Invincible Season Three Episode 7 Review
The seventh episode of season three adapts the most brutal and destructive events from the comics, the Invincible War. Angstrom Levy unleashes several versions of Invincible onto the world audiences know, forcing Mark to come to terms with yet another crisis, exposing the harm his existence is to the world. Levy gets to confront Mark once again in an awesome fight, with the end teasing what’s to come in the finale. It’s a phenomenal episode, dragged down only by the fact that it asks audiences to care about a lot of heroes that have either not been introduced before or have had the minimal amount of screen time prior to this.
Steven Yeun really pushes himself this episode, with each variant of Invincible sounding just different enough from each other but still recognisable as Invincible. It’s a feat, and is key to make this episode work, else the audience would spend it confused as to who is who for most of the fight. The writing also gives audiences a small hint to the backstory of all of the variants, teasing a whole story underneath but still shaping the variants Mark has to destroy.
This episode is framed as a war, and like a war it’s hugely destructive. Spanning multiple days, it somehow tops previous huge scale destruction, as multiple countries feel the devastating power that multiple Marks can have. The scale in destruction is matched with the scale of how many heroes are present to try to stop these rogue Invincibles, but this impact is lessened as many are either introduced for the first time or are returning after a brief first appearance. While these deep cuts are sure to please comic book fans, for the general audience to make some of the moment to moment fighting hard to get attached to, as they’ve never fully met some of the heroes that could be killed.
That isn’t to say that all of the moment to moment fighting will leave the general audience feeling indifferent. There are several fights featuring characters audiences will know and recognise, such as a Mark fighting the Guardians of the Globe and another fighting Rex, Rudy, Monster Girl and Bulletproof. Rex unfortunately has to sacrifice himself to save his friends, one that hits especially hard not just because he was an immensely hilarious character, but because he was finally getting it together with Rae. His presence will be sorely missed. Mark and Eve obviously fight several variants, and leaves Eve dangerously injured after a horribly well done break in her bone.
Then, after all the Invincibles are banished after betraying Levy, the guy himself takes center stage to try and kill Mark. Both have learnt the patterns of the other since they last met, with Levy focusing on ranged attacks and keeping the distance away from Mark, while Mark has learnt how to dodge the portals Levy attempts to push him through. It’s a brilliantly animated fight, one that arguably tops their previous one. It’s ending with Oliver urging Mark to kill Levy is also great, as audiences watch Mark come to terms with breaking his no kill rule to stop Levy for good. But tricksy Levy escapes. This fight sequence is something that would class as a finale event, but the fact that it’s episode seven out of eight and the final part of the Invincible War arc shows how much the budget has grown for this show, and that it’s being put to good use.
Coming to the end of the show, audiences get an introduction to Conquest, the true final boss of this season. He’s a Viltrumite, and one of the strongest and meanest there is, coming to chastise Mark for failing to commit to his Viltrumite race. This is a true test for Mark, as it will let him demonstrate if he has indeed grown stronger since the last Viltrumite, Anissa. Audiences don’t have long to wait to see this showdown.
