Invincible season 3 changes Oliver Grayson’s shocking and violent coming-of-age moment for the better – and for the worse tom.power@futurenet.com (Tom Power) | usagoldmines.com

• Invincible season 3’s first three episodes are out now on Prime Video
• This season’s third episode adapts a hugely significant Oliver Grayson moment from the comics
• The R-rated show’s take on this key event left me with mixed feelings

Invincible season 3 has taken flight on Prime Video – and, out of everything that transpires in its first three episodes, there’s one hugely important moment that I keep coming back to for a myriad reasons.

The incident in question takes place in this season’s third chapter, titled ‘You Want a Real Costume, Right?’, and revolves around a graphically violent coming-of-age situation for Oliver Grayson. If you’ve watched Invincible‘s latest episodes, you’ll know exactly what moment I’m referring to.

There’ll be some of you, though, who haven’t, so this is your one and only warning: Full spoilers immediately follow for season 3 episode 3 and the graphic novel series that it’s based on, so turn back now if you’ll be streaming them at a later date (bookmark this page, though, and come back once you’ve seen episode 3 and/or read the comics).

If you’re still here and have watched episode 3, you won’t need reminding that the half-brother of Mark Grayson, aka the adult animated show’s eponymous hero, makes his first kill during that chapter of the best Prime Videos‘ third season. Or, rather, first two kills, because he murders the villainous Mauler Twins after they break into a missile silo with the view to launching a nuclear warhead to destroy Earth’s satellite system. You see, the Maulers want to own the planet’s communications network – wrecking the one that’s currently in place means every nation will need to pay them in order to send messages to each other.

That’s what they’re hoping for, anyway, until Mark and Oliver arrive to *ahem* save the day. But, when the Maulers successfully launch their nuke, Mark is forced to fly after it to stop it. That leaves Oliver alone to deal with the Mauler Twins.

That’s where things take a turn for the worse. After they knock Oliver about a bit and then goad him for being a little dweeb, the Maulers find out just how powerful Mark’s younger sibling is. He breaks one of the twins’ jaws, flies right through his other foe’s abdomen (which kills him instantly), and then, despite the broken jawed Mauler surrendering, Oliver smashes his head in with such force that he decapitates the remaining Mauler.

It’s not only an incredibly shocking and ultraviolent moment in the comics and Amazon’s TV adaptation, but also proves how sociopathic and psychopathic Oliver is. Indeed, his insatiable bloodlust, obvious disregard for the Maulers’ lives, and clear incomprehension at what he’s just done are all traits that his and Mark’s father – Nolan Grayson, aka the now-disgraced Viltrumite warrior known as Omni-Man – displayed in abundance throughout Invincible‘s first season.

Surprising no-one, Mark is absolutely furious when, after stopping the nuke, returns to Earth to find out Oliver has murdered the Maulers. The fact that he has to hear it second hand from Global Defence Agency (GDA) director Cecil Stedman, who becomes the latest person to betray Mark (in Mark’s mind, anyway) in season 3’s early episodes, doesn’t help, either. Long story short: Mark whisks Oliver away to scold him for executing the Maulers in cold blood.

Until this point, Invincible season 3 has performed a near-perfect adaptation of how this scenario plays out in the graphic novels. Once Mark and Oliver are alone, though, the show makes some nuanced changes in the scenes that follow – and it’s these tweaks that help and hinder the melodrama to come.

Let’s start with the positives. Unlike the source material, which sees Oliver follow Mark into the sky to receive his telling-off, Mark grabs his sibling by the left arm and drags him into the stratosphere. It’s a subtle but fascinating alteration that indicates how mad Mark is with Oliver, especially after the former has constantly told the latter that killing people, no matter if they’re good or bad, is a big no-no.

The incredibly tense conversation that follows plays out in a similar fashion to the anger-fuelled chat depicted in the comics. The show, though, makes another minor tweak by making Oliver teary-eyed as he defends his actions. It’s a reminder that Oliver is still just a kid – one who’s excited by the prospect of possessing superhuman abilities, but also a pre-teen who has no idea of the damage he can cause by using them, especially if he’s in a highly emotional state. People, adults and kids alike, can well up and/or cry when they’re angry, so this is another example of how dramatic this scene is, and how Amazon has upped the ante to make it as hard-hitting as possible.

Lastly, an emotionally distressed Oliver flies away from Mark, who’s forced to chase after him. It’s a switch-up from the scene in the comics – one that sees the pair continue to verbally spar above the missile silo – which adds a dynamism and fraughtness to proceedings as Mark is coerced into following his half-sibling before he can accidentally hurt himself or anyone who might get in his way. The chase also forces Mark to engage his brain and compose himself emotionally so that, once he catches up to Oliver, he can explain why it was wrong to kill the Maulers in a more mature fashion.

To me, this seemingly negligible changes make for a much better sequence than what’s depicted in the comics. However, in my view, the scene that follows feels like a downgrade on its graphic novel counterpart, and the aforementioned chase sequence is partly to blame. Indeed, with Mark and Oliver now discussing matters in a largely calmer manner, the tension built up pre-chase is lost. In the comics, the conversational fury intensifies with each clapback and counterpoint, and leads an increasingly anxiety-driven situation.

My biggest bugbear with the show’s presentation of this iconic moment, though, is the absence of a single word uttered by Mark on the page. In the comics, after Oliver asks if Mark ever considered that Nolan was right in his belief that humanity wasn’t worth saving in its current guise, a blind-sided by meditative Mark replies “…sometimes”. In the TV show, Mark remains silent as he stares forlornly at Oliver.

I recognize why the change might have been made. At its thematic core, Invincible season 3 is an entry that deconstructs the concept of heroism. As viewers, we’re asked to consider what it means to be a hero and whether they’re infallible or not (spoiler – they’re not). Mark’s hushed response to Oliver’s query suggests he’s similarly pondering that fact.

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Nevertheless, ever since Invincible‘s first season ended, Mark has grappled with the notion that he’s not only Nolan’s son and the fact he’s part-Viltrumite, but also struggled to move past the sins of his father. Is he destined to follow in Nolan’s footsteps and bring planet Earth (and humanity) to heel under the Viltrum Empire’s tyrannical boot? Or, will he be able to emerge from his dad’s world-conquering shadow and be a more empathetic superhero who values life above all else? It’s a dilemma Mark battled in Invincible season 2 part 1 and Invincible season 2 part 2, and is now doing so again here.

I firmly believe that if Amazon’s adaptation had kept the “…sometimes” line, it would’ve been a far stronger showing of how Mark continues to wrestle with the idea of the hero he wants to be and the hero he has to be. Without it, his reaction to Oliver’s burning question just doesn’t hit as hard as I wanted. It might not matter to those who’ve only watched the show or even to other long time fans of Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley, and Corey Walker’s literary works. To paraphrase Mark in Invincible‘s season 2 part 2 finale, though: I thought it would’ve been stronger from a gut-punch perspective.

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