Invincible [COMIC SPOILER Discussion] - S01E05 - That Actually Hurt

[u/SeacattleMoohawks]

Episode 5 - That Actually Hurt

Feeling confident in his new abilities, Mark risks a team-up with a local villain to take down a crime lord, while simultaneously juggling school and a new relationship.

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[u/Fickle_Chance9880]

Perfect show, until the last two minutes of this episode.

What I liked the most about this show was that it adapted the material without the usual BS of tv adaptations. There was nothing removed for advertising or budgetary reasons. The was no toning down the content or violence. There were few edits for time or things the writers deemed unimportant.

If anything, the best thing about Invincible is that it says "Yes, and-" to the comics. It adds excellent little details to all the characters, provides a great deal more foreshadowing for major events, and fleshes out Mark's normal life a bit (making the inevitable crashing down all the more tragic). There is nothing added just because the writers resent working on an adaptation and want to tell their own little stories (Walking Dead, any live-action X-men film, etc.). It's a surprisingly tight show that doesn't make excuses for itself, and actually enhances the source material, which is a miracle.

Until...

They couldn't resist it. They had to get clever with the "Dang! We just can't kill them Viltrumite cells, man!"

This is the first time they've added something out of left-field for absolutely no damned reason. It adds nothing but takes away huge amounts of potential drama and tension. The Viltrumites are extremely tough, yes. They heal from incredible damage. But an opponent of sufficient power CAN beat them to death, which makes it extremely fun and exciting when when they are challenged. By saying "You can't kill Viltrumite cells", the show just went out of its way to undermine every single fight in the show going forward, sucking the drama out of several story developments. They went through the trouble of giving Battle Beast a great intro, and then IMMEDIATELY undermine it with this garbage. Are we ever going to wonder if a Viltrumite is still alive after suffering a brutal defeat? Nope! But, hey, enjoy this compelling relationship drama, you clowns!

This only upsets me this much because this show was truly exceptional with how balanced it was in relation to its source. This seemingly minor change has repercussions I'm not looking forward to seeing them explore, and may foretell a drop from excellence into mediocrity.

[u/Magma-Q → u/Fickle_Chance9880]

You're leaving off Cecil having the sonic abilities to fuck with all V's and almost killed Mark especially.

It may just be some lip service to "They're trying to take care of Nolan" but can't, until later. I think people unfamiliar with the comics may ask "why aren't they just icing Omni-man since they know he killed the Guardians?!" and this is just to kind of throw that off and to counter balance Nolan being jacked up after that fight.

[u/Jackmace → u/Fickle_Chance9880]

Methinks you’re getting rose-colored glasses about the comics. They’re great but they streamline a lot of shit because it’s a comic. I see nothing wrong with this subplot, in the comic they even reference them trying to find weaknesses. Makes sense they’d delve deeper in the tv series

[u/THEGRANDEMPEROR → u/Fickle_Chance9880]

I think it's less of a "their cells never die so they're immortal" and more of a "we can't find out any weaknesses using their cells". Like they're trying poison and radiation and other superpower weakness stuff. Their language is a little strange and open ended so maybe I'm wrong and they're actually making a big change from the comics, but it doesn't seem that way in my eyes.

[u/Fickle_Chance9880 → u/THEGRANDEMPEROR]

But if you’re right, then scene has even less reason to exist, and it’s also poorly written. Why not just say “Even with his blood we’re finding it difficult to find a solution to our Viltrumite problem.”

And actually you raise a good point: the whole scene is dumb on its own merits. You can’t kill the cells?! Who wrote that line?! So the Viltrumites are ageless and never change?they don’t shed skin, and their hair never decomposes? Whenever Nolan shaves he has to throw his clippings into the sun or else clog up his pipes for all eternity. No wonder he gets all murdery.

[u/THEGRANDEMPEROR → u/Fickle_Chance9880]

Again, I don't think it's an "immortal hair and blood cells" thing and more of a "drugs, viruses, prions, nanobots, and radioactives don't have any special effect" thing. The implication seems to be that nothing they've tried will have an ill effect on viltrumites, not that their skin cells will eternally clog their vacuums. There's a whole arc in the comics with regards to viltrumite weaknesses so I'm not surprised the show is currently saying "the viltrumites seem to have no weaknesses."

[u/[deleted] → u/THEGRANDEMPEROR]

And the Viltrumites have very, very few weaknesses. Even in that arc, Nolan and Allen are only able to dig up a few things—Tech Jacket, Ragnars, and Space Racer’s gun. While it’s never explicitly tested whether Viltrumites could survive something like a nuke or other viruses besides the Scourge Virus, the physical feats they exhibit show they are more than tough enough to survive something like a nuke. I think that scene is much more about showing that there really aren’t any terrestrial means of taking down a Viltrumite, which is true in the comics as well, so Cecil is already justifying using Mark as his personal fixer when Omni-Man really goes rogue by saying that only Mark could stop him anyway.