Invincible is a gritty new superhero animation coming soon to Amazon Prime Video, adapted from the acclaimed comic book series from The Walking Dead co-creator Robert Kirkman and artist Cory Walker.
The eight-part first season tells the story of a teenager with a beloved superhero for a father, who is thrilled when he finally develops powers of his own. However, as he learns to use his new abilities and gets to grips with living a double life, he learns the hard way that being a superhero isn't quite what he thought it would be.
Here's everything we know about the hotly-anticipated series...
Invincible release date
Invincible is set to launch exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on Friday March 26. The first three episodes will be available to watch on launch day, with new episodes being released every Friday thereafter until April 30.
Invincible plot: what's it about?
Invincible is the story of teenager Mark Grayson, whose father Nolan happens to have a secret identity as Omni-Man — the most powerful superhero on the planet. Nolan is an alien of the Viltrumite race, who married Mark's human mother Debbie, and Mark has known of his father's origins since he was a boy.
When he reached adolescence, Mark was excited for his superpowers to develop — and at the age of 17, he finally gets his wish. His father Nolan agrees to train him in the arts of flying, fighting and so forth — but as a comparatively late-bloomer, Mark finds himself with a lot of catching up to do.
After picking a costume and a name for his superhero alter-ego — Invincible — Mark is invited by schoolfriend Eve, aka Atom Eve, to join the heroic ensemble the Teen Team. But the pressures of being a hero-in-training and trying to carry out a normal life soon catch up to Mark, and while he dreams of emulating his father's selfless acts, he eventually comes to discover that his dad might not be the hero Mark always saw him as...
Invincible cast — who are the stars voicing the characters?
There's an impressively starry cast lending their voices to the series' characters. Mark is played by The Walking Dead's Steven Yeun, with J.K Simmons as his father Nolan/Omni-Man, and Killing Eve star Sandra Oh as his mother Debbie.
Eve/Atom Eve is played by Community's Gillian Jacobs, with Andrew Rannells (Girls) as Mark's best friend William, and Atlanta star Zazie Beetz as Amber, a smart, popular girl at school who Mark has a crush on.
Other stars bringing their vocal talents to Invincible include Mark Hamill (Star Wars), Zachary Quinto (Star Trek), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Walton Goggins (The Shield) and double Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali.
"Having worked with Steven Yeun for as long as I have, he was always first choice in my mind for Mark, so being able to pull that off was really great," says co-creator Robert Kirkman. "This cast is made up of a Who's Who of actors I've worked with and that I'm dying to work with again, and actors I've always wanted to work with. There's a lot of ticks coming off the bucket list as we move through this cast. It's by far the best cast any TV show has had in the history of television, which I think is a pretty cool bragging right to have!"
Invincible adaptation — what can viewers expect?
The series is based on a comic book that ran for 144 issues from 2003 to 2018. While adapting the story for TV has allowed the writers to expand the universe, Robert promises that it will be faithful to the source material.
"I think the two mediums translate really well because it is long-form, serialised storytelling that it designed to hook an audience and keep them engaged," says Robert. "There's a thousand different cliffhangers that are set up in the comic book series already, so it's really just kind of picking and choosing, and every now and then we'll do something heightened to dress up what's already there."
"Our series is an hour-long drama, which is very unique for an animation," he continues. "Some care is needed to take what is essentially 10 minutes of story, 20 at best, from a single issue of a comic book, and weave a few of those together into an hour-long episode. That's when our writing team have a lot of work to do — a lot of new things have to be added to work in an hour-long structure, and tell similar stories to what we told in the comics, but have it work in the format that we're doing."
Having a completed story to draw upon has allowed the team to finesse the telling of it a little bit when it comes to the TV adaptation.
"In the first season of the show, we actually get to hint at certain things that we didn't reveal in the comic book series until much later," reveals Robert. "In some cases, that's because I hadn't written it or thought of it yet! But this is a very well rounded universe and we're able to explore all corners of this world. It's great to be able to build this foundation, hint at what's underneath, and then slowly reveal all that stuff as we move forward. There are quite a few Easter Eggs for the audience to look for in the first season that will come into play for many seasons to come..."
Invincible trailer — what does it reveal?
The trailer for the series has already been released, and you can view it below. (Warning: contains graphic, bloody violence.)
The official trailer for the series shows Mark and his family anxiously waiting for his superpowers to kick in, before finally getting the chance to undertake flying training with his father — and having some difficulty when it comes to landing.
We get a glimpse of Eve working out Mark's secret identity and taking him to meet the rest of the Teen Team, who he ultimately ends up fighting alongside. The trailer also teases a big confrontation between Mark and his father, and a brutal battle that seems to leave Mark fighting for his life...
