Warning: MASSIVE SPOILERS ahead for the Invincible comic seriesCompared to more traditional superhero fare, Invincible is well-known for its bloody violence and hard-hitting character deaths. Unlike more mainstream superhero comics, the stakes couldn’t be higher, and the death of a fan-favorite character is always a real threat that has a real impact.
But while the series’ complex relationships mean every character is impacted by another, no character in the Invincible Universe is more affected by these deaths than its titular hero, Mark Grayson. And there are some deaths that forever changed Invincible to his very core even more than he may have realized.
10 The Death of Atom Eve
Invincible #63
While she technically managed to revive herself thanks to her powers over molecular manipulation, Atom Eve’s apparent death at the hands of the Viltrumite warrior known as Conquest was undoubtedly still one of the series’ most emotional scenes, and one of the most pivotal moments for Mark Grayson as a person and a hero.
Still reeling from the events of the Invincible War, Mark was suddenly up against the most powerful opponent he’d ever faced – one who’d just seemingly murdered the love of his life – and it was Invincible’s desperation to avenge Atom Eve that pushed Mark to win against one of the most terrifying Viltrumites in the universe. This dramatic conflict showed fans just how far Mark was willing to go to protect his family even if he nearly died in the process, and it wouldn’t have happened without Eve’s apparent demise.
9 The Death of Robot
Invincible #142
While Robot may have started out as Invincible’s friend, he ends up being one of Mark’s greatest foes, and it’s his death that ultimately declares just how much the young Grayson has changed by the end of the series. Unable to be trusted following his attempts at world domination and the extermination of Mark’s family, Robot’s body is physically killed by Invincible himself, only to have his brain preserved beneath the Pentagon for the betterment of the world.
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Considering everything that Robot had done by the end of the series, his “death” was far from surprising, but it was Mark’s murder of Robot and Rudy’s brain’s subsequent revival that demonstrated the line between pragmatism and heroism that Invincible was ultimately willing to walk – a fair change from his staunch anti-killing policy at the start of his journey.
8 The Death of Cecil Steadman
Invincible #111
Cecil Steadman may have butted heads with Mark Grayson potentially more than anyone else in the series, but it was Invincible’s reaction to his former mentor’s death at the hands of Robot that showed just how much Steadman meant to him despite their countless conflicts and disagreements. Disgusted by Robot’s actions and the lack of justice for the murder of Cecil and Rex’s other victims, it was this bloody tragedy that ultimately motivated Mark and Eve to leave the Earth behind and move to Talescria, far away from Robot’s reach.
Those that knew him best argued that Cecil would’ve accepted his death as part of the greater good after seeing Robot’s impact on the world, but that good wasn’t great enough for Grayson. This murder forever shattered Mark’s relationship with Robot and ultimately reinforced Invincible’s unflappable sense of right and wrong, pitting the former friends against each other for good.
7 The Death of Grand Regent Thragg
Invincible #140
As one of the biggest bads of the series and the murderer of Mark’s brother and father, Grand Regent Thragg irrevocably shaped Mark’s life more directly than many of his other foes. With all this emotional baggage, it was the brutal death of Thragg that pushed Mark to his physical limits as he tore out Thragg’s throat in one of the series’ most epic moments.
Battling it out on the surface of the Sun, Invincible and Thragg’s final battle was a culmination of the series-long struggle between Mark’s Viltrumite and human heritages against a jaw-dropping backdrop of stellar proportions as Invincible went to bat to avenge the family he’d lost to Thragg. And with Thragg finally gone for good, Invincible’s path toward reshaping the Viltrumite Empire into a force for good became all but set in stone.
6 The Death of Rus Livingston
Invincible #70
An unfortunate astronaut and unwilling host to the Sequid hivemind, Rus Livingston was the first innocent person Mark ever willingly killed. Unable to quickly employ non-lethal methods against the Sequids in a short enough timespan to minimize causalities, Invincible takes it upon himself to permanently separate the Sequids from their host by decapitating him with a single devastating punch.
