A BABY, REALLY?! Invincible - S2E4 - It's Been a While 

The reason why the baby looks more humanoid, is because Viltrumite DNA is always dominant.

A lot of people forget that Nolan is NOT human. He's been alive for a very long time. The fact that Mark and Debbie changed him so much is crazy.

Viltrumites have very dominant genes. That’s why Mark’s brother looks more human than Thraxan. The Viltrumite genes are overriding the Thraxan part.

Viltrumite DNA is so pure that any halfbreeds are nearly full blooded. The older they get they the slower they age, so Mark's brother will probably grow nearly as long as a typical Viltrumite since their biology counteracts Thraxan's short lifespan. All it really does is make him speedrun through his childhood

Steven Yeun’s acting in this was amazing as always, but this episode might have my favorite performances from him in the show so far. The incredible amount of emotion in “ A mistake?!?” When responding to Nolan especially stood out to me. You could really feel it

One thing I’ll say it’s this. All the things people say about the bug people is the same stuff the Viltrumites would say about humans.

The point of the Thraxans is to put the viewer in the mindset of Omniman. Hell, you all agreed with him when talking about how short lived they are (36:24 Sam: "Now that's pet). When Nolan called Debbie a pet, we took it to mean a subservient creature, but the real meaning was deeper. We get pets all the time, not because we despise them, or feel the need to lord over them, but because we love them. Nolan compared Debbie to a pet, not because she's inferior, but because he grew to love her knowing **for a fact** that she would grow old and die, long LONG before him; that he'd outlive her by so long that he'd have to move on and love again. Obviously the analogy is twisted and disgusting, but that's sort of the point - we're meant to try to understand the mindset of a being who will live for millennia. So often during this episode you all (and indeed most viewers including myself) made light of the drama unfolding because "well who cares, the bug people only live for a year anyway", even though that was EXACTLY Omniman's rational when he murdered that fighter pilot in S1E8. It's so easy for empathy to fly out the window when we devalue the length of the experience on hand.

this episode’s intro was absolutely beautiful, narratively and visually. you could feel omni man’s pain and sense of loss throughout the entire sequence

Even if Nolan left Thraxia, the viltrumites would've still tracked him there and interrogate the thraxans and kill them all or make them part of the empire anyways. So that's why I think even if he saved them and left they would've been murdered. The only thing he could've done to avoid that, is let them go into the black hole and not interfere at all. This episode is the definition of sticky and unfair for Mark and the thraxans. Nolan is changing but his existence just causes problems. I think it's awesome story telling 😂

Nolan is a good person at heart. The problem is that before this his moral compass was skewed. He was more loyal to Viltrum than his own ideals. He genuinely wants to help people, he genuinely things that Viltrum is doing a good thing. That’s why he was willing to sacrifice so many lives. He’s not evil. He’s just misguided.

I love how they were like "ew he did it with a bug" then when Lucan said the exact same thing everyones like "hey that's mean". LOL Like I get it but people really do be reacting the same as the Viltrumites "they only live for a year, they are just bugs ect". Ya'll be just as bad.

if anyone was curious, big mustaches are a staple in male viltrumite biology since their name comes from the philtrum, the area on the face where mustaches grow

"Viltrumite DNA is so pure you're nearly full-blooded" same concept with the bug kid. Ik it's a common misconception with reactors because most forget but Mark isn't "half-viltrumite" he's more like 10% human, almost a clone of Nolan.

Fun fact, Andressa is played by Rhea Seehorn, better know has Kim Wexler from the critically acclaimed show Better Call Saul.

Omniman is completely right in asking Mark for help no matter how much it sucks that he has to. The viltrumites will track him to Thraxia and butcher the population for information and "being disgusting" regardless of whether he's still there or not, so simply leaving the planet and abandoning it's 42 billion people would only save Nolan himself. The only possible way he has of saving anyone else is to get Mark to help him enough that going after him becomes too dangerous for the Viltrumites to risk. As outrageous as it may be to ask for help, it *is* the most morally upstanding option he has.

Mark's bug "stepmom" Andressa was actually really sweet😂😂

24:30 lol that was exactly Nolan's point when he was killing people back on earth.

