Episode 4 - It’s Been a While!
Mark answers the call to save an alien species, but the mission has unexpected personal consequences.
Full cast, crew and characters
Join the r/Invincible Discord server!
Please act appropriately and follow our rules. We ask you to report any comments that are uncivil/malicious or don’t belong in the non-comic spoiler thread.
DO NOT post comic book spoilers in this thread - use [the comic spoiler discussion thread](LINK HERE) for discussion using comic book context
Please report comments discussing comic book spoilers in this thread.
I’m not trying to be that guy, as I enjoyed this season so far and still do now, but Ngl Mark being able to contend with a viltrumite here feels cheap, like he didn’t really earn it. Plus, the overall appeal of the fight in the comics was the sense of Mark being hopelessly outclassed and Nolan not being enough. I get that Mark needed his time to shine, but this really should’ve been the one instance kept out of them all where he shouldn’t have been able to put up a decent fight outside of the encounter with the battle beast.
I absolutely loved this episode and the whole fight…but I also completely agree with you. This whole show has been building up Viltrumites as an OP omega-level threat, which made me feel genuine fear for Mark this entire episode, which was brilliant! But then, suddenly this baby Viltrumite who two years ago was basically a normal human and only got his powers like a year ago, was able to beat up and almost kill a Viltrumite veteran who has probably been alive for thousands of years. And the explanation is just “you’ve been holding back all this time, don’t do that anymore”?
It’s exactly the kind of bullshit you’d see in a Shonen anime (which is why I hate most Shonen).
To be fair, Mark has gotten significantly stronger since he was brutalized by his dad. He doesnt actually damage Thula much at all though.
I personally dont know if Mark would’ve physically able to kill her even when he had her in that disadvantage (which I think she was playing up, she looks like shes acting like a sad puppy when she “knows” shes lost and she is toying with him, knowing he wont do it from how he was holding back before. Thats my interpretation, anyways)
Viltrumites are def strong, but I think the point of this fight is that Nolan is exceptional for a Viltrumite. It would explain why Mark is so strong already
The thing is, that was the same case in the comic, but he still did significantly worse. Furthermore, Mark doing well here just makes the viltrumites seem weaker overall, as what he faced up to this point with the exception of battle beast shouldn’t compare. While it could be interpreted that way, the scene pretty much emphasized that he had her dead to rights if he was to go for the kill, which is totally opposite of this:
https://preview.redd.it/v4afqpvv4e2c1.jpeg?width=1041&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e74a906df24078314b1b73412fb7a9d18d737c6
I know what youre saying, but Kirkman himself has said this is a 2nd take on the story for him.
I also said it elsewhere but I think she was toying with him mostly. She hardly took any damage from his attacks. We’ve seen Mark go nuts and stagger his Father backwards in the S1 finale, but he still didnt do any meaningful other than overwhelm him briefly.
And he did have her, but she also had her arms and legs free when he was holding her there, she couldve potentially blocked or countered him, and with the way she goes from being so despondent to psychotic looking; I dont think she was out of fight or something, I think she just decided to fuck with him to see if he would actually strike, which makes sense, since theyre kinda testing him.
Then she goes “Id say you fight well but uh…” which to me, was her calling him soft as shit coz hes sposed to be a Viltrumite, and yet he fell for something like that. If he did strike, I dont know if he wouldve killed her, its more likely he wouldve just done more damage to her, not a killing blow. She has almost no real injuries and Mark looks extremely exhausted
If its not a change you like then thats fair enough, but I think it makes sense if Omniman is way stronger than most Viltrumites, and Mark is still stronger than he was in Season 1, so the gap seems a lot closer