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Invincible (character)

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Invincible
File:Invincible01.jpg
Invincible #1
Art by Cory Walker
Publication information
PublisherImage Comics
First appearanceNoble Causes: Family Secrets #3 (December 2002)
Created byRobert Kirkman
Cory Walker
In-story information
Alter egoMarkus Sebastian "Mark" Grayson
SpeciesViltrumite/Human
Place of originEarth
Team affiliationsThe Pact
Teen Team
Guardians of the Globe
AbilitiesSuperhuman Strength, Speed and Endurance, Flight, Invulnerability

Invincible (Mark Grayson) is an Image Comics superhero. Created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Cory Walker, the character first appeared in Noble Causes: Family Secrets #3 (December 2002).

Invincible is the teenaged son of Omni-Man, an extraterrestrial superhero of the Viltrumite race, recently revealed to be more than he seems. Invincible inherited his father’s superhuman strength and ability to fly and he has sworn to protect the Earth. He has had trouble adjusting to his newfound powers and coping with the reality of his origins.

Invincible was a debut title in Image's new superhero line, one reminiscent of the Golden and Silver Ages of comics, as opposed to the more modern and dark comics, such as Spawn and Savage Dragon, which Image is known for. Several well-known heroes in the Invincible universe are based on popular Marvel and DC characters, with Invincible himself featuring many of the powers of Superman and personality traits of Spider-Man.

After several months of attention from the comics media, Invincible became the most popular and best-selling title in the Image Comics line since Spawn. Wizard: The Comics Magazine has given the book its coveted Book of the Month award for best monthly comic. Invincible has recently been picked-up by Paramount for a possible full length motion picture[1] and Kirkman recently announced on G4's Electric Playground that he has been writing the screenplay.

Creators

While Robert Kirkman has been the sole writer of the series, Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley have contributed the art. Cory Walker co-created the book and provided art from #1 to #7. Ryan Ottley assumed art duties with issue #8 and has been pencilling since. Kirkman has provided back-up space for a few aspiring comic creators, most notably Benito Cereno and Nate Bellegarde.

Character Biography and Synopsis

Mark Grayson is a teenage superhero who calls himself Invincible. He was a normal high school senior with a normal part-time job and otherwise normal life, except his father Nolan is the superhero Omni-Man, the most powerful superhero on the planet. At the age of 17, Mark begins to display superpowers, which come from his father being a member of the Viltrumite race, who, according to Nolan, pioneer the galaxy on a mission of benevolence and enlightenment. As Invincible, Mark begins working as a superhero, with his father acting as his mentor, and meeting other heroes. Mark worked occasionally with a superhero team called the Teen Team, where he met and flirted with heroine Atom Eve, who eventually quits superhero work.

Everything changes when the Guardians of the Globe, Earth's premier superhero team, were all killed by Omni-Man. Omni-Man soon reveals the truth to Mark: instead of bringing peace, Omni-Man is supposed to prepare the earth for the coming invasion by the ever-growing Viltrumite empire. After Mark refuses to go along with his father's plans, his father nearly beats him to death, but then suddenly abandons the fight and flies into space.

Mark Grayson is now in college, while also working for the clandestine Global Defense Agency under Cecil Steadman, who was formerly his father's liaison with the government. He was dating his high school girlfriend Amber Bennett who knows he is Invincible, but recently broke up with her due to issues with his alternate life. His roommate/best friend named William is also aware of his superpowers. His mother is working towards a Real Estate license.

While Mark works with Cecil to stop various threats, a man named Angstrom Levy, a genius with the power to teleport between dimensions, devises a plot to assemble every version of himself in other dimensions in order to absorb all of their knowledge in order to benefit mankind. He is aided by the Mauler Twins, recurring villains in the series, to build the device. Upon the completion and start of the machine, Invincible intervenes due to Cecil receiving information that the Mauler Twins were operating in the vicinity. During the fight with the Mauler Twins (and every version of the pair from alternate dimensions), Angstrom pleads to not kill Invincible while removing himself from the machine, causing it to explode due to interrupting the process. Mark is rescued from the rubble by the Guardians of the Globe. Only one Mauler from this dimension survives to discover Angstrom Levy, who claims that the process was a success although it left him hideously disfigured. Before escaping to another dimension for medical treatment, Angstrom vows revenge on Invincible, "the one who interfered" (although Angstrom doesn't remember that the malfunction was his own fault).

