Invincible fans had been hyping the “Invincible War” ever since the third season began earlier this year, and it turns out that the war itself could have been a much longer event in the animated series than it was in the original comics. Invincible Season 3 has been building towards a final climax that saw much of the Earth destroyed. It was revealed that Angstrom Levy had survived his fight with Mark at the end of the second season, and his revenge plan involved recruiting Marks from multiple other universes to destroy the planet and ruin Mark’s reputation as a result.
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For all of the build up that fans of the Invincible comics had for its adaptation, it ended up only lasting for a single episode of the season. Much like how the original story itself only ran for a single issue of the comic, its adaptation did the same. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly about the episode, Invincible co-showrunner Simon Racioppa revealed that it could have lasted longer. Ultimately the team decided against that, however, as Racioppa explained, “I’m also of the mind of just, keep it moving.”
Why the Invincible War In Season 3 Was So Short
Choosing against the idea of expanding on the Invincible War to avoid bloat, Racioppa joked that the series gave fans “a whole Marvel Phase 1, 2, and 3 in one episode.” But for Mark himself, it was more fine tuning what his journey has been in the third season as he was, “standing on his own feet and discovering who he needs to be, who he wants to be as a hero, and what that entails from his perspective.” As Racioppa noted about his journey in these episodes, “We put him through the ringer 100 different ways in this season.”
As for many of the characters who appeared in the original Invincible War story as the heroes fighting against the Mark variants, it was more difficult to make it happen in the animated series, “I don’t think anyone on the show would not want that to happen,” Racioppa stated. “but there’s just so many rights issues. It is a lot easier in comics than it is in television. When Robert was writing these books years ago, it was a lot easier. I think everything is now so controlled… It’s a bit of a nightmare.”
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“It was trying to find something that each of the Invincibles had that Steven could hook onto and then build from,” Racioppa explained about Yeun’s task of voicing the 18 different Mark variants in the episode. “A lot of it came from Steven, as well, to give you 18 characters [and] try to make them all feel different in an hour of TV. It’s technically less than an hour. I think it’s astounding.” But as the episode came to an end, it’s clear we’ll be seeing these variants again soon enough.
Because while Angstrom had dropped the Mark variants in the empty universe he had transported the original Mark to at the end of the second season, they are far from being defeated. The Invincible variants are still very much alive, and just like Angstrom, unfortunately a threat has yet to be dealt with until they are killed on screen. It’s something Mark is unfortunately very aware of thanks to everything that’s happened in the first two seasons already, and it’s something fans know will eventually pay off in a future episode of the series.
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