The following contains spoilers for Invincible Season 3, now streaming on Prime Video.
Once Invincible Season 3 revealed Angstrom Levy was alive, fans of the comics were eagerly waiting for the Invincible War. That event saw Angstrom bring an army of evil Invincibles over to Mark Grayson’s reality to fight the titular hero. The war itself took place in Episode 7, “What Have I Done?”
In just one episode, the Invincible variants went on the warpath. Their directive was to raze the world, beat up Invincible, and break his mind. Angstrom, as expected, wanted to be the one to deliver the death knell. But as he went about his mission, the Prime Video animated series made some significant changes from the comics.
20
Invincible Adds the Ka-Hor Arc
Ka-Hor Tries to Possess Lensless Invincible
The first two seasons of Invincible had a running gag with a mummy in the Egyptian desert, Ka-Hor. The misogynistic being was trying to break out of his tomb to find a host, but he would only do so if he could possess a man.
“What Have I Done?” has him trying to take hold of an evil variant that falls into the crypt: the Lensless Invincible. However, the variant rips the entity off him and flies off. The mummy is then chided by explorers, Jane and Riley, who once sought the crypt. This is a new chapter for this variant, as the comedic Ka-Hor wasn’t in the comics.
19
The Invincible Roster Gets Tweaked
Many Invincibles Get New Opponents
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The comics had 16 variants coming over, but the animated adaptation has 18. In addition, many get swapped into different spots. For example, Long-Haired Invincible (aka Hairvincible) doesn’t fight Tech Jacket in space in the comics. Here, Tech Jacket fights and kills the Mustache Invincible (aka Mustachible).
The variant with the black mask (aka Maskvincible) fights Oliver in the comics, but in the show, Oliver fights Cowl Invincible (aka Capvincible), thinking it is his real brother. The show switches things up for dramatic effect. It’s best seen when the animated series pairs Omni-Invincible with the Veil Invincible to fight Mark.
18
Invincible’s Debbie Has More Time With Oliver
Debbie Gives Oliver a Reason To Be Cautious
The comics had Debbie concerned about Oliver, and if he was ready to be a superhero. Mark agreed to train him, but Debbie was never seen allowing Oliver to enter the Invincible War. The show has her talking him out of joining. But she soon realizes that desperate times call for desperate measures.
It’s a very sentimental scene, as she coaches him and asks him to ensure he’s careful. Oliver does take this advice in Invincible Season 3. He helps out the public a lot, proving Debbie’s words resonate. He focuses on saving people as opposed to getting violent, although when he does fight the villains, the show gives him more screen-time to show he is getting better in combat.
17
The Invincible War Cuts Key Heroes
Image Comics’ Rights Constrain the Use of Characters
Another reason why the variants get swapped into different spots is due to Image Comics rights. Invincible creator, Robert Kirkman, can’t use more popular characters like Spawn, Witchblade, Savage Dragon and the Youngblood squad, as that would be way too expensive for Prime Video to license.
It does allow lesser-known characters such as Demi-God to be used, however. Best Prime, is another example, as a marksman who fights the caped Sinister Invincible (aka Capevincible). Astounding Wolf-Man gets extra time, too, as he fights a Mark variant in the white Viltrumite costume (aka Viltrumincible). To supplement the alliance, other generic characters are created for the Global Defense Agency (GDA).
16
Invincible’s Britt Gets a Diminished Role
Britt Is More an Organizer Than a Fighter
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In the comics, Britt fought with Cecil and the cyborg Donald at the Pentagon when chaos broke out. The animated series switches things up by having Cecil use Donald and D.A. Sinclair’s Reanimen, instead. Here, Jonathan Banks’ Brit is given a new role: using a teleporter to send heroes all over the world.
Britt is later seen helping recover Donald from the field as well. It gives them a closer bond than in the comics. One other key Britt arc is cut. The comics had Cecil asking him to lead the Guardians of the Globe for these big missions, but he threw shade over Cecil asking Mark first. Cecil doesn’t have this conversation with Britt in the animated series.
15
Invincible’s Cecil Comes to Mark’s Aid
Cecil Is Key in Helping Save Atom Eve
The comics had Atom Eve getting injured when Mark and the Guardians fought Veil Invincible. Mark rushed off to a hospital so she could be cared for. Cecil found him there and began an uneasy alliance.
The show has Cecil actually locating Mark once Eve is hurt. He has Mark bring her to the superhero hospital that the GDA has, which allows Mark to trust Cecil. He’s still cynical about working with him in the future, but at least he can tell Cecil cares.
