"Who You Calling Ugly?" is the third episode of the first season of Invincible, and the third episode of the show overall.
Synopsis[]
Mark has to cut a study date short to help save Mount Rushmore from a crazed scientist. Robot deals with Action - Comic as he assembles a new team of world-saving superheroes.
Plot[]
People gather at the Guardians of the Globe's funeral, and Omni-Man prepares to give a speech. He mentions he has fought the unimaginable, but always knew he was not alone. He tells the people they had lost many heroes, but mentions that he would still defend them, as well as new heroes. He also reminds them that even in moments of doubt and fear, they should have faith and look to the sky before leaving.
Mark, Eve and Debbie.
Mark Grayson asks if everybody had to go through a funeral again while looking at the graves for a second speech. He is told by Eve that the actual bodies were elsewhere since people looking for souvenirs later. Nolan tells the people gathered that the people who had died were his friends and mentors. He mentions that at least the fallen heroes would rest together and Olga was upset that she could not see her late husband's body. When she threw herself at the ground, Debbie rushed to help her. When Eve asks him if he is all right, Mark mentions that he is unsure how to feel since it could have been his mother burying his father.
Omni-Man talked to Damien Darkblood, who investigated the case.
Omni-Man spots Damien Darkblood, telling him that the ceremony was private. He complains that he never gets invited, but reminded him that he always showed up anyway, adding that he wanted to discover clues and catch the killer, but Omni-Man told him not to pretend to do it because he cared, knowing he only did not want to go home and told him that he had already told Cecil everything he knew. Darkblood repeats that he knew Omni-Man had seen and heard nothing, having been left for dead. Omni-Man asked if he was insinuating something, but Darkblood said that he simply did not understand how to communicate like Humans.
Cecil calls Robot, and told him that he ran a mean superhero team. Robot thanked him before Cecil revealed the purpose of the call, offering Robot a job at the Global Defense Agency. He wanted Robot's help in building a new Guardians of the Globe, only answering to him. Robot asked if Omni-Man would not be the better choice, but Cecil mentioned that after a decade of trying to make him an official Guardian, he still refused to take orders from him.
Omni-Man tried to tell Mark to separate his professional life from personal.
The Graysons make it back to their house. Nolan asks Debbie if they want pizza, saying he could go to Naples and back before it gets cold, but Debbie asks him to let the delivery man take care of it. As Nolan tries watching television, all he saw was the speech he gave at the funeral while he changed the channels. Debbie asks Mark if he wanted to call William, but Mark gets angry, asking sarcastically if she wanted him to buy comic books. However his father told him that whatever had happened, he could not bring it home, stopping Mark on the way to his room. Mark asked him if he could go, and Nolan let him go, telling him they would train the following day. Debbie found it weird that he had just come home from his friend's funeral and was talking about pizza, and telling his son not to feel anything which was odd. However, Nolan told her that they were coworkers and that that was the life they lived. He told her not to worry, and added that he and Mark could do more outside than sulking there. Across the street, Donald runs a team of people who hear everything that is being said inside the household.
In his room, Mark looks at Amber's phone number and calls her. He awkwardly introduces himself, but she pretends not to recognize him and says that she did not know if he would call since he had a lot going on, but Mark tells her he thinks she is amazing and asks her if she wanted to study with him, which she agrees to.
Eve was angry to see Rex cheating on her with Kate.
Atom Eve makes it to Teen Team's Base, where she sees Dupli-Kate, who was acting suspiciously after a shower, having missed the funeral. Eve takes a look inside the shower and sees Rex Splode moaning and kissing Dupli-Kate's twins, which makes her furious. However, Kate tells her that Rex had told her that she was now dating Invincible, Rex said it's true, which she says is not true. She leaves ashamed of both of them with Rex trying to chase after her saying "They’re not even the real Kate", which Kate says their all the real Kate.
At The Pentagon, Robot and Invincible look at many heroes lined up, who will be selected to be the new Guardians of the Globe. However, Robot wanted Invincible to try out as well, but Invincible told him that his father wanted to train him himself. Robot thanks everybody for showing up to the try outs.
Eve faces The Hunk at the tryouts, and defeats him quickly, showing a lot of anger. Invincible asks Rex Splode what was going on with her, but he simply mentions he does not know.
Robot announced the new Guardians.
In the end, Robot introduces the new Guardians: Black Samson, Shrinking Rae, Dupli-Kate, Monster Girl, which makes Rex laugh since she was small, but Monster Girl asks if there was a dick size requirement. Rex gets angry and makes his arm light up, but she transforms and punches him. She starts transforming into a big green human-like being and hits him once again. Rex gets angry and uses his powers, but his powers turned out to be useless against Monster Girl. As she punched Rex, Invincible stopped her and told her to cut it out, but was simply thrown in another direction. Angry, he flies in her direction and hits her so hard she changes back into her human form. She apologizes for having hit her, but she says that it is fine since she always got angry when called a kid, also apologizing to Rex for her dick joke.
