From TikTok to Instagram to YouTube, the comic based animated series Invincible from Amazon’s Prime Video has been gaining traction in the media and has become one of the most talked about shows this year, with thousands of TikTok videos and millions of people sharing their opinions online. 

With teen heroes as the center of the show, Invincible portrays relatable characters with the added spice of epic fight scenes. The animation is similar to Japanese Anime and the story lines are more reminiscent of American teen culture making it a must watch for any animated film enthusiasts. 

However, if you are sensitive to gorey scenes, such as bloody murder scenes, and would rather watch a show like Regular Show or Adventure time, I would suggest sticking to those. On the other hand, if you are considering the show, I would suggest to hesitate no longer and jump right into it. 

Starting from the show’s roots, we must go back to the Comic written by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker. Invincible was originally a small, generally unpopular, comic that began in January of 2003 and concluded in February of 2018. The premise of the show follows the comic very closely with it being based around a son who gains superpowers whose father is a superhero himself. It was picked up for an animated remake by Amazon prime recently and now is one of the top shows on Prime Video. 

The two main characters are father and son, Omni Man and Mark, who start off as normal people but its later revealed that Omni Man is the most powerful superhero on Earth and Mark, who has just gained superpowers, is set on becoming a superhero like his role-model father… or so he thinks.

In the early episodes of the show, Mark is an average high school teen who is occasionally bullied and is somewhat a loner. After gaining his superpowers, he immediately begins training with his father to learn how to become a hero. His dad teaches him the basics, like how to fly and fight, and Mark eagerly begins to fight off small crime in the city. After a bad fight, he learns that it is much harder than he thought, since he is put into traumatic situations where people are dying and he isn’t able to save everyone. 

Along with Mark, his father is also shown killing the main superheroes from “The Global Defense Agency” (or G.D.A) which is similar to the Justice League. This leaves the much weaker and inexperienced “Teen Team” to fight most of the battles around the world. An investigation of the killings showed that Omni Man was in fact the killer of these people but it was kept a secret from the world since there was no way  to stop Omni Man yet. 

As the show progressed, it became more and more gruesome when the story of the superheroes being killed unfolds. Mark’s mother begins to suspect Omni Man’s involvement in the killing of the G.D.A. and starts to piece the puzzle together when she takes the suit to be looked at by a man who tells her that Omni Man was in fact the aggressor. 

Towards the end of the season, Omni Man is also beginning to piece together the investigation against him, and this angering realization sends him into an anger fueled rampage. He finds out the house across from him has been a spy set-up from the pentagon and attempts to kill the people in the house. However, before he could, they blow the house up in an attempt to knock him out for a while so that the government can figure out a way to stop him. But, of course, the explosion was nothing to Omni Man. 

This showed that Omni Man was much more powerful than anyone could have imagined and now anything that can stand in the way of him destroying the world is thrown at him in a desperate attempt to stop him. Mark, who has been trying to find love at this time, doesn’t yet know his father is actually the killer so he helps his dad fight off the obstacles for a while until Omni Man finally breaks the truth to him. 

Mark is upset and, unsuccessfully, tries to fight his dad. During the final scenes of the season, Mark is beaten ruthlessly by his father and is forced to see thousands of people die as a lesson that everyone’s life on Earth is meaningless to Viltrumites (Viltrum is where Omni Man comes from; they live a lot longer than humans and have a lifespan of thousands of years) and that Earth is just another planet to conquer for the Viltrum Empire in the eyes of Omni Man. 

In the end, Omni Man seems to leave Earth for no apparent reason after he realizes what he did to his son who he really does love more than anything. Mark is taken to a top secret hospital where he recovers and everyone is left on a cliff hanger since everything has changed now that the truth is out. 

But, it is not all death and gore, throughout the show teen life is displayed with Mark struggling to balance school, his love life, and being a hero all at once. Love is found and lost and many viewers can relate to this heartbreaking aspect of the film. Love, betrayal, and compassion are key in this show and balances out the darker side of this show. 

For anyone who has a love for animated films, mind bending story lines, and a taste for great shows in general this is definitely a must watch. From the detailed yet simple animation to the plot twists at just the right moments, this show definitely deserves an 11/10. To view this, subscribe to Amazon’s Prime Video and enjoy the show in all of its glory.