Whether Mark Grayson likes it or not, he is his father’s son. The end of Invincible Season 2 makes this point abundantly clear, and it’s up to Mark to decide if his heritage is a chance at redemption — or a prison sentence.
In Invincible Season 2, Mark Grayson (voiced by Steven Yeun) continues his duty saving the world as Invincible, all while trying to live a normal life in college. That’s easier said than done, naturally. Almost as soon as the academic year kicks off, Mark leaves Earth to briefly reunite with his estranged, once-villainous father Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons) on an alien planet. After Omni-Man is taken prisoner by the Viltrumites, Mark returns home with his baby step brother who is eventually named Oliver.
All of Invincible Season 2 is a wild ride, an epic and operatic season that see-saws between gruesome superhero violence and equally hard-hitting drama in which Mark struggles to achieve balance. Ahead, we dive into heavy spoilers to recap exactly what has gone down at the end of Invincible Season 2, and where things might be going next in Season 3.
Warning: Spoilers for Invincible Season 2 ahead.
Between failing grades and a failing relationship with Amber (Zazie Beetz), Mark’s personal life is in ruins. In the previous episode, Amber is targeted by a powerful Viltrumite warrior Anissa (Shantel VanSanten), leading the two to call it quits as a couple after Amber correctly assesses that being with Mark will always put her in danger. Dating Mark is hazardous to her health, in other words, and so she leaves him for both of their sakes.
Mark agrees. He also concludes that he needs someone in his life who can better understand his superhero lifestyle. Luckily, he and Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs) are starting to get mighty close.
This brings us to “I Thought You Were Stronger,” the final episode of Invincible Season 2 and a big one for the hit series. While the episode is expansive in scope as it traverses all of time, space, and even the multiverse, its main story zeroes in on Mark’s internal strife and all the ways he’s still haunted as the son of Omni-Man.
The first half of the finale pits Mark against Angstrom Levy (Sterling K. Brown), introduced earlier in the season as a John Connor-type figure of defiance, an intelligent man willing to lead humanity against Invincible and Omni-Man on every Earth. Earlier in Season 2, a surviving Angstrom Levy arrives in what is apparently the only Earth where Mark/Invincible isn’t a villain, but a hero. Angstrom Levy resurfaces in the finale, grotesquely deformed but immensely powerful, and willing to sink to despicable lows like physically hurting Mark’s family.
Their battle ends in violent fashion, with Mark drenched in Angstrom Levy’s blood on a desolate, bombed-out alternate Earth. If you felt shades of Omni-Man in Mark at this moment, that’s by design. In this scene, Mark realizes just how much closer he is to being like his father, how much unimaginable capacities for hatred he has deep inside him.
While Mark eventually escapes thanks to future versions of the Guardians, he is nudged by a future, older version of Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs) to say something to her younger self. While Mark doesn’t actually say anything to her when they meet later at the top of a bridge, it’s obvious how much the closing scene of Season 2 sets up Mark and Eve as a romantic couple (just as they are in the original comic books). When Eve tells Mark, “You don’t deserve this,” it’s the first time in a long time that Mark feels seen by someone who also, authentically, understands.
But That’s Not All...
Allen the Alien (Seth Rogen), an ally of Mark, is serendipitously a prison cell neighbor to Omni-Man. While Omni-Man wants nothing to do with Allen, Allen insists they are now on the same side. (Literally and figuratively.)
Allen knows that Omni-Man has rebelled against the Viltrumites. Though Omni-Man wants to accept the consequences, Allen gets him to snap out of his funk by recapping some news for him. Namely, the fact that Mark is actively signed up for the fight against the Viltrumites.
Omni-Man isn’t too thrilled about that, however. As he tells Allen: “Let the boy have a moment of peace. Let me pay for what I did.” While Allen tells him that Omni-Man must certainly pay for what he’s done, there is at least now a chance to stop the Viltrumites completely. Though Omni-Man is adamant that he “deserves death,” he comes to a startling realization that may totally change his mind. As he puts it: “I think I miss my wife.”
How Invincible Season 2 Sets Up The Viltrumite War
With Omni-Man’s revelation that he wants to get back with his family on Earth, Invincible has more or less set up the chess board to play out one of the comics’ biggest storylines: The Viltrumite War.
Spanning issues 71-78 of the comic book series, “The Viltrumite War” sees Mark leave Earth (again) to fight with the Coalition of Planets — previously teased in the show through the character Thaedus (voiced by Transformers legend Peter Cullen) — against the Viltrum Empire.
We’ll refrain from spoiling the comic, as there’s a not-insignificant chance the story will play out similarly in the series. We’ll only say that it’s an epic battle that sees Mark still facing difficult choices as he’s caught between saving the universe and doing the right thing.
However, we will say that “The Viltrumite War” does involve Mark reteaming with his father Omni-Man, however reluctantly, to fight the Viltrumites. The war also brings Omni-Man back in front of Deborah, where she is given a choice to accept or deny Omni-Man back in her life. To avoid spoiling too much once again, just know that it’s not an easy decision for Deborah.
As of now, Season 3 is looking like a full-on adaptation of “The Viltrumite War.” How much of the story will remain intact in the series is unknown to everyone except the show’s creative team. All we can say with some certainty is that war is coming to Invincible. Mark Grayson is obviously a powerful superhero. But whether he actually lives up to his name is the real question.
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