This inarguable murder went to show just how much Mark had hardened as the years went on, pushing him deeper and deeper into a more pragmatic, cold-blooded, Viltrumite mindset mirroring that of his father and younger brother, risking to pull him away from his more heroic nature. Up until this point, Invincible had always seen human life as precious, and while he ultimately regretted having killed an innocent man, it was only the first life he’d purposely take.
5 The Death of Dinosaurus
Invincible #100
Dinosaurus had one of the highest body counts throughout all Invincible lore, but it was his own death that had a truly profound impact on Mark Grayson. Having already devastated the Earth and killed nearly a million people during “The Death of Everyone” after he was freed by Invincible to help save the world, the alter ego of David Anders ultimately realized the flaws in his logic and requested that Invincible kill him himself.
Mark’s execution of Dinosaurus served as a symbolic acknowledgment of his own undeniable mistakes as well as his part in Dinosaurus’ genocidal actions to reshape the Earth, eventually leading to him to patch things up with Cecil Steadman and resume his place in the fold as a more traditional hero as opposed to spending the rest of his incredibly long life in prison.
4 The Death of Oliver Grayson
Invincible #132
As Nolan’s youngest son, Mark’s younger brother, and a formidabe hero in his own right, Oliver Grayson had already survived more than a few close calls in battle before his final, brutal death at the hands of Grand Regent Thragg. Having worked undercover for years to infiltrate Thragg’s forces on behalf of the Coalition of Planets, the former Kid Omni-Man ends up sacrificing himself to save his vulnerable niece, Terra, when she’s threatened by the Grand Regent himself.
Unable to go toe-to-toe with one of the deadliest and most bloodthirsty warriors in the galaxy, it’s Oliver’s sacrifice that motivates Mark to get back into the final war against Thragg’s new Viltrumite Empire and denotes Invincible’s transition from the more traditional superhero that fans know and loved to an intergalactic warrior out for revenge by any means necessary.
3 The Death of Angstrom Levy
Invincible #33
One of the most iconic and shocking moments in the entire Invincible series, Angstrom Levy’s “death” at the hands of Mark Grayson changed the hero for the rest of his life. The first real instance of Invincible losing control and giving into his darker and more violent Viltrumite urges, Mark savagely pummeled Angstrom to a pulp, blinded by rage at the thought of Levy’s harming his family any more than he already had.
While Angstrom Levy technically survived to menace Invincible another day, Mark’s belief that he killed Levy scarred him for quite some time, and it’s arguably the first time he at least attempted to take a life – with the ramifications of this brutal and bloody battle leading to the Earth-shattering Invincible War years later and cementing Angstrom Levy as one of Mark Grayson’s ultimate opponents in any universe.
2 The Death of The Guardians of The Globe
Invincible #7
Omni-Man’s shocking murder of the Guardians of the Globe permanently changed not just Mark Grayson, but the entire Invincible Universe for the rest of the series. Arguably the real inciting incident for the series’ 142 issue run, this mass murder shapes both Mark’s journey as Invincible and Nolan’s fan-favorite character arc from a bloodthirsty Viltrumite soldier into a genuine hero on the path of redemption.
The “Reboot?” story arc may allow fans a brief glimpse at a world where Nolan never managed to kill the Guardians (and things couldn’t have been more different), but their canon murder at the hands of Mark Grayson’s formerly unimpeachable father forced Invincible to step up as one of the world’s premiere heroes. And its violent fallout pits Mark against his father in a battle that irrevocably changes the Graysons’ lives.
1 The Death of Omni-Man
Invincible #141
No single character shapes Mark Grayson’s journey as Invincible more than his father, Nolan Grayson a.k.a. Omni-Man, and no death had a greater effect on Invincible’s future. Mortally wounded in the final battle against the forces of Grand Regent Thragg, a dying Nolan asks his only living son to take up his mantle as the leader of the Viltrumites. Begging Mark to help them grow to be heroes just like him, it was Nolan’s death that forced Mark to step up and lead the Viltrumites into reshaping the universe.
Ultimately, Mark does everything his father asks, turning the Viltrumites from a scourge on the universe to its greatest saviors. In so many ways, Mark Grayson is truly his father’s son, and it’s because of his father’s death that Invincible managed to permanently change the universe for the better.
