The 7th episode of Invincible Season 3 was all about Angstrom’s return after his bloody altercation with Mark, with the help of a species known as the Technicians. After that, he went on to assemble an army of Marks by promising to give them the life they desired if they killed the version of Mark that we’ve been following over the course of 3 whole seasons; let’s call him Prime Mark. Several of these Marks perished while facing off against Earth’s mightiest superheroes, and the ones that survived tried to strong-arm Angstrom into giving them what they wanted. So, he stranded them on that junkyard planet where he and Prime Mark had had their last fight and proceeded to have a face-off with Prime Mark.
Although Prime Mark got the better of Angstrom, he failed to kill him, only managing to sever one of his hands, and the supervillain escaped again. That wasn’t a win for Angstrom, though, because he found himself at the mercy of the Technicians. Immortal and Dupli-Kate decided to retire after this ordeal. Darkwing II was stuck in the Shadow Realm with one of the Marks. Eve was hospitalized. Amanda was in the ICU. And Rex, along with several other superheroes, was dead. Meanwhile, Mark joined rescue and repair operations to deal with the guilt of being the reason for Earth’s destruction for the 2nd time. And that was when Conquest arrived to bring humanity and Mark to their knees for a 3rd time. What was the result of this altercation in Invincible Season 3 episode 8? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Oliver Almost Dies
In the 7th episode of Invincible Season 2, Anissa had promised that if Mark failed to prepare Earth for the Viltrumite Expansion, then he would have to face someone who was much worse than her. The entirety of Season 3 was probably scattershot on purpose, whilst only alluding to Angstrom as the big bad so that everyone, except for comic readers, would forget about the arrival of the actual big bad: Conquest. Well, he is here in the 8th episode of Season 3, and he is in no mood to enslave humans; he just wants to destroy everything, starting with Mark. The two engage in a vicious battle, decimating everything and everyone in their path.
When Oliver gets the news, he decides to head out and help his brother. For a second, it seems like Debbie is going to resist, but since she knows that Mark is still recovering from the aftereffects of his fight with the army of Marks and Angstrom, she allows Oliver to assist Mark. Oliver’s confidence is shattered almost immediately as he barely manages to keep up with Mark and Conquest. It’s only when they stop for a breather that he gets to land one on Conquest. Predictably enough, Mark urges Oliver to get the hell out of there because he knows about the kind of danger that Conquest poses. Even though Mark is seemingly running on fumes, he keeps the supervillain busy so that he doesn’t set his sights on Oliver.
The focus of the episode briefly shifts to the Pentagon, where Cecil scolds Sinclair for taking so much time to turn the dead or half-dead Marks into ReAnimen. Eve awakens from her slumber and, despite having a broken leg, decides to defy her parents and the doctors to save Mark from Conquest’s wrath. Speaking of wrath, Oliver gets another chance to hit Conquest, but this time the geriatric genocidal maniac doesn’t give the young kid a pass and almost rips him in half. Mark steps in, which gives Cecil enough time to get Oliver to safety.
Eve Almost Dies
When Cecil returns to the hospital, he tries to stop Eve from risking her life for her boyfriend because she isn’t exactly in form yet. Eve essentially says that she can’t stand on the sidelines and watch Mark get pummeled to death. In the time it takes for Eve to make it to them, Conquest remakes the scene where Nolan put Mark in front of a subway train and made him watch as people crashed into them and died. Except, in this case, Conquest holds on to Mark and pushes him through a beach and a city full of humans, turning them into a massive puddle of blood, flesh, and bones.
When Eve does arrive at Mark’s rescue, he is horrified because he thinks that if a variant of himself could’ve hospitalized Eve, then Conquest is going to send her to her deathbed. So, Mark tries his best to hold Conquest’s attention, but the mad Viltrumite injures Mark and eventually gets to Eve and tears up her face and rips out her guts. She dies in Mark’s arms, causing him to go absolutely berserk. Even though his body fails to absorb the punches he is doling out, Mark refuses to give up until he knows for certain that Conquest is dead. Sadly, Mark’s passion is no match for Conquest’s brute strength, and he overpowers Earth’s mightiest hero yet again. But that’s when Conquest makes the cardinal mistake of monologuing.
