INVINCIBLE Season 2 Episode 2 Breakdown

Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show. I’m your host, Paul, and in this video we’re breaking down Invincible Season 2 Episode 2; it’s now out, and it’s packed with Easter eggs, comic book call-backs, and lots of things going on in it. Throughout this video, we’re going to be breaking it all down and going over our thoughts on the entry as a whole.

When we last left Mark, we saw that he felt like he was becoming his worst nightmare, which was that he’d become his dad. This was something that could be the case too, as in an alternate universe, we saw that he’d joined him.

In this universe, though, he’s out there on his own, attending his graduation at the opening of the entry.

This took place during issue 17, with Mark’s hat being thrown in the air above all the others. Man actually launched it up into the sky, and it came crashing down in England, which was a callback to an earlier joke. When Mark got his powers during issue 1, he too launched the Burger Mart garbage bag up into the sky. This also came crashing down in England, and we’d learned a cult had formed around a guy talking about what was really going on with it.

These things being thrown happened in two transformative moments of his life, with the first being him getting his powers and now his graduation. Interestingly, the comics had this happening before he went to Mars, whereas in the show it happened during season 1. Now in both the show and comics, Mark shows up late, but here we get the reason for it being Doc Seismic. Mans holding up the Washington Monument, riffing on how he held up Mount Rushmore in season 1.

I believe in the comics Seismics second appearance was in issue 36, where he was tackled by the guardians of the globe. Rising from the ground with the underdwellers we saw him coming face-to-face with in Season 1, he’s come back to claim the stone structures of earth. Seismics is able to blast out seismic shocks from his wrists, which, in many ways, mimic the shocker. Pulling his magmanites out from under the ground, these too debuted during issue 36.

It heats things up and leads to the rousing graduation speech, which Principle Winslow delivers perfectly. Now this battle at the monument is, of course, reminiscent of Spider-Man Homecoming, and like the webhead, Mark manages to push through.

Now what this shows is that he’s far stronger than he thought he could ever be, and the things he thought were limits are no longer the case.

Man’s Viltrumite DNA is getting stronger, and this will improve his abilities the longer that he lives. His ageing will also slow down, meaning that he will live for thousands of years.

Now everyone goes up to accept their diplomas. Diplomas, is it, with Mark’s full name being revealed? In the comics, it was William who made fun of it, whereas here Amber gets the jab in. You, of course, also get your full name read out on your wedding day, and the pair doing this sort of thing plays into the plot line later in the episode. In that, we see Sebastian going under the sea, and we’ll talk about how that wildly differs from the comics.

Amber’s name, Justine, is dropped there too.

Cut to Eve’s treehouse, which Amber and Mark ended up visiting in the comics. This was all the way out in Africa, whereas here it is in a US forest to keep things more localised.

They all started talking about their plans with Eve, saying she was going to go help finish the reconstruction in Chicago. It’s something that could hit a bit close to home because Mark was obviously the reason that it happened. Clearly, he’s distant from the group, and he’s on call, hence why he’s not drinking. The man has really thrown himself into protecting the planet because he wants to be as far away from it as his dad was.

Cut over to the USSA, which is where we catch the aftermath of the Mars mission.

This bit riffs off the moment from issue 22, in which we saw NASA debriefing the astronauts. They kind of reverse the order that we have here, with him initially being in the bathroom before going to the board. Either way, in both cases, he’s let go, struggling to keep his form together. This bit.

–

That’s in the source material too, with him worrying that he’s going to get executed.

Now back in Chicago, we see Eve trying to fix things, which shows her humanitarian side playing out. It kind of reminded me a bit of the Titan arc in the first season, where he was helping out the tenants.

Unfortunately, Eve sees firsthand that even with good intentions, things don’t always work out, and later on, we see the damage that was caused by her just trying to help. It takes what could have been a pretty simplistic plot and turns it into the shades of grey that you would expect from the show. Even the Viltrumites think their invasions are right and that they’re helping out the earth by putting us under their rule. Eve is sort of in a similar vein, with her powers leading to more issues than there were before.