Robot once again introduces Monster Girl as a Guardian and tells them that Rex would also join once he recovered. After that, he mentioned that Atom Eve would be the last member, telling them that he would be announcing it publicly later. Eve told him that she could not be on the same team as Rex and Kate and leaves.
Invincible follows Eve and asks her what happened. Eve tells him how Rex cheated on her, saying that Rex had told Kate that Eve and him were going out together. Invincible admits that he believed Rex was an asshole, but Eve said that that had not always been the case.
Robot tells the new Guardians that when forensic investigations concluded, they would move into the Guardians' headquarters. He tells them their schedule and Rex complains that their training was too early, and they did not even need it. However, Robot tells him that they are no longer Teen Team and Black Samson tells him he needs experience. Rex points out that if Black Samson had not lost his powers, he might have been able to help the past Guardians on their last day, which angers him. Black Samson tells him to watch it, and tells Robot they needed a leader they could look in the eye and not ones and zeros, saying that he could be the leader instead. However, Rex once again mentions that Black Samson had lost his powers and wondered why they needed to put up with him.
Shrinking Rae points out that teams needed teamwork, which Robot agrees to. Everybody leaves and Black Samson congratulates Robot sarcastically. After everybody left, Monster Girl told Robot that she could not do three combat exercises a day, but Robot said he needed the team operational. Monster Girl tells him that whenever she transform, she gets younger and even used to go by Monster Woman. Robot apologizes and sympathizes, but Monster Girl believes there was no way he could understand since he was a Robot. From above, Omni-Man observes, describing what he had seen as pathetic.
In Mark's room, William cleans it up, telling him what needed to go. He tells his friend that he had brought homework for him and told him everything Amber liked after asking around at school. Mark tells him that it was just a study date, but William told him that every date should feel like a first date. The doorbell rang and Mark threw all his dirty plates and clothes out the window, telling William where to leave.
Mark and Amber had their study date, but it was constantly interrupted.
He greets Amber, who picks up at book William had brought. Mark nervously introduced himself as a comic fan. Amber asks which his favorite is, so Mark starts talking about them. Amber asks if she can borrow one, which Mark agrees to. Mark's phone rings and he hangs up, but he is called once again, so he turns his phone off. He is surprised when he is called yet again, so he picks up and Cecil pops out from his phone, relieved that Amber had left.
Mark asks if Cecil if he had been spying on him, but Cecil tells him that if he wants to be a hero, privacy is not an option. Mark points out that he did not even work for him, but Cecil counters by telling him he never would if he never showed respect or decided if he wanted to be a hero. Mark is forced to decide then, and he says he does want to be a hero. Cecil hands him a comm device and tells him Eve would be there as well. Cecil tells him that he needs to go to Mount Rushmore, which Mark does not know where to find. His boss complains that schools did not teach enough and leaves. Amber walks back in and Mark makes up a lame excuse to leave. As Debbie walked in with snacks, Mark smiled nervously and left.
Invincible and Atom Eve fought Doc Seismic, who was threatening Mount Rushmore.
Invincible and Atom Eve flew towards Mount Rushmore. As they did, Cecil told them that he would not be asking for their help, but Omni-Man was busy and the new Guardians were a shitshow. He tells them their target was Doc Seismic, who was doing things which made no sense. They believe that the gloves causes him a concussion every time he uses them.
Doc Seismic causes eruptions, and causes Mount Rushmore to split. As Abraham Lincoln's face fell, Invincible caught it just in time before it hurt anybody, putting it back. Invincible and Eve fight Doc Seismic, who uses his bracelets to escape from them at a high speed, and telling them that they should be on his side. Doc Seismic proves himself to be very strong and causes many people to nearly die if it were not for the two heroes. After Mark barely managed to save a group, Doc Seismic tried to attack, but his bracelets were damaged by Eve.
Due to his faulty bracelets, Doc Seismic nearly fell into lava, but was caught by Eve, who was in turn helped by Invincible. Doc Seismic fell anyway, and Invincible jumped after him, not able to grab him in time after a big explosions. Mark quickly leaves and tells Eve they would talk later.
Amber was mad since Mark had left in order to help save Mount Rushmore.
