"This Must Come as a Shock" is the fifth episode of the second season of Invincible, and the thirteenth episode of the show overall.
Synopsis[]
The Grayson household is upended when Mark returns to Earth with surprising new responsibilities. The Guardians of the Globe face dangers both at home and away.
Plot[]
Hours after the Viltrumites take Nolan away for his defiance, a severely wounded Mark looks at the destruction of the Thraxan's civilization as his vision becomes blurry. Two surviving Thraxans take Mark to Andressa for bandaging. Mark blames himself for the cause of the Thraxan's near-demise at the hands of the Viltrumite soldiers, but Andressa comforts him saying that her kind only moves forward without assigning blame. Mark notices Oliver and the Thraxans surrounding him and feels re-inspired. The next day after Mark (in a Thraxan toga) and the Thraxans rebuild their city, an elderly Nuolzot informs Mark that it is time for him to return to Earth and help his people. Mark turns down the offer at first by reminding him that some of Earth's champions can handle ongoing threats. However, Andressa, likewise aging, reminds him that her time has come and gives him Oliver to look after, being that he is the only relative left. Mark accepts her advice and takes Oliver to Earth.
At the Grayson's residence, Debbie returns from her job and notices Mark and Oliver in her presence. Soon, Debbie and Mark have a conversation with Debbie bitterly expressing her thoughts about Nolan raising his new family and always leaving disasters for others to clean up as Mark fills in the details for his mother. Mark then informs Debbie about Oliver's aging process in his DNA and suggests he take a college semester off to raise Oliver, to which Debbie suggests Cecil should look after Oliver, but Mark doesn't want the worst to happen to his little brother. Debbie volunteers to babysit Oliver, and they both embrace.
The Guardians of the Globe are not pleased with Shapesmith lying to them.
Also, the Guardians of the Globe find out that Shapesmith is a Martian (except Black Samson until the last minute). When news breaks of a ship full of Sequids piloted by the human host body left behind from the astronaut Shapesmith had duplicated. Cecil sends The Immortal, Black Samson, Monster Girl, Rudy and has them get Invincible. Rex also finds Eve, consoles her about the mistakes she’s made recently and convinces her to rejoin the Guardians. She goes with the rest of them as the remaining Guardians (Rex, Rae and Kate) stay to defend against any domestic threats.
Wyoming Military Base.
Assuming that there will be no serious threat while the others are away Rex and the others prepare to just hang around and eat pizza. Meanwhile, The Lizard League under (the re-established management of) The King Lizard plans to take control of a Nuclear Weapons Facility. Cecil calls in to dispatch them, much to Rex’s displeasure, and they find Komodo Dragon, Salamander and Iguana in the facility, violently taking control. The Guardians engage and after putting up a good fight, Kate is brutally killed by Komodo Dragon when her final two clones are violently smashed together. Rae, in an effort to avenge her, kills Salamander by shrinking in his head and attempts to do the same to Komodo only to end up with him grabbing and eating her. Rex is confident when she’s about to regrow and destroy him but his super strength makes him able to crush her down and digest her (with great effort and discomfort) she seemingly dies painfully.
The cowardly King Lizard reveals himself.
Rex, being the last Guardian standing desperately attacks with everything. He kills Iguana with a blasted charge he’d thrown Komodo Dragon with a charge in his hand after being bitten off by him. Resulting in Komodo Dragon's head being blown apart. Left severely beaten, tired and now left with only one hand he begins spiraling when King Lizard steps out holding a gun to his head.
The Guardians, Invincible and Atom Eve find the whole Sequid enchilada!
The Guardians reach the enormous ship piloted by the Sequids. However, as they get too close, their ship is destroyed, and they are saved by Eve. Invincible orders the flying superheroes to push toward the ship, while Eve phases them inside using a force field. Once inside, they discover the Martians being held against their will in a lower level, where they immediately chastised Shapesmith. Bulletproof spots a Sequid and impulsively kills it, triggering an alert among the rest due to their shared hive mind. This causes the swarm to arrive, overwhelming the Guardians with sheer numbers despite their best efforts to fight back.
