"I Thought You Were Stronger" is the eighth and final episode of the second season of Invincible, and the sixteenth episode of the show overall.
Synopsis[]
An old enemy threatens everything Mark holds dear.
Plot[]
Nolan completes the first task of his execution prep.
The episode begins on the Viltrumite prison ship, where Nolan is battling his way through a group of defense robots. A group of guards rush in to hold Nolan down, but he destroys them as well. Before he can land the final blow, General Kregg arrives. Kregg congratulates Nolan for completing inspection for his execution, but Nolan remains stone cold toward him.
Meanwhile, a man is jogging through the suburbs before pausing to rest, encouraging himself he will feel whole for completing his jogging session. At the same time, Mark arrives back at his house to find Angstrom holding Debbie and Oliver hostage. Invincible does not remember Angstrom's identity at first, to which Angstrom replies he knows his many duplicates in each of his dimension and his "actions" that damaged his brain. Mark recognizes Angstrom's face and concludes that he first saw him on the night he fought off the Maulers before the machine's explosion. Angstrom retorts back at Mark by accusing him of ruining his goal, just as he throws Debbie and Oliver aside. Angstrom challenges Invincible to fight him, only to trap Mark into an unknown dimension.
Invincible meets his greatest nemesis.
As soon as the portal closes, Mark discovers he is surrounded by intelligent raptors who are amazed that his kind were rumored to be extinct. Mark warns the raptors not to eat him, to which the raptors are amazed at his ability to speak as well as fly. One of the raptors even tries to defend Mark as the others try to eat him until the portal opens, allowing Mark to return home.
Mark arrives to find Angstrom holding Oliver, amazed by his color and his existence as Oliver does not exist in other realities, Mark then tells if he hurts he'll kill him, but Angstrom retorts saying that he would expect him to do that but assures him his family is alive, if he dies as he throws Oliver like a frisbee, Debbie is able to catch him, that's when Invincible flies to him and is caught in another portal.
Agent Spider.
In an alleyway, a man with spider powers is fighting a man with tentacles, Mark accidentally rams into "Prof Ock", the Spider-man hero, and is questioned by the Spider's appearance, but he is aware of Invincible traveling through different realities, as he himself has had an experience himself. Invincible is then caught by Prof Ock.
Back at Grayson house, Angstrom is irritated by Debbie lying to Oliver that everything will be okay. He then transports Invincible who arrives to stop and Angstrom and apologize.
Apologize for not remembering his name, but did remember the night of the harbor, that he tried to save him. Angstrom, on the other hand, denies this and transports him into another reality, Angstrom then starts to have post traumatic stress disorder, true to the Mauler's words.
He recalls the first two memories of pulling off the helmet, destroying the encoder and confronting the alternate Omni-Man and Invincible before he dives into his alternate counterparts' memories;
Meet Sinister.
- An alternate Angstrom is comforting his son, Angstrom Jr., and his son's pet fox, Chainsaw, until Sinister Invincible arrives and snaps off Angstrom Jr.'s head.
- Another Angstrom and his wife are running through the streets of Chicago when another alternate Invincible causes a shockwave that sends Angstrom unconcious and impales his wife on a steel rod.
- Angstrom, as a detective, and several police officers are shooting bullets at another Invincible, who slays the entire squad with ease. A shower of blood rains down...
- ...as another Angstrom, as a cloaked wanderer, is hiding among ruined buildings and rubble to hide himself from another Invincible and Omni-Man.
- Finally, the last Invincible is chopping off the heads of prisoners at a concentration camp, as Angstrom is his last victim, glaring bitterly at the young Viltrumite.
After these memories, Angstrom explodes verbally and declares that Invincible must die for being a murderer. As soon as he opens another portal, the main Invincible appears and whacks him aside with a Fortnite gun. Invincible orders Angstrom to stop, but Angstrom refuses and shows Mark that he is ready to send Debbie and Oliver to another dimension. Mark suggests to Angstrom that Angstrom should kill Mark in order to let Debbie and Oliver go. But, Angstrom turns down the offer by throwing a Swiss Army knife at Debbie and Oliver. Mark grabs the knife too late as he goes through another portal. Angstrom gloats over his enemy's stupidity in the following dimensions.