When Mark gets home, he runs into Nolan, who tells him to slow down. Mark explained that he had left Amber in his room while he dealt with a crisis. Nolan congratulated him, saying that that was the hard part of the job, but reminded him he should change. Mark walked back into his room, and Amber angrily told him she had been there for an hour, and asking why he had asked her to hang out in the first place, leaving. He asked her why she even came since she had only known of him when he stood up to Todd, but she reminds him that Todd had kicked his ass. She told him that she wanted to know the guy who had taken a punch for her.
Donald tells Cecil that the monster that Omni-Man had taken care of was impressive, since it was not an easy battle and added that the beast might not be dead. Cecil told him to put it on ice.
As Debbie cooked dinner, Nolan threw a piece of the monster, asking if she wanted calamari. She tells him to get it off the counter while laughing and asks if he had called Cecil about putting some protection on the house, but he tells her he had been busy, but would do it later. He told her that he was a badass since he had defeated a kaiju and she told him that she was one as well, since she had sold a house that had a double homicide.
Eve broke up with Rex definitely when he tried to apologize.
Eve takes down her pictures with Rex and cries as she does so. When she goes outside, she sees fireworks and makes some of her own while smiling. She meets Rex, who tells her he knew he had screwed up, but did not know why since he loved her. He asks for a do-over, but Eve wishes him luck with his new team and leaves.
Eve goes to Mark's house, only to find him on his bed with Amber, kissing her. She tells herself that that was good for Mark and flies away.
Peter getting knocks unconscious by one of the Mauler Twins.
At the GDA, a guard moves through various cells containing many monsters. He hands one of the Mauler Twins chicken pot pie. He hands the other one the same, but Robot makes the food compartment open all the way, allowing the twin to grab the guard and knock him out, using his hand to break out. He goes to his twin's door, who is enjoying his chicken pot pie until he sees him. The one in his cell asks how he had done it and his twin mentions that as the original twin, his intellect had not been affected by the cloning process. He asks him to open the door, but the other one mentions he will not until he admitted he was a clone, which he admits to. They start running and are chased by guards, who leave after one of them receives a punch. As they move forward, a latter falls.
In the desert, the two twins exit and look towards the city, but are shot at by a powerful weapon. One uses his twin as a shield and takes the weapon down. He looks at his twin and tells him that he would miss him, but could always make another one and leaves him to die.
Cecil asks Robot for an update on the team. Robot tells him that they have work to do, but he feels confident on what they had done so far.
Darkblood visited Debbie in order to ask about Nolan.
Debbie sits down while working at the kitchen, when she gets cold. Her computer turns off and she faces Darkblood, who apologizes. She asks him what he is doing, and he explains that he was looking for clues since the massacre did not make sense to him. He points out that there had been seven dead and only one alive - her husband, so he wanted her to help him since his answers had been unsatisfactory. She asks Darkblood why he cared and he explains that he had escaped from hell and now seeked justice for others so he could save his soul. He asks if her husband had not told her anything to soothe her fears, but she mentions that he had not, leaving once Nolan turned on the light. After asking her if she was all right, he felt the cold and knew Darkblood had been there, which he did not like.
Cast[]
Starring[]
Featuring The Voices Of[]
- Zazie Beetz - Amber Justine Bennett
- Clancy Brown - Damien Darkblood, The Hunk (Grunts Only)
- Max Burkholder - Matt
- Chris Diamantopoulos - Donald Ferguson, Doc Seismic
- Walton Goggins - Cecil Stedman
- Grey Griffin - Amanda/Monster Girl (human form), Shrinking Rae
- Gillian Jacobs - Atom Eve
- Jason Mantzoukas - Rex Splode
- Malese Jow - Dupli-Kate
- Khary Payton - Black Samson
- Zachary Quinto - Robot
- Andrew Rannells - William Francis Clockwell
- Kevin Michael Richardson - Mauler Twins, Amanda/Monster Girl (monster)
Trivia[]
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Amanda reverting back in the comics, Invincible #9.
- This title "Who You Calling Ugly?" is a reference to a statement Amanda utters in Invincible Issue 9, after Invincible breaks up her fight with Rex Splode.
- Bulletproof, another superhero from the series, is absent during the Guardians' tryouts, as opposed to the events from the comic books. His costume did appear during the first episode, however.
- Savage Dragon, another prominent superhero in Invincible's universe, is also absent during the Guardians' funeral scene, most likely due to the show not having rights to the character.
- The event where Rex cheating on Eve is different compared to the comics, here there is an explanation why he cheated because Eve and Mark interacted a lot in the previous episode, while in the comics, there is no valid reason.
- While Amber is in Mark's room for the first time, Mark references The Underwater Welder, a graphic novel by Jeff Lemire.
- After Invincible and Eve defeat Doc Seismic, Eve tries to kiss Mark until he suddenly backs away from her, due to an appointment at home with Amber.