Created by Robert Kirkman, Invincible Season 4 continues the story of Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun) following the aftermath of the Invincible War and his violent fight with the Viltrumite, Conquest. While the world recovers from the global catastrophe of last season, a changed Mark struggles with guilt as he fights to protect his home and the people he loves, setting him on a collision course with the impending threat of the Viltrumite Empire that could alter the fate of humanity and the universe forever.
Invincible has been one of the best animated comic book shows in recent years, having caught the world’s attention with its impressive and shocking first season, but the journey after has certainly had its ups and downs. After a mixed second season, Invincible’s third season massively improved upon things, giving me hope that the fourth season would continue to improve the series and hopefully progress more on the central storyline involving the Viltrumites after being put on the back burner for the past two seasons. This season promised major character development for our central characters as well as promised the highly anticipated Viltrumite War from comics and the introduction of the primary villain of the entire series. But did this season live up to all of its promises? Yes it did in truly phenomenal fashion.
Invincible Season 4 sets itself as the best season of the series so far with incredible performances by the main cast, fantastic writing that massively progresses the main story, viciously violent yet epic animation, and action sequences that are truly out of this world. Previous seasons had their highs and lows but this season has honestly been nothing but highs from start to end as I loved everything that this season delivered, and for the first time in this series I cared about everything that was going on and had little to no issues with the season as a whole.
The entire voice cast was magnificent in their respective roles with both main and supporting characters shining brightly this season. While the returning cast members are the ones who stood out the most this season with their performances as their characters endure major developments, there were also several newcomers who came in to make their own major mark in the series with their performances.
Steven Yeun once again delivers phenomenal work as Mark Grayson this season as we see the character get pushed to his physical and mental limits from conflicts on Earth and later the Viltrumite War. The trauma he has endured both in the past and in this season causes a serious decline to his mental health, resulting in massive consequences that not only affect him, his loved ones and allies but the entire universe. Steven Yeun was able to beautifully portray this heartbreaking arc for the character through his perfect voice performance, proving why he is the perfect casting for this character.
Taking a major role this season alongside Mark is his father Nolan, reprised by J.K. Simmons, who after two seasons of being sidelined returns in force for a compelling arc that sees him on a complex path of redemption. Nolan committed terrible crimes on Earth and other planets in the name of the Viltrumite empire but he soon begins to find humanity within himself and see the wrong of his people’s ways, resulting in him joining the cosmic resistance against the Viltrumites. But he learns that his path to redemption isn’t an easy one as his actions are not so quickly forgiven by everyone nor should they be.
I loved the fact that most of the people that Nolan’s actions have affected don’t forgive and forget just like that, as some other stories tend to do, but rather has Nolan go through a slow and emotionally complicated process of redemption that I felt was more realistic and written extremely well. Topping it all off is a truly magnificent performance by J.K. Simmons who gives this character so much depth as this season explores so many layers of the character that had not been explored in previous seasons and I couldn’t help but feel really invested in everything to do with him.
Also being given a great arc and incredible performance is Sandra Oh as Debbie Grayson, who may not be as heavily focused on in this season but still manages to have a lot of major scenes that had me emotionally hooked in all the way. One scene in particular that she’s involved in is extremely Emmy worthy as Sandra Oh gives her heart and soul into voicing this character for such an emotionally charged scene that has you on the edge of your seat every second. She’s truly made this character her own with her performance and I’m eager to see the direction her character is going in due to a very unique turning point for the character that occurs by the end of this season.
Oliver Grayson returns, reprised by Christian Convery, and he has certainly grown up and matured a bit since we last saw him but like Mark he gets pushed to his own limits in this season. He wants to be the hero the world needs no matter the cost but when gets thrust into the main conflict with the Viltrumites, everything changes for him as he ends up being way out of his league despite being part Viltrumite himself. Still, seeing him wanting to be there for his family to protect them and going great distances to do so really makes you love and appreciate the character more for his loyalty to the Graysons despite not even being human.
Atom Eve returns and is wonderfully reprised by Gillian Jacobs as she endures what could be considered the most emotional arc of the series. Due to the massive spoilers about her arc I can’t discuss anything in great detail about it other than it truly hits the heart in a lot of ways and you can’t help but feel awful for everything she is dealing with despite Mark being there to love and support her.
The rest of the remaining Earth-bound heroes and allies after the events of the Invincible War are all still acted and written extremely well by their respective cast members but it’s clear that some of them are set to have larger roles in the next season, namely Monster Girl and Robot. We also do get the short but sweet inclusions of Clancy Brown as Damien Darkblood and Bruce Campbell as Satan, who are part of a really fun filler episode involving Mark being summoned to Hell to deal with a potential threat to Earth.
