'Invincible': Amazon Mixes 'The Boys' With 'Teen Titans' In A Clever, All-Star Animated Series [Review]

Robert Kirkman is most associated with the source material for AMC’s massively successful “The Walking Dead.” However, one of his other long-running comic book series is a very different piece of work, the superhero deconstruction known as “Invincible,” now given an animated adaptation that launches on Amazon Prime. The initial three episodes made available to the press are a confident blend of superhero origin story, adult-driven action, and incredible voice work. At first glance, one would mistake this for an old-fashioned Saturday morning cartoon, but this is definitely not for the little ones in the house, closer to Amazon’s biggest hit in “The Boys” than something like “Teen Titans,” while also reminding one of both at different times. It’s a very smart show, even if it’s a bit too soon to tell if its many characters and elements will come together satisfactorily. With incredible talent behind it, “Invincible” is off to a very strong start, but no one knows yet if the landing will match the take-off.

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The great Steven Yeun (Oscar-nominated for “Minari”) voices Mark Grayson, a teenager who lives in a world of superheroes, not unlike the MCU or “The Boys.” He’s just trying to make it through high school while waiting for his superpowers to come when he turns 17, which is apparently often the case. At least that means no pre-teen supes in this world. That would be the worst.

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The premiere of “Invincible” doesn’t open with Mark but an action-packed battle between a group known as the Guardians of the Globe and a couple of giant baddies trying to attack the White House. The legendary superheroes include obvious riffs on common DC icons like Wonder Woman (War Woman here), The Flash (Red Rush), and Aquaman (Aquarius), but the most popular superhero in this universe is a towering figure called Omni-Man, this universe’s take on Superman. Voiced by J.K. Simmons, Omni-Man is everyone’s favorite hero, a man who fell to Earth from a planet called Viltrum (sound familiar?) and has become the planet’s protector. Mark just calls him dad.

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At first, “Invincible” feels like a traditional superhero family story a la “The Incredibles” (Sandra Oh voices Mark’s non-superhero mom), but it hides unexpected plot twists that come at the end of the first episode. Without spoiling, there’s much more to Omni-Man than first meets the eye, and it’s when his son develops powers and becomes a hero awkwardly named Invincible that dad and super-offspring head on a narrative collision course. A violent tragedy involving the Guardians leads to a need for new heroes, and the next generation of super-saviors enters the spotlight, headed by Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs), who befriends Mark and brings him to the forefront of heroism. Other heroes vie for prominence—with names like Rex Splode (Jason Mantzoukas), Dupli-Kate (Malese Jow), and Monster Girl (Kevin Michael Richardson)—as enemies try to fill in the power vacuum in their own way. They all want to be the next Omni-man or the next Guardians. Most of them are too insecure or incompetent to do so.

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All of this super-action is contrasted with a teen coming-of-age story for Mark, who has to learn how to use his new powers when he’s not pining over girls at school like Amber (Zazie Beetz) or Eve herself. The two halves of “Invincible”—teen melodrama & superhero action story—don’t always cohere, but the writing is smarter than it could have been in the wrong hands, and the familiar beats of “Invincible” are notably elevated by one of the best voice casts in TV history. The regulars like Yeun, Simmons, Jacobs, Beetz, and especially the wonderful Mantzoukas are all great, but the supporting cast has just as much star power, including Mark Hamill, Seth Rogen, Walton Goggins, Zachary Quinto, Mae Whitman, and more. Every single one of them balances the genre style of a superhero animated show with something that’s more grounded and genuine.

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The writing clearly attracted the A-list voice cast on “Invincible,” which wisely doesn’t lean too deeply into its satirical possibilities. This is more of a straightforward superhero story than something like “The Boys,” which sometimes plays as parody. Again, a casual look might lead a viewer to mistake it for an average DC Animated Universe show until one sees the spurts of blood around eyeballs popping from skulls when superheroes attack. It’s a show that doesn’t subvert tropes of the genre as much as reinventing them for an older audience.

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One of the smartest choices in the production of “Invincible” was the decision to go animated. It allows the creators not only the freedom of violence that might be grotesque otherwise but to stage massive action sequences that would cost millions of dollars for a live-action show while also allowing Kirkman’s massive world to fill out in ways it wouldn’t be able to otherwise. The sheer number of superheroes and supervillains in the first three episodes wouldn’t be feasible for a typical streaming show, and this world feels richer and deeper than most superhero live-action offerings.

At times, it can almost feel too crowded. The Mark Grayson super-coming-of-age arc centers the show, but there are many characters and narrative threads to track in the first three episodes, and one hopes that they stop introducing new faces and start connecting the ones they have after the first week of episodes. This initial trio is confidently made and very entertaining. Still, it’s a show that could easily spiral out into inconsistent plotting and become hard even to follow if it’s not reined in.

It’s a crazy month for superhero fans. “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” is a sort of victory for DC fans over on HBO Max; “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” continues Marvel‘s dominance on Disney+. There’s a chance that “Invincible” could get lost in the shadow of two massive super-titans like that headline-grabbing pair. The truth is that it’s in many ways the most inventive and interesting of the three projects, something that truly seeks to use the many clichés of the superhero genre in a fresh new way. [B]

“Invincible” arrives on Amazon Prime on March 26.