Diksha Sundriyal
Prime Video’s ‘Invincible’ takes Mark Grayson through a twisted road of revelations, starting from the truth about his father. The first season finale sees him beaten to a pulp by his father, but if there was anything left for his heart to break further, it happens in the fourth episode of Season 2. The mid-season finale of the second season throws a lot at Mark as well as the audience, preparing him for the dark times in the future. The ending leaves us on a cliffhanger, with an unsettling uncertainty about what comes next. SPOILERS AHEAD
Invincible Season 2 “It’s Been a While” Recap
In the previous episode, Mark Grayson was invited by a Thraxan to come to his planet and save his people. But there, Mark discovers that it was a ruse by his father to call him there. When they meet, Mark has mixed emotions. He hugs Nolan but is also angry about his betrayal and almost leaves the planet. He stays because he thinks the Thraxans really need him, but then, he almost leaves again when he discovers that in the past six months, not only has his father become the king of the Thraxans, but he has also fallen in love and had a son.
It turns out that Nolan needed Mark’s help to defeat the Viltrumites, who are due anytime now. He reveals that Viltrumites are allowed to breed with the species they are most compatible with, like humans. But his Thraxan son will be seen as an anomaly and will most likely be killed by the Viltrumites. He wants to train Mark to fight against their enemies, but before they can even discuss this possibility, danger comes knocking, and the Viltrumites attack Thraxa.
Invincible Season 2 Episode 4 Ending: Will Omni Man Die?
Three Viltrumites attack Thraxa and kill almost everyone, proving how lethal a species they are. Nolan sends Mark to take his new wife, Andressa, and son to safety, but the Viltrumite follows them there. Nolan defeats him, but there are two more. After taking a lot of hits and almost dying in the process, Mark and Nolan succeed in defeating the two Viltrumites as well. Just when they think the danger is over, the first Viltrumite comes back. It turns out that Nolan didn’t kill him properly. The Viltrumite breaks Nolan’s back and, convinced that he has ended his life, falls unconscious, too.
When a defeated Mark opens his eyes, he sees the Viltrumite as well as his father being taken away. At this point, Omni-Man is alive, but General Kregg reveals that fate has nothing but death in store for him. He tells Mark that his father will be taken back to Viltrum, where he will be executed for, basically, treason. Not only did he leave his post and not conquer Earth (which was his main purpose), but he also had a son in Thraxa and fought his own people to save the Thraxans, who are seen as a lower race by the Viltrumites.
At the moment, the prospects don’t look so good for Omni-Man, but he is not done just yet. He might be due for execution, but he isn’t dead yet, and considering how things are progressing, there is a good chance that Viltrum might have a war at their doorstep before they kill the one who betrayed them. According to the comics, not only does Omni-Man eventually return to Earth, but he also becomes its savior, which is the role he had adopted in the first place.
Why Does Omni-Man Ask Mark to Read His Books?
It was an already established fact in ‘Invincible’ that Omni-Man is practically indestructible. In the final episode of Season 1, when he goes toe to toe with Mark, Cecil throws everything at Omni-Man, but even he knows that nothing they do can kill him. At best, it’ll only slow him down. In the fourth episode of Season 2, we discover where Omni-Man went after almost beating his son to death. He travels the universe alone. At one point, he stands in front of a black hole, and even that doesn’t have an effect on him. How strong must he be to survive the gravitational pull of a black hole?
Everything that happened until now suggests that there is barely anything that can kill Omni-Man, but we know that Viltrumites can be killed, at least by each other. Mark struggles to fight them but taps into his potential when he stops holding back. In the end, however, even his grit is not enough to kill them. But at least now he knows that Viltrumites are not invincible. They can be killed, and there are easier ways to do that. Omni-Man wants his son to know that now that the Viltrumites have levied an ultimatum on him. He knows that Mark will need everything at his disposal to have the tools to not only survive but win the war against the enemy, which is why he directs him to his books.
Before Mark got his powers and became a superhero, he was obsessed with other superheroes. He was a comic book nerd and had several comics featuring Omni-Man. At that time, he didn’t know about his father’s Viltrumite identity, but now, when he reads them again, he will see everything in a new light. He will pick up on the things he’d missed before, like Viltrumite weakness and how to kill them.
The show has already hinted at their weaknesses with a scene from the second episode, where Mark fights a sea monster in Atlantis instead of having to marry their queen. The creature creates a sound that is unbearable to Mark, and because he is half-Viltrumite, it must be unbearable to them as well. This is just one of the things that Mark needs to know to prepare for the coming war, and as his father said, the book will answer all of his questions.
What is Donald in Invincible? Is He a Superhero?
One of the many mysteries that the second season sets up is the true identity of Donald. In the finale of Season 1, Omni-Man ruptured his spine, and then Donald blasted off the house, with himself in it, hoping to kill Omni-Man. This should have killed him, but there he was again in the first episode of Season 2, with no memory of having faced Omni-Man. He wouldn’t have paid attention to it if it wasn’t for Debbie being shocked to see him. This leads him to figure out that his employers are lying to him, and he tracks down the video in which he sees himself dying.
This revelation rattles Donald, and he worries that he might not be entirely human. He cuts himself to make sure he is not a robot. He is glad to see the blood pour out of his veins, but then, the tip of the knife he used to cut himself is crooked. If he was just another human being, the knife wouldn’t have been damaged. Before he can ponder what this means, he is called to tackle an emergency.
By now, it’s clear that Donald isn’t entirely human. He could be a clone, like the Mauler Twins, created by GDA using his DNA. They would have wiped the memories of the day he died to spare him the trauma of knowing he had died. They could have employed the services of someone like DA Sinclair, who was obsessed with turning people into cyborgs in the last season. Even though he was a villain, GDA knew better than to lock him up. They gave him a job, and it would make sense they used his knowledge to save Donald.
All of this falls in line with the arc Donald has in the comic books, where he is revealed to be a cyborg, even though it’s quite later in the books. Donald being a cyborg also means that he has superpowers, at least super-strength. In the next half of the season, as he unravels the truth behind his survival, we’ll find out more about the powers he possesses and what it means for his arc on ‘Invincible.’
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