If the show goes on to follow the storylines from the comics the audience will come to realize that some Viltrumites are a product of their environment.

The Maulers are such a fantastic concept for a villain. They’re very high concept; a megalomaniacal, super-powered mad scientist who’s so arrogant and egotistical that the only help they’ll accept is from themselves. When they’re identical, they both drive the other to be smarter, more cunning, more effective out of an insane spirit of competition. When they’re differentiated, one knows, the arrogance takes over, and they believe themselves to be superior and more cunning, missing the obvious fact that they would *never* accept an inferior role peacefully. Well, now they know that they’re both clones, even if the original had somehow managed to survive the prior deaths, they’re gone for sure now. But clearly one is a first generation clone and the other is an inferior, second generation clone with cellular degeneration! 😂

Omni-Man trying to self-terminate in a black hole is pretty crazy. There was never any indication in the comic he’d been *that* low after leaving Earth. But it makes sense, he just threw away his entire identity, thousands of years as a consummate Viltrumite warrior, and he’d thrown away his family, the first people in his entire long life he’d actually loved. I love that they added this for the show. The fact that Nolan, at his lowest point and with nothing else to care about, defaults to being a hero and saving lives, well, it hints at the possibility for redemption. Like there’s a spark of a decent and heroic man under the thousands of years of fascist brainwashing.

Ngl, the opening scene of this episode brought a tear to my eye. I could not help but feel the pain that Omni pain was going through. Beautifully created !

Jet fuel can’t melt Donald’s glasses

Humans "They only live a year!" Viltrumites "They only live a century!"

The baby is half viltrumite. They live for thousands of years. And the older they get the slower they age. Plus viltrumite dna is very dominant ie why the baby looks so human and not bug like

Marks brother will also be almost immortal, the older he becomes, the slower he will age....so after reaching a certain age, he will pretty much stop aging

Lucan's got that dawg in him. broke Nolan's back while still holding his guts. wtf

It’s safe to say that the original Mauler probably did mark themselves as the original……..but then ended up exactly like the original in this episode. Maulers do not work well when they know who the original is 😂. Their dynamic is only healthy when they are on an equal level constantly trying to one up the other. Also Thraxan life span being so short served two functions. The first function is to get us to understand how Nolan sees humans. It gives context to the pet line where it’s not that he doesn’t love Debbie, but rather she isn’t on his level similar to a human with a dog or a cat. You still love your pets, but you recognize the differences between the species. Nolan learning to love Thraxans serves as development for how much he changed on Earth. The second function is to provide a narrative reason to expedite the growth of Mark’s brother. Having a long-term baby kind of screws the story, so his brother has to have some way to grow up faster.

Well, he said Mark will live for millenia. If we assume 100 years for normal humans with great medicine and the formula for hybrids is the average of the powers of 10 (10^2 vs 10^3.x), a full blooded Viltrumite would live for up to maybe 10^5 or 100'000 years. Therefore, if the species of his mother lives for only 1 year (10^0) blue baby would still probably live longer than a human lifespan, if we go with 10^2.5 it would be around 300 years.

You gotta respect the Thraxans

Daaaamn the way Nolan and Mark take a beyond-lethal degree of bodily damage and still have the strength to fight and win is unlike any show, ever. There has gotta be a reason they are virtually immortal, this is AWESOME

Mark about to go on a Attack on Titan arc by reading Nolan's books.

7:14 "he's cheating on Debbie, they didnt get divorced yet" im confused as to why Mark and yall even care about that part, he's an alien that massacred thousands and is thousands of years old 😂 like obviously he's not gonna remain exclusive in another galaxy

24:28 Nolan said the exact same thing when killing the guy in the military jet, "Dying now or in 50 years what difference does it make"

