How the speeding hype train lost its hype

Robert Kirkman’s critically acclaimed comic received a subsequent critical acclaim when it premiered on March 21^st, 2021. With the terrific (and absolutely stacked) voice cast, amazing animation, phenomenal writing, and great use of a soundtrack, the show was a huge hit for Amazon Prime. The show reached an untapped market for adult animated superhero shows. The final season ended on a bittersweet note, with a heavier emphasis on the bitterness. Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun) finally unlocked his powers, and his father showed him the true totalitarian ways of his Viltrumite heritage. Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons) beats Mark within an inch of his life before asking what he’d have after everyone he knows dies and the earth crumbles away. Omni-Man is destroyed by the simple response given with belabored breaths: “You, Dad. I’d still have you.” As Omni-Man realized what he’s done, he flies from Earth as Mark returns to hero work. In a way, Mark won the fight when he made his dad realize his own love for humanity.

Now two and a half years later, the audience would finally get news of how this devastating cliffhanger would be resolved. With a trailer at Comic-Con in 2023, viewers were finally teased with a release date later the same year. Season 2 finally premiered on November 3^rd, 2023. The first episode was a powerful premiere showing how much of a hold Omni-Man’s presence holds on Mark and his mother Debbie (Sandrah Oh). The first episode even set up the new villain for Invincible to fight with the introduction of Angstrom Levy (Sterling K. Brown). The episode was well received, with Invincible Season 2 currently having a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it was later announced that the season would be split into two parts, with the second part not having an announced release date until later. Episode 4 would end with a tragic reunion between father and son and an invasion of the brutal Viltrum Empire. Both Omni-Man and Invincible are heavily injured and now must deal with the looming threat of the Viltrumites attacking Earth in the near future. Audiences would then have to wait for four months to find out how this cliffhanger will get resolved once it was announced that Season 2 would split into two parts despite the long wait between the two seasons. On March 14^th, 2023, the second part would finally premiere after a long wait. But what effect does this have on the show?

Robert Kirkman is no stranger to having television shows break in the middle of the season. He also made The Walking Dead, after all. But season 2 already had a long wait between seasons, with the audience waiting almost three years for an eight-episode season. The show didn’t even announce it was going to be split into two parts when it was first released. The show lost a lot of hype that it had going forward due to this decision. The reasoning is still unknown. Some articles say the CG animation caused issues for the first season. Others say it was for viewers to digest the ending of Episode 4. Another possible reason is Amazon changing its subscription policies after January 1^st. As mentioned earlier, Robert Kirkman’s previous adaptation did this as well. But The Walking Dead didn’t have two year waits between seasons like Invincible. And The Walking Dead already had an infamous cliffhanger with the split of Season 6, which ended on a death that wouldn’t be revealed for a few more months. The reception of this decision was not the most welcoming. In a similar way, Invincible lost a lot of its momentum with the decision to split the season into two parts.

So where does this leave the show? Invincible is now struggling to keep up with the fan hype that was lost. Season 1 ended on a high note with Omni-Man leaving and setting a new story beat about the new conflict father and son would face. Now the show has lost momentum even if the story is picking up to answer questions. Fans were clamoring for the new season and when it arrived, the hype was immediately removed. This practice cost the fandom some hype as online discourse goes on to discuss how the season lost its momentum. Invincible was going so strongly and lost the goodwill that fans had given it.