Later, when meeting his father on another world, Mark learns he has a little half-brother and that his father has moved on. When a contingent of Viltrumites arrives on the planet, he and Nolan fight them to the best of their abilities. In the aftermath, Nolan is taken prisoner. As he is taken away Nolan tells Mark to read his books. The Viltrumites who take Nolan give Mark the assignment that his father had, believing he will fulfill it due to his heritage. Mark has a deadline of 100 years. Cecil has suggested this could be a trick to lure them into a false sense of security before an impending Viltrumite invasion. Mark also brought his half-brother to Earth (at the insistence of the baby's mother), and Mark's mom has agreed to raise him.

Mark takes Amber to visit Eve in Africa, who has been using her powers to help the locals while learning more about them. Eve is annoyed by the fact that Mark brought his girlfriend with him as she had been hoping to get closer to him, and even tries to convince Mark that Amber is not right for him but he remains oblivious to her motives.

The night before they plan to leave, Mark receives a threatening phone call and rushes home to find his mother and half-brother in the clutches of Angstrom Levy. Levy uses his powers to plunge Mark through a series of dangerous alternate realities in the hope of weakening him enough to be able to kill him (it is at this point during the storyline where Invincible is teleported to the Marvel Universe and meets Spider-Man and the New Avengers in Marvel Team-Up #14). By the end of these events and seeing the injuries Angstrom has inflicted on his mother, Mark is so angry that he brutally assaults Levy as they fall through various dimensions, ultimately killing the villain, leaving Mark in shock as he believed him to be stronger, and able to take such punishment.

Stranded in a wasteland, Mark is discovered by a version of the Guardians of the Globe from 15 years in the future who have traveled back in time to rescue him. Atom Eve reveals that she always loved him, and tells Mark to let her present-day self know how he feels about her, so she can have closure. Mark makes the decision to tell Eve he is not romantically interested in her, but upon their next meeting they kiss, and are dispatched to space to battle an incoming Martian invasion fleet before they can resolve what happened between the two of them.

Meanwhile, in Montana, Rex Splode, Dupli-Kate, and Shrinking Ray are dispatched to prevent a nuclear war brought about by the Lizard League. In the ensuing battle, Dupli-Kate is killed, Shrinking Ray is eaten, and Rex Splode has his hand bitten off and is shot in the head. While the small team was victorious, in the end only Rex survived.

Returning from space Atom Eve confront the newly single Mark about their relationship, after learning that Mark had been in contact with a future version of Eve and may have feelings for her because of the tragic life this future version has led without Mark, she leaves crying. The next day Mark has lunch with his mother and learns of her new relationship, during lunch they are interupted by a Viltrumite woman who again warns Mark (after smashing his face) that he is the appointed agent of Earth and must prepare for the Viltrumite invasion.

During this time Allen the Alien is back on his way to the Coalition of Planets after learning of Nolan's books and rebellion against Viltrumite, when the Viltrumite ship leaving Earth crosses his path. After a quick fight Allen allows himself to be captured in the hopes that he will be placed in the same prison as Nolan.

Supporting Cast

Non-superpowered

  • Debbie Grayson: Mark's mother
  • Amber Justine Bennett: Mark's ex-girlfriend
  • William Francis Clockwell: Mark's roommate and best friend
  • Cecil Stedman: Government liaison and head of the clandestine Global Defense Agency
  • Donald Ferguson: Cecil's assistant, Guardian of the Globe contact, and android
  • Art Rosenbaum: Superhero tailor and family friend
  • Rick Sheridan: Mark and William's classmate at Upstate University, turned into one of the Reanimen

Superheroes

  • Omni-Man: Mark's father, former greatest super-hero of Earth.
  • Oliver Grayson: Mark's alien half-brother.
  • Atom Eve: Former classmate of Mark's and member of the Teen Team.
  • Allen the Alien: A Champion Evaluation Officer who works for the Coalition of Planets. He travels on a tight schedule and tests the skills of various powered heroes on each planet in order to determine if there is a suitable "champion" to defend that planet.
  • The Guardians of the Globe
    • The Immortal: Apparently unkillable member, and later leader, of the Guardians of the Globe. Can be incapacitated, however.
    • Black Samson: Lost his powers (and with them, his Guardian status) for a while before recovering them very abruptly.
    • Robot: Former leader of the Teen Team and leader of the Guardians of the Globe until replaced by the Immortal. Recently revealed not to be an actual robot, he cloned a new human body for himself using Rex Splode's DNA. Possibly romantically attracted to Monster Girl.
    • Rex Splode: Former member of the Teen Team, now a part of the Guardians of the Globe. Recently was injured in a battle with the Lizard League, losing his left hand.
    • Dupli-Kate: Former Member of the Teen Team and the Guardians of the Globe, presumed dead.
    • Bulletproof
    • Shrinking Ray: Former Member of the Guardians of the Globe, presumed dead.
    • Monster Girl
    • The Shapesmith: A Martian, disguised as human Rus Livingston, who uses his metamorphic powers to change his shape. Currently a fugitive of Mars for allowing the Sequid fiasco to occur.

