Invincible S3 series review: Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh thrill in this supersonic ride into the superhero psyche-OxBig News Network

A still from ‘Invincible’ Season 3

It is difficult to pick a single sequence or episode as the best from Invincible’s fantastic Season 3. Is it Mark’s (Steven Yeun) sweet proposal to Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs) with the graceful bridge in the background or is it Multi-Paul’s (Simu Liu) gory, brutal prison break? Is it Billie Eilish’s haunting ‘When the Party’s Over’ as all manner of mayhem unfolds on screen and one meta-human makes the ultimate sacrifice, or The Mauler Twins (Kevin Michael Richardson) crowing delightedly “we are so much worse than super villains now, we are businessmen!”?

As far as punchy lines go, there is Cecil Stedman (Walton Goggins), the head of the Global Defense Agency (GDA), echoing his predecessor, saying, “you can be the good guy or the guy who saves the world, you can’t do both,” or Machine Head (Jeffrey Donovan) smirking as he says, “There is always a bigger thumb” (to squish you).

While the action is unrelenting, spectacularly visceral and blood-soaked, including the evil variants of Invincible sent to wreak havoc on earth by an old enemy in episode 7, and the no-holds-barred battle between Invincible and the scarily strong Viltrumite, Conquest (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), there are moments of introspection, joy and hope too.

There is Mark and Eve discovering their love for each other, their attempts to strike out on their own, renting an apartment and setting up a superhero-on-retainer business; Mark’s mum Debbie’s (Sandra Oh) tentative first steps into the dating world with her colleague, Paul (Cliff Curtis); and Oliver/ Kid Omni-Man (Christian Convery), Mark’s brother, getting better of the schoolyard bullies in a way that would make sense to children across the world. Revealing Cecil’s backstory gives him previously hinted at layers.

Based on the eponymous comic book created by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley, Invincible picks up three months after the events of season 2. Mark has quit college and also broken up with Amber (Zazie Beetz). His father, Omni-Man (J. K. Simmons), is in prison for his many crimes. When Mark realises Cecil is retraining enemies and using them, he is disgusted and swears never to work for him again.

That is easier said than done with villains of the wickedest dye as well as sundry crime lords/dragons proliferating earth. The guardians split up with Monster Girl (Grey Griffin), Rex (Jason Mantzoukas), Rae (Griffin again), Bulletproof (Jay Pharoah), and Rudy (Zachary Quinto) leaving and the Immortal (Ross Marquand), Kate (Malese Jow), Samson (Khary Payton) and Shapesmith (Ben Schwartz) staying on.

Oliver gets his superpowers early and is chaffing at the bit to help Mark beat up the bad guys and save the world. Both Mark and Debbie try to tell him to wait and also the importance of using his powers responsibly. When Mark and Oliver visit Art (Mark Hamill) for a new costume, he designs one for Invincible as well—a blue-black one for his new life. Mark tells Oliver a name like Kid Omni-Man will not go well with the people on earth as Omni-Man is responsible for cutting swathes of destruction including the horror at Chicago when Mark faced off with his father leaving countless people dead.

Chicago comes back to haunt Mark when Scott Duvall (Aaron Paul), a scientist at GDA who lost his sister and niece in Chicago, challenges him as Powerplex. Revenge, however, brings Duvall only more crushing grief. Old villains including Angstrom Levy (Sterling K. Brown) with some help from extra-terrestrial engineers, demented Doc Seismic (Chris Diamantopoulos) and the dragon, Mister Liu (voiced by Tzi Ma), drop by to make Mark’s life sink into different circles of hell.

Mark takes time off to go bowling with his college buddies where he meets Amber as well as train Oliver with The Elephant (John DiMaggio), much to the creature’s dismay. Mark apologetically confirms that his father would make him train on The Elephant too, who seems to be the training wheels on the superhero bicycle.

The voice work and animation continue to be top notch. With a fourth season confirmed, and a new villain revealed in the season finale, we can look forward to more bloody bedlam.

Invincible is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video