“Invincible” punches superhero genre into action

The Boys was one of the darkest superhero takes in cinematic pop culture. With gore, profanity, and horrifying imagination of a world with villainous heroes.
Invincible is an animated superhero show in the old style of cartoon networks Justice League. It manipulates the perception of animated shows needing to be for children, by using the classic superhero story. Before slamming the people with a gore filled mess by the end of the first episode. Literally, and figuratively, destroying what animation means.
Invincible is a marked improvement, and mainstream way of introducing mature animated stories to the public eye. Through action, profanity, and fast pacing. It checks every box for a transition from ‘kids’ to ‘adult’ content. Some that would’ve gotten bored from a slow dramatic build. Will love the fact that every 40 minute episode is development towards something bigger. Along with this, there’s fluid animation that satisfies the fighting and action many crave.
Invincible ramped up excitement and hype with every new release. A horrifying look into narcissism, anti-heroes, and small twists of an already abused formulas in the genre. The main character represents a generally goodie two shoes exposed to the horrors he’s never had to face. He starts off thinking he truly is “invincible.” He is almost killed multiple times. He watches civilians perish, friends die or face serious injury. Mark’s anger serves as an anchor to his humanity. It’s somewhere between his strength and weakness. No spoilers, but Mark’s scenario and general reaction will only get more interesting as the main plot with his father progresses. His father is a narcissist who believes he’s above the law, but truly cares for his family in a strange ill way. The mother is a humanistic base to ground the story too, along with Amber. Amber is the dissatisfied stand in, for a question many superhero stories answer. “Why stay with someone, who’s so busy saving others, they can’t be there for their loved ones.”
Then you have charismatic characters, who end up being playboys. Playboys, who have typically been depicted as cool and positive in other forms of media, are not shown in the same light. Rex is rude, cheats and is downright selfish in his desires and beliefs. But as the episodes go on, he actually develops. Stopping his self destructive tendencies partially. Surprising developments for a background character. But arguably one of the most interesting characters is ‘Robot.’ An apparently emotionless leader, who is slowly revealed to have sets of emotions and dreams. He is intelligent, ununderstanding, and distant. But seemingly will do anything to get close. Including crossing moral boundaries. A great metaphor for people recovering from traumatic situations being disconnected from what is societal and moral norms.
All in all, Invincible is a story for anyone who likes action, gore, and superheroes most of all. It’s an amazon original still releasing episodes every Friday. So, look out on the horizon for more great storytelling, seemingly invincible.