With Allen back to life, Thaedus employs him to return to earth once more.
After some time passes, Allen suddenly awakens and accidentally tears open his recovery chamber. He notices that he has grown bigger and taller. At that moment, Thaedus appears and congratulates Allen on his survival, confirming that the experiments Allen underwent were a success. Thaedus states that Allen is now strong enough to fight a Viltrumite. Initially, Allen denies this and declares that his time battling the Viltrumites is over. In response, Thaedus rips off his beard, revealing himself to be a Viltrumite, much to Allen's shock. Thaedus explains that he was the first to successfully rebel against the Viltrum Empire, alluding to Argall's demise. After hearing about Invincible's feats, Thaedus orders Allen to bring Invincible to him so that they can meet in person. He believes that Invincible is the key to achieving a swift victory in their war against the Empire.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Steven Yeun - Invincible
- Sandra Oh - Debbie Grayson
- J.K Simmons - Omni-Man (Credit only), (Mentioned only)
- Lincoln Bodin - Oliver Grayson
Featuring the Voices Of[]
- Zazie Beetz - Amber Justine Bennett
- Chris Diamantopoulos - Donald Ferguson, Jerry
- Walton Goggins - Cecil Stedman
- Gillian Jacobs - Atom Eve
- Andrew Rannells - William Francis Clockwell
- Cliff Curtis - Paul
- Zachary Quinto - Robot
- Rhea Seehorn - Andressa, Female Thraxan, GDA Agent
- Rob Delany - Nuolzot
- Grey Griffin - Amanda/Monster Girl (human form), Shrinking Rae
- Khary Payton - Black Samson, Martian
- Jason Mantzoukas - Rex Splode
- Ross Marquand - The Immortal, Rudy, Omnipotus
- Scoot McNairy - King Lizard
- Kevin Michael Richardson - Amanda/Monster Girl (monster), Male Thraxan
- Malese Jow - Dupli-Kate, Iguana
- Ben Schwartz - Shapesmith, Corey
- Jay Pharoah - Bulletproof, Komodo Dragon, Sergeant
- Seth Rogen - Allen the Alien
- Peter Cullen - Thaedus
- Kari Wahlgren - Announcer
Trivia[]
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- This title "This Must Come as a Shock" is a reference to a line said by Thaedus
- This episode is the first episode of the second part of Season 2.
- Many of heroes that didn't become Guardians in Who You Calling Ugly? are seen fighting Omnipotus.
- Cecil reveals that he and the rest of the Guardians (except Black Samson) knew from the beginning that Shapesmith is a Martian.
- When Mark asks if the ship has shields, Robot responds with "this isn't Star Trek", ironically enough, Robot's voice actor Zachary Quinto plays Spock in Star Trek.
- Rae's attempt to kill Komodo Dragon by expanding her body whilst inside of him drew immediate comparisons to a meme from the Marvel Cinematic Universe fanbase. The meme in question revolved around the character of Scott Lang ("Ant Man") shrinking himself down and crawling up the rectum of supervillain Thanos, before expanding in an effort to cause him to explode.
- The fact that Rae fails the execution is due to Komodo Dragon's sheer strength and muscle density parallels the claims made by MCU alumni that Ant Man would fail for the exact same reasons.
- Mark is shown hugging Eve in a very happy warming manner, more than when he reacted to Amber, indicating Mark and Amber's relationship is coming to an end.
- Eve creates an armor to protect herself, a similar design was seen when she fought her siblings in her spotlight episode.
- Early reviews of part 2 stated that Rex Splode was given the most interesting character development out of most of the characters.
- This episode confirms and reveals how Donald survived his death with Omni-Man in the previous season and that he was a cybernetic enhanced to survive certain fatal events.
- Tech Jacket was seen in the comics when the guardians tried to stop Omnipotus, but here in the amazon series he is missing.