--- title: "INVINCIBLE" year: 2021 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/invincible-2021" fi1m_id: "invincible-2021" imdb_id: "tt6741278" tmdb_id: 95557 wikidata_id: "Q55614601" fi1m_score: 74 critics_score: 77 critics_reviews: 7 published: "2026-09-22T21:37:55.987164+00:00" updated: "2026-09-22T21:38:21.502676+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # INVINCIBLE (2021) Created by Sol Choi, Ian Abando, Jason Zurek, Haylee Herrick, Tanner Johnson, Stephanie Gonzaga, Paul Furminger, Jay Baker, Jeff Allen, Cory Evans, Vinton Heuck, William Ruzicka, Robert Valley · MPA TV-MA · Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Action & Adventure ## Identity INVINCIBLE - **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/invincible-2021 - **Type:** Series - **Fi1m ID:** invincible-2021 - **IMDb ID:** tt6741278 - **TMDB ID:** 95557 - **Wikidata ID:** Q55614601 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6741278/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/95557, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55614601 **Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 77 from 7 reviews *In a sentence:* Your father is the strongest man alive, and it takes the series eight episodes to decide whether that is good news > Robert Kirkman adapts his own comic into a bloody animated series about a boy whose father is the strongest hero on Earth. The talking scenes look cheap and the fights do not, and Sandra Oh and J.K. Simmons make the family worth caring about. ## Synopsis Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun) is seventeen, flips burgers after school and is waiting for his powers to arrive. His father Nolan Grayson (J.K. Simmons) is Omni-Man, the strongest hero on Earth and a visitor from another planet. His mother Debbie (Sandra Oh) is human and has long since made her peace with both facts. When the powers finally come, Mark throws a bin bag into orbit, has a suit made by his father’s tailor, calls himself Invincible and starts learning to fly, badly. Nolan takes him above the clouds to teach him how to throw a punch. A team of teenage heroes recruits him, and a classmate turns out to have powers of her own. The first episode ends with a scene we will not describe. ## Review Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun) has spent seventeen years waiting to become his father. Nolan Grayson (J.K. Simmons) is Omni-Man, the strongest hero on Earth, who arrived from another planet and settled in the suburbs with Debbie (Sandra Oh), who is human and does not seem to mind. Robert Kirkman adapts his own comic, and the first season of *Invincible* is good and lopsided. The talking scenes look cheap. The fights do not. And a family drama holds the whole thing together, one we cared about more than the punching. If superheroes are your thing at all, it is worth the eight hours. The look is the first joke. Wilson Tang’s production design gives the city clean lines, flat shading and the primary colours of a Saturday-morning cartoon, and the heroes wear the kind of costumes a child would draw. Then somebody is hit, and the series shows exactly what a body does when a man who can lift a tanker puts his fist through it. Teeth, cartilage, the lot; the certificate is 18 and it is earned. The title card comes up in yellow, and with each episode a little more blood is splashed across it. We will not say what happens in the last minutes of the first episode. We will say that we sat through it with a hand over our mouth, that we had assumed we knew what sort of programme this was, and that it took us a while after the credits to press on. Matthew Sipple’s editing does not look away when we badly wanted it to. Everything afterwards is played with the audience knowing something most of the characters do not, and the writers, Kirkman among them, get a great deal of tension out of watching people fail to ask the right question. Simmons is the anchor. He plays Nolan with the flat certainty of a man who has never lost an argument or a fight, and the certainty is the frightening part. Sandra Oh is the reason it is more than a fight programme: Debbie married a god and still does the washing up, and Oh gives her a tiredness and a dry humour that make the house feel lived in. Yeun’s Mark is eager, cracked-voiced and wrong about most things, which is the right way to play seventeen. Seth Rogen turns up as Allen, an alien who tests planets by hitting their