Not Nolan making a chimera ant 😂

My take on Nolan's actions is that he always seemed to have a tiny part of himself that wanted to be seen as a hero and benefactor and that his time on Earth with Debbie nurtured that part of him and allowed it to come out (when he met Debbie his first act was to save her life after all). When Mark gained his powers, he knew that he had to move forward with the Viltrumite plan to take over Earth or the rest of the Viltrumite Empire would arrive to see no progress and destroy everything. Killing the Guardians was his way of showing progress, but when everything started falling apart with Mark and Cecil standing against him, he felt he had no other option than to go into Viltrumite destruction mode to try to make the population, Mark, and Cecil capitulate, basically trying to save some humans by showing what was possible if they did not give in. His intention to self-delete in a black hole and his subsequent saving of the Thraxan ship indicated two things. One, that he felt his entire world was falling apart and that he could do nothing to repair it, and two that he has an altruistic aspect deeply ingrained inside of him since he was about to depart Thraxa after saving them without expecting anything in return. That he is a being that lives thousands of years and has had hundreds of years of likely brainwashing as a Viltrumite soldier is hard to break away from and so he falls back on those tactics naturally. Living so long makes one think of shorter lived races as transitory since the pain of their deaths would be too much if he did not think of them that way. Every Viltrumite that falls in love with someone from a shorter lived race would be a blubbering mess after a few hundred years if they didn't develop some psychological defense from that kind of emotional pain. They felt that they had to become cold and think of themselves as superior basically. This is not a means of excusing or forgiving anything Nolan did, but helps to put things in perspective for the inconsistency in his actions.

The Female Viltrumite, know as Thula. Is voice by Grey Griffin/DeLisle who also does Monster Girl and Shrinking Rae. But she more famously did the voice for the infamous Azula.

Compared to the source material, the show handles Nolan and Mark’s reunion way better, much more nuance, emotional, and, quite frankly, more realistic. I love how Mark kept telling his pops about himself. It was just so real and true for somebody who been through what Mark has, the great voice acting by Steven Yeun also helped convey that. This show is incredible.

24:28, 36:23 This is exactly how Omni-Man said in season 1 after killing the pilot in episode 7. After Mark said: "YOU KILLED HIM!" Nolan answered: "Now or in 50 years what difference does it make?" Then Mark replied "He'd have a life!". We as humans live so much longer than these bug people that it is comparable to how humans have only bug like lifespans compared to Vultrumites. When you say (as a human): "Why even bother saving these bug people since they would die next week anyway?" then it makes you understand how a Vultrumite feels towards humans. Like these bugs to us humans are just insects, since they live "only a year", as humans are just "insects" to a Vultrumite. The kid also looks more like a Vultrumite than bug and ages slower the older he gets cause of the dominant Vultrumite DNA.

I love Sam's facial expressions in this one! Roller coaster of a reaction. Love ya'll!

Viltumite DNA is so pure nearly every halfbreed is like 80-90% pure blooded.

14:32 I can never understand why reaction channels are this concerned with Mark's college when there is a Intergalactic war going on and the Earth is about to in crossfire. Like do we say Deku has high school when Shigaraki rips Japan a new one ? Or Ichigo has a life when Yhawch is about to do in the universe ? Stakes man. Understand the stakes. College doesn't even, it's not like he needs a job. And do you guys wanna see a superhero show or Doki Doki Literature club (without the pyschological 4th wall breaking horror)

Honestly Nolan loved Debbi more than Debbi loved Nolan. Debbi loved his this much because she spent 20 years with. For Nolan it was speck of life. Like 2 months even then he abandoned his mission (Something that is punished by execution) and even was going to kill himself in the blackhole. Just that little amount of time and he grew to love his family that much. As much as we hate him for killing thousands. For him we are like bugs. Like Black Adam says "When you crush an ant beneath your foot, do feel remorse ? No. Is this because you are evil or because you recognize yourself as a higher form of life ?"

I think Donald this time is built to be tougher bc of how he went out last time. Either that or he has metal beneath his skin...idk.

Next to Mark, Debbie might be my favorite character on the show. It also helps she's played by the fantastic Sandra Oh. Debbie is a strong, sweet, and enduring lady. All the female characters are much better represented in the show than they are the books.

"With these disgusting creatures!?" Morgan: "HEY!" 5 minutes earlier: "Eww did he fuck an ant?"

I’ve been finding it interesting watching everyone’s reaction to the Thraxans, everyone seems to look down on them or see them as just some ants. I think it’s really great storytelling because the audience is so mad at Omni Man for what he did in S1 but his pov towards humans is kinda what most people think of the Thraxans.

