How Invincible Crafted the Perfect Twist Villain 

The fucked up part about Omniman's flashback is that what reminded him of that baseball game is that he punched out his son's teeth, then remembered his son playing baseball where he lost his front baby teeth.

Honestly never even considered him a twist villain until watching this, but I guess that's one of the reasons he works so well as one.

Personally I felt the most tension in the show when he went to visit the tailor dude, very clearly suspecting that he knows omni man killed the league. They were just chilling out and drinking beer, and yet it was one of the most nerve racking things I've ever watched.

I’m glad that his EXACT motivations remained a mystery until the end. For a certain period, I thought his true motivations were to be the “sole protector” of Earth, as he said in the first episode (albeit alongside Mark). That would explain why he killed off his competition once Mark came of age, and why he doesn’t like team-ups. The vagueness of the “Earth isn’t *yours* to conquer” line works here as well. He could have been saying that as in “Earth is *mine;* you can’t conquer it” as much as “Earth is *ours* to conquer.”

Every word he was saying to Mark in he finale felt like he was arguing with himself and not with Mark. It felt like he was battling his loyalty to vildrum with his love for his family. As if he he kept having to persuade himself to be loyal to his kind instead of feeling love for something.

I’m kinda a dumbass. When I saw the “think mark think”meme I thought he was going to find mark hurt from a battle, and telling him to be less careless

What I love about Omni-Man's "She was like a pet to me" is that, while absolutely horrible, you understand where he's coming from. As a viltrumite, he'll live for hundred of thousands of years. He absolutely cares for Debbie, in the same way a Human cares for a dog. We know we'll outlive them. We know eventually we'll see them die. But we stick with them because we care for them. But by putting that into words, Omni-Man takes that on it's own concept and turns it into something dark. He's not only trying to convince Mark, he's trying to convince himself. I won't get into spoilers for the comics here but there's more to Omni-Man then the cold-blooded murderer we see in the show. Edit: way too many people are hung up on the "pet" part. Nolan doesn't genuinely see her as a pet. He doesn't fucking walk her or treat her as lesser. Really the only part of the pet analogy he truly meant was that she'll die long before he would. But that doesn't make her time with him any less impactful, hell it makes it MORE impactful. In just 17 short years, Debbie and Mark were able to make such an impact on Nolan that he genuinely starts rethinking centuries of indoctrination by the Viltrumite Empire.

It just comes back to Hitchcock's bomb theory. If two people talk about baseball and Hans tries to murder them out of nowhere, you get about 10 seconds of shock value. If you show the audience that Omniman is a cold blooded murderer in the first episode then the whole series is pumped full of suspense.

The way I was whispering "please don't kill debbie, if he kills debbie I'm gonna cry, not debbie" every time omni man seemed slightly off, or was upset.

“but dad, mom loved you!” *”that was her mistake!”*

There's the implication that Omni-Man might not have even become a villain if Mark never developed his powers. At the start, it's believed that Mark has inherited no powers from his father, and they were seemingly fine with it. But once it develops, Omni-Man freezes for a moment, maybe he realised that he can conquer Earth with a Viltrumite son. Later that episode, he brutally murders the Guardians. It's possible that Omni-Man did develop his humanity, only to toss it aside when he remembers why he came to Earth.

‘The primary goal of twist villains should be tricking the character, not the audience.’ Wise words my friend

"You really think I was responsible for Tadashi's death? That was his mistake. Think, Hiro, THINK!"

The scenes when Omni man is with other characters and he’s acting really ticked off are terrifying, because you don’t know if he’s gonna leave them or splatter their head against a wall.

Omni man is also trying to convince himself these lives don't matter, he has changed, you can hear the deflated threats, but also hear regret when he is talking to his son, it is so heart breaking.

Omni-man's relationship with the audience in this series is like an abusive one where we know he is evil but we find all kinds of excuses to deny that until it's too late, and that parallels what the characters are feeling in the show. Great stuff!

Side note: I love that Darkblood isn’t a joke character in this adaptation. In the comics he was cool at first, but over time it was a bit of a gag that he would solve all these crimes and mysteries AFTER everyone else had already known what was happening. Here not only is he a competent detective, he winds up as a main part of the plot.

"Twist villains aren't twists if they become the normal! Think Disney think!"