Enemies

  • Mauler Twins: An evil scientist and his clone, whom both continuously argue as to which is the original. After both Mauler twins die, it is then argued who is the first and second generation clone.
  • Angstrom Levy: A disfigured genius with the ability to leap across dimensions. Accidentally beaten to death by Mark.
  • The Viltrumite Empire: Invincible and Omni-Man's people. Initially, Nolan told Mark that the Viltrumites travel the galaxy, helping to improve other planets, when in actuality, they conquer planets.
  • Titan: A thug who formerly worked for Machine Head. Helped Invincible defeat Machine Head, then secretly took control of the crime organization. Titan can encase his body in super-strong, nearly invulnerable rock. Titan first appeared in Capes.
  • Battle Beast: One of Machine Head's several henchman. Notable for putting Black Samson into a coma after fighting him, and nearly killing Invincible and the Guardians of the Globe, until he left due to becoming "bored". Even Cecil was shocked by his power.
  • The Flaxians: Aliens from another dimension, in which time passes at a dramatically higher rate. This causes them to physically age what appears to be several decades in only a few minutes when they enter our dimension. First seen in Invincible: Family Matters, where Mark and Omni-Man fight off their invasion. When they returned, having developed devices to counteract the rapid aging they experience in this dimension. Mark and the new Guardians of the Globe fought them off, with considerably less ease. Once the anti-aging secret was revealed and exploited against them, the Flaxians began to age even more rapidly than before, and they again retreated. While individual soldiers seem to give heroes no particular trouble, the strength of Flaxian invasion forces seem to be based in their almost limitless number of soldiers.
  • Machine Head: A crime boss with a robotic head. Titan and Invincible arrived to take him down, but were defeated by six super-powered henchman, including Battle Beast. All seemed lost until the new Guardians of the Globe arrived and assisted. Battle Beast, after defeating Black Samson and Bulletproof, deemed the people of this world no challenge to defeat and simply left. About this time, all the other henchman were defeated and Machine Head was brought to justice. Machine Head's assistant was Isotope, a sleazy-looking business man with the power of teleportation, who abandoned him and then sided with Titan in the aftermath.
  • D.A. Sinclair: A young and reclusive scientist at Upstate University, is the creator of the "Reanimen", robotic zombies intended to be "the soldiers of the future". He is responsible for kidnapping Mark's friend, Rick Sheridan, and has turned him into the first living Reaniman. Taken into custody, he is now in the employ of Cecil Stedman.
  • Doc Seismic: A villain with special gauntlets that enable him to induce earthquakes. He was first encountered by Invincible at Mount Rushmore where his gauntlets threatened to collapse the mountain. Invincible stopped him, but Seismic forced himself into a chasm of his own creation where Invincible presumed he was dead. Instead, Seismic discovered underground beings known as the magmanites whom he learned to command and with their help bust out of prison. The result had all the supervillain prisoners escape, but Seismic was unexpectadly caught.
  • Rus Livingston: An astronaut accidentally left on Mars, he's been attacked and made a host of the psychic Sequids. Livingston and the Sequids have set their eyes upon Earth. After the Sequids were seemingly defeated, and the real Livingston was returned to Earth, it turned out 2 Sequids were hiding in Livingston's digestive system, and are planning at regaining their numbers and overtaking Earth.
  • The Lizard League: A group of lizard-themed terrorists, they are parodies of fictional reptile based villan groups The Serpent Society and Cobra. The Lizard League consist of King Lizard, Komodo Dragon, Salamander, and Iguana; their secret headquarters lies in the Florida Everglades and bares a striking resemblance to a Cobra Terrordrome. An attempt by the Lizard League to take over a nuclear missile silo resulted in a conflict between them and the Earth-bound members of the Guardians of the Globe. In the resulting conflict Komodo killed Dupli-Kate and Shrinking Ray and Rex Splode killed Iguana and Salamander. Komodo died after biting Rex's hand off, causing his head to explode. King Lizard, who hid until the fight was over, snuck up behind Rex and shot him in the head, but Rex was able to knock King Lizard's aim off, causing him to shoot the top of Rex's forehead and after being shot was able to knock King Lizard down before collapsing on him. Brit was sent to provide assistance but was too late; as Brit began reporting to Cecil that everyone was dead King Lizard attempted to shoot Brit in the head. Unphased, Brit augment his report. King Lizard was the only member of the Lizard League to survive the battle.
  • Furnace: An anarchistic villain with a massive steam-powered iron suit armed with dual flame-throwers and jets. He is actually a man made entirely of liquid heat from which the suit earns its power. He was one of the villains hired by Machine Head and established a grudge against Invincible for damaging his suit earlier.
  • Magnattack: A villain for hire with the ability to apparently push metal objects away from him, hence his massive armor plated suit. He was hired by Machine Head to deal with Titan, but was quickly defeated by the Guardians of the Globe.
  • Kursk: A Russian villain for hire who can electrify single targets at a time. He was hired by Machine Head to deal with Titan, but was quickly defeated by the Guardians of the Globe.
  • Tether Tyrant: A freelance villain who apparently has elastic appendages from his chest that can pull and throw victims around. He was hired by Machine Head to deal with Titan, but was quickly defeated by the Guardians of the Globe.
  • Magmaniac: A freelance villain who is part lava. Was the only freelance villain hired by Machine Head who proved the least useful in combat due to his powers and was apparently the only one killed in the fight against the Guardians of the Globe by Shrinking Ray.
  • Master Mind: A criminal with the ability to mentally control the bodies of large groups of people. His three weaknesses are the range of his powers (stated to be around five hundred yards), the fact people under his control can still control their own voices (which they usually use to cry for help) and specially built earplugs that the Pentagon supplies to various superheroes. Master Mind speaks in an uneducated manner and always appears to be listening to a portable music player when confronted by superheroes. He first appeared in Brit.
  • Bi-Plane: An age-old villain who believes in using old-fashioned technology for his attacks. He was going to unleash an outbreak upon a city after learning he had cancer of the lymph nodes, but Immortal resolved the issue by tossing Bi-Plane out of Earth’s atmosphere. Bi-Plane was last seen circling Earth’s orbit as a dehydrated corpse.
  • The Elephant: A character solely created for Invincible to fight before the Guardians of the Globe's collective funeral. Mark himself has referred to the Elephant as a "lame Rhino rip-off". Elephant was seen reading a book in his cell in the Pentagon's super villain prison and was last spotted escaping with the rest of the villians.
  • Isotope: A character modeled after real life comic book store owner James Sime of Isotope Comics in San Francisco. Has the ability to teleport himself and possibly one other person at a time.

