Invincible season 4 has called out a typical trend that may need to end. Invincible season 4 has introduced a lot to the overall world of the show. Building on the ending of Invincible season 3, the show is moving into its latter half as the war with the Viltrumites looms ever closer.
As Nolan and Allen seek out weapons to kill Invincible‘s Viltrumites, Mark and the Guardians of the Globe continue protecting Earth from other threats. Through the former storyline, much more has been revealed about the race of superhumans hell-bent on conquering the entire galaxy.
New cast members of Invincible, like Grand Regent Thragg, are being introduced as overarching villains of the show, while the history of characters like Omni-Man is being revealed. Although much of this is incredibly compelling, Invincible has called out a specific trend in several superhero shows and movies that arguably shouldn’t be as common as it is.
Invincible Ruthlessly Calls Out The Growing Trend Of Sympathetic Villains
The trend in question is sympathetic villains. Although this is not a bad thing all the time, it has become more common in recent years for almost all, if not all, villains to be given sympathetic backstories that explain their motivations. In most stories, this allows audiences to somewhat be on the side of the villains, despite still wanting the hero to prevail.
Invincible calls out this trend in season 4, episode 2, as Nolan recounts the history of the Viltrumites to Allen the Alien. Nolan tells Allen of the Scourge Virus, created by Thaedus, which reduced the Viltrumite population by billions. During this story, Allen asks whether he is supposed to feel sympathy for the villains after learning of the virus.
As Invincible has made abundantly clear, this is not the case. While the Scourge Virus is depicted as a harrowing experience that was unforgiving in the death it caused among the Viltrumites, Invincible doesn’t begin to make them sympathetic in any way. Thanks to Allen’s line, the show is acknowledging that making villains understandable and making them easier to root for doesn’t always need to be the case.
Even After The Scourge Virus, You’re Supposed To Hate The Viltrumites
As Invincible will continue to highlight, the Viltrumites are supposed to be hated until the end of the series. In fact, Invincible season 4, episode 2 even proves this, with Nolan continuing to oppose his own people. Although Omni-Man displays anger towards Thaedus after learning the latter created the virus, the former still continues to fight against the Viltrumites.
If Nolan, who experienced the Scourge Virus firsthand, does not even feel enough sympathy for his people to rejoin them, it is clear that the audience is supposed to continue seeing them as outright villains. If this was not enough, the future of Invincible will continue to depict how despicable the Viltrumites are.
Everything the Viltrumites have done up to this point only backs that up, too. Still, in future seasons of Invincible, this will continue. The Viltrumites will always be depicted as an evil, warmongering people who wish to enslave as many planets and races as they can. On a more personal level, Mark has yet to suffer more under the Viltrumites.
The return of Anissa, for instance, will be particularly traumatic for Mark, should the Invincible show adapt this from the source material. This, as well as all of the other ways Invincible has proven the Viltrumites are the worst of the worst. continues to highlight how audiences are supposed to hate them, regardless of any sympathetic parts of their history.
- Release Date
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March 26, 2021
- Network
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Amazon Prime Video