"How long were they gonna live for anyways right?" 24:28 Be careful there Sam, sounding a lot like Omni-man there, lol. But that's the point Kirkman was trying to make, how we say all life is equal, but we naturally value some lives over others according to things like race, duration, or how close they are to us. That's the reason for the "pet" simile.

The tongue-lashing looks like a lot to us, but it's probably similar to a peck on the cheek/forehead for the Thraxans. Nolan seemingly just kinda reacted, and realized too late what it probably looked like to Mark. That's how I logic it out anyway. I'm sure the metatextual reason was just to shock the audience. The comic is great, but it is not bereft of shock for the sake of shock.

7:13 **Morgan is repulsed** 18:38 **Morgan acts offended when someone else is repulsed**

We get to see people's true nature from this episode, especially from how they view Thraxans. No point hiding it, viewers are not fools👍🏻

Omni man did say " I can always Start again, make another kid"

I love the parallel between Nolan and the black hole and Debbie on the bridge.

7:14, your reaction at that time had me laughing my guts out 😂

I'm from Vietnam and just discovered your channel. Your reaction is very good

When you really think about it... Nolan cannot return to earth EVER! I think he thought might as well start over.

“Some of them are gonna die in a day anyway” lol that’s how Nolan felt about humanity💀…

The fact that we got Kregg and Thula this early is insane. They are basically top 5 Viltrumites in the comics. Which means they might just tease number 2 on that list soon

Viltrumite men keep mustaches as a point of pride, to show they are Viltrumite men.

That man said i might have to hold my guts in but im still gonna get this last hit. Got to admire that

To be fair Eve trying to take out anger on Brodie did lead to those people I dying(I’m assuming they died)

The bug lifespan is 1year, but Viltrumites live for thousands of years. So the bug lifespan doesn't matter. The rate of growth is interesting. Viltrumites get stronger the older they live, so this baby has potential to get stronger faster than a normal Viltrumite.

18:41 Ok you dont get to say anything, when you guys were aslo disgusted a minute ago.

Dunno if someone else has commented on it but the reason why the half-bug baby is purple is because the insect people are blue-skinned and Omni-Man is peach/pink-skinned. Due to Viltrumite's genes being so dominant, blue + pink = a shade of purple. That's also why the baby looks more human/Viltrumite rather than like an insectoid.

and there he is... the baby who will change the universe. ;D

That bald Viltrumite had guts to go against Omni-man.

Lol I thought I was the only who thought that lady Viltrumite was kinda hot. Like damn, you know she was a baddie in her day

Nolan's new wife* is a praying mantis . which is insane considering how these insects mate 😶

Viltrumite aging isn’t linear it slows as you get older, so invincible’s brother will grow up fast but slow in adulthood. Still obviously won’t like as long as mark.

"is that a girl ant?" "i don't know she doesn't have have boobs" lmao you all are gems 🤣🤣🤣

Seriously? I can't understand why people can't see it from Nolan's perspective even a little. You literally said it yourselves just now. "Some of them were gonna die in a day anyways." And how do you think a Viltrumite would feel? Even if it's only a thousand years, a human lives about a tenth of their lifespan. And it's implied that they live for much longer than just a thousand. We are literally insects to Viltrumites in almost virtually every way. From our frailty to our lifespan. Judging them by our human standards is pretty egocentric. That's not to mention that while what Nolan did was unforgivable, it's not exactly unacceptable. It's not like he was a pure villain and all his good deeds just up and disappeared the moment he betrayed humanity's trust. Sure don't forgive and forget. But that also applies to his past actions of saving millions of lives. He's clearly a very complicated character and yet people are so quick to judge him. I just don't get it.

Also when General Kregg tells mark they'll check on him soon he actually meant 100 years(which for Viltrumites is very soon) at least in the comics is what he tells him

Nolan is dead to the people on Earth(minus to those who knows he's alive), so from that perspective, the marriage between him and Debbie was negated from the moment he "died".

Viltrumite dna only fully kicks in later in a hybrids years. Mark was human for most of his life until his viltrumite dna fully took over in high school. Viltrumite dna is dominant and eliminates weaknesses in a hybrids dna eventually making them full viltrumite as stated by Omni man in season 1. Same will happen to marks brother eventually.

