A Lesson For Your Next Life

"A Lesson For Your Next Life"
Season	2
Episode	1
Air date	November 3, 2023
Writer	Simon Racioppa
Director	Sol Choi
Episode guide
Previous	"Where I Really Come From"
Next	"In About Six Hours, I Lose My Virginity to a Fish"

"A Lesson For Your Next Life" is the first episode of the second season of Invincible, and the ninth episode of the show overall.

Synopsis

In the aftermath of his father's betrayal, Mark struggles with his responsibilities as Invincible and encounters an unexpected enemy.

Plot

Mark announcing his rule over Earth.

In the skies at night, clouds implode as Invincible faces against Immortal. The fight escalates to the point where Immortal has Invincible by the throat, seemly berating Invincible and Omni-Man for what "they did" to earth. Then suddenly Immortal's arm is cut in half by a familiar figure, Omni-Man has returned, and slays Immortal. Nolan remarks to Mark that Immortal, who was once an ancient warrior, and leader that was been apart of society prior to his arrival would expect him to see their motives, like Mark.

The result of joining Team Rebellion.

More of the twos work on earth is shown in a city, where a hooded man watches a giant widescreen footage of Mark Grayson, Invincible urging the humans to stop rebelling as the Viltrumites are here to protect them and they think have a chance, he reminds them that he's Invincible.

The Resistance, left to right: Robot, "Angstrom" and Atom Eve.

In a underground base, the man is called "Angstrom" and reports to Robot and a short haired Atom Eve, that Nolan and Mark are not in their sights and is able to retrieve a weapon of powerful energy. This proves to be a premature moment as the two Viltrumite destroyers arrives. In quick fashion, Omni Man kills Rudy and some of the resistance members, while Invincible is forced to paralyze Eve, somewhat still having a strange affection for her despite debilitated and will have her fixed when they're done. Mark and Nolan calmly tell the resistance that are now being sent to death, with Angstrom furious by the demand he makes a stand. Claiming that justice and destruction will soon come for two, but his speech is cut short when Nolan tells Mark to quicken up the execution as he wasn't able to eat due to a riot in another country. Then Angstrom is brought into a portal, the two ignore the suspicious portal and began their slaughter.

Shrinking Rae fights Giant.

The scene cuts to the main universe of Invincible, One month after Nolan's departure, Mark continues to struggle with his father's betrayal while performing his duties as Invincible. Mark begs Cecil to get appointing for mission, but Cecil denies due to his trauma with Chicago. Meanwhile the Guardians have trouble quickly dealing with a giant creature, and Robot is still having difficulties trying to multitask being a normal human and leading the team at the same time with Amanda giving him a pep talk. Cecil disappointed by Black Samson and Robot's coordination appoints the revived Immortal as leader of the Guardians of the Globe, believing the team lacks coordination and a new hero Bulletproof for more muscle.

Back at the house, Debbie returns home and reunites with her old friend Olga who both reconvene, Olga gives Debbie an important card, but Debbie denies it, claiming that's she okay, regardless Olga leaves it.

Angstrom introduces the Maulers to himself or selves.

The Mauler Twins escape prison through the same portals from before, aided by a man named Angstrom Levy. Collecting various alternate versions of himself (including the one from the dimension of the beginning of the episode) from countless dimensions, Angstrom reveals the multiverse to the twins and that he born with this latent ability to transport to them, as a deal is set for the twins for their services. Angstrom enlists the twins' help in building a device to harness their memories and transfer them into himself, planning to use the gained knowledge to advance Earth's technology and save other planets.

Mark & Eve talk for the second time since the "Chicago Incident".

At High School, Mark meets up with Todd, Amber and Atom Eve, who are provide sympathy and motivation for Mark, with Amber specifically motivating him to get his mind off things, and that what happened between him and his father wasn't his fault. While Eve provides Mark with motivation, who still is worried of becoming like his father, Omni-Man, but Eve doesn't think that and must prove that to those who fear of him.

Cecil and the GDA learn that the Mauler Twins are out of Prison, and the machine they are building for Levy is supposedly dangerous, he sends Mark who now officially works for Cecil to stop the Mauler Twins upon making a deal. All of the Levys from different realities are all placed in their chairs, and the Twins who are in the process of transferring the memories into Angstrom.

Angstrom's action causes an explosion within the harbor!

Invincible faces an army of Mauler Twins.

Invincible arrives and fights the twins. Angstrom takes notice of this, despite his pleas to stop, Mark attacks the twins and almost succeeds, forcing Angstrom to send alternate versions of the Mauler Twins to stop him. They overwhelm and almost kill Mark against Angstrom's wishes, forcing him to prematurely stop the transfer. The device explodes violently, destroying the entire warehouse, killing Angstrom's alternate selves, and many of the Maulers present.

The rest of the Guardians of the Globe arrive, while Rex Splode and Cecil Stedman reassure Invincible that he was fighting an unprecedented threat, while the latter laments on the outcome of the fight. In the aftermath, Invincible meets with Debbie who is lying on table with wine spilled all over the table, Debbie awakes and is puzzled by Mark's confrontational scars from the Mauler Twins, she gives Mark a card which is actually a mail card of one of the colleges he got accepted in. Much later Mark is confronted by Immortal, who declares his distrust for Invincible because of his father's actions.

