The 6th episode of Invincible Season 3 was largely centered around Powerplex’s revenge plot against Mark, because he had lost his sister and niece when Nolan and Mark’s fight decimated Chicago. Mark spends most of the episode’s runtime ignoring Powerplex, as he is the defender of Payton Penitentiary now; the city and the rest of the world are the GDA’s responsibility. Even when Powerplex showed up at the memorial ceremony for those who died during the battle of Chicago, Mark took a backseat while Atom Eve and the Guardians dealt with the supervillain. Hence, Powerplex had to pretend that he was holding his own family hostage to force Mark to face him, and their altercation ended with the death of Powerplex’s wife and child. Mark was understandably heartbroken after this incident, but it was the least of his worries because, as seen in the episode’s post-credits scene, Angstrom Levy was still alive and was planning to invade Mark’s reality with an army of evil Mark Graysons. Did Mark defeat Angstrom, or was Earth taken over by the evil Graysons in the 7th episode of Invincible Season 3? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Earth Is Invaded By Evil Marks
The opening of Invincible Season 3 episode 7 turns back the clock to the finale of Season 2, where Mark punched Angstrom so hard that his head exploded. Mark returned to his reality, with the help of an alternate version of the Guardians, thinking that he had killed Angstrom. But Angstrom was actually alive. He had opened a portal to a dimension run by a Hellraiser-inspired race called the Technicians, and they made him whole again. While Angstrom initially aimed to defeat every variant of Mark in the multiverse, after being resurrected, he chooses to make an army out of the variants and unleashes them on the Mark that we know and love. We don’t get to see why his motivations have changed or how he has convinced all these Marks to unite for a singular cause though.
Angstrom says something about making Mark’s reality hate Invincible because even if everyone knows that their planet’s Invincible hasn’t caused all this damage, every time they think about it, they’re going to inevitably hate their reality’s Mark Grayson. He also tells the evil Marks that if they do his bidding, then he’ll give them everything they want. But I’m sure all of them have different demands, so either Angstrom has actually figured out a way to appease all of them or he is just lying. Anyway, we see Angstrom opening a bunch of portals into Mark’s reality, and a bunch of variants (who are being monitored by Angstrom’s drones) enter through it with the intention of destroying the planet. Obviously this interrupts Mark and Eve’s conversation about why the latter doesn’t want Mark to meet her parents, and they fly off to save the world.
All Hands on Deck
Oblivious to what’s going on out there, Rex helps Rae move into her new home. But it doesn’t take too long for one of the Mark variants to shake the very ground that the couple is standing upon. Rex decides to head out, and when Rae prepares to go with him, Rex tells her to continue with her house shifting, because it has taken so long for her to hang up her super-suit, and he doesn’t want her to get back on the proverbial horse so soon. Mark goes to Payton Penitentiary and faces off with the mohawk version of himself.
When Kid Thor, Bolt, and Knockout (they’re part of the superhero group called the Capes Inc.) arrive at the location, they are understandably confused about who is the good Mark and who is the evil one, and they begin beating up the good one. They eventually realize their mistake and allow Mark to head out to all the other locations that have been affected by this invasion. Due to the destruction of the penitentiary, its prisoners are set free, and the happiest one out of them is Powerplex, because he can kill not one but several Invincibles. Oliver sees what’s going on from the news and wants to head out to save his half-brother. Debbie is obviously against it, but Oliver somehow manages to convince her to not let him sit on the sidelines despite knowing that Oliver has the power to save some lives.
The Guardians of the Globe Are Dead, Kinda
The Pentagon has been hit (yes, I said what I said) by one of the Marks, who is neutralized by the ReAnimens. Cecil is gravely injured in the process, and Donald’s skin has been ripped apart, thereby exposing his metallic endoskeleton. Much like Oliver, Donald thinks he’ll be more useful outside, because he is apparently stronger than the variants of Mark. We get snippets from all over the world where several heroes are dealing with some or the other variant of Mark to varying degrees of success. The running joke of Ka-Hor trying to find a male vessel continues as he tries to possess a variant of Mark but fails; the two women who were trapped in his tomb with him scoff at his misogyny and walk away. Mark and Eve take on the variant with the face-veil and the one who is dressed exactly like Omni-Man.