At Marks and Debbie’s house, we see that the house hasn’t been fixed up properly, and there’s a cupboard door that just won’t close. This represents the fault that Nolans left in their lives and how, even though things appear fine on the surface, the cracks are still there.

It’s never going to be back to the way it was, no matter how many vacations Debbie plans to take.

Mark can’t do it though because of his responsibilities, and as they say,with great power comes great rice. Uncle Ben’s rice

Anyway, I’m sure everyone who’s been forced to be the man of the house can relate, because you very much feel like it all rests on you. Even on YouTube, I feel like I can’t take breaks because you never know when this s**t is going to end. All you want to do is keep working while the sun shines, and Mark refuses to relax until he makes things right.

Now, back with the Guardians, we see that they’re exhausted from the rigours that the Immortals have been putting them through. Rudy ends up exiting his suit, which is reminiscent of the way that Tony does in the MCU.

Cut across to the locker room, where we get a play on season 1, where Atom Eve caught Rexplode in the showers with Cate. This time around, the situation flipped, with Rex now catching up to Cate. The cheater has become the cheatee, and I appreciated how they changed up this moment from the comics.

It was issue 25 that had Rex coming across them, but we didn’t actually see what was going on. Instead, here this is played like a flip on that initial scene, adding a real feeling of Rex being on the other side of it.

Kate is now with The Immortal, but hey, she could have two-timed them without anyone knowing.

Now at this point, we cut across to see Rus and also get some foreshadowing of Aquarus.

His death hangs heavy over this episode, and we also get a scene that plays out in issue 31. That had Rus watching the guardians and seeing about the Martian man, who, of course, was killed by Omni-Man in the first season. Realising that one of his people made a home here, he sets out to become a replacement for him.

Aquarus is, of course, the Aquaman parody in the series, with the guardians being based on the Justice League. In the first season and comic, we saw him sitting bored on his throne, explaining why he ended up going to the surface. This kingdom is something we see later on, with us also meeting his queen.

The return of guardians is also thematically shown in the next scene, when we see Mark heading out to tackle Darkwing. The original one was too deadly for Omni-Man, but someone else has risen up and taken over.

The entire segment from here plays out in Issue 21 with Mark investigating his actions in midnight city.

We learn that the midnight magician turned it into a land of eternal night after he cursed it back in 2002. This is when the original comic for that part was released, and I love how they gave it that date in reference to that.

Now Darkwing is, of course, a play on Batman, with the new one being his nightwing-esque side kick that took over the role. The entire look of the city was designed to be in line with Batman, the animated series. We can see that Darkwings went down a brutal route, though, from the bodies that now hang up in the city.

The opening of the issue had him attacking a woman, whereas here we jump to the later meeting happening on the roof.

In both, Mark arrived to find the brutal wake of his destruction, and we learn about how Nightboy has carried on his work.

Nightwing, Darkwing—you can see the connection there, and he’s lost his mind since his mentor died off. Kids trained at an early age to be like robins would, of course, probably end up having some issues.

In both the show and the comic, we see him using the same tactics, with him pulling Mark into something known as the shadow verse. It kind of reminds me of the world that Cloak enters in the comics, and this pitch black dimension is terrifying to be in. Filled with monsters, Mark manages to get a hold of him, and he says,

You have no idea what I’m capable of.

Here we see the side of Mark coming out in the darkness, and looking at his hand, you can tell he starts to question if hes really a good guy. This was the same thing he did at the end of episode 1, and you can sense the conflict within him.

Sense the conflict within him; he sounds like a bloody Star Wars character.

Now from here, we cut to Debbie, who berates Cecil for drafting him into being a soldier in his war. Cecil failed with what happened to his father, and though Cecil promised not to harm Mark, we know that is not the case. During season 1, he collected his blood and will likely have backup plans, so nothing like that happens again.

Startled to see Donald, all those who are up to speed with the comics will know whats really going on with the character. I pinky promised Amazon I wouldn’t spoil any future events, and yeah, I don’t want Bezos kicking me out of the rocket when we’re flying out to Viltrum.