14
Invincible Shows How Atom Eve Got Injured
The comics didn’t confirm what happened to Eve in the fight, but the show fixes this when the Veil Invincible (aka Hoodvincible) and Omni-Invincible (aka Omnivincible) team-up. Omni-Invincible grabs her leg and snaps it, which is why Cecil helps Mark.
Cecil can tell the young man is outnumbered, emotional and frantic. The animated series also adds Mark begging Eve to flee the scene before that. The show makes this brawl sting a lot more, as Mark could tell Eve was in danger like never before. The injury proves just as much.
13
The Invincible War Expands on the Guardians’ Assault
Lensless Invincible Is Seen Murdering Heroes
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The comics didn’t show how Lensless Invincible (aka Nogogglesible) beat the Guardians down — it just displayed the aftermath. The animated seires does flesh this battle out, which comes off like a true homage to when Omni-Man betrayed and killed the heroes in Invincible Season 1.
Lensless Invincible is seen ripping Kate to shreds. He also makes a lot more jokes as he beheads the Immortal, rips Shapesmith in half and lets them know how disappointed he is at brutalizing them so quickly. This adds personality to the character, building to some poetic karma when Darkwing ambushes him and traps him in his shadow realm.
12
Invincible Shows More of Debbie and Paul
Paul Is Debbie’s Shoulder to Lean On
In the comics, Debbie hid out at her boyfriend’s place. She and the man, Paul, would show up once the war concluded. The animated series also has her hiding at Paul’s residence, but they get more screen time. Debbie expresses her fears over potentially losing her sons.
Paul comforts her, coming off as a proper boyfriend filled with compassion. This creates more of a support system than in the comics. That relationship was thin, which is why Debbie went back with Nolan once he returned to Earth to atone. By making Paul more altruistic and a rock, the cartoon will make it tougher for her to leave such a good man.
11
Invincible’s Shapesmith Can’t Rebuild
Shapesmith Seems Weaker on Earth
Shapesmith put himself back together in the comics after being ripped apart. It showed that his Martian physiology had untapped potential. The animated series, however, doesn’t allow this.
Shapesmith is seen being added by Cecil’s medical team, and he does admit that once he’s close together, he can heal. It makes him a bit more vulnerable, albeit in his signature humorous style.
10
Rex Splode’s Death Isn’t Witnessed By Loved Ones
Rex’s Sacrifice Loses Some Key Impact
In the comics, Goggles Invincible (aka Gogglesvincible) attacks the lair where Bulletproof, Robot/Rudy and Monster Girl/Amanda were. Rex joined and told Bulletproof to fly away. Rex blew himself up and killed the variant, which is an act that Rudy saw and got depressed over. He was, after all, made from Rex’s DNA.
The show has Rex making a longer stand. He offers up a bigger speech and uses more elements to hurt the villainous Mark variant, nodding to the X-Men’s Gambit. When he blows himself and the villain up, Rudy and the others are already on another rooftop. They aren’t sure if Rex is dead. Rex’s girlfriend, Shrinking Rae, is also rushing to the building. She sees it blow up and assumes her soulmate is gone. The finale has a meeting in Cecil’s chamber confirming it.
9
Invincible vs. Angstrom Levy Has Key Adjustments
Angstrom Uses His Orbs In a Terrifying Manner
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In the comics, Invincible tracked Angstrom down on his own. The villain used his tech-orbs to batter Mark, Oliver and Bulletproof. In time, Mark punched his way to the villain, choked him, and vowed to kill him. However, Angstrom used a portal to escape when he realized Mark was listening to Oliver’s calls to end him.
The animated series tweaks this fight with some new cuts. Cecil lets Mark know where Angstrom is. Mark goes alone and fights off the orbs, which now combine like waves. Their brawl is longer and dynamic, with Mark pushing through the wave to kill Angstrom. Oliver does arrive afterward, getting Mark to want to kill the villain before Angstrom slips away.
8
Invincible’s Evil Variants Verbally Spar With Each Other
The Evil Marks Don’t Get Along
In the comics, the final eight variants gathered and waited on Angstrom. Maskvincible did say he wanted to take Debbie home as he didn’t like how his Nolan killed his Debbie. The cartoon follows this, but it adds in a new detail: he hopes to take her back to his reality.
In the animated series, the variants argue a lot more with each other. One says he misses his William as well. It encourages Mohawk Invincible (aka Movincihawk) to go on a bullying spree. It gives them extra personality and confirms they can’t get along.
7
Invincible’s Angstrom Expects His Civil War
Angstrom Knows the Variants Well
Before Invincible fought the calculating Angstrom, the villain had an argument with the last remaining variants. He banished them to a desert planet once they felt they didn’t need to follow his orders anymore.
