Amazon casting budget for ‘Invincible’ leaves animation short on quality

photo from The Direct

From the vast expanse of outer space, where Viltrumites roam, Ragnars feed, and the people of Talescria prepare for war, Amazon Prime steps up its game with its newest season of the hit show Invincible. Through the amazing storytelling of Robert Kirkman's fresh superhero universe, and Simon Racioppa’s powerful use of different animation styles and techniques, season four of Invincible soars to new heights and aspirations, while also hoping to improve on the critiques from a multitude of fans to deliver an out of this world show for millions to enjoy.

The series Invincible follows a young superhero known only as Invincible (voiced by Steven Yeun, The Walking Dead) as he navigates through the hardships of balancing being a teenager, while also being a living weapon that can destroy and pulverize anyone in his path. After learning he’s half of a world-dominating species of aliens known as the Viltrumites, things begin to happen rapidly as he encounters stronger enemies and ultimately has to come to terms with the half of him that has the blood of cold-hearted killers throughout the universe. Invincible also has to choose whether to join the fight against the Viltrumites or stay on Earth living with the fear that his own family will soon become enveloped into the cruel Viltrumite Empire.

After a jaw-dropping fight between Mark Grayson, otherwise known as Invincible, and the mentally-insane viltrumite Conquest (voiced by Jeffery Dean Morgan, Destination X) at the end of Invincible season three, season four picks up quite quickly as Mark and his half-viltrumite half-bug brother Oliver (voiced by Christian Convery, One Piece Live Action) return to their jobs as heroes and return to living life as “normal.” The boys with the help of Atom Eve (voiced by Gillian Jacobs, Long Story Short) defeat the evasive alien life force known as the “Sequids” and also keep another alien race known as the Flaxans at bay. Meanwhile, Nolan Grayson (voiced by J.K Simmons, Whiplash) also known as Omni-Man, and Allen the Alien (voiced by Seth Rogen, The Lion King) race across the galaxy to find the strongest and most effective ways to destroy the planet-dominating race known as the Viltrumites. Nolan and Allen traverse the universe capturing bugs, storing powerful monsters known as Ragnars, and finding one of their strongest allies, Space Racer (voiced by Winston Duke, Black Panther). During their adventures, the viewer is given more insight into Nolan’s past, as he grew up on Viltrum (home planet of the Viltrumites). The show explains the impact of a deadly virus an unknown figure releases across the whole planet. The show calls it “The Scourge Virus” and slowly it decimated almost every single Viltrumite, reducing the population from billions to only forty. Nolan also has to come to terms that he is aiding the universe in destroying and effectively eradicating his own species, giving a good contrast in thoughts and emotions as the show progresses.

After the two split storylines seem to slow down, Thaedeus (voiced by Peter Cullen, Transformers) informs Allen and Nolan that the time has come; they need to start their attack on the Viltrumite Empire. Nolan travels back to earth to recruit Mark, Oliver, and also a new superhero named Techjacket (voiced by Zoey Deutch, The Politician). The show begins to fade into a new era, the Viltrumite War, where the team begins to face the Viltrumites now head on, attempting to break the Viltrumites hold on the universe. In order to do so, the team must take down the leader of the Viltrumites, Thragg (voiced by Lee Pace, Guardians of the Galaxy).

Season four deep dives into multiple themes and contains a ton of character development that viewers haven't seen since the first season of Invincible. One major theme is the importance and understanding of parenting. Nolan, who is Mark and Oliver's dad, has to deal with parenting two very different children and also learns to let go of past mistakes and allow room for forgiveness and growth, allowing for one of the biggest character developments in the entire series. Debbie Grayson (voiced by Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy), who is Nolan's ex wife, also has to find the power to forgive Nolan for leaving her and breaking their “perfect” life into tin pieces. The two constantly struggle to get along, but towards the end, find the power in themselves to get along for the betterment of their children. Another major theme is Mark’s way of dealing with his brutal and violent Viltrumite side while finding a balance with his human side. After Mark eventually kills Conquest, he starts to slowly lose his “no-killing” mentality. When the sequids invade Earth, he doesn't hesitate to kill whoever the sequids hosts were. 