The extreme amount of gore and savagery by which he killed people was also really scary. Other heroes in the series try to control their attacks but omni man attacks viciously, quickly, and without mercy leaving horribly mutilated corpses everywhere

One thing I noticed in more viewings. Omni was prepping himself for the speech. You could see him practicing it. He was hesitant when he heard Mark's powers were starting to surface, even for a brief moment being disappointed. During the fight, he was saying horrible things, that Mark didn't matter, not even the wife. Nothing mattered on the planet. Yet it did matter to him. Otherwise he wouldn't have left crying. Omni man did NOT want to do this. He did NOT want to do any of this. There was no joy when he took down the Guardians of the Globe. That was just a job. He took a joy in that invading alien force, since they were attacking Mark. But for the most part throughout the series, Omni had the look of a man who was only doing what he was supposed to do, not that would have liked it. He really did not want Mark to have powers so he could just live his life quietly.

"She was more like a pet to me" gives me the same vibe as "it broke my heart to put that tumor in her head" from GOTG2

I think the line “Who knows? I can make another kid” said to Mark is on the level of fucked up as Omni-Man calling Debbie “like a pet” to him. I haven’t seen a lot of people focus on that line, and it just shocked me how cruel and callous it was...

I just wanna say, out of the trio of twist villains, Bellweather is the one I can forgive. She's the villain of a mystery story. If she were revealed to be evil to the audience before the main characters, her reveal would have no impact.

Honestly, my favorite parts with Omni-Man weren't even the shocking violence. I was a massive fan of the father-son moments between him and Mark. The family man moments were all very enjoyable. Hope we get more of it.

I feel like the "Think Mark" scene is even more heart breaking when you listen to what he's saying as he brutally beats mark. "I can always start over! Make a new kid!" In retrospect you realise this wasn't a threat to mark, but rather, omni man trying to convince himself. Trying to work himself up to murdering his own son.

Cecil is the best gray zone “hero” he does what he does for the greater good but the zombie soldiers the nukes and the laser are a bit grey

Another thing I noticed about Invincible while watching this is the character design. Typically, heroes are designed with primary colour, and villains feature secondary colours. Omni-man, appearing as a hero, adheres to this. He has a red and white suit. Mark, who is truly a hero, and opposes pretty much everything Omni-man actually stand for, has a yellow and blue suit. Mark also has a primary-coloured suit, because he is a hero, but has a completely different colour pallette to Omni-man, to match his completely different ideology and worldview. Or I'm reading too much into things and it's just two different, really cool hero aesthetics.

Fun story. My brother watched it before I did, but he'd watch with me to see my reactions. My brother told me that when Omni-Man said "Earth isn't yours to conquer" I jokingly said "it's MINE!" in response. I didn't even remember saying it weeks later when I watched the season finale. But he did. And he was internally screaming because he was basically like, "You just said it! That's the answer and you don't realize you just said the answer!!! GAHHHH!!!"

Before I saw invincible, the “Think Mark” meme made me think Mark was gonna get too carried away with his powers and become evil, boy was I wrong

The scene where he told the aliens “Earth is not yours to conquer” at first seemed to me like a cliche phrase of a hero. It felt weird to see him say that, knowing he killed every Guardian. But with the finale it clicked. The phrasing made so much sense! Plus the ending scene where Mark talked with red alien about Viltromites just builds anticipation for the next season.

The irony of the pet line that I think everyone misses is that people love their pets more than people. He loves Debbie, deeply. She's the kind of pet, to him, that you're still mourning 20 years later on your death bed. He's lying to himself completely with that line. He calls her a "pet" in an futile effort to dehumanize her. As an immortal you would have to learn to prioritize emotional attentions, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be mourning his mistake for centuries

i watched this show on my own and went to watch it with my dad, and he got really invested in the relationship between omni man and his son, then we got to the end of the first episode and he almost cried because he thought we could do father son bonding thing (and he realized that he would be the bad guy in that metaphor) and refused to watch the rest of the show with me, so that's always nice

There’s one scene that sticks out for me. The scene with Nolan and Art Rosebaum, where they have drinks together. The whole scene made me feel uneasy and uncomfortable because I didn’t know what was going to happen. Was Nolan going to kill him because he knows? Was he going to let him live? That’s what happens when a character is written like this. You never can tell what they’ll do next.

I can’t believe the Lion from Zootopia became a better twist villain than the Sheep from Zootopia

I didn’t realize there were after credit scenes so I went through the whole show not knowing he killed the guardians and I loved figuring it out since he slowly becomes more and more insane.