Mark winds up at his own house and straight through the window, where he discovers that this world is devoid of life. Then, he discovers a pack of zombies crowding around him.
Debbie is threatened by Angstrom Levy.
Meanwhile, Angstrom begins gloating to Debbie over how resilient Mark is with his abilities. But while he begins pondering of different dimensions to send Mark to and weaken him, Debbie smashes a flower pot on his head and slices his chest open with a shard. She tries to make a break for it with Oliver, but Angstrom thinks fast and opens another portal, to which Mark nearly collides with Debbie. He tries dodging random portals, only to get sucked into another one. Debbie pleads for Angstrom stop the madness, but Angstrom coldly informs her that her alternate self joined up with the alternate Invincible and Omni-man in their mission in the following dimensions. He brands Debbie as a "traitor to her own kind" and smears a streak of blood on her face for her "family's legacy". However, Debbie stands up to Angstrom, reminding him that she raised her son the way he is by standing up to Omni-man and saving the world and admits that these worlds are extremely different from each other. She continues saying that her Mark is not a murderer. Angstrom is skeptical about this, until Debbie insults him by saying that Mark is the hero and that Angstrom is bad in this dimension. Angstrom lashes out at Debbie and throws her on her glass coffee table. She defends herself by throwing one of her koi ducks at Angstrom, but Angstrom reminds her that he is not a villain, just as he snaps her wrist in half. Angstrom continues that Mark is a monster in his eyes; he picks up Oliver by the ankle and vows to hurt her, Mark, and even Oliver soon enough.
Meanwhile, Mark is having an adventure throughout the following dimensions.
- Mark is seen explaining to a group of campers or survivors how Angstrom is currently capable of opening portals and the dimensions he has been to so far, while fearing the worst for his family.
- Mark is seen being assaulted by a group of cavemen.
- Mark first meets Omnipotus in his world, as he asks Mark where he came from.
- Mark meets Batman for the first time in Gotham City, questioning his name.
- Mark winds up in a Mad Max-like dimension, having beaten a group of warriors, his upper part of suit torn off, and reminding them he never felt like challenging them.
Invincible arrives to witness Angstrom's sins.
Invincible gains the upper hand.
Mark then sees a portal appear and decides to wait a few moments. Angstrom sticks his head through the portal, until he sees Mark surge towards him, as Mark pins Angstrom against the wall in his own dimension. Mark tells Angstrom to call off his attack, until he sees his mother's split wrist. Mark becomes enraged and soars out of the house, holding Angstrom, as he pins him onto the sidewalk, asking Angstrom what he did to Debbie. Angstrom shoves Mark off of him, as a heated battle begins between the two of them. He tells Mark that the "doctors" also improved his body, as he battles Mark through more dimensions, vowing that he wants to kill off Mark himself. They then arrive at a wasteland with skeletal remains of buildings. Angstrom tries choking Mark, who pushes him across the wasteland. Angstrom still plans to destroy Mark and his family for good, until Mark reaches his breaking point. He unleashes his full powers against Angstrom, sending him flying into air and expressing how much turmoil he went though and how much he held back his powers, until Angstrom crash-lands against a rusted beam, and Mark then beats Angstrom to a bloody pulp, vowing that he will never let anyone like Angstrom attack his family. Mark then finishes the battle with a double-fist blow on Angstrom's chest and stops to breathe. He notices the blood on his hands and looks at Angstrom's battered body. Mark then lets out a horrified moan and laments himself by saying, "I thought you were stronger."
As the Graysons' house undergoes repairs, GDA soldiers and Cecil Stedman arrive to check on Debbie and Oliver. Stedman promptly orders medical assistance for Debbie's broken arm. Meanwhile, Mark grapples with the aftermath of killing Angstrom. He’s caught in a spiral of self-doubt and psychological turmoil, questioning the righteousness of his actions and suffering a minor mental breakdown.