The animated series uses this arc, but adds an extra thread: Angstrom jokes about how he felt they’d turn on him “much later.” It makes him cunning and more cerebral, as it shows he is accounting for all variables and can predict their actions better.
6
Invincible’s Rick Gets a Heroic Arc
Rick Saves William Using His Cyber-Enhancements
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In the Invincible comics, Rick and William (Mark’s best friend) were a gay couple. Rick was experimented on by Sinclair and augmented with Reanimen technology. That’s why Mark fell out with Cecil: he didn’t like that Sinclair became a GDA worker. In the Invincible War, William and Rick watched the news in horror.
The animated series reworks this, as it has the couple fleeing their university campus. Notably, Rick lifts some rubble and saves William. He displays superhuman strength in a very romantic moment. This added scene gives them a lot more depth and teases that maybe Rick might want to be a hero someday.
5
Invincible’s Cecil Deploys More Strategies
Cecil Has Extra Mental and Physical Tactics
The comics didn’t have Cecil using the Reanimen in the field. The animated series unleashes these robot zombies into the Pentagon arc and to fight the variants that attack Mark and Eve. Cecil even tries to use the sonic signal that could hurt Viltrumites, but the GDA can’t produce this new countermeasure quickly enough.
Lastly, Cecil adds a mental strategy when Mark doesn’t want to leave Eve’s side. He indicates Oliver and Debbie are out there, which entices Mark to go back to end the variants and clean the war up. It gives Mark the impetus to join the fray rather than wanting to illogically abstain, like in the comics.
4
Invincible’s Powerplex Has a Different Journey
Powerplex Comes Off Angrier But Human
The comics had Powerplex escaping jail when a variant attacked. He electrocuted the Astounding Wolf-Man after the inmate tried to stop him and fled. He would later try to fight Mark in New York during a clean-up session, only for Mark to punch him. Mark used Shaft and Badrock (both from Youngblood) to pin him down, let his powers drain and then arrest him. The animated series doesn’t have anyone trying to stop this villain’s escape.
Aaron Paul’s Powerplex tries to accost Mohawk Invincible and gets punched. He does flee, which later leads to Mark and Oliver pinning him down once the rebuilding occurs. No one hits him, because that would just give him kinetic energy to charge up with. Once he burns out, Britt is the one who arrests him. The cartoon does humanize Powerplex more as it shows him selflessly helping out in the rubble. As an extra caveat, the animated series has Powerplex frying one variant, so it has fans wondering just how powerful he is and if prison can contain him.
3
Invincible’s Technicians Are More Intimidating
Angstrom’s Partners Scare Him In a Bigger Way
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The Invincible comics had a scary arc unfold 17 years ago that saw Mark Grayson kill a colleague and nosedive into a depressing identity crisis.
The comics’ Angstrom lost an arm while escaping Mark and Oliver’s wrath. He asked his allies, the Technicians, to put him back together again. But they stabbed him in the back and made it clear he worked for them now. They would use him in their way to conquer the Multiverse.
The animated series follows this path, but it gives the Technicians a lot more personality. They subjugate Angstrom and make it clear they will rip him to bits and harness his teleporting powers. These words make them scarier and remove the nebulous nature of their plan. Angstrom now has reason to fear them as overlords.
No Allies Proclaim Mark Is Innocent
The comics had the media questioning if their Invincible was good. They were worried about whether Mark was trustworthy, even after he almost died protecting the Earth. Luckily, heroes like Savage Dragon went on air and vouched for him.
Sadly, the show doesn’t have any hero talking to the press. Not even Cecil and the government address the skepticism. This would have assuaged worries and allayed the fears that Mark was evil.
1
Invincible Expands Cecil’s Council
Cecil’s New Coalition Adds In Shapesmith and Bulletproof
The comics had Cecil meeting Black Samson to ensure the Guardians would be able to rebuild in the aftermath. Britt was present, while Robot was around pledging help. They mentioned how the others, including Shapesmith and Bulletproof, were still recuperating. The show refines this arc by having Shapesmith and Bulletproof present.
This change sets the two heroes up for integral roles down the line, as Cecil and Samson want dedicated troops for the cause. It makes sense that they’re given important positions, as the Sequids are on Earth hunting Shapesmith for his sins on Mars. Outside this invasion and hostile takeover, Bulletproof as a focal point would sync up with the comics where he takes over Mark’s old costume and mantle.
The Invincible Season 3 finale airs Mar. 13 on Prime Video.