Then we have the Coalition of Planets characters who take the main stage in this season as they come together to bring the fight to the Viltrumites under the leadership of both Allen the Alien, reprised by Seth Rogen, and Thaedus, reprised by Peter Cullen. Having come fresh off his well deserved awards for The Studio, Seth Rogen delivers a compelling and surprisingly more serious performance as Allen the Alien with the character leading the charge in the war against the Viltrumites. He still has extremely funny moments and fun interactions with characters, including his bromance with Nolan, but he also has some amazing moments of action that he takes seriously and shows off his dramatic acting chops that we don’t get to see as often in his previous work.
While Seth Rogen shines as Allen amongst the Coalition, it is Peter Cullen who soars to the heavens with his performance as Thaedus, which is both magnificent and inspiring. While this role on the surface may seem very similar to his years-long role as Optimus Prime, there are some notable differences with the character, especially given some of the shocking actions he has committed as the labeled Betrayer of the Viltrumites. While he certainly is a great leader and has a powerful voice that gives him immense presence, he is not entirely a saint either as we learn more about him. For what could possibly be one of Cullen’s final roles, he did a truly amazing job with voicing this character.
The newest additions to the Coalition team include Tech Jacket, voiced by Zoey Deutch, and Space Racer, voiced by Winston Duke, who are both great inclusions to the series with great performances by their respective cast members.
And then we come to Viltrumites, who finally take the main stage in the series after so much build-up and they all get hugely fleshed out in this season with major revelations that make us look at them differently than how we previously viewed them as cosmic power-hungry conquerors. After last season’s revelation about there being fewer than 50 Viltrumites alive in the universe, we get to learn what led to this situation and get a deeper understanding of the Viltrumites’ true motives outside of conquering beings they deem lesser. The critical survival of their species is what is driving their motives, and this makes them a truly compelling threat that is led by perhaps one of the best comic book villains to be adapted, which is Thragg voiced by Lee Pace.
In the comics, Thragg is considered to be the Thanos of the Invincible universe, serving as the main overarching villain of the story who finally makes his debut in this season and my god what a debut it is. As the most powerful Viltrumite of all time, even more powerful than Conquest, he is a truly terrifying god-like being that proves very quickly that he’s no fraud hiding behind a cape or throne and is seemingly unbeatable even for our strongest heroes. As monstrous as he is, he ends up also being a really compelling character that is given a lot of layers through the writing and a truly phenomenal performance by Lee Pace, who absolutely proved his doubters wrong after mixed reactions to his initial casting announcement.
Lee Pace brings fury and strong emotion to this villain, showing that he isn’t some two-dimensional dictator but a truly tactical and effective leader that prioritizes survival of his own people over everything else. A villain that is both scary and deeply interesting is the best kind of villain to have and I am glad to see they adapted this character extremely well after so many people were hyping up his eventual appearance in the series. And based on the character’s journey in this season it’s clear there is a lot more to come for him going forward in the future.
The season’s story is once again very character-driven as most of our main and supporting characters go on their own respective journeys that further develop them as characters before coming together for the grand conflict that is the Viltrumite War. The early episodes of this season do include previous plot threads from the previous seasons but the main focus is primarily on the Viltrumite story thread that had been built up to this point, leading to an explosive payoff that can only be described as both epic and emotionally shocking. This season is definitely a war story that features a lot of compelling themes not only with every individual involved in the war but also showcases the horrors of war for both sides given their respective and layered motives that drive them to their violent conflict.
This season is unforgiving in its bloody action and goes to very bold places, yet still manages to be extremely investing and not lose sight of what matters most, even when going to many crazy extremes. For me personally, I feel the series is at its best when it sticks to its main storyline as proven with the last 4 episodes and how they end up being some of the best in the series as a whole including the finale. Unlike the previous seasons that ended with climatic battles, season 4’s finale ends with a focus on furthering characters’ emotional development as a result of the war while still remaining tense and even terrifying with a lot of shocking developments that had me on edge, while also paving the way for what’s coming in the next season.
From a technical perspective, the series is pretty much perfect in every possible aspect especially in the animation, which I feel continues to improve with every season. With this being a much larger story in size and scale the animation needed to match it and it truly does in the best way possible, both in the action and visuals. Every frame oozes with vibrant worlds and unapologetically gruesome violence that definitely pushes things further than the series has ever gone before and while I’m not against that I couldn’t help but feel incredibly uncomfortable with some sequences, including one that involves Mark battling an old foe.
The music by composer John Paesano is once again fantastic, with a larger focus on delivering epic scores to match the epic sequences that occur throughout the season.
Overall, Season 4 was truly phenomenal in every single way, setting a new high bar for the series that I absolutely loved from start to end. While I am definitely excited to see where the series goes in the upcoming fifth season of the series, I feel like it’s going to take a lot to top all of the amazing things this season was able to deliver. I’m going to give Invincible Season 4 an A+ = 98.
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