this post was submitted on 18 May 2025

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I've never seen Invincible but internet memes give me the impression that people love the mustache man with a god complex (hexbear.net)

submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Educate me. Is there more to the show or are people just doing a "Man Tyler Durden is so cool" type of missing the point.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'm not a fan of the show but I love cape shit. It's funny with this show because it really leans into the ridiculous scenarios - alien worlds where one minute outside is a century inside, parallel worlds with other versions of characters that force introspection on how someone can turn out to be.

The dad is an interesting character, but the main characters handle it in a way that feels lacking. He's complicated, yes, but the narrative paint him in a more sympathetic light. Especially when the heroes try to maintain no-kill policies.

Also it slips into an annoying trope where the character need to pay rent and their solution is to work part time as prison guards. I dunno. It's just a larger gripe I have where saving the world isn't treated like paying work.

I know failing to address bullshit capitalism keeps the narrative relatable, but its symptoms aren't acknowledged outside of a motivation for a character to rob banks.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It's just a larger gripe I have where saving the world isn't treated like paying work.

A story where superheroes for hire end up just becoming another branch of the US state apparatus, similar to the way the military tries to push people in tough situations to sign up could be a really interesting story.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

You see comics with stories like that, but those scenarios don't come to pass, or is done with explicit villains. That said, it would be interesting if the Suicide Squad just paid people instead of using prisoners. Though those would be the real monsters.

"Yeah, I know I'm using my death ray powers to blow up a hospital, but I had to pay for college somehow."

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

I've often thought of doing a comic where the heroes work for a US/Capitalist analogue and are surrounded by propaganda that convinces them that the horrible things they are doing are "good" until a big twist moment partway through, where some of them realise that they're being lied to and used by the establishment. I don't like doing superhero stuff though, so designing a setting for it is rough.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago

I've only watched the animation so ... pound o' salt time... its okay.

Its watchable, there's decent scenes and bits of story that seemed fairly worthwhile to experience but I haven't been blown away by anything.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I read the comic a while ago. Right after the last issue of the walking dead, I looked into Kirkmans catalogue, and thoroughly enjoyed invincible. The story journey is a lot of fun. He plays with a lot of comic tropes. The worst part is that he doesn't quite nail the ending. I won't get into spoilers, but everything is set up for a much better ending, but he goes with a common trope. So it's doubly disappointing.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

A lot of writers do that when the audience guesses the ending. It's frustrating, because the ending should be guessable, since it is what the plot is leading towards, and having a "predictable" ending isn't the same as having a cliche one. If anything it just means the story is well written and coherent.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Its more like "Endeavor from MHA is so cool." Similar arc, better character.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 6 days ago (1 children)

think-mark JK Simmons playing a complicated father figure!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

The desire to call JK Simmons Daddy.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I don't think people like Nolan in the same way as Homelander or Tyler Durden. He's obviously evil in the first season, and in the following seasons he goes through a very slow redemption arc, mostly centered around whether he deserves or wants to keep living

spoilers

Nolan is a soldier of a fascist empire, and at the end of season 1 slaughters hundreds of innocents and beats the shit out of his son. After that he considers suicide and basically only lives out of guilt, trying to keep his children alive. He intends on letting the fascists execute him, but is saved and finally decides to turn against the fascists in season 3.

He's basically a former fascist soldier who now wants to destroy the fascist empire, rather than a proud fascist villain.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Huh, that sounds pretty interesting

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago

Its a bit like more "I did war crimes and now I feel sad about it" than I would like it to be, which makes that bit of the story feel very... slow.

There's a few more thoughts... but they are a bit spoilery so I'll keep them to myself.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I think /u/moss is overselling the guilt part, at least in the comics (I haven't seen the show, but people say it's pretty faithful). Sure it's significant, but more time is dedicated in his initial turn to "good" in the comics on the fact that his human wife rocks his world nightly. I'm not kidding even a little bit.

It gets very... uhhh. "Breedy" about humans/viltrumites (The fascist kryptonians). Like I genuinely think the author might have had a kink.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It's decent, I haven't read the comics so I don't know how it ends up, and it is basically just a well-done superhero narrative about how humans are so special

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I’m reading through the comic now. The show is actually slightly better, it reworks the pacing of some plots so they flow better and adds whole subplots that give later story beats more context and impact.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I tried reading the comic but the art was so fucking ugly. Also as you say the pacing has been reworked so it's not that easy to go from season 1 of the show to the comic

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Yeah the comic started out during the dark ages of digital colouring, when there was soft gradients on fucking everything. It’s been interesting to see that evolve to a more contemporary look over the course of the series.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 days ago

It's a good show. It's worth watching. The characters evolve and telling you about the characters story arc would just be a spoiler narrative.