Invincibleshot out of the gate at high speeds with success no one could’ve anticipated, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that the ending of season 1 still has fans talking.Invincibleis one of those TV shows that, like Gandalf, arrived precisely when it was meant to and caused one heck of a scene. AsThe Boysbranches out with an exciting new spin-off, fans are looking back on the chaos ofInvincibleSeason 1 with squeamish delight. At first, it seemed like just another coming-of-age story about a superhero in training.
Nolan Grayson (J. K. Simmons) is a galactic immigrant from Viltrum who uses his Superman-like powers to help the Guardians of the Globe protect Earth from otherworldly threats. Known by his alias Omni-Man, Nolan had almost given up on his half-Human son Mark (Steven Yeun) ever coming into his own powers. Then Mark accidentally sends a bag full of trash across the city and, just like that, it’s time for his old man to teach him the ropes. Only nothing is what it seems, and it doesn’t take long for viewers to realize that Omni-Man has a dark side. The result? An ending to Season 1 ofInvinciblethat fans still can’t stop talking about even though it’s been over two years.
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How DoesInvincibleSeason 1 end?
Despite having producedThe Boys,Amazon Primestill managed to catch viewers off guard with the brutality ofInvincible. Season 1, episode 1, “It’s About Time” focuses on a shocked yet excited Mark gaining his powers at seventeen years old when his dad Nolan and mom Debbie (Sandra Oh) had all but given up hope. An animated show about a young man figuring out how to use his superhero abilities doesn’t exactly scream rated R. The episode hits all the expected points and the credits roll, which is where the real fun starts.
Anyone familiar with the post-MCU landscapes knows to look out for after-credits. It’s part of the fun of watching superhero content in the first place! What happens next is almost four minutes of Omni-Man brutally murdering his teammates in cold blood. Such a sadistic act being hidden at the end of the episode had viewers shocked. How could Omni-Man do that? Why would he do that? Suddenly, what seemed like the typical ‘hero learns to control his powers’ narrative had an unexpected edge that set it apart from any other.
Actually,Invincibleviewers describing Nolan as having a dark side is like sayingHomelander (Antony Starr) is kind of messed up. It starts with Nolan struggling to express genuine joy when Mark announces his newfound powers on the road to becoming Invincible, which is weird considering his disappointment when he thought his son would never get them. Only it turns out that Nolan was basically the last standing citizen of a galactic effort of the Viltrum Empire to colonize other planets. His shifty behavior throughoutInvinciblewas because his instinct around another Viltrumite with powers was to prove his superiority – by any bloody means necessary.
The ending of season 1, episode 8, “Where I Really Come From” flips Mark’s entire perspective on its head. He finds out about his dad’s treacherous past and how it brought Nolan to Earth with the purpose of taking control. Mark tries to stand up for his Human peers and tearfully turns down his dad’s offer to rule at his side with Debbie as no more than a Human pet. Nolan responds by violently trying to teach his son aboutthe futility of protecting Earthfrom being taken over by power-hungry Viltrumites.Invincibleends with Nolan literally dragging Mark through multiple settings and beating him to a pulp, all while forcing him to watch as he simultaneously murders his way through thousands of (relatively) innocent Humans.
Mark and Omni-Man’s fight is physically and emotionally brutal
The brilliant artists over at Maven Image Platform clearly put blood, sweat, and tears into their work onInvincible. (Just more reason tosupport the current strikes and union formations.) It makes for a fun time when Invincible is working with Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs) and other superhero members of Teen Team. During the fight between Invincible and Omni-Man, though, the artwork is visceral in ways that leave some viewers very uncomfortable. Two superheroes who should be working together are instead duking it out with Humans caught in the deadly crossfire.
A grown man is beating up a teenage boy so badly that he’s leaving visible bruises on someone who is quite literally invincible. More than that, a father is waging an all-out physical assault on his son for daring to do the right thing. Omni-Man lands punch after punch with no ending in sight and at some point all Invincible can do is try (with no success, unfortunately) to protect others when he can’t even protect himself. If the fight isn’t bad enough, seeing the young hero laid out on the side of a mountain covered in bruises is enough to break anyone’s heart. While Mark would go on to heal physically from the wounds inflicted by his dad, it’s hard to believe that the emotional scarring would clear up just as easily.
With that being said,can Omni-Man redeem himself, or is it too late to turn back now? Some fans insist that there’s no forgiveness for anyone who treats their child the way Omni-Man treated his son during the ending ofInvincibleSeason 1, and honestly, that’s fair. If anyone tried anything near that level of despicable behavior in the real world, they’d have Child Protective Services called on them faster than they could say, “Think, Mark! Think!”
At the same time, however, these are characters on an animated show in which a child morphs into a giant beast, a robot develops a crush, and a man comes back from the dead. In such a fantastical setting, it’s easy to see why some are still holding out hope for both Omni-Man and Nolan. Still, the ending ofInvincibleSeason 1 was blood-drenched and – at times – hard to watch. Fans talked about it for months, and it remains a hot-button topic for anyone examining the darker side of superhero content. Only time will tell if Season 2 will hit anywhere near as hard as the first.
Invincibleseason 2 premieres on Amazon Prime Video on June 05, 2025.
