I’m asking because (as a show-watcher only) seeing his other feats of strength makes it seem like the Guardians should not have been able to considerably hurt him in the way they did (Red Rush especially seemed to have quite an effect intially, making him vomit up a bunch of blood). Did he let them injure him more than they could have if he was at maximum force to make his story more believable?
Power scaling doesn’t make sense in Invincible, Mark goes from nearly dying to the Mauler twins to going toe to toe with one of the most experienced Viltrumites.