The character goes on a really interesting arc, and I wonder if you’re that desperate to know what you’ll find out in the comics. They are playing things pretty close to the book, so it’s difficult to theory-time something that you already know the answer to. I think the channels that haven’t read the comics will probably have a better time theorising this stuff, but it’s difficult for me to talk about it without outright spoiling it. They have given Donald way more to do here because originally the whole house across the street was made up for the show. He wasn’t killed during the omni-man rampage, and thus they’re making it more closely attached to Mark.

At Eves, we see how her parents are struggling financially, but they refuse to put the burden on their daughter. Whether it’s down to pride or the fear that she might mess things up, the relationship they have is extremely complicated.

If you watched the Aatom Eve special, then you’ll know that she’s actually not theirs, and this further complicates things in the relationship. Eve’s dad is now working at the Burger Mart, and we discover he lost his job after Omni-Man turned it into rubble. Eve can just do whatever she wants and make gold for them, but they refuse to take anything. This is similar to the powers that Sersi had in the eternals, with both being able to manipulate things at a molecular level. This makes her one of the most powerful characters in the entire show, but her gifts and positivity turned negative against her best wishes.

Another character trying to make a difference is Amber, whom we catch at the homeless shelter.

AMBER AND MARK IN INVINCIBLE SEASON 2 EPISODE 2

Taken to Las Vegas by Mark, it finally feels like we’re getting more of the up-tempo fun stuff we had back in season 1. This was before it all turned to crap, and Mark was very much trying to catch his better days. Nolan, of course, also used to take Debbie on trips like this, and we saw one of those playing out in Season 1. Now this really shows the difference between the pair because Mark mounts up, goes out, and does work. Nolan, on the other hand, refused to step in, and he let Cecil’s men handle it because he didn’t care.

Now the rest of the episodes are taken from Issue 15, and it begins with Mark meeting up with Cecil. Here we watch as the storm ravages the cliffs, whereas in the comic it was just out at Cecil’s headquarters. Both Marks tell us that he has to marry a fish to bury the hatchet, but in the show, things start to differ.

With Cecil, we watch as he takes on the Lizard League, which has characters who were mainstays in both the show and comics. These popped up at the start of Atom Eve, with Supreme Lizard now taking over King Lizard. The Lizard League is somewhat of a joke group, with them being based on the Serpent Society from Marvel comics.

It was during this that they met Shapesmith, who also showed up during this battle in the comics. He was also the one who managed to catch Seismic, so they’ve kind of put these two plot lines in the same episode, even if they’re not connected. Either way, at this point, they invited him in, which leads into what we see with the character later.

Now down in Atlantis, we see Mark being taken in by a ship, which is when he comes face-to-face with the queen.

The comics had him actually somewhat going through with the marriage, with the consummation happening after he took down the titan. This would be in front of all the people of Atlantis, with them getting it on after the battle.

In the comic, the queen had a butler, known as Lethan, who we found out was secretly in love with her. Realising that he was Mark’s only way out, they hatched a plan during the big combat encounter. Mark made it so it looked like Lethan took down the beast, and then it seemed like he had saved the queen, so the pair got it on. This allowed Mark to not have to fulfil the duty, and it meant that he could go and return to the surface.

Here, though, they don’t have that and instead don’t want anything to do with the wedding. Instead, they simply release the depth dweller, and we kind of get a nemo thing where its little antenna thing seems like a cute creature.

Back with Debbie, we watch as the mailbox won’t close, reflecting the door in her house that won’t shut either. I really like what they’ve done with her character, and she’s determined to get back on track and make the most of her life.

This still clearly stands as a sore point, and she mutters it when she sees how badly the guy speaks to his partner. Clearly, he doesn’t view it as a partnership, which is very reminiscent of how Nolan saw Debbie.

Now, whereas with Mark, we watched as he managed to get out on a technicality in the show, they do things a little different. Cecil’s forces manage to buy Mark a distraction, which frees the beast and lets him escape. However, after it ends up going on a rampage, he returns to fight it and save the queen.