champions, and has the funniest scenes. Mahershala Ali’s Titan, a stone-skinned heavy who wants out of a criminal’s employ, is the best of the side stories, because Ali will not play him as a villain. The flaws are plain. When nobody is fighting, the animation is stiff: mouths move, eyes blink, and bodies stand at three-quarter angle holding a pose for the length of a speech. Thirteen directors are credited on the series and you can see the seams between the episodes that spent their money and those that saved it. The high-school scenes are written with less conviction than anything involving a punch, and there are middle episodes that feel like homework. The complaint that there are too many characters is fair; the series keeps adding heroes and expects us to keep them straight. Most critics compared it to [*The Boys*](https://film.one/tv/the-boys), and the comparison is useful mostly for the difference it shows. *The Boys* is about contempt for the powerful; *Invincible* is about being related to them. It is the warmer programme. John Paesano’s score is straight heroic brass and strings, played without a wink, and that is the right call: the series is not sneering at the cape, it is asking what it costs to live in a house with one. It has since run to four seasons of eight episodes, and the pattern set in the first holds: long stretches of people in rooms, then a fight that leaves a crater and a body count. The drawing steadies as it goes. Sterling K. Brown joins in the second season as Angstrom Levy, and gives it a grievance worth hearing out. Watch the first episode on its own, before you decide, and not over dinner. If the last five minutes do not send you straight to the second, nothing later will. *Fi1m score 74, published 22 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is INVINCIBLE worth watching?** *Invincible* is worth watching for anyone who likes superheroes and can stomach an 18 certificate, and we scored it 74. The talking scenes are stiffly animated and the middle episodes drag, but the fights are brutal and J.K. Simmons and Sandra Oh make the family drama the reason to stay. Watch the first episode alone, and not over dinner. **How long is INVINCIBLE, and what is it rated?** *INVINCIBLE* is rated TV-MA by the MPA in the US. It is an animation and drama series. **Where can I watch INVINCIBLE in the US?** *INVINCIBLE* is streaming on Amazon Prime Video in the US. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is INVINCIBLE, and is it suitable for children?** *Invincible* is certified 18 in the UK and TV-MA in the US, and the rating is earned: the fights show exactly what a body does when a man who can lift a tanker puts his fist through it, teeth and cartilage included. It is not suitable for children, and the bright cartoon look should not persuade anyone otherwise. The squeamish will struggle with the end of the first episode. **How does INVINCIBLE compare to Batman: Mask of the Phantasm?** *Invincible* is bloodier, longer and warmer than [*Batman: Mask of the Phantasm*](https://film.one/film/batman-mask-of-the-phantasm), which is a small, sad detective story over in 76 minutes. Both are handsomely drawn and stiffly moved in their quieter scenes. The Batman film is the tighter and better-controlled piece; *Invincible* asks for eight hours and more tolerance for gore, and repays it with a family worth caring about. **What should I watch after INVINCIBLE?** After *INVINCIBLE*, try [*Batman: Mask of the Phantasm*](https://film.one/film/batman-mask-of-the-phantasm) (1993, Fi1m 82): The animated Batman film that proved a cartoon could carry grown-up grief. Then [*Unbreakable*](https://film.one/film/unbreakable) (2000, Fi1m 81): Shyamalan’s quiet origin story; a father, a son and a question about strength. ### Reviews we read (7) - **The AV Club**, William Hughes (A-): Praises the whiplash-inducing tone shift from comedy to ultra-violence, strong voice cast especially Sandra Oh, and how it captures the comic's oscillation between humor and brutality, making it an exciting if overwhelming adaptation. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/tv-review-invincible-season-1-prime-video) - **IndieWire**, Ben Travers (70/100, inferred): The review describes it as half coming-of-age origin story, half hyper-violent action-mystery, nothing if not intriguing. