible offers a fascinating and high-stakes superhero story with jaw-dropping twists and turns that leave audiences stunned.
• The show boasts an incredible cast of A-list stars who deliver outstanding performances, with Sandra Oh and Jason Mantzoukas stealing the show.
• The action in season two of Invincible is brutal, visceral, and brilliantly animated, making it one of the best R-rated superhero series around.

With The Boys, and now Gen V, Prime Video have nailed the R-rated superhero formula. But another Prime Video show of the same variety that was initially overlooked by casual audiences is the equally brilliant superhero series, Invincible. It’s easy to see why people may have ignored the show at first, considering many casual audiences label animation as a child’s medium. But that’s just nonsensical and unfair. Casual audiences truly don’t know what they are missing out on with Invincible, and fortunately, the fervor over season two has shown that its fanbase is growing. It’s a fascinating and high-stakes superhero story that offers many jaw-dropping twists and turns, leaving audiences who haven’t read the comics utterly stunned. It lacks the crudity of The Boys, but it more than makes up for in its visceral action and incredibly high stakes.

The first season was brutal and action-packed, delivering some of the best character and voiceover work of any animated superhero project of the past decade. Its cast is stacked with huge A-list stars, such as Steven Yeun, J. K. Simmons, Sandra Oh, Mark Hamill, Seth Rogen, Zazie Beetz, and Zachary Quinto, just to name a few. If you loved The Boys, then you will certainly love Invincible.

After a two-year hiatus, Invincible returns with its second season, which offers more brutal action, more fascinating characters, and an expansion on the already stacked cast. If you were a fan of the first season, then season two will do more than enough to satisfy you. It deals with the destructive aftermath of the past season incredibly well, and will once again throw numerous twists and turns at the audience just when you start getting comfortable. The new cast of characters makes for a fantastic addition, as is the show’s new cast members, including the likes of Sterling K. Brown, Peter Cullen, Ben Schwartz, and Tatiana Maslany. With its second season, creator Robert Kirkman continues to prove that there is no such thing as superhero fatigue so long as the artistry is top-notch, and Invincible firmly holds its crown as one of the best R-rated comic book series of all time.

Invincible Season 2: “It’s Been a While”

Continuing on from the devastating events of its first season, season two follows Mark (Steven Yeun) and Debbie (Sandra Oh) as they attempt to continue on with their lives like normal. However, that’s much easier said than done. Mark struggles to balance his superhero life with his human life, while Debbie struggles to get back to normal, developing an addiction to alcohol. Mark now works for Cecil Steadman (Walton Goggins), and the guilt, pain, and suffering Mark feels after what happened in Chicago drives Mark to want to save everyone. But as Omni-Man (J. K. Simmons) brutally taught Mark, that is nigh impossible. The Guardians of the Globe undergo extensive training under a new, yet familiar leader, The Immortal (Ross Marquand), and Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs) continues helping the often overlooked civilians, and aids in the recovery of the fully demolished city of Chicago.

Meanwhile, a new threat is emerging. Angstrom Levy (Sterling K. Brown), a dimension-hopping superhero, attempts to gain ultimate power and the knowledge of every known universe. With the help of the Mauler Twins (Kevin Michael Richardson), Levy builds a machine that combines the minds of all the Angstrom Levy variants in order to gain knowledge of all the universes. But after a destructive bout with Mark, the machine gets destroyed, sending Levy on a multidimensional mission of vengeance on his own.

Related: Invincible: The 10 Most Brutal Scenes in the Prime Video Animated Series

Outstanding Character and Story Development

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Season one of the show boasted a fairly familiar story. A teenage hero discovering his powers, has to grapple with his superhero life, and his normal human life. We’ve seen it a million times. However, what elevated Invincible was its adult themes, gripping character work, large scale, and continuous plot twists that had us gobsmacked every time. Season two keeps this up, continuing from the riveting story of season one but with many more shocking plot twists. Take the opening 10 minutes of the first episode for example. While we won’t dive into it, it will puzzle viewers to begin with, but it’s a fantastic scene nonetheless. There was no better way to kick off the new season.

Before the season’s premiere, many questions were rightfully asked. Where do we go from here? And who will be the antagonist of season two? Well, Robert Kirkman and his team of writers answer our questions in more ways than we ever expected. While the story is of course captivating, it’s the character development that will really have audiences hooked. Mark’s battle with his superhero life offers more fascinating dynamics, especially with Mark and Amber’s (Zazie Beetz) relationship and Mark’s new start in college.

But Debbie is perhaps the most gripping character in season two. She isn’t a superhero, but the emotional trauma she endured during the finale of the previous season was intense. So seeing her dive into numerous bottles of wine and smashing glasses offered a captivating dynamic between her and Mark, and seeing her overcome her trauma was heartwarming and empowering. Go get it Debbie!

A Flawless Cast

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The cast of Invincible season one was incredible. It boasted huge A-lists stars, who delivered some of their best performances, at least in terms of voice work. In season two, we have one of the best voice ensembles in television history. Steven Yeun once again shines offering another captivating, empathetic, and empowering performance as Mark Grayson. The likes of Zachary Quinto, Walton Goggins, Kevin Michael Richardson, and Zazie Beetz are more highlights from the season, but once again it is both Jason Mantzoukas and Sandra Oh who steal the show. Sandra Oh’s performance as Debbie is powerful. Audiences can feel every ounce of rage, resentment, regret, sadness, and pain through every line of dialogue she delivered. Whereas on the other side of things, Jason Mantzoukas was simply hilarious as the douche hero Rex-Splode.

Season two not only features the same brilliant cast, but introduces many new faces to the Invincible universe. Sterling K. Brown delivers an intelligent, charismatic, and captivating performance as the season’s main antagonist, Angstrom Levy. We never imagine any villain to live up to the tyranny or power of Omni-Man, but Angstrom levy is awfully close. Another brilliant addition to the show was Ben Schwartz’s Shapesmith, a hilarious, delusional, and endearing shape-shifting Martian.

Related: Is the Invincible TV Show Better Than the Comic?

Invincible’s Brutal Action

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The action in season two is visceral. Each beat-down fills the screen with buckets of blood. Bones will break, teeth will come lose, and heads will be crushed. Each fight scene is brilliantly animated with exquisite sound design, allowing for detailed, fluid, and impactful action on a scale like few superhero TV shows can reach. The animation actually improves all of this thanks to the limitless capacity for imagination. Season two’s action scenes continue to prove that Invincible boasts some of the best fight scenes in R-rated superhero history. The best part? They’re inextricably linked with each character’s arc and disposition, so that they’re never superfluous. Even the action is character-driven in Invincible, which is now one of the best TV series around.

Invincible starts streaming on Prime Video, November 3rd.

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