This helps to prove to Mark that he is not his father and somewhat makes up for the destruction that the pair caused.

Throwing the depth dweller back into the depths, Marks pulled down there too, but he emerged out on top. Atlantis calls it even because he saved their lives, but I kind of feel like Cecil doesn’t trust Mark yet. After all, he disobeyed a direct order and is showing Cecil he could still go against him. Cecil ends up pulling up the audio of the fight, and I believe he’s trying to see if this creature can be used against Mark. We saw how he broke out a similar tactic with Omni-Man, and Cecil might be keeping it in his back pocket.

Now Donald is clearly starting to suspect something is off, and this distrust is also mirrored in the character. Theres this feeling that everyones detached from whats really going on, which is mirrored in Eve returning home.

Though she’s trying to see things from her dad’s point of view, he puts her down and says her powers make her dangerous. You can easily see how the whole world would share this sentiment because so many lives have been destroyed by the actions of two.

Debbie just can’t handle this either, and she ends up smashing up the cupboard door, representing the broken home they now live in.

Back with the guardians, we see shapesmiths inducted into the group, with The Immortal just welcoming him in with open arms. This kind of speaks to the old-school mentality that heroes used to have with them forming the justice league, even though nobody knew anything about the others.

INVINCIBLE SEASON 2 EPISODE 2 ENDING EXPLAINED

At this point, he starts to lie about his backstory, which is when we cut out to see what was happening on Mars. This is somewhat like what happens in issue 38, with us seeing the Sequid invasion as he tells us what happened. The astronauts were, of course, terrified that the sequids would come to Earth, and we see this happening on Mars.

Jump across to the Lizard League headquarters, where we also see a scene from Issue 38. That had King Lizard stepping in and shooting Supreme Lizard, which is exactly how it plays out during this moment. I love the way it comes across in both, and I can’t wait until we see what happens with him further down the line.

Anyway, from here, we cut to the mid-credits scene and see a version of Mark held up in a machine. This is obviously an alternate universe where we see Donald and Cecil, or at least versions of them. Angstrom has arrived to find out how he was caught, and we learn that they captured Mark when he was asleep.

It sort of looks a bit like a machine; we see a certain character holed up later on, and it’s clear that this is one of Cecil’s tactics.

It lets Angstrom know how to defeat Mark, and he has gained this knowledge from travelling the multiverse. That was what he wanted to know, and he travelled the multiverse purely for this intellectual urpose. However, this has now turned into being driven by his negative feelings towards Mark, and he’s a monster compared to what he used to be. In his mind, though, he’s helping the multiverse by ridding it of one of its most dangerous people.

All in all, that closes out the episode, and this was another really solid entry that pulled so many cool bits from the comics. As a massive fan of them, I love seeing how they pull it together and thread all these bits together into a cohesive storyline. Everything is really kind of mounting up and feeling like building towards the themes in the show. This, I think, is all kind of built around what a kid feels like after his parents get divorced, just that it has been pushed to an extreme level.

Seeing Debbie watch the house fall apart really speaks to how the character is now feeling mentally.

There are also the new people getting introduced, like Shapesmith, and the cool things, like all the threads being set up.

There are a lot of things going on right now that will pay off massively next time, and I can’t wait to see where it all goes.

Obviously, I’d love to see your thoughts, so make sure that you drop them below.

Please drop a like on the video, and if you want to support the channel as a member of the Spoiler Society, then please click the join button.

You’ll get early access to videos every week, and it goes such a long way towards helping us.

If you want to get some heavy spoiler merchandise, we’ve also got our t-shirt line located just below the video that will let you pick up all kinds of tops like our Theory Time One, House of the Dragon stuff, Marvel tees, and a lot more.

We drop new designs on there all the time too, so definitely keep an eye out for them.

Now, if you want something else to watch, we have a video on screen right now.

With that out of the way, a huge thank you for sitting through the video. I’ve been your host, and I’ll see you next time. Take care, Peace.