Minor spoilers ahead.
We've reached the stage where we're seeing regular subversions of the superhero genre in the mainstream, an impulse that is generating all kinds of interesting media. Amazon Prime has a new animated series, "Invincible," that is one of the better examples of this trend. Like "The Boys," it takes all the usual tropes of your typical superhero origin story, and proceeds to do something outrageously violent and unnerving with them. Superheroes have been so closely tied to animation, that it feels very satisfying to have a show like this really take advantage of the strengths of the medium to create something so unapologetically adult.
Created by Robert Kirkman, based on his own comics series, "Invincible" takes place in a world very familiar with superheroes and supervillains. Various super-teams are active, and it seems like there's always some mad scientist, interdimensional invader, or super-powered criminal wreaking havoc somewhere. Our main character is teenager Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), the son of the most powerful superhero on Earth, Omniman (J.K. Simmons), and a lovely realtor named Debbie (Sandra Oh). After getting his powers, Mark decides to become the superhero Invincible and follow in his father's footsteps. However, he soon discovers the difficulties of balancing school, superhero work, and his relationships with his friends, William (Andrew Rannells) and Amber (Zazie Beetz). And Omniman is also keeping secrets.
"Invincible" is one of the few animated series with hour-long episodes. Otherwise, it looks deceptively like your standard DC or Marvel superhero series of the past few years. The designs are brightly colored and many major characters are based on DC superheroes. There are analogues to the Justice League and the Teen Titans in the series, with Omniman clearly a take on Superman. The animation is a little higher quality than the norm, especially the action sequences, which are beautifully fluid and often epic in scope. This also makes the jarring instances of gory violence all the more shocking. The voice cast is great all around, with a significant number of high profile actors in the mix. The superhero group, the Guardians of the Globe, have members that are all voiced by alumni of "The Walking Dead."
There's a lot being made of how mature the content in the show is, specifically the absurd amount of violence. However, for the most part the story plays out on roughly the same level you'd expect from your average teen show. Mark spends most of the series dealing with typical adolescent woes - his love life, parental expectations, and his own uncertainty about the future. He meets other teen superheroes like Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs), whose own issues are explored in subplots. Really, the series only feels unusually adult because animated superhero media is often so infantilized. The content here isn't remotely on the same level as something like "The Boys." There's little sexuality, no nudity, and barely even any strong language.
However, the writing is very, very good. I like the way that this universe is set up and explored, and how we get to know so many interesting secondary characters. I love that Debbie is a major character who has her own storylines, and we get a good look at her relationship with Omniman. I love the way that Omniman is so morally gray, and he's less two-dimensional than someone like Homelander, in spite of being animated. I love the wide variety of villains, and how normalized the fantasy aspects of superheroing are in the "Invincible" universe. And I appreciate the way that Kirkman plays on our expectations of superhero media to deliver some good humor and thoughtful commentary.
"Invincible" has already been renewed for multiple seasons, and since it's based on a comics series that has already wrapped up, I expect that the level of quality will remain consistent. I'm very excited to see how this is all going to play out, and what other surprises the show has in store.
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