Diksha Sundriyal
The third episode of Prime Video’s ‘Invincible’ Season 2 gives a cliffhanger to the audience halfway through the episode when it is suggested that Allen the Alien might be dead. The Unopian returns to the series, this time receiving a half-an-episode arc in which we find out about his past in more detail. Allen had been a fan favorite since his first appearance in Season 1, which made his return to the show exciting, and this is exactly why his sudden and quite brutal death raises a lot of questions about his fate in ‘Invincible.’ SPOILERS AHEAD
Allen the Alien Might Not be Dead Just Yet
Allen was created to fight Viltrumites, but despite being one of the strongest beings in the universe, he couldn’t stand against even one of them. So, when three Viltrumites attack him, it looks like he is done for good. His arms are ripped off, and his intestines float around him in space when the villains are done with him. For any other character, this would have meant the end, but Allen is stronger than that. He survives, barely.
In his final appearance in the episode, he is shown to be in a coma, inside what looks like an incubator. His vitals are not looking good, but after what he went through, the fact that he even has vitals shows that he is stronger than previously imagined. The twist arrives when Thaedus, the leader of the Coalition of Planets, who had assigned Allen the task of finding the mole in their organization, switches off Allen’s life support while apologizing to him.
On the surface, it looks like Thaedus is the mole, and he killed Allen. It would make sense why Thaedus asked Allen to look for a mole. Despite all their efforts to fight the Viltrumites and expand the list of their allies, the Coalition found that the Viltrumites always seemed to be one step ahead of them. No sooner did the Coalition make a move than their enemy seemed to have a lethal move of their own. The suspicion of the mole’s existence is further proved when the three Viltrumites arrive, asking Allen if it’s true that Nolan abandoned his post and sired a son on Earth. Allen brought that news to the Coalition just that morning. How could the Viltrumites have known about it so quickly if it wasn’t for a mole?
With all this in mind, when Thaedus switches off Allen’s life support, all suspicion is turned towards him. He knew that people were starting to suspect a mole, and he wanted to throw them off his tail by pretending to put Allen on the job. Then, he tipped off the Viltrumites and hoped they would finish off Allen for him. But that might not be the whole story. Not according to the comics, at least.
Invincible Season 2 Uses Thaedus as a Red Herring
In the ‘Invincible’ comics, Allen the Alien is instrumental in defeating the Viltrumites. This is why it is so shocking to see him getting killed off so early in the story, and that too by Thaedus, who has an important role to play as well. Why would the show “do them dirty,” so to speak? It’s most probably just for shock value. Cliffhangers are tried and tested plot devices to keep the audience coming back for more, and ‘Invincible’ does the same with Allen the Alien.
Considering the comic storyline, this is not the end for Allen. In fact, he will only emerge stronger after this. In the show, Thaedus tells Telia that Allen being alive even after being beaten so brutally by the Viltrumites is a “cause for celebration.” He doesn’t elaborate on this, and one could pass off this comment as Thaedus trying to console Telia, considering that he knew they were special to each other. But seeing it from the perspective of the events in the comics, this means that Thaedus knows that Allen is going to emerge stronger from his injuries.
In a huge plot twist, Thaedus is actually a Viltrumite, one of the first to defect when the plan to conquer the universe was hatched by his people. He founded the Coalition of Planets and was there when Allen was created. Naturally, Thaedus knows more about Allen than probably Allen himself, which is why he knows that being in stasis, on life support, will only slow down his healing. He turns it off because he knows that once that happens, Allen’s natural healing process will kick in, and it will not only be much faster in bringing him back, but it will also make him much stronger than he is now. This means that he would finally have the power to stand against a Viltrumite and do what he was made for.
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