Angstrom is alive and "unwell".

The GDA continues to search admits the destroyed harbor warehouse and amidst the rubble, one of the original Mauler Twins survives, albeit disfigured. Mauler enraged by Angstrom for removing the helmet, and finds Angstrom who terminator the process early only to horrifically mutated his own body, with his mind currently unable to distinguish between memories. Angstrom, blaming Invincible for his condition, all while remembering the killing sprees that the alternate Invincible's carried out, swears vengeance and leaves through a portal. The Alive Mauler is left behind who mutters to Angstrom wherever he is, of the sacrifice he made for his new look, he leaves the wrecked warehouse swearing to never work for anyone else ever again.

Cast

Starring

• Steven Yeun - Invincible, Corrupted Invincible
• Sandra Oh - Debbie Grayson
• J.K Simmons - Omni-Man (Credit only), Omni-Man

Featuring the Voices Of

• Zazie Beetz - Amber Justine Bennett
• Sterling K. Brown - Angstrom Levy (debut)
• Grey Griffin - Olga, Amanda/Monster Girl (human form), Shrinking Rae
• Chris Diamantopoulos - Donald Ferguson, Todd
• Walton Goggins - Cecil Stedman
• Gillian Jacobs - Atom Eve, Atom Eve
• Zachary Quinto - Robot, Robot
• Malese Jow - Dupli-Kate, GDA Agent
• Jason Mantzoukas - Rex Splode
• Ross Marquand - The Immortal, Rudy, The Immortal
• Khary Payton - Black Samson
• Jay Pharoah - Bulletproof (debut)
• Kevin Michael Richardson - Mauler Twins, Amanda/Monster Girl (monster), Mauler Twins (Alternate Universes)
• Fred Tatasciore - Giant (debut)
• Gary Anthony Williams - Newscaster

Trivia

An alternate Omni-Man killing an alternate Immortal, Invincible #16.

• This title "A Lesson For Your Next Life" is a reference to a line spoken by an alternate Omni-Man from Invincible Issue 16, while killing the Immortal.
• The episode takes place a month after the battle with Omni Man and the destruction of Chicago.
• This episode concludes the blood splattering pattern seen in the title cards from Season 1, making the entire background black and the text red.
  • However, a new pattern emerges, with the title card being cracked by a rumble, revealing a blue background, which appears to be this season's progressive change to the title card.
• The Alternate Rudy is still in his original body and not his clone body, heavily implying that Robot was never successful in transferring his DNA to his clone body, due to either Rex's death or Rudy never meeting Monster Girl.
• Donald Ferguson makes his return despite his grisly demise by Omni-Man in the previous season.
• This episode marks the first appearance of two important characters for the future:
  • Bulletproof, a new member of the Guardians of the Globe.
  • Angstrom Levy, the main antagonist of the second season and Mark's greatest foe after Omni-Man.
• This season introduces a theme and nature of The Multiverse, ways of exploring different realities, all of which, that will be important in later episodes and future seasons.
  • This season also introduces several themes of Mark trying not be as ruthless or aggressive like his father, Omni Man, while in other universes, like the one in the opening, Mark successfully embraces his Viltrumite heritage and becomes like Omni-Man.
• When Atom Eve and Invincible of the alternate universe fight, there are some hints of a possible relationship they had together, with Mark giving her unique care in her debilitated state.
• One of the alternate Mauler Twins is designed after B. A. Baracus from the A-Team series, another Mauler Twin appears have to the original outfit from the comic series and there also appears to be a female Mauler Twin.
• For an odd reason, there is a buildup, fake-out like gag whenever any of the characters (Invincible(Alternate Universe), Rex Splode, Mauler Twins, Atom Eve and Donald) say "Invincible". Merely a brief 2 to 4 second silence before characters say his name, this was to somewhat fool the viewers and buildup to when Angstrom says his name at the end credits for the title card.
• Many of the characters designs and civilian attires are different, such as:
  • Atom Eve's civilian outfit has been changed from grey jacket into a black one and a yellow shirt into a green shirt
  • Amber no longer wears a dark green jacket and she has shorter hair.
  • Monster Girl's human form wears a navy blue shirt rather than a white one.
  • Debbie Grayson goes through different clothing attire changes as well.
  • Mark Grayson's face, eyes and hair is also drawn differently compared to him in the previous season.
  • Many of the female characters don't have eyelashes any more.

• Angstrom makes a comparison between himself and the Greek god Prometheus when discussing his plan to the Maulers. Prometheus, a second generation Titan, brought fire to the human race by stealing it from the Olympian gods, thus uplifting humanity from primitivism. Despite failing in his plan to advance the human species, Angstrom's actions lead to him being horribly deformed, mirroring the mythological character, who was punished by the Olympians by being chained to a mountain and having his liver pecked by an eagle for all eternity.