Two Viltrumite Guards escort Nolan to his cell.
In the Viltrumite prison, Kregg brutally pummels a restrained Omni-Man in preparation for his execution. Following this, Kregg instructs two soldiers to return Omni-Man to his cell. Omni-Man requests to walk to his cell under his own power, a request the soldiers reluctantly grant. During this, he encounters Allen the Alien, who is also imprisoned.
The Heroes of the future arrive to send Mark home.
Hours later, Mark is still wrestling with his conscience. His mind is a whirlwind of self-reproach as he contemplates the weight of his decision to kill. Just then, a portal opens above him, from which alternate versions of Atom Eve, Monster Girl, Bulletproof, and Robot (disguised as Rexsplode) emerge, accompanied by two others. Eve transforms the blood on Mark into his casual attire. Robot then creates a portal back to Mark’s own timeline. As Mark prepares to step through, Eve confesses her love for him, a revelation that Rex disapproves of due to its potential impact on the timestream. Mark steps through the portal, returning to his own world.
Back in his timeline, Mark goes to the Pentagon to check on his mother. Seeing Debbie safe and unharmed, he is overcome with relief and breaks down in her arms. Later, Mark finds solace on a rooftop, reflecting on his actions and the consequences of killing Angstrom. Stedman reassures him that he is not his father and that he did nothing wrong.
At the Guardians' Headquarters, Robot admits to Monster Girl that he wants to address her de-aging issue and apologizes for his own past mistakes. She accepts his apology and, in a turn of events, asks Robot out on a date. He agrees, marking a new chapter for both. Meanwhile, in the mountains, the Immortal discovers that Kate is alive and staying in his cabin. She apologizes for faking her death as part of her retirement plan, explaining why she did what she did.
Two Redshirts, trying to play god.
Elsewhere, two explorers, named Jane and Riley unearth the tomb of Ka-Hor. Jane, the daughter of Zaeim, and Riley, a minor superhuman, find Ka-Hor but quickly learn that he requires a male body to escape. Jane challenges his sexist demands, and the situation becomes even more complicated when Invincible, flying by, inadvertently triggers a sandstorm, trapping them once more.
In the sky, Mark flies over Earth, haunted by memories of his father, Omni-Man. He recalls moments from their past, including Omni-Man's belief that Mark would eventually become like him and outlive everyone he knows. Mark makes a stop at Upstate University, intending to talk to Amber, but hesitates and leaves without making contact as he doesn't want to endanger her life again and felt it was time for him to move on.
Mark overwhelmed by current events, comes to Eve for solace.
Back at the Graysons' home, Debbie observes as their house is restored to its original condition. She instructs April to prepare Oliver for bed. That night, Mark sits on the rooftop and is joined by Debbie. They reflect on the profound changes in their lives. Mark is uncertain about his future and his place after college. Debbie encourages him to consider the value of further education and to strive to be better, especially after the ordeal with Angstrom. Yet, Mark was resolute in quitting college in order to focus on his disciplining himself.
Mark then flies to the teen team hangout and catches up with Eve, who lovingly hugs him right away. The two talk and Mark almost shared what he learned from her future self, but decides to wait another time, Eve acknowledges that he shouldn't suffer so much. The two then stare at the city as she does her best to comfort him.