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/invincible-amazon-review-animated-superhero-show-violent-1234626017/) - **Vulture** (60/100, inferred): The review notes the show's mix of teen drama, gore, and superhero tropes but finds it not fully settled, with too many characters and threads in the early episodes, though it has potential as an animated hour-long drama. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/invincible-review-amazon-prime-video-animated-series.html) - **Den of Geek**, Bernard Boo (4.5/5): The critic praises the loving adaptation of the comic, its unique blend of cartoon aesthetics and brutal violence, strong voice acting, and character-driven storytelling as a coming-of-age family drama within a superhero world. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/invincible-review/) - **NME**, Dan Seddon (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the series a gripping adult animation that mixes high-school angst and dark humour with sudden ultraviolent turns, comparing it favourably to a mix of The Boys and Big Mouth. They single out its unpredictable plotting, willingness to kill off key characters, and fresh reframing of superhero tropes for praise. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/tv-reviews/invincible-review-amazon-prime-robert-kirkman-2908898) - **Collider**, Jeff Sneider (B): The review calls the animated series gloriously violent and well-cast but somewhat familiar, succeeding on its own merits without reinventing the wheel like The Boys. It singles out the strong voice performances (especially J.K. Simmons and Jason Mantzoukas) and the Saturday-morning-cartoon-meets-gore tone for praise. [Read](https://collider.com/invincible-review-amazon-superhero-show-robert-kirkman/) - **The Ringer**, Micah Peters (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the Amazon series a brightly colored, high-flying superhero story that earns its 'adult' label through character nuance rather than mere shock value. The show stands out for its focus on how young hero Mark Grayson navigates both alien threats and personal relationships. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2021/04/06/tv/invincible-episodes-1-4-review) ## Details - **Created by:** Sol Choi, Ian Abando, Jason Zurek, Haylee Herrick, Tanner Johnson, Stephanie Gonzaga, Paul Furminger, Jay Baker, Jeff Allen, Cory Evans, Vinton Heuck, William Ruzicka, Robert Valley - **Director:** Sol Choi, Ian Abando, Jason Zurek, Haylee Herrick, Tanner Johnson, Stephanie Gonzaga, Paul Furminger, Jay Baker, Jeff Allen, Cory Evans, Vinton Heuck, William Ruzicka, Robert Valley - **Writer:** Simon Racioppa, Robert Kirkman, Helen Leigh, Ross Stracke, Adria Lang, Helen Shang, Jay Faerber, Tania Lotia, Ryan Ridley, Matt Lambert, Christine Lavaf, Chris Black, Amber Dupre, Vivian Lee, Curtis Gwinn - **Editor:** Matthew Sipple - **Music:** John Paesano, Boys Noize - **Production design:** Wilson Tang - **Producer:** Dan Duncan, Marshell Becton, Maude Lewis - **Cast:** Steven Yeun as Mark Grayson / Invincible (voice); Sandra Oh as Debbie Grayson (voice); J.K. Simmons as Nolan Grayson / Omni-Man (voice); Jon Hamm as Steve (voice); Mahershala Ali as Titan (voice); Max Burkholder as Matt (voice); Seth Rogen as Allen (voice); Lauren Cohan as War Woman (voice) - **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA - **Release (the US):** 25 March 2021 - **Genres:** Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Action & Adventure - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bfAVpuko5o ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: streaming, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: free, uhd *Checked 2026-09-22.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, TR, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *The Boys* (2019): The cynical cousin: superheroes as corporate product, with the gore up and the heart down. - *Chronicle* (2012): Teenagers get powers on a small budget, and one of them should not have. - *Batman: Mask of the Phantasm* (1993), Fi1m 82: The animated Batman film that proved a cartoon could carry grown-up grief. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/batman-mask-of-the-phantasm.md) - *Unbreakable* (2000), Fi1m 81: Shyamalan’s quiet origin story; a father, a son and a question about strength. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/unbreakable.md) - *Blue Eye Samurai* (2023): Adult animation with the same appetite for blood and far steadier drawing. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/invincible-2021