10:06 it reminds me a lot of "Our boy... I'm killing our boy!" scene from Castlevania

best part about the “debby is like a pet” reveal was how it contrasts the speed guy’s talk with his gf before he died talking about how he enjoys time with her and loves her even though they experience time differently

Fun fact: When Omni-Man destroys that alien planet, we don't know how long he's there, but we were told that time runs faster there. We see he's got a beard by the end so we can assume it's been maybe a few days, but in the finale when he says Viltrimites age slower as the get older, it makes you realize he might have spent the equivalent of months or years tearing that planet apart.

I love your take: the purpose of a twist villain isn't to fool the audience, but the characters. Omni-Man worked so well because we could fully see how the characters slowly learned about Omni-Man being evil, and their reaction to it. We got to see Omni-Man in his evil form and how he carried out his evil plans. It created a ton of suspense, and oh boy, the payoff was very good.

I think the “twist” part of the character is that he actually loves and cares for his son

The question of Omni-Man wasn't "Is he bad?" It was "How bad?" ...The show did a pretty good job answering that last one.

The fact that everyone has memed the finale of the show to the point everyone knows the spoiler, and people are still amazed by Nolan's character just shows how truly impressive this writing is.

I love how the question we ask the most is "How far will he go?" it is a scary question that Omni man makes us ask again and again but the answer is always "Not far enough" such a cool villain

7:12 still gets me the way the “Whaat thee fuuck” is slowed down

“It’s better for your twist villain to trick your characters rather than your audience” that’s a useful tip

The first most telling line in ep 1: "When our people come of age, we leave Viltrum, and venture out into the galaxy, using our abilities to help lesser-developed worlds. I volunteered to relocate to Earth, and be its sole protector." *Sole* Protector. I didn't notice that shit first watch

Throughout the series I honestly thought that Omni-Man was just some sick Psychopath, the way he acted, I was always so on edge when he interacted with anyone in this show. The twist was amazing, great show.

I love that even in the first episodes when he’s training mark his true cruel nature is sprinkled in there

I feel part of what makes him so captivating is the use of "Hitchcock's time bomb". If you show a dinner scene and then a bomb goes off you feel shock and surprise, but if you show the bomb well before it goes off, you create anticipation and dread. Suspense.

"What will you have in 500 years?!" "You, dad...I'll still have you." That part was fucking heart wrenching.

Omni Man is a great character - not just as a twist villain but as a tragic monster, too. Omni Man genuinely believes he's doing the right thing but has to commit horrific acts in order to achieve a perfect society. He clearly loves his wife and son but his twisted ideology overtakes his kinder side in brutal ways. Amazing, and J.K.Simmons deserves an award 😢

the fact that the writers knew how to write a proper twist villain is so briliant

I think part of the reason the “THINK, MARK!” moment is so meme-able is because JK Simmon’s delivery of that line is genuinely very funny. He sounds like a frustrated parent scolding his 8-year-old son because the son is struggling with a simple math problem.

There's something about Omni Man's presence. In other shows, when an all power character effortlessly kills millions, I really don't feel a thing. But with Omni Man, I actually felt just as scared of his power as the characters in the show felt. He felt threatening, and absolutely terrifying by the 7th episode. I can't put into words how it's different, but it's incredible nevertheless. To see this all powerful being who is pretty much *title card*

There’s one thing that really stands out to me that speaks to some of the understated genius of how they handled the twist and killing of the Guardians. As you said, they were able to deliver an unsettling and brutal moment that shocked the audience, while still leaving room for Omni Man’s brutality to peak at a later point. The thing that makes it even better, for me, is that it’s not just that he was brutal. They could’ve shown him thoughtlessly killing a human to have that effect. The wild thing, is that they were able to do this while taking out Omni man’s biggest threat on earth. With the guardians out of the way from the jump, there’s a sense of impending doom, and anxiety about who can actually stop Omni man. This just raises the stakes throughout the show, as we question Omni man’s motivations, and also gives us added investment into the progression of Mark and his ability. As someone who went into the show knowing nothing about the comics or the story, the entire time I was wondering, “is it possible that Omni Man was justified? And if not, who the hell is going to stop him?“ Without the early reveal and ambiguity of his motives, there wouldn’t be the same sense of urgency for Mark to become competent, which is even heightened by the fact that there are no Guardians left to fall back on for help

Here is another thing that makes Omni work as a twist villain. He is a great dad. Seriously, most of the time a character’s evilness gets teased by them being a just generally unpleasant guy. But Omni isn’t just nice to be around, he is caring, looks after his son and is an almost perfect mentor for Mark. This makes him incredibly likable and makes it so that the audience wants him to be good and coming up with mental justifications for what we know he has done. It also makes it hit even harder, when the true limits of his evil are revealed. It doesn’t conflict with his good sides, but because we know those are there, it hurts so much more

"Let's see how you handle this." He didn't mean the punch. He meant everything AFTER the punch. He KNEW what that would do. What that would do to his son PSYCHOLOGICALLY. AND EVEN AFTER ALL THAT MARK STAYED TRUE TO HIS SOUL. And THAT'S why the show is called Invincible. NOT because of his powers. But because of his SPIRIT. Damn.

