Season Two of Amazon Prime’s “Invincible” has almost fully released their eight, one-hour-long episodes. I’ll be breaking down specifically part two of this series, as there’s a lot to unpack. The first four episodes were released one by one in late November of 2023, before it was later announced that the rest of the series would be released on March 14, 2024. As of today, (March 29, 2024) there have only been three more episodes since the initial announcement. However, as irritating as the viewer can be about a prolonged release schedule, understandingly “Invincible” never fails to deliver a complex and attention-grabbing story filled to the brim with action and suspense. But enough about the moguls in the snow, let’s start breaking this second part down. Disclaimer: this series is not for the faint of heart, there are many scenes of violent and brutal death. SPOILERS, obviously.

The first episode leads with a recap of the aftermath of our protagonist’s tempered and superior cousins, The Viltrumites. Mark Grayson, AKA Invincible, lies among the anarchy left caused by his defeat on planet Thraxa, home of the Thraxans. When the dust settles, Invincible helps rebuild Thraxa’s damage before returning home with his toddler half-brother Oliver. Mark returns to his childhood home and explains to his mom that he needs someone to take care of Oliver while he’s at college or in the field as Invincible. Mark attempts to tie up loose ends with his girlfriend Amber and The Guardians of the Globe, who both scold him for taking a leave of absence for about three months. Although, as fast as Mark returns from space, a distress signal comes in and an alien ship is spotted headed on a direct course for Earth, carrying some very dangerous alien cargo known as the Sequids, a mind-controlling parasite hivemind that wishes to take over Earth’s people. Invincible and the Guardians suit up and take a ship of their own to put a stop to their course. While complications arise in space, the remaining Guardians are put in charge of keeping watch while the others are absent from their post. Leader of the three Guardians left on Earth, Rex (AKA Rex-splode) tells the others to lay back and relax and ensures that nothing Earth-threatening could possibly happen in the span of the time the other Guardians are in space. Invincible and the Guardians successfully board the ship but the Sequids are ready for them. Back on Earth, the three remaining Guardians get an alert that a group of villains known as the Lizard League have hijacked a nuclear missile base and threaten to fire unless the American government gives them whatever they want. The three Guardians led by Rex infiltrate the base and begin to fight. Meanwhile aboard the ship, The Guardians are not gaining much ground. The Sequids turn out to be much stronger than they appear to be and overwhelm the Guardians. Meanwhile in the base, the other Guardians start receiving lethal blows. Kate, AKA DupliKate, gets crushed to death in an excruciatingly gory display by a brute league member. Rae, AKA ShrinkRae, (I know the names are a little much) shrinks herself and dives into one league member’s eye before punching a bullet sized hole from within his head. In the heat of the moment, she lunges at the brute member next, but is caught and swallowed. Rae attempts to grow in size and explode the brute from the inside out, but is unsuccessful. The brute’s body expands for a moment, but crushes her from the outside while Rae is still inside his body. Left by himself, Rex begins to panic. He tosses a bomb and manages to take out one member by exploding her in half, before being chased down by the brute. Rex gets some good hits in but before he can toss his last bomb at the brute, the brute grabs Rex’s forearm with the bomb still in hand and bites it clean off. The brute’s head explodes in the process. Stunned, horrified and in gruesome agony, Rex starts laughing hysterically before a gun is pressed to the back of his head by the leader of the Lizard League, King Lizard. Out of options and too weak to fight back, Rex is shot. After the credits roll, there’s an extra scene that takes place aboard a faraway space station. We’re reintroduced to two previous characters from the first part of the season, Allen the Alien and Thaedus. In a previous episode from part one, Allen is brutally injured by the Viltrumites and placed inside a life support machine to heal. Thaedus is then seen powering off his life support while alone. However in this episode, Allen makes a full recovery and appears to have grown far stronger than before. Thaedus appears to him and apologizes for gambling with his life, explaining that he knew that without his life support, Allen either would’ve died or recovered far stronger than before. Allen questions Thaedus about where he got his information from, which in return Thaedus reveals that he is of Viltrumite blood. Thaedus requests that Allen travel to Earth to explain his conflict with the Viltrumites to Invincible.

Obviously that’s a LOT to unpack for just one episode of this series, but don’t worry! It gets worse… 

Episode two clears up the cliff hangers. We see a short recap of Rex’s brain blowout and the struggling Guardians aboard the spaceship. We cut to Rex lying unconscious on the floor of the base in a puddle of his own blood. King Lizard begins to ransom with the U.S. government over the phone but before any decisions can be made, Rex rises from the floor. King Lizard hangs up and monologues about something illegible to Rex. Rex sprints full speed at King Lizard before slamming him into walls and landing multiple punches before lifting King Lizard off the ground by his hair and pounds his face in with his severed and bone-exposed hand-arm. Rex continues to stomp King Lizard’s corpse before passing out and being rescued by U.S. agents. The agents also discover that Rae is alive. The Guardians aboard the ship defeat and rescue the Sequid’s host and make their escape back to Earth. For most of the rest of the episode, we’re shown Rex and Rae in the hospital, Kate’s funeral, and Mark’s complications with college and his relationship with his girlfriend Amber. We’re then shown a long scene between separate conversations between Mark and Amber discussing their struggling relationship. Mark loves Amber and Amber loves Mark, but Mark’s role as Invincible is tearing them both apart. We then cut to Allen who approaches Earth to visit Mark. Since the two have met before, there isn’t much cause for distress. Allen explains the Viltrumite situation to Mark, who is too stunned to speak. After the credits roll, we’re shown a scene of Mark’s father, Nolan, in a Viltrumite cell aboard a space shuttle. General Kregg questions him about his time on Earth, with no response from Nolan.

As episode three rolls into focus, tensions are arising between Mark’s social life and his hero responsibilities as Invincible. The Viltrumites are on the rise and The Guardians of the Globe are struggling to stay as a team.

Episode three is where this series really ups the ante. Before the action starts, we’re shown a short scene of Amber and Mark at comic con. Mark gets a poster signed by a famous animator. The animator breaks the fourth wall a small bit in this scene, critiquing the audience on Invincible for being impatient and explaining that animation takes time and sometimes they have to cut a few corners to keep within the budget and create a enticing and quality rich series. Mark receives a call to fight once again and leaves Amber. He goes to meet Rex, who is now equipped with his newly installed arm and fights against a small group of pirates before heading back home. Mark then demands to his boss Cecil that he needs a break from his duties to spend some quality time with his girlfriend and family. Mark takes Amber out around campus to catch up on things they missed before a Viltrumite flies down and threatens to kill Amber if Mark refuses to meet her in the sky to talk. This new Viltrumite named Anissa talks to Mark about how the Viltrum Empire can rebuild Earth anew and save Earth from dying. Mark refuses to hear Anissa out and they clash violently. Anissa proves to be way stronger than Mark and brings him to the edge of death multiple times, trying to convince him to listen and surrender, but Mark refuses. Anissa leaves Mark and heads back to deep space, while Cecil arrives and retrieves his soldier. Afterwards, Mark consoles Amber about their previous situation and decides that they can’t make their relationship work and break up. After the credits roll, we’re shown a scene of Allen the Alien brawl with Anissa with much success in deep space. Allen then pretends to be knocked unconscious so Anissa will take him aboard their ship without suspicion.

So far, this last part of “Invincible” has been some of the best work that these animators have done. And while it’s easy to gripe about release dates and slower scheduling, “Invincible” never fails to deliver and I can’t wait to see where this series is headed next.