‘Invincible’ Season 2 Recap — What To Remember Before Part 2

Editor’s Note: The below contains spoilers for ‘Invincible’ Season 2 Part 1.

The Big Picture

• Season 2 Part 1 of
  Invincible
  returned with excitement but managed to set up a thrilling Part 2.
• Angstrom Levy emerged as a multiversal nemesis for Mark Grayson, setting the stage for a powerful comeback in Part 2.
• Omni-Man’s unexpected return and new alliances resulted in climactic battles and complex dynamics for the future of the
  Invincible
  universe.

After a painfully long hiatus, Invincible returned with a brilliant new season around the end of last year, and it goes a long way in dispelling the myth of superhero fatigue. Invincible Season 2 managed to impress the skeptics and surpass expectations, evident by the impressive 100% rating it received on Rotten Tomatoes. Still, we’ve only received half of Season 2. And as thrilling as it was, Invincible Season 2 Part 1 was largely a series of excellent setups that will likely receive grand payoffs in the upcoming Part 2. So, with that in mind, here’s all you need to remember about Invincible Season 2 Part 1.

Invincible Gets a Multiversal Nemesis in Angstrom Levy

Given the high, harrowing note on which Invincible Season 1 ended, it would have been a tall order to expect Season 2 to pick up with the same intensity and excitement. But surprisingly, it does so quite cleverly. In the first few scenes, Season 2 quickly introduces an Invincible (Steven Yeun) who has seemingly gone down a dark path. He has teamed up with his father, and is now attempting to convince the people of earth to join the Viltrum empire as their city burns. Still, there are a few rebels, such as Robot (Zachary Quinto), Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs), and a new character named Angstrom Levy (Sterling K. Brown), who are fighting back. But their resistance effort is quickly quashed when Invincible and Omni-Man (J. K. Simmons) find their headquarters and begin to slaughter them all.

The only person to escape this massacre is Angstrom, who is also the only person in the Invincible universe with the power to travel across multiverses. And as he enters through a portal into a new world, it becomes clear that it was an alternate earth, different from the one followed in Season 1. Angstrom has a grand and optimistic vision where he wants to merge the consciousness of all his interdimensional selves into one being, and use their collective knowledge for the betterment of humankind. To this end, he enters the primary Invincible universe and enlists the help of the Mauler Twins (Kevin Michael Richardson) to build a machine powerful enough to blend thousands of different minds into a single being.

But right before the procedure can conclude, Invincible shows up and sees Angstrom strapped to a chair alongside a thousand different versions of him. Though Invincible doesn’t understand what’s going on, the involvement of the Mauler Twin suggests to him that it can’t be good. So, a fight ensues, and the resulting conflict screws up the experiment, causing a massive explosion and incinerating almost everyone in the immediate area. Once the chaos subsides, Angstrom is seen to have survived, but the botched experiment has left him disfigured with an engorged brain that’s packed full of interdimensional memories of an evil Invincible killing his loved ones. Something in him has snapped, and he vows to kill Invincible for all the destruction he’s caused. This is pretty much all we see of Angstrom in Part 1, but he’s likely to make a powerful comeback in Part 2.

‘Invincible’ Season 2 Dives Deeper Into the Importance of Allen the Alien

One of the biggest treats in Season 2 is the third episode, which dedicated about half of its runtime to a fan-favorite character, Allen the Alien (Seth Rogen). In Season 1 we learned that Allen was a part of the Coalition of Planets, an organization that is working to fight against the Viltrumite expansion. This season, we learn his backstory. Allen comes from a once peaceful planet, Unopa, which eventually fell victim to a Viltrumite invasion. Though the planet was conquered, some Unopans managed to flee and join the Coalition. Together, they attempted to artificially breed super strong Unopans to take on the Viltrumites, and their strongest experiment resulted in Allen. But while Allen was incredibly strong, he was no match for the mighty Viltrumites. So, he started using his powers to find, gauge, and recruit powerful candidates in the Coalition’s war against the Viltrumites, a journey which eventually led him to Mark Grayson.

After their encounter, Allen returns to his home planet with new optimism, believing he’s found a warrior strong enough to take down the Viltrumites. The leader of the Coalition’s council, Thaedus (Peter Cullen), shares Allen’s optimism but also warns him that there might be a Viltrumite spy in their midst. And soon enough, three Viltrumites show up on Allen’s planet, demanding to know the whereabouts of Omni-Man and his son, Invincible. Allen refuses to cooperate and the Viltrumites proceed to literally rip him apart in a gory outer space sequence. Fortunately, Allen survives, though barely, and we see him strapped to a life-support machine. In the final sequence, Thaedus comes to visit Allen, apologizes and then proceeds to unplug the machine in a shocking betrayal. As the machine powers down, it’s implied that Allen is dead, but upcoming episodes might hold a different fate for him.

Omni-Man Returns To Cause Trouble — But Not How You Think

We don’t catch up with Omni-Man until the very end of Part 1, but once we finally do, we are dumped with bombshell developments. After the massacre on Earth, Omni-Man was overcome with guilt and hopelessness. He aimlessly drifted across the empty space and was just about to throw himself into a black hole when he saw an alien ship being involuntarily sucked inside. Without thinking, he saved the ship that was filled with insectoid creatures from the planet Thraxa. Gradually, he became their leader, married a Thraxan, and even fathered a son with her. But Omni-Man’s newfound peace is disrupted when he learns that the Viltrumites have discovered his location and are coming to punish him for abandoning his post. Desperate to save his new planet, Omni-Man, with a little deception, calls Invincible for help.

When Invincible finally meets Omni-Man, Mark is rightfully angry and doesn’t want anything to do with his father. But he just can’t bring himself to abandon and condemn the innocent Thraxans. So, he stays behind to fight off the incoming invasion. The father and son fight remarkably well; Omni-Man is as strong as ever, and Invincible seems to have grown more powerful as we see him go head-to-head with a much older Viltrumite. But just as the battle seems won, sneaky attacks from the Viltrumites paralyze both father and son. In the end, Viltrumite reinforcements arrive. They take Omni-Man prisoner and make Invincible their new ambassador to Earth, in charge of assimilating Earth into the Viltrumite empire within a year. Just as Omni-Man is taken away, he tells Invincible to read the books he’d written.

But all of this is just half the story. We’re yet to see Angstrom’s multiversal power at its peak, the fate of Allen the Alien, and what secrets hide inside Omni-Man’s sci-fi novels. There is a lot to look forward to as Invincible returns with Part 2.

Invincible is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.

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