Schaff: You actually like shrek 3?! FINE, What’s 17 more hours *punch*. I can always start again *punch*. Make another review *punch*

Just finished it. Debbie (Invincible’s mom) is my favorite character 😊 I feel sorry for her and Mark. Its amazing how Nolan/Omni-man plays the part of a good father and perfect husband so well, that even when he slips sometimes, you can’t help but wanna overlook, even after what we know what he did

Very late saying this but the reason he killed the guardians so early on is bc in the original comic the writers were worried the comic wouldn’t make it to the 22nd issue (the issue they wanted to have the twist) so they put it in the 2nd issue instead

Red Rush: "A brief conversation is hours for me! It's agony!" How long did Red Rush spend in Omni-Man's hands from his view?

The fact that Dr Doof still hasn’t conquered the tri-state is the biggest twist of all time.

the videos you make like this really sticks with me because the way your voice performance is while talking about how deep some things can be just gives me more goosebumps and chills- It's genuinely something i look for when i watch videos specifically reviewing something that i love

I really love how this scene if you cry easily meant to see through tears and if you didn't cry yet it doesn't give you enough time to feel sad because you are like "oh,shit" all the time until the slow,sad,dark,silent and that feeling of fear for Mark's life. And that end let all you saw sink in and somehow make you feel involved in the show because you feel bad for all of those who just died,something that touches on your humanity that is the main point of the episode

It's the Hitchcock method. The audience knows more than the characters, so they're stuck in suspense waiting to see HOW and WHEN each character learns what we already know. It becomes about the characters more than the plot, which provides strong emotional connection.

No one realizes the intensity of the red rush head crush scene, literally he had just stated to his girlfriend that a small conversation is like HOURS to him, lets say a small conversation is like greeting someone hello, takes 5 seconds, we also know that when you are in pain time seems longer, like burning your finger or holding a plank, so we can conclude that red rush was experiencing that pain for what seemed like at least 5 hours(1 hour in painless perception of time), this is evident by the increasingly desperate measures he took, increasing punch speed to the point it broke his hands, which means the pain was so severe that broken hands didnt even compare, its like slowly crushing someones head over the course of an hour

I love the touch of omni man flying so fast that all the blood on him just burns off.

I just finished watching Invincible yesterday and wow was it incredible…. this story and it’s character rang so true to me and are all significantly deep and well written. Invincible has something very much in common with Berserk in that it almost takes a toll watching / seeing it unfold. You become so emotionally invested and charged that you live thru the emotions and betrayal / pain of Marc and Debbie. Steven Youn and JK Simmons did incredible with their vocal performances. I tear up everytime I hear Marc’s voice break with his heart saying “I’d still have you dad….” Speaking as someone who has experienced much loss in my short 27 years; I think often how the ultimate curse in my mind would be to be immortal. If you tell someone that all they know and hold dear would be taken from them while they weren’t allowed to die (much like GUTS) people would view that as the ultimate hell, but when spread across an eternity so many people don’t think about the downside of being immortal. The way in which Omni-Man’s dialogue and emotions are written; he is clearly speaking from some sort of experience and in a lesser series it would have had him either completely turn 180 against his past and embrace humanity or else stay full committed to his evil side. Him as a villain as well is fueled / pitched in a way where introducing earth to the empire would be a good thing. There is so much gray in his character.

The real villain here is the Mandela Effect: Omni-Man only says "think" once in That Scene, not twice

He probably wouldn't be evil if Parker got his pictures of Spider-Man on his desk by noon.

Alright The use of the show’s title card thing for the ad was funny

I saw your video last night, watched about 30 seconds, and ran to go watch this show. I knew it would’ve been amazing if you suggested it so strongly. I am so glad I watched it first, it was SO GOOOD. I can’t wait for season 2.

I'm convinced at this point that every character J.K. Simmons plays is golden.

