Invincible Season 4 Review: It Was Brutal

Article at a glance:

• Season 4 cements Mark Grayson as one of the most “put through the wringer” heroes in fiction, forcing him to balance the hatred of Earth after the Invincible War with the trauma of facing his father and the Viltrumite Empire once again.
• Centered on the haunting theme of “necessary evil,” this season pushes every character, from Mark to Grand Regent Thragg, to justify horrific actions for the sake of the “greater good.”
• While the season reaches a series high with 10/10 character arcs and visceral showdowns like Mark vs. Conquest 2.0, it’s still held back by inconsistent production values and some questionable pacing in the side plots.

A bit of an unorthodox review for this site, I know. But come on, man, TITLE CARD Season 4 was just that good. Mark, at this point, has to be one of the most emotionally wrecked superheroes of all time. Boy is out here giving Spidey a run for his money. Got betrayed and beaten to a pulp by his own father, everyone HATES him because of all the destruction the alternative version of him caused, and now he has to deal with the reality of taking a life when it matters, and face the remaining Viltrumites with the same father who almost killed him.

Of course, there will be spoilers ahead because there are some things I want to talk about in-depth when it comes to this season. As good as the previous seasons were, I think Invincible Season 4 might just take the cake. There are so many good character moments in this season. Sure, it has its flaws too, but what they’ve put on is nothing short of amazing.

So welcome to a rather different review, as today we will take a look at Invincible Season 4. Let’s get right into it because this will be quite long.

Plot

A repeating theme throughout Season 4 is “necessary evil.” Pretty much all major characters in Season 4 justify their actions by thinking that this is for the greater good. This starts right away as the first major event in Season 4 has Mark dealing with the reality of actually taking an innocent life to save others. He made the logically correct choice and saved a lot of people. But it still affects him. It hits him harder because people still hate him because of the Invincible Wars.

The same goes for Thragg; he truly believes that Viltrumites are superior and that everything he is doing is for the betterment of the whole universe. Which makes sense when you see how Viltrumites are raised. They’re systematically stripped of all empathy and free thought. Their society is completely broken, and Thadeus’s betrayal and then the scourge virus just further twist those ideals and make the remaining Viltrumites even worse. And once again, the season fittingly ends with Mark having to choose between the universe and the people he cares about.

Also, the ring around Viltrum being just bodies of people who died from the Scourge Virus is INSANE.

Of course, there are some issues here. The plot armor gets kind of ridiculous. Mark shouldn’t be alive after Conquest literally spilled out his guts. Conquest himself shouldn’t be alive after last season lol. The power scaling is still inconsistent as hell. Paul disappearing, and Nolan just getting together with Debbie in the very last episode, was a little forced, too, especially because of how well-written their previous interaction was. And of course, I wish Eve had more to do; I know the pregnancy side-plot was important, but it kinda went nowhere.

Characters

Now this is where Season 4 really shines. Let’s split it into sections

Mark

This boy is still dealing with the fallout of the Invincible Wars and Conquest, and then he has to deal with the burden of taking a life on top of that. He STILL tries his best to be good, but it is just not working out for him. He used to be this bright young man, who saw the good in everyone in Season 1; now that is just gone. I absolutely love how he locks in when fighting Conquest and finishes him off for good this time around. When he sees Conquest’s grave and thinks someone close to him died was such a great scene.

And then, of course, him choosing to protect his loved ones over the universe at the very end of the season is such a great character moment too.

Nolan and Oliver

Again, we see Ollie, who only used to see the world in good or evil, now face-to-face with Nolan. The person responsible for the ruin of his planet. The person who said his mother was a mistake. But he sees that Nolan is clearly trying to be better, and they do come to accept each other over time. Nolan also genuinely wants to do better, but he doesn’t know how to. See, a simple apology to everyone else was enough because a Viltrumite apologizing WAS a big deal. But just a simple apology is not enough for his family.

That’s why Nolan’s first interaction with Debbie is so impactful. He thinks a sorry would be enough, but of course it isn’t. Nolan’s character development has been one of the best redemption arcs I’ve seen in a while.

Thragg

Oh, the mighty Grand Regent himself. Yes, I know the show kind of botched his introduction. He looked like a fraud in his first episode. But then brother just goes HAM. This man punched Nolan so hard that he spent an entire episode just flying. Thragg is the peak of Viltrumites in more ways than one. Yes, he is the strongest, but he is also the most rigid. He really does believe that whatever Argall taught him was true. In some ways, that makes him a victim too, but that doesn’t absolve him of his current actions.

The fact that he spares Mark should tell you just how much he “cares” about the Viltrumite cause. He has seen how strong Mark is, and he doesn’t want to kill stronger Viltrumites. He is brilliantly written as a villain.

I really wish we got Battle Beast vs. Conquest. Because Battle Beast is the only character that’s on par with how unhinged Conquest was. Debbie remains one of the best characters in the series, and well, Eve is there too.

Production

This is where the review takes a turn because, as you might guess, Invincible Season 4 doesn’t have the best animations. Sure, it can look GOOD at times, like Mark vs. Conquest 2.0 looked great. Thragg getting that demonic impact frame was cool as hell too. But overall, the animations are just not that great. The space fights lack impact, and there’s no mouth movement in space either, which makes characters feel LESS expressive. And well, they reuse expressions so many times.

No complaints with the music or voice acting, though. I know a lot of people didn’t like Thragg’s voice, but I think his voice is pretty good.

Summing Up

Here are my review scores for Invincible Season 4:

• Plot – 9/10
• Characters – 10/10
• Production – 6/10
• Enjoyment – 10/10
• Overall – 8.5/10

As you can see, only held back by animation; extremely high scores across the board otherwise. But don’t let that deter you, as you may have gathered from this review, Invincible Season 4 is amazing. With that said, I will take my leave here. See ya!

Also, check out my thoughts on Wistoria Season 2 here!