Though I didn't truly know what to expect at all about the first season of the superhero cartoon Invincible on Amazon, I had my hunches. First of all, it's based on a real line of comics. Secondly, I've watched both seasons of The Boys and the first season of The Tick, so I figured it would be sort of along those lines.
For the most part, Invincible really felt like an animated version of The Boys. It's an adult cartoon show for sure, and the animators feel the need to prove that to the audience repeatedly with its over-the-top violence, though if you've ever seen a cover of Invincible, this wouldn't shock you. Seriously, there might've as much, if not more, skull crushing and guts flying than anything I've ever seen (much like The Boys), and I've watched the Saw movies. For some reason, I have less of a problem with that sort of stuff in an animated setting. Maybe I shouldn't, huh?
Beyond that juvenile appeal, though, Invincible was part high school drama, part government conspiracy, and had a bit of a sci-fi angle as much as it had superheroes doing cool superhero work. The eight episodes covered a lot of ground: world building, diabolical scheming, teenagers coming into their own, family drama. It felt fresh the whole time, though I did feel all eight episodes could've been edited down a handful of minutes or so without losing anything valuable.
The show is very aware of its origin and its place within the superhero space. I don't know much about the comic, but it doesn't seem to bank its success on originality. For example, the first major story of the season revolves around replacing this corporate-like superhero team that is murdered (part of the big season-long mystery), so we basically get to see superhero tryouts. The comic/show writers weren't shy about blatantly ripping off several pop culture heroes or action figures, like the Incredible Hulk, Transformers, and most of the Justice League (Wonder Woman, Batman, and The Flash, for sure).
Several of the episodes felt like one-off stories that still gelled within the framework of the arcing story without feeling ham-fisted in. The opening episode sets the stage for a big mystery off which the rest of the season plays. The second episode (my favorite) felt like what an animated X-files superhero show would look like: an alien race moves through time very differently than the rest of the universe, so much so that these aliens attack Earth, get defeated, then learn from their mistakes by refocusing its entire civilization on learning how to successfully mount another attack (it nearly worked, but I really felt like they could've become the big threat of the season, they were that menacing and clever). Another episode centered around a secret villain that has been pulling a lot of strings from behind the scenes much of the season; this deformed villain reminded me of that genius brain character from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I loved the risk and creativity at work with the writing. Though the episodes felt unique (almost "one-off-ish") and unpredictable, the writers kept enough thread connected to the handful of storylines that carried the show throughout the season, so I never felt like pacing was bad.
The main story of these connecting threads, which makes the show feel grounded in the real world, centered around a superhero father and his son. The father is Omni-Man, the perfect, most powerful superhero. No one can beat him. Unlike Superman, he has no weakness. He's basically a superhero god. He is training his son, Mark, to learn his ways. One day Mark learns that he also has superhero powers, which turns his life upside down. It's as if he wonders "What would Peter Parker do?" because Mark is willing to ditch his school responsibilities, his new girlfriend, and his friends, to join his dad and this newly formed superhero team called the Guardians to fight bad guys. It's a pretty familiar storyline, but it was so well executed, I didn't mind the retread. You kind of root for Mark and hope he pulls all of it off. He even planned to volunteer at a soup kitchen with his girlfriend before his superhero duties pulled him away.
Everything about the show was interesting, compelling, and just downright fun.
Then the last episode happened. And I felt just like I did with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which is not a compliment.
During the finale, Omni-Man reveals more about his past to Mark. Omni-Man is a Viltrumite, a race of super beings bent on overtaking all worlds in the universe, not to conquer, per se, but to assimilate them into their pure, perfect civilization. These Viltrumite apparently really are like gods; they are immortal and live forever. Omni-Man tells Mark that he can't get attached to Earth because it will gone in the blink of an eye to them. Mark is devastated by all this, of course, and he resists. So for nearly the entire first half of the finale, Omni-Man decides to crush his son and convince him to either join what is his by birthright, or die. The concept and execution of all this was beyond unbelievable, let along the highly unnecessary goriness of their battle. The rest of the episode sets the stage should there be a Season 2, but suffice to say, Mark stays on Earth, and Omni-Man leaves.
It was such a dumb ending that didn't fit the show's tone, though it did give us a legitimate conclusion to the murder storyline; Omni-Man was the one who kills the original Guardians superhero team in the premiere, and now we know why. It just didn't seem to fit in right. Much like the reveal of Starlord's dad's true motives for traveling the universe in search of purpose, we really didn't get enough context to make that reveal hit home. It was a head-scratching moment that left me thinking "Oh, okay. I guess that makes sense."
Despite the out-of-place ending, I'm quite invested in watching to see if Mark takes his father's mantle as Earth's strongest defender. There were other minor villains who popped in here and there who might make for a good story should they return, but I'd be fine with more of a villain-of-the-week flavor in Season 2. If they don't make a Season 2, I'm somewhat inclined to buy the graphic novels and read the rest of the story.