Omni man sounds like he'll burn your house down with combustable lemons if you don't give him the pictures of Spider man by noon.

5:43 he did not come clean to Mark…….. he was covered in blood. 🩸

It's so bizarre that he's a good twist villain considering it was spelled out for us in episode one. Usually, I feel like that would make the other characters feel like idiots and the mystery around the character a bit boring. I typically prefer little hints to their villainy (like Hans looking to the chandelier before redirecting the crossbow arrow to make Elsa's death look like an accident - he was absolutely a terrible twist villain, but that single moment was AMAZING and always gets overlooked). I love that they managed to keep his motivations shrowded rather than his villian status. Also, John Silver in treasure planet is an anti-hero with a perfectly written character arch, not a villian of any kind.

The sauce is he never actually FEELS like a villain. He feels like a lost, broken man deluding himself. It's great.

I feel like Hitchcock's wisdom on tension is at play here. Showing an audience a bomb beneath a table with a timer for ten minutes is far more impactful than just showing a table blowing up after ten minutes of unrelated conversation.

this video made me binge the whole first season today just to watch this video, so glad i watched it and honestly the amount of time they gave omniman to be a villain was BEAUTIFUL. i loved it SO MUCH

I was already attached to the guardians before they were murdered ;-; I remember feeling actually ill during the finale, and I can handle gore. It was the sheer thoughtless, careless massacre of thousands that really made me sick

I thought that in the “Think Mark” meme Nolan was trying to save Mark. I was completely wrong when I watched this show

He was so scary. I literally almost sh*t my pants in the scene where mark’s friend was in the car and he asked where he was

I had this tab on pause for three days so I could binge the series. Absolutely worth it.

So I saw the thumbnail of this video basically whenever it came out and the entire time I was thinking that Mark would be the twist villain. A couple of weeks ago I decided to watch Invincible. The entire time I was trying to see how Mark would turn out to be a villain. At first I thought that his ego would be his downfall but after I realized that he wasn’t going to turn into the villain I didn’t know who would be. This shows writing is so amazing that even though I knew a twist villain was inevitable I still didn’t connect the dots until it was almost completely revealed. Great job Invincible I can’t wait for the upcoming seasons and I feel as though we have only just scratched the surface of this universe.

Fun fact: invincible got a higher rating on imdb than infinity war and endgame

Literally the second I saw him resist killing his son, all I could think of was Dracula from Castlevania. "My boy. I'm killing my boy."

After watching, I read the entirety of the comic and I have to agree with every change they made. It builds a far better story this way, while still keeping the core of the story and the main beats the same. I'm very excited for the future of the show, especially with what is coming.

can’t wait for the rest of the series to be animated. it gets so good

When creating this show, they really knew how to _train_ the writers.

Omni-man's fight/obliteration of the Flaxans also showed just how powerful he can actually be when he genuinely doesn't have any empathy for his enemy. The man went so hard he literally ignited their planet's atmosphere at one point and effectively rendered their world into a Fallout-esque hellscape. With that in mind when he ultimately fights Mark I get more of a sense that despite everything he's saying and doing he's still actually holding himself back a lot.

I love the way they make the viewer *feel* like they’re in this universe, like they’re one of the main characters. They put you in the same headspace as them, they make you wonder why Omni-man would kill the guardians, why he’s acting so abrasive. They make you hope there was a good reason, they make you believe there was a good reason without outright saying it. You just want that confirmation. Then, just like how the character felt, you get betrayed as you realise there wasn’t, when you realise he really is just a twisted conqueror and you feel that betrayal and you feel that grief. It’s great writing

"Fine! What's seventeen more years?" "I can always just start again!" "Make another kid."

Omni: “What will you have in the next 500 years!?!” Mark:”You dad… Ill have you.” Everyone 😭 *

Can u imagine kids seeing their parents flinch everytime they say "imposter" in the future.

One thing i love about this first episode is kinda like the comics it gradually gets bloodier and bloodier but remains relatively tame until the reveal where it gets straight up gory as hell. It not only makes the reveal more shocking. But establishes that this show is not going to be a typical animated superhero show

fav video so far through out the year love ur work

Everything about the finale was so painful. I honestly teared up when Mark said “I’ll have you, dad.”

he's the twist villain until the last episode

the scene where mark says id still have u was my favorite scene in the first season the amount of emotion just made it the best

Off topic but I LOVED treasure planet. One of my absolute favorite movies as a kid