Mark tells Eve to get the hell out of there, but she sticks around until Omni-Invincible (I don’t know if that’s his actual supervillain name) crushes her leg. The ReAnimens arrive to help Mark, which gives him the opportunity to take Eve to the GDA hospital so that she can recover. Mark, surprisingly enough, welcomes the ReAnimens’ involvement in this fight because he knows that ethics don’t really matter when the fate of the world is at stake. One of the variants of Mark recreates the final scene from the 1st episode of Invincible Season 1 as he kills all the members of the GDA before being taken into the Shadow-verse by Darkwing II. Well, technically none of the Guardians are dead. Black Samson is just injured. Even though he has been cut in half, Shapesmith can make himself whole eventually. Prime Dupli-Kate is undoubtedly alive somewhere out there; only her clones have perished. The Immortal’s head hasn’t been crushed, and once it’s reunited with his body, he’s going to be fine again.
Rexsplode Is Dead
One of the Marks attacks the Grayson household, but Debbie isn’t in there; she is at Paul’s place. I guess the variants of Mark haven’t encountered the Paul that’s in their respective realities; hence, they are unaware of his location, and that’s why Debbie is safe. William and Rick are stuck on their college campus, and Rick saves William from getting crushed by some falling debris because the GDA has given him superpowers after reversing his ReAnimen surgery. Back at the Teen Team headquarters, Rudy, Rex, Amanda, and Bulletproof fight a variant of Mark. Rex keeps the supervillain busy and orders Bulletproof to get Rudy and Amanda to safety. As soon as they are out of the building, the variant of Mark catches Rex by the neck.
However, instead of killing Rex instantly, the variant tries to savor the moment. Rex uses this opportunity to turn his own endoskeleton into an explosive, and he detonates himself, killing himself as well as the evil variant of Mark. Rae, Bulletproof, Rudy, and Amanda watch this from afar, shocked that Rex is no more. This is a particularly effective moment because Rex always said that he was all about the superhero life. He never wanted to live like a regular human being. And he died doing what he loved. So, to be honest, the only sad part in all this is that the last thing that Rex saw was the face of his friend. In case you are wondering if Rex can be brought back like the rest of the superheroes, I don’t think that’s possible because there’s nothing left of Rex anymore. Unless Rex’s consciousness has been uploaded somewhere and the GDA’s recovery team can put that into a new body, Rex is permanently dead. So are several superheroes all across the world. A superhero named Brit pulls out whatever is left of Donald; everyone’s favorite GDA employee is fine, but the same can’t be said about the world, which is in flames.
Angstrom Is Defeated, Again
Cecil tells Mark to head back out there, because humanity needs all the help that it can get, but Mark doesn’t want to leave Eve’s side. It’s only when, on the third day of the attack, Cecil informs him that Angstrom has entered the picture that Mark decides to hit the skies again and face his nemesis one more time. By the way, before all that, we kind of get an idea of Angstrom’s deal with the evil Marks. Apparently all these variants of Mark are invaders, and they want to take over various dimensions. Well, one of them wants to meet Debbie, and another one wants to reunite with William. But, yeah, Angstrom got all of these guys to be a part of his army by promising to take them to all the realities out there and let them live out their weirdest fantasies. In exchange, they’d deliver, let’s say, Prime Mark to Angstrom. However, since the invasion has led to the deaths of many of the variants, the surviving ones are not interested in partaking in Angstrom’s quest anymore. They just want Angstrom to give them what they were promised and put an end to this madness. When Angstrom refuses to do so because the evil Marks are not holding up their end of the deal, the variants try to attack Angstrom. So, Angstrom opens a bunch of portals and sends the variants to the wasteland where Prime Mark had almost killed Angstrom.