Kirkman's superhero universe

In 2003 and 2004, Image helped Robert Kirkman publish several other superhero series, namely the ongoing Tech Jacket cancelled at #6, 3-issue Capes and three oneshots starring Brit. At first shown to barely coexist in the same universe, the characters have since been reintegrated into Invincible's book. Tech Jacket was a manga ongoing series pencilled by E.J. Su that tied into Invincible in #27. Mark Englert pencilled Capes have been supporting characters seen mainly in large superhero battles Invincible participate in, eventually evolving to the status of standard back-up since the very same #27. Tony Moore-penciled Brit had even less substantional role, appearing a couple of times in the previously mentioned brawls (understandable considering that after the last book Brit was somewhat-retired.) , although the three oneshots have been colored and published as a collection a new one is in the making. Most recently, in The Astounding Wolf-Man, Art, Invincible's tailor, appeared, designing the title character's costume.

Connection to Image's superhero universe

Invincible along with Firebreather and other new Image superhero characters debuted in an issue of Savage Dragon, since appearing with them in the Pact mini-series. Robert Kirkman has written a Savage Dragon God war mini-series and two Superpatriot mini-series, establishing the friendship between Superpatriot's wife Claire and Invincible's mother in the pages of Invincible #13 and later. Savage Dragon connection is mostly downplayed and Invincible follows its own continuity, tied mainly with previously mentioned satellite Kirkman characters. Invincible also appeared in the fourth issue of Jay Faerber's Noble Causes, and was seen at the funeral for Captain Dynamo, father of the characters in Faerber's Dynamo 5.

