Neil Armstrong, Eat Your Heart Out
Episode 4 of Invincible begins with excavators finding a tomb. Moving the heavy metal tablet in front of the door, a man heads inside and resurrects an ancient spirit known as Ka-Hor. Meanwhile, Nolan and Mark continue to exercise, flying around the globe until they reach Mount Everest. Nolan reveals what brought him to Earth and instills an important message about sacrifice. The pair do eventually head home though, where Mark readies himself for a date with Amber. Debbie begins to suspect something is going on with her husband. Omni-Man’s nonchalant attitude toward his neighbour Olga, and how she’s selling her house, only fuels her suspicions. In fact, Debbie even looks up Damien Darkblood online to see if his words hold weight. Omni-Man is no fool though, and knows what’s going on. He heads off and visits Damien, threatening the demon after he showing up at their house. Nolan is a little jumpy after this, especially back home when Cecil shows up and tasks Omni-Man with a new mission. He wants him to escort a manned mission to Mars; after all, Earth needs a win right now. Eventually Mark volunteers and heads off to prepare. With Mark off on a trip to Mars, Nolan and Debbie go on a romantic trip to Italy. While there, Nolan manages to gain Debbie’s trust – but does so while a dragon rips up the roof on a building. The astronauts make it to Mars where Mark watches them set up their gear from afar. However, he also nods off. When he awakens, he finds the astronauts are gone, having been dragged away by someone…or something. This eventually leads Mark to the Martians themselves and, specifically, the Martian Emperor. Unfortunately the parasitic sequid there could pose problematic for humanity, and this causes the humans to be sentenced to execution. Mark grabs the astronauts and scrambles back to the ship. While he does, a volley of green laser beams spew around them. Unfortunately one of these astronauts seems to be infected, but right now that’s kept dormant for another episode. Mark and the astronauts make it back to Earth and breathe a sigh of relief, getting back to normality. Damien Darkblood is unfortunately exorcised back to Hell, courtesy of Cecil. Well, that seems to be short-lived as we cut to Nolan’s closet and hear Damien’s trademark growl. To close out the episode, Robot – armed with a blood sample from Rex – arrives before a strange embryo that seems to be growing.
The Episode Review
Invincible returns this week with a slower episode all round, one with a mission for Mark that allows him to grow as a superhero and character. These moments help to get accustomed to his powers and also set him up as our heroic protagonist for the season ahead. By comparison, the investigation back home continues to twist with Damien Darkblood seemingly holding the key to unlock this case and out Omni-Man as the mass murderer. There is also the interesting wildcard in Robot too, who may just turn out to be one of the big bad villains this season. Again, from someone who hasn’t read the comics, this animated series is certainly shaping up to be an intriguing watch. All in all though, Invincible is a really well written series, and the ending leaves the door wide open for next week.