With all of the evil Marks out of the way, Angstrom proceeds to fight Prime Mark with the help of his drones. Mark manages to get the better of Angstrom, but he hesitates before killing him again. Oliver shows up and urges Mark to finish Angstrom once and for all. Angstrom uses this delay to open a portal and travel to the realm of the Technicians. Mark gets a hold of Angstrom’s hand, so when Angstrom closes the portal, the supervillain’s arm gets cut off. Angstrom orders the Technicians to fix him, but the Technicians refuse to help him anymore. Apparently, Angstrom had struck a deal with the Technicians as well and had failed to hold up his end of the bargain. Now, Angstrom is going to do the Technicians’ bidding for the rest of his life or give up his body parts so that the Technicians’ can experiment on them. Therefore, even though Mark failed to actually defeat Angstrom, the supervillain has essentially been decommissioned. I don’t think the Technicians are capable of pity and mercy. Hence, there’s no chance that they are going to go soft on Angstrom and let him out. Angstrom is being held together by the Technicians’ devices, and that allows those guys to control Angstrom’s portal-opening powers. So, it’s safe to say that Angstrom is going to be the Technicians’ slave for the foreseeable future.
Conquest Is Here
At the end of Invincible Season 3 episode 7, Cecil gives Mark a little pep talk about recovering from everything that has happened so far. Mark agrees to help the GDA, but that doesn’t mean he is rejoining the Guardians. As soon as Mark and Cecil arrive at one of the wrecked sites to help the survivors, Powerplex attacks Mark. His cries of anguish that Mark is the reason why all this has happened kind of underscore the fact that Angstrom’s plan is a success. Powerplex is apprehended, but just like in the previous episode, he isn’t entirely wrong. Mark seeks some solace by sitting beside Eve, who is still unconscious, but that’s interrupted by Eve’s parents, who are there to visit her. Eve’s father acts insensitively, but Eve’s mother is the exact opposite and talks to Mark really sweetly. As mentioned before, the Immortal is resurrected, and he is reunited with the love of his life, Dupli-Kate. And the first thing that he decides to do is ask for her hand in marriage; Kate says “yes.” Cecil addresses Black Samson, Bulletproof, Shapesmith, Robot, Mark, and Brit and tells them that Immortal and Dupli-Kate are retiring, Darkwing II is MIA, Amanda is in the ICU, Rex is dead, and the status of the rest of the heroes who were partaking in the battle is a big fat question mark.
Cecil states the obvious: Earth is vulnerable, and anybody looking to invade it will take their chances right now rather than later. He wants Mark to lead the Guardians of the Globe because he has proven his worth. However, Mark rejects the proposal because he doesn’t want that kind of responsibility right now. He is happy to help with the clean-up program, and he is willing to put his life on the line again if something big comes up, but being a leader is out of the question for him now. Well, Mark gets exactly what he wants in the form of Conquest, the Viltrumite who has been sent to take over Earth. Anissa had told Mark that they’d be sending someone to check whether or not he had prepared Earth for the Viltrum Expansion project, and if he failed, then Conquest would make an example out of Mark. Well, by the looks of it, Conquest isn’t happy with Mark’s work. Mark doesn’t have the bandwidth to negotiate with Conquest. So, they resort to superpowered fisticuffs. The result of this battle will be revealed in next week’s episode, but given how Earth hasn’t recovered and Mark’s relation with the Viltrumites is going to destroy whatever has been fixed, I think the entire human species is going to hate Mark more than ever before. Even if Mark succeeds in defeating Conquest, I have a feeling that he’ll be exiled, and he’ll need to earn humanity’s trust to return home. And one of the only ways to do that is by killing the Viltrumites and every evil version of himself. Maybe that’s something we’ll see in Season 4? What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