If i was Omniman, I'd have a kid with a rapid aging species if i knew other Viltrumites were hunting me down in the hope that he'd grow fast enough to be of use. But he didn't have the time he thought he had.

But the meteor thing was a nice piece of foreshadowing of the Viltrumite arrival tbh

i think that donald already knew cecil's password he ain't have to guess it since they're close

The baby will Live for thousands of years.

I think the thraxian/viltrimite babys life span is like 40 years

If the knife bent on Donald, I'm assuming his bones are metal, making him an android, like Arnold in Terminator. Flesh and blood over a robotic frame.

You know what they say, "Once you go Grasshopper, your kinks are improper"

Well someone definitely spoilers leading up to this. Or very very on point predictions lol

Nolan tries to save 42 billion people while also getting his son prepared for the upcoming war = selfish ☠️

40:21 I think Donald might have metal bones now.

Truth is Omni man probably put his meat in stranger things, he’s been alive and round for a LONG time

If pops knew his people are tracking him. He should have left the bug planet and leave the a clue redirecting them away from the bug planet instead of risking their lives a marks life. It’s not like they knew he had a new baby.

28:18 Think, Mark, Think!

"You can save them without fuckin em" Nolan: "Impossible"

Lol, I liked the real girls point of view, fun.🎉 Keep it going.

I mean look at it from Nolan's point of view if you have empathy. He is struggling with his whole worldview. "How is this better?" 1st) Viltrumites are essentially as close to demigods in their universe. They live for THOUSANDS OF YEARS, have amazing physical physics defying abilities and superior tech. They then decide to explore space and find out that every single species they come across is short lived, weak and essentially living in the middle ages compared to the Viltrumites. Of course you would develope a superiority complex of epic proportions. But wait... 2nd) The culture he was born, indoctrinated and raised in is a culture that very recently decided to kill off all the weak of there society. Weak in all metrics, meaning if you had empathy or compassion for anything lesser than a Viltrumite you needed to go. So Nolan has never cared about anything but his mission he belived so deeply in because why would he not? This man was having a breakdown experiencing emotions he never knew he had. Because.. 3rd) Nolan has lived for thousands of years by this point. I would probably guess like 2-4k but if it is any higher it proves the point even more. He was only on Earth for 20 years. 20 years compared to 2 thousands is quite small. Which is why I think most people take offensewhen he called Debbie a pet. I bet most see the pet comment as a dominant/submissive thing but I truly believe he meant it in terms of lifespans. There are people that truly love their pets like they are blood relatives but however when that pet dies, they will get another so they can have something to love and keep them company. They still love their pets with all their being. Love and emotions are new to Nolan. Debbie really got through to him on an emotional level, and it has only been 20 years, which is like a 3 day weekend compared to us.

Omni man's genes are gonna make the purple baby live for thousands of years the viltrumites live for around 100 thousand years. So the half bug will live like 5 thousand years.

a fucki spoiler on the TITLE great JOB guys.

The average lifespan of a human is somewhere around 78 years. It doesn't always go up, actually it dropped about .7 years recently, but it is much longer than it was. (biggest factors for the drop were covid 19 and an increase in suicide for men) When the average age was 38, that really doesn't tell the story. There were people who lived to be 60, the reason the average was so low was mostly due to high infant/mother mortality rates. Also, without antibiotics *any* cut could be fatal at any time.

The straight disrespect holding Mark down with a single finger

I wanna see that cute little brother bug grow up😂 They have to make it happen, him and Mark would be unstoppable I think

Btw the Thraxans serve as an example of how Nolan saw humans. Barely a spec in his lifetime yet they're people nonetheless. People someone can care for.

"now thats a pet" There you go. Now yall see what omni man sees about us. I love how reactors act like Omni man in season 1 while saying what he said was wrong 😂

39:47 She said she knew about Debbie and Mark only after she was already in too deep.

Less than one year. Where is Chris Hanson when we need him

This was literally the first time Omni-man became a actual hero and not disguise as one he didn't have to save them but he did but on earth and the many people he saved just massacre them all and the atrocities he did is horrifying and unforgivable and now he feels it more than ever.

To be fair to Nolan, the "bug people" really aren't that "bug like". They have largly mammalian biology. Lips, a regular tongue, faces capable of emotional expression.. they barely look like an insect at all.