Additionally, the viewer was introduced to a new villain on earth, Dinosaurus (voiced by Matthew Ryhs, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) whom Mark almost kills brutally, and is only stopped by the thoughtful words of Atom Eve. Mark has gone through Hell and back, quite literally, and it has only eroded the Mark the viewers knew at the beginning of the series. Mark, however towards the end of the season starts to accept his Vilturmite bloodline, but knows that with great power comes even greater responsibility, and also holding back more. The changes the creators and animators give Mark, whether it's changing his suit color to allude to a bad event that's coming, or even how he acts before a big fight, brings Mark’s whole character together and makes him an even more relatable character.

One major facet Invincible’s creators, executives, and Amazon Prime’s team seem to always get down, and spend thousands if not millions of dollars on, are major actors to voice new characters and bring the show to even greater heights. Already bringing in big names actors to the main cast such as Yeun, Oh, and Simmons already gets fans excited and pumped to watch, but the additional actors they’ve added to their cast in this season and past are phenomenal. Amazon and Kirkman specifically target and add certain actors to voice characters that actually can bring a character to a whole new level even if they aren’t as popular. An example of this is the mad-scientist turned government agent DA Sinclair, voiced by major actor Ezra Miller, who has been in multiple films such as Suicide Quad, The Justice League,  and Fantastic Beasts. Although Sinclair is a minor character, bringing on such a  famous actor completely leveled up the role and made him even more well-rounded and also interesting as the series continues to go on. 

Another actor that completely transcends his part is Walton Goggins, who voices Cecil Stedman, the organizer of all major government operations and also the handler of every superhero on Earth. Stedman is supposed to be a very precautions and down to business character, as portrayed in the Invincible comics, who hates almost everything alien and wants to only keep Earth safe. Goggins fully embodies this character as he usually plays a stubborn, calm, down to business character as seen in his other works like Fallout and Django Unchained, which overall boosts Cecil’s character and makes him not only more enjoyable to watch, but also quite possibly even more serious than he was in the comics.

Invincible in this newest season brought in two voice actors that completely changed the game and brought a fun allusion that fans could easily notice. Thaedus, who is voiced by Peter Cullen, the leader of the revolutionary group that wants to erase all Viltrumite life, is revealed to be the murderer of Viltrum’s past leader, Lord Argall. Lord Argall is voiced by none other than Peter Cullen’s own nemesis in the world of Transformers, Frank Welker. Adding the two brothers of steel, Optimus Prime and Megatron's voice actors to the world of Invincible where Thaedus and Argall are nemeses, was a fantastic move and shocked viewers everywhere. These two actors made it intriguing to watch the dialogue between them, as the show alluded to many quotes from the live action Transformers series.

Although season four had an amazing cast, storyline, and growth, one prevalent factor held it back and was criticized by many people. Invincible’s animation once again falls short to expectations held by multiple fans and  critics worldwide. Critics claimed that the series had budget cuts on their animation team, leaving a major show to be animated by four people, simply not enough to add fantastic and game changing animations in which many other shows bring to the table. Some scenes were choppy, and characters seemed to turn into literal PNG’s on screen. Scenes from the comics were brutalized by blank and unforgiving facial expressions and stances, leaving viewers with a bad taste in their mouth, and giving multiple haters ammo to throw at Amazon and the directors of Invincible.

Ultimately, Invincible dropped an absolute blast of a season, filled with awesome new characters, and a creative storyline that closely follows the comics in which the show brings to life. Whether it’s fight scenes, or even dialogue, Invincible has it all, gives viewers an escape from reality, with the belief that these bands of superheroes could actually represent their own lives. Season four gave viewers an amazing season as well as future conflicts to look forward to with even more twists and turns.

Grade: B+

Invincible Season four delivers strong emotional stakes and intense action, but inconsistent pacing and a few weaker animation points keep it from being great.

by Logan Auxier

Published May 26, 2026

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