Eve and Mark Defeat Conquest
If you’re a villain and you want to win, just don’t monologue, because it’s a guarantee that you’re going to die. Credit where credit is due, Conquest’s monologue is pretty cool. Throughout the fight, he has been going on about how he has to always hold back when it comes to conquering things, but for Earth, he has been allowed to unleash his full potential. He has been talking about how he relishes when people resist him, because it makes his victory all the more delicious. However, right before his final moments (which he thinks are Mark’s final moments), he admits that this kind of rampage has a negative effect on his public image. He feels alone because none of the Viltrumites want to interact with him because they fear him. He laments how he doesn’t even have a proper name; his name is his purpose. And the better he gets at his job, the more and more alienated he feels. Conquest literally says that he is a victim of his own success; it’s such a Giga Chad meme-esque thing to say, and yet it sounds fitting in this case.
Anyway, while Conquest is doing all this, he ignores the fact that Eve has not only returned from the grave, but she has achieved goddess-like powers, which she uses to burn the skin off of Conquest’s body. As Eve powers down, Mark uses every ounce of energy he has left in his body to smash Conquest’s head with his own until he is absolutely sure that the supervillain is incapable of retaliating (this is going to really satisfy fans of The Walking Dead and haters of the Negan-Glenn episode). I was kind of lukewarm about this season of Invincible, but the penultimate episode and the 28 minutes of the finale genuinely impressed me. It made me wish once again that the animators, writers, directors, and the rest of the cast and crew get the time and the money to ensure every frame of future seasons of the show is as vivid and impactful as everything that they got to showcase in these last 2 episodes. Coming back to the plot, Mark drags himself towards Eve to cherish the fact that she is alive and then passes out. Cecil and the Guardians of the Globe finally arrive to take them away so that they can begin their long road to recovery.
The Threat of the Sequids and Damien Darkblood
A few days later, when Mark regains consciousness, Eve tells him that to keep her from altering sentient matter, her mind has mental blocks so that she never goes too far. It’s only after she is at the brink of death that she can override those inhibitors and use her matter-manipulation capabilities to heal herself (and maybe others as well). Since that’s what happened during her altercation with Conquest, and she nearly died, Eve was able to harness the true extent of her powers and survive. Whatever the case may be, the couple is happy that both of them are alive.
During the closing moments of Invincible Season 3 episode 8, Cecil tells Sinclair to hurry up with his ReAnimen versions of the evil Marks. Debbie and Paul meet Mark and Eve and are relieved to see that both of them are doing well. When Cecil drops by as well, Mark immediately asks him about Conquest. Cecil takes him to the morgue to show him Conquest’s lifeless body, and Mark tells Cecil to burn it. Cecil thinks it is a good idea, but this is Cecil we are talking about. Of course, he doesn’t destroy an asset like that. He puts whatever is left of Conquest in a facility in the middle of nowhere, which is fitted with explosives because he expects the Viltrumite to regain consciousness and tell him all about the Viltrumite Expansion program.
A funeral is held for Rex, attended by Mark, Eve, Teen Team, the GDA, and the Guardians of the Globe. The only sort of weird thing about it is that Rudy takes up Rex’s name, or assigns that name to his robotic exoskeleton, so as to ensure that he is never forgotten. Although Rex’s death looms large over the characters, Mark can’t help but be happy about the fact that Eve is alive. So, to celebrate their victory over Conquest, they retire to Mark’s room for some sexy time.
The focus then shifts to the sewers of Chicago, where a Sequid-possessed Rus Livingston has created an entire army of other Sequid-possessed individuals as well as hordes of Sequids who are ready to take over Earth. In the vastness of space, two aliens collect a frozen Battle Beast, who has seemingly turned the Viltrumite that he was fighting to shreds, and as soon as he feels the warmth of the spaceship, he comes back to life. The Technicians repair Angstrom’s hand and reveal that they’ll use his powers to build their own world and bring all the horrors they’ve imagined to life. Back at the hospital, Mark tells Oliver that he is leaving behind his no-kill policy, and that he’ll not hesitate before obliterating whoever comes to threaten him, his family, and his planet. During the mid-credits scene, we see Damien Darkblood, who had been banished to hell by the GDA, probably scripting his return to the mortal realm by conjuring a vessel that’s worthy of his master’s devilry.
