How Did Invincible's Battle Beast End Up In Prison? It's Kind Of A Long Story [Exclusive]

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"Invincible" the comic may have ended years ago, but its time in the sun hasn't passed yet. Prime Video's "Invincible" animated series opened up the story to a wider audience than ever before. "Invincible" season 3 came to an exhilarating conclusion earlier this year, and season 4 is due to premiere sometime in 2026.

But in the meantime, series' co-creator/writer Robert Kirkman and artist Ryan Ottley are going back to the "Invincible" universe. The pair has a new ongoing comic series on the horizon, titled "Invincible Universe: Battle Beast," starring the eponymous feline alien warrior.

Battle Beast has already appeared in the "Invincible" cartoon, voiced by Michael Dorn (most famous as Worf from "Star Trek"). Skybound Entertainment has shared a preview of "Invincible Universe: Battle Beast" #1 with /Film. I also got to speak with Kirkman and Ottley about this new series.

My first question was why they decided to return with a story about Battle Beast. In Ottley's words, "Because he's the best!" Kirkman adds that, "Battle Beast is pretty awesome. You can't deny that he's definitely one of the coolest characters in 'Invincible.'" 

Kirkman thinks the story of "Invincible Universe: Battle Beast" #1 will "enhance" the character and let fans understand him better. "When you go back and read those issues of 'Invincible' [with Battle Beast in them], they'll feel a little bit different because you've spent so much time with that character."

"Invincible" wrapped in 2018 with issue #144. Unlike Marvel or DC superheroes, Mark Grayson's story always moved forward and actually got an ending. It's one of the reasons the comic holds up as a satisfying story. To find their way back, Kirkman and Ottley realized there was a Battle Beast-shaped hole they could plug.

"I wouldn't want to do anything that disrupts the overall story of 'Invincible.' The 144 issue run I feel like ended on a pretty good note and I think doing anything that would kind of unravel that would be kind of bothersome," says Kirkman. "And Battle Beast had this perfect gap in story where he was introduced in issue #19 and came back in issue #55 ... it just seemed like a really great opportunity to come in and tell that lost story."

Fans of the animated "Invincible" might recall that Battle Beast first appeared in season 1, episode 5, "That Actually Hurt." Adapting his first appearance in the comic, the episode featured Battle Beast coming to Earth in search of opponents worth fighting. Signing up with super-villain mob boss Titan (Mahershala Ali), he found Invincible (Steven Yeun) lacking and left.

Battle Beast was next seen in season 3, locked up in a Viltrumite prison. Allen the Alien (Seth Rogen), during his own escape, freed Battle Beast with the promise of fighting Viltrumites. (Battle Beast is one of the few beings in the universe that can stand up to a Viltrumite's strength, and vice versa.) "Invincible Universe: Battle Beast" will fill in the gap of how Battle Beast got locked up in that Viltrumite prison.

I asked Kirkman and Ottley if seeing and working on the "Invincible" show made them want to dive back into the comic. Kirkman admits that, "Getting on the show definitely makes me miss writing the comic from month to month because it was a big part of my life." However, "Battle Beast" is more so because of one particular thing he missed about writing the comic: working alongside Ottley to tell the story together.

"The reason this book exists is my desire to work with Ryan again. Ryan was slaving away in the mines of Marvel Comics and we were working on the show and interacting quite frequently, but he was busy doing other stuff. And when his tenure there was winding down, we started talking about doing something else. We always loved the Battle Beast character, and I love working with Ryan and would do almost anything with Ryan. So when he seemed open to coming back and doing more Battle Beast, that's what got me really excited about it."

As you can see from the preview pages for "Invincible Universe: Battle Beast," time away from this world hasn't dulled Ottley's skill for drawing it.

Image Comics

Image Comics

Image Comics

This new "Invincible Universe" comic will feature Battle Beast traveling the galaxy, still in search of an opponent strong enough to fight him. Issue #1 begins during Battle Beast's last on-panel appearance in "Invincible" #19, when he disappeared into a portal of light. This issue reveals that he teleported back up to his (stolen) spaceship and immediately set out looking for a new challenge. 

While "Battle Beast" is an ongoing series, how long can it last? It's a decent bet that the series will end with BB in that Viltrumite prison, set up to be freed by Allen. 

"['Battle Beast' is] not going to go on indefinitely," Kirkman says. "We definitely have an ending in mind, but it'll go on for a good long while. It'll go on at least a couple issues longer than Ryan wants it to."

Can the cartoon-only fans of "Invincible" expect to see any of "Invincible Universe: Battle Beast" adapted into the cartoon?

"[Adapting 'Invincible Universe: Battle Beast'] is certainly not the priority," Kirkman says. "Just keeping the 'Invincible show' going is a full-time job and adding more Battle Beast stuff would be a lot. But the door is always open, and I think that there's definitely some potential to see what Ryan and I are doing of making it an animated form in some way. So yeah, that's always in the back of my mind as we're doing the comic, thinking about how we would do the animation to make it a little bit different or whatever. But right now the focus is definitely on the comic." 

For any "Invincible" fans who are waiting for season 4 but who don't want to read the comic and spoil the story, "Battle Beast" gives you another chance to see what Kirkman and Ottley are capable of together.

"