Collections

Trade paperbacks

  • Vol. 4: Head of the Class (ISBN 1-5824-0440-2 collects Invincible #14-19 and Image Comics Summer Special)
  • Vol. 5: The Facts of Life (ISBN 1-5824-0554-9 collects Invincible #20-24 plus #0 and the origin stories from the back of #25)
  • Vol. 7: Three's Company (ISBN 1-5824-0656-1 collects Invincible #31-35 and The Pact #4)

Hardcovers

  • Invincible Ultimate Collection Hardcover Vol. 1 (collects #1-13, plus extras)
  • Invincible Ultimate Collection Hardcover Vol. 2 (collects #14-24, #1/2, #0, parts of #25, plus extras)
  • Invincible Ultimate Collection Hardcover Vol. 3 (Collects #25-35 plus extras)
  • The Complete Invincible Library Vol.1 (collects #1-24, #1/2, #0, parts of #25, plus extras)

Other Collections

  • Invincible also appeared in Marvel Team-Up Vol. 3 #14, which was collected in Marvel Team-Up Volume 3: League Of Losers ISBN 0-7851-1946-9. This story occurs "between the pages" of Invincible #33.
  • In November 2006, the Official Handbook to the Invincible Universe was released. This two-issue series told the origins of all of the characters seen in the series so far, and was done in the style of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, including similar covers.

Trivia

  • Every one of the trade paperbacks is named after a sitcom.
  • In issue one, Art the tailor tells Mark that he initially worked on a suit for Nolan under the impression that his power (and Mark's by extension) was solar based. Nolan tells him "it's a common mistake". This is a reference to Superman, whose power comes from the yellow sun of our solar system and who Omni-Man and Invincible share many characteristics with.
  • One of the characters in Invincible, Rick Sheridan, is the college mentor to William & Mark. "Rick Sheridan" was the name of the human host in the short-lived Marvel Comics series Sleepwalker. Rick's roommate, mentioned but not seen, is named as Chris Powell, which is the alter ego of Marvel's Darkhawk. Also, the character Martian Man, one of the murdered members of the Guardians of the Globe, bears a strong resemblance to Sleepwalker himself, including a green skin as well as purple-and-dark-blue costume color scheme, although he is almost certainly meant as a homage to DC's Martian Manhunter.
  • In the first issue on page 20, the first panel features the street outside the Savings & Loan about to be robbed. Walking on the street is a man wearing the jacket Kaneda wore in the movie Akira, (red jacket with a blue/pink pill on the back)
  • Steve Urkel, (a character from Family Matters) made a guest appearance in the first trade paperback as Steve White, a combination of Steve Urkel and the actor who portrayed him, Jaleel White. Mark Grayson's alma mater is Reginald VelJohnson High School, named after the actor who played Carl Winslow on Family Matters. The principal of the school (B.H. Winslow) bore a resemblance to VelJohnson himself and shared his character's last name.
  • In the 3rd comic, on page 5, there is a boy in the background of the middle frame. The boy closely resembles Bill S. Preston Esq. of Bill and Ted and is wearing a "Wyld Stallyns" cap. "Wyld Stallyns" is the name of Bill and Ted's band. In the next panel, a background character can be seen wearing Ted's smiley face jacket from Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.
  • In Issue Two, on page 21, two characters closely resembling Jay and Silent Bob are seen next to the boy on the bench. In addition, a young, bald kid can be seen with the t-shirt that Charlie Brown wears in the second and third panels. This scene take place in the Twin Pines Mall, named for the mall featured in Back to the Future.
  • In issue 9, Allen the Alien helps a ship in distress. The ship's crew bears a strong resemblance to the crew of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation, though with altered skin colors. The Picard double even says "Make It S...", before being rescued. He does not get to say "So".
  • When Mark and Eve meet in their "alter ego" state at their school, as Eve turns to look at Mark, a teenager in the background is seen wearing the logo of Superman in alternate-universe story Red Son (Superman's shield, with the Soviet hammer and sickle).
  • Damien Darkblood, Demon Detective, bears a remarkable resemblance to Rorschach, one of the main characters of Watchmen. This extends to his mannerisms, including repeatedly making a "hurm" sound and speaking with text boxes with wrinkly borders, perpetually wearing a trench coat and fedora hat, and even having a similar theory regarding a "mask killer." The similarity ends, however, at Darkblood's face- instead of Rorschach's distinctive "inkblot" mask, Darkblood's face is that of a fanged demon with red skin, surrounded by white.
  • In issue 10, when Damien Darkblood returns to investigate the base of the Guardians of the Globe, he meets a muscular detective in a short sleeved dress shirt, and his attractive female partner in a belly shirt. These are almost certainly Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim from the comic series Powers. As Walker and Pilgrim investigate super-powered homicide, it makes sense that they would be on the Guardians of the Globe case.

http://invincible.110mb.com An Invincible fan site.

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