The fourth and newest season follows the titular super hero, Invincible – also known by his secret identity Mark Grayson -, and his struggle against the Viltrum Empire as it comes to its epic climax. One of my favorite parts of the series (which is touched on even further in this season) is Mark’s character arc. 

To give some needed context to those who have not watched the series; a major turning point happens during the first season in which it is revealed that Mark’s father, Omni-Man (also known as Nolan Grayson), and the planet Viltrum he originated from, were not as heroic as he claimed them to be. Viltrum, in reality, was not just a planet, but a violent empire occupying a large part of the universe. Omni-Man as a member of this empire (a Viltrumite) was sent to earth to scout out the planet and prepare it for the arrival of the viltrum empire.

This is all revealed to Mark at the end of season one resulting in a violent battle which results in the deaths of a large number of people living in Chicago (the city where the show is set). This becomes the inciting incident for Mark’s growth throughout the second, third and fourth seasons as he struggles with the idea that he may fall into his father’s more violent tendencies. 

Though the second and third seasons focus more on this struggle, the effect it has on Mark is still very apparent in the fourth. It especially shows itself in the first episode where (due to some complicated circumstances) a group of mind-controlling aliens comes to Earth using the body of an astronaut as a host. In a critical moment during this invasion where the aliens are about to spread to the whole city, and possibly the entire planet, Mark makes the difficult decision to ‘get rid’ of the astronaut.

Though it is never explicitly stated, this – and a couple other events later on in the season in which mark takes the life of or gravely injures other characters -, continues to show the struggle Mark goes through as he tries to find the balance of doing what is necessary and not getting lost in the violent nature that comes with being a Viltrumite.

The arc that Mark goes through runs parallel with his father Omni-Man as he unlearns the violent and uncaring nature of the Viltrum empire and tries to become the kind of hero the world once thought he was.

Another compliment I want to give the series is its great character moments. “Invincible” as a series already has a wide cast of heroes and villains alike which only grows with the fourth season as characters like Tech Jacket get to make their debut.

One of my favorites parts of the season in fact comes from the characters as I greatly enjoyed Oliver and Nolan’s interactions. To summarize, Oliver is Nolan’s second son and half Thraxan; (a species of bug aliens) who, because of the rapid aging of the Thraxan, is physically and mentally a teen, while only having been born around six years ago.

After an unfortunate event in which the Viltrum empire destroys Oliver’s home planet and arrests Nolan, he is taken by Mark back to earth to be raised by his mom Debbie.

As Oliver grows and develops his powers, he starts to resent his father for abandoning him, however their relationship grows during the mid point of the season after they are forced to take refuge on a planet filled with nothing but bug monsters while they wait for Mark to recover from the injuries he obtained from one of the season’s major fights.

I really enjoyed this brief moment of down time as we got to see Oliver and Nolan’s relationship develop and how in a way it allows Nolan to fix the mistakes he made when raising Mark.

I also want to compliment how the show didn’t immediately redeem Nolan.

Though the seeds for his redemption have definitely been planted, I commend the series for showing on multiple occasions that just because he’s working to become better doesn’t mean that everyone magically forgot about what he did.

Despite all the praises I have for it, “Invincible” is far from perfect. Though I greatly enjoyed the series and its story, the animation is rather lacking. This sentiment is one that is shown by many fans of the series even since season one. This is not so much a critique of the show itself, but the show runners as they favor big name voice actors over better quality animation, shown by the fact that that is clearly what most of the budget goes to as many of the shows flight sequences look more like someone is just dragging a png of the character across the scene. 

Though I personally believe the story makes up for the poor animation, I still find it annoying when during key moments the characters look less like characters, and more like still images.