In keeping with recent weeks, I have yet another trailer to dissect that has been out for almost a month, but only now am I able to actually discuss it.
As you have likely already guessed from the title, the trailer in question is for season 3 of the hit Prime Video animated superhero show Invincible. It’s worth noting that I am approaching this trailer as someone who has not read the comic book source material, and as such I can only speculate about what we are shown and there will be no spoilers for season 3.
Allow me, if you will, to begin with the end of the trailer, because the reveal of a February 6th release date for Invincible’s third season was immediately eye-catching to any fan who has been watching Invincible since it first aired. This is because – excluding the special episode ‘Invincible: Atom Eve’ – there was a 31-month gap between the season 1 finale and the release of season 2’s first episode. It was already an excruciating wait for fans, which was by no means abated by the unusual 4-month gap between the first and second halves of the eight-episode season. However, this understandably came down to the demands of the show’s high-quality animation, and promises were made that this would not be a regular occurrence, not to mention they also used this time to get to grips with season 3. We are now reaping the rewards of this wait, as season 3 releases a mere 11 months following the season 2 finale.
And it’s clear from the trailer that season 3 picks up right where the show left off. In the season 2 finale, Mark (Stephen Yeun) faced off against the tragically deranged Angstrom Levy (Sterling K. Brown), who threatened Mark’s family, even breaking his mother’s arm at one point. Their eventual multiversal duel ended in Mark killing Angstrom, seemingly stranding himself in a desolate alternate dimension in the process. That is, until future versions of The Guardians from Mark’s reality suddenly appear to get him home, but not before expressing how much he is needed there, and what that reality would become without him. It should come as no surprise, then, to find Mark training intensely as the trailer opens, bench-pressing an enormous, unimaginably heavy machine while Donald (voiced by Canadian actor Chris Diamantopoulos) informs Cecil (Walton Goggins) that, “Over the last ninety days, Mark’s speed has increased by sixty-five percent. His endurance, seventy percent. And his strength, one-hundred and thirty-eight percent,” followed by Rex (Jason Mantzoukas) fittingly exclaiming “Fuck me!” at the sight of Mark’s newfound physical prowess.
The trailer then hones in on what to expect from this season, and tensions seem to be higher than ever between Mark and Cecil. Based on what is shown in the trailer, after magma creatures launch a widespread attack on the United States it seems Mark discovers that Cecil had recruited the mad scientist D.A. Sinclair (Eric Bauza), who was turning unwilling test subjects into cyborg hybrids in season 1 before Mark put an end to his cruelty…or so he thought, until he sees them launched into the fray. This, of course, doesn’t sit well with Mark, which leads to Cecil’s usual excuses and whataboutisms, before telling Mark, “we can be the good guys, or we can be the guys that save the world. We can’t be both.”
This is neither the end of Sinclair’s cyborgs nor the animosity between Mark and Cecil in the trailer, as it eventually shows the two in an all-white room that Cecil openly admits is designed to protect him from Mark, before surrounding himself with an army of the cyborgs and using soundwaves to incapacitate Mark. This is a reference to the previous season, where Cecil noted the effective use of sound against Mark during his encounter with the Atlanteans. All of this culminates, then, in a final moment in the trailer where a bloodied Mark grabs Cecil by the neck and pushes him against a wall, declaring, “I will never work for you again! We are done!” Of course, take each of these moments with a grain of salt, as the trailer for season 2 had a few deliberately misleading moments, such as Omni-Man saying, “You should have died at birth,” suggesting he was saying this to Mark, when in fact it was in an alternate dimension and he was saying it to Rudy in his disfigured form.
While the relationship between Mark and Cecil takes center stage in the trailer, there is still quite a few tantalizing teasers on offer. Most prominent of them all is showcasing Mark’s half-brother Oliver having grown up even more and donning a superhero suit of his own, though it seems he will have a lot to learn about what it means to be a hero from Mark, who is himself still figuring it out in certain ways. What’s more, we even see Mark wearing a new black and blue suit, which likely hints even further at the rift between him and Cecil. We also get glimpses at a returning Dupli-Kate (Malese Jow), as well as a mysterious male version of her character, for which we are given little context, though this could be a multiversal version of the character.
Finally, we get a brief look at Allen the Alien (voiced by Seth Rogen, who is also a producer on the show) trying to convince a demoralized Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons) to join his fight against the Viltrumites and help his sons Mark and Oliver, though we get little else otherwise, hinting at a significant narrative arc for both characters in the upcoming season.
Aside from the occasional look at monsters and the occasional returning villain (I’m looking at you, Mauler Twins!), that’s the gist of what can be gleamed from this revealing trailer. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait as long this time around to dive back into the world of Robert Kirkman’s Invincible, proving the gap between seasons 1 and 2 to be worth it.