In the Viltrumite prison, Omni-Man and Allen the Alien communicate telepathically. Omni-Man expresses his shame over his past actions on Earth, believing he deserves death. The season finale closes with Omni-Man's poignant admission that he misses his wife.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Steven Yeun - Invincible, Invincible (Alternate Universe), Sinister Invincible
- Sandra Oh - Debbie Grayson
- J.K Simmons - Omni-Man, Omni-Man (Alternate Universe)
- Lincoln Bodin - Oliver Grayson
Featuring the Voices Of[]
- Walton Goggins - Cecil Stedman
- Gillian Jacobs - Atom Eve, Atom Eve (Future)
- Andrew Rannells - William Clockwell
- Sterling K Brown - Angstrom Levy
- Clancy Brown - Kregg, Ka-Hor
- Eric Bauza - Viltrumite Grunt, Neighbor
- Grey Griffin - Monster Girl
- Ross Marquand - The Immortal, Rudy Connors, Omnipotus
- Jason Mantzoukas - Rex Splode
- Malese Jow - Dupli-Kate
- Seth Rogen - Allen the Alien
- Calista Flockhart - April Howsam
- Jay Pharoah - Bulletproof
- Josh Keaton - Agent Spider, Taylor
- Ella Purnell - Jane
- Chloe Bennet - Riley
Trivia[]
- This episode marks the final episode of Season 2 and part 2.
- The title card has finally been cleared of the black and red coloring, revealing to be a black and blue color palette, this also confirms Invincible's third suit, which is set for the third season.
- Invincible learns of Angstrom and different universes/alternate realities/parallel worlds, in most of which his identity is well-known and is evil; same for Deborah's alternate selves.
- Invincible learns that Eve loves him from her future self, who urges him to either move forward with her present self or simply help her move on. In the end, he almost shares what he learned to Eve but decides to postpone it for the next season, as several links confirmed their relationship.
- Angstrom mentions that Debbie is also an assistant in supporting Mark and Nolan's campaign of ruling of earth in many other universes, although its unknown if she is kept as an ally for the empire.
- This episode features several more evil versions of Invincible, two of which will return for Season 3.
- Immortal's home appears to be somewhere in Alaska.
- Robot mentions that another Mark had stayed in the wasteland earth and wouldn't like what he become, indicating Invincible became insane or worse.
- Angstrom Jr. was featured in the final volume of the Invincible comic, having the same powers as his father and a fox named chainsaw. Though, it's very likely that would be a counterpart of the character.
- Various realities outside of Invincible are seen such as: The Walking Dead, Talking Dinosaurs, a universe that has characters similar to Mad Max, Omnipotus's reality possibly, Cavemen, Batman from DC comics makes a faceless cameo, along with Agent Spider, who is a legally distinct character based on Spider-Man, who was meant to be a cameo, humans living with water breather tubes in a destroyed city. A mech like culture that resembles Mass Effect.
- Dupli-Kate is revealed to be alive after she faked her death from the battle with the Lizard League, as she lived through a copy since before the series even began.
- During a fight between Angstrom Levy, Angstrom sends Invincible through multiple dimensions through portals. In one of these dimensions, He emerges holding a Dragons Breath Sniper Rifle from Fortnite.
- In one of the universes, there is a hero known as Agent Spider who is a legally distinct character based on Spider-Man.
- Amber Bennett makes cameo appearance when Invincible sees her walking with her classmates, because of the previous episode, it is currently unknown if she will continue to appear in future seasons.
- Kid Thor and Knockout are seen in the scene where Mark meets with the future guardians, they are of different Image Comics property in a series called Capes, another super hero group similar to defenders, one of the superheroes' physical appearance is also based Omni-Man.
- Chloe Bennet and Ella Purnell play two last minute original characters where they meet Ka-Hor.
- Ka-Hor is confirmed to return for Season 3, however the two girls fates are currently unknown.
- The Grayson House, is once again "destroyed".
- Robot is called "Rex" by a older Atom Eve, this indicates Rex replaced the original clone Robot during an unknown battle or Rudy decided to be the Rex Spode as a foreshadowing of a future storyline.
- Kregg mentions to Nolan of a Viltrumite Council.
- Coincidentally, Debbie, Mark and Nolan all receive black eyes.
- Nolan is beaten in a similar position and matter that Invincible was by the Mauler Twins from the alternate realities.
- In the comic, Nolan talks to one of the alien inmates, instead of Allen, about how he missed his wife.
- While it is somewhat odd whom he misses, but Nolan is referring to Debbie, not Andressa.
- This episode will begin the possible friendship of Omni-Man and Allen in the following season.