In Episode 5, “Give Us a Moment”, Mark’s father, Nolan/Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons), makes his long-awaited return home to face the family he betrayed. Nolan takes that comeuppance to show that he’s reformed and now wants to defend Earth from the Viltrumite Empire. Nolan also wants Mark to join his Coalition of Planets in taking the fight to the Viltrumites – an offer that both Mark and his half-brother Oliver (Christian Convery) reluctantly accept.
(MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW!)
Nolan, Mark, Oliver, Allen the Alien (Seth Rogen), armored hero Tech Jacket/Zoe (Zoey Deutch), and their crew take the long space voyage back to Talescria, only to get ambushed by a Viltrumite starship while en route, led by Conquest (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), the mad-dog enforcer Mark nearly killed during their battle on Earth.
A brutal space brawl breaks out between the Graysons, their allies, and the Viltrumites, with Mark eventually going for round 2 with Conquest, after the madman tries to kill Oliver, twice. Mark’s bubbling bloodlust finally boils over: he starts choking Conquest out all across the surface of a nearby planet; when the villain starts to lose consciousness, he makes the desparate move of shoving his hand through Mark’s abdomen, and pulling out all of his intestines. The fight ends with Mark left maimed and gurgling on the ground, while Conquest seemingly dies from the stranglation.
“Invincible vs. Conquest: Round 2” is already a major trending topic, due to the shockingly bloody and brutal nature of the fight – the most graphic animated battle a lot of viewers have ever seen. However, what’s really tripping up a lot of fans are the vocals of the two combatants.
Actor Steven Yeun voices Invincible/Mark Grayson, while Jeffrey Dean Morgan voices Conquest. Fans got a kick out of that casting, as Yeun and Morgan once co-starred in AMC’s The Walking Dead, a show based on the comic series by Invincible co-creator (and showrunner), Robert Kirkman. The two actors were also the focal points of one of TV’s most shocking and brutal moments (at the time).
Ten years ago, in October of 2016, The Walking Dead aired its Season 7 premiere, “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be”. It was one of the most highly-anticipated events in television, as the Season 6 finale teased a brutal death of a main character, at the hands of Negan (Morgan), the authoritative leader of a group called the Saviors. The Season 7 premiere faked viewers (and the cast) out by actually killing off two characters – the most brutal being the death of Yeun’s character, Glenn, who was a fan-favorite and largely viewed as the heart and soul of the survivor group. Negan bashed Glenn’s head in with his baseball bat, “Lucille,” so hard that Glenn’s left eye was popping out of its socket, as the doomed boy tried to sputter out one last farewell to his love, Maggie (Lauren Cohan).
Glenn’s death was so gruesome, visually and sonically, that it became the traumatic event in TV for an entire generation of viewers. Now, a decade later, Kirkman, Morgan, and Yeun are triggering that same trauma, knowing full well that we haven’t ever recovered. The week between Episode 5 and 6 is going to be rife with anxiety, over wether or not we have to watch “Glenn” die all over again.
Invincible Season 4 is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The Walking Dead can be streamed on Netflix. Discuss Mark vs. Conquest Round 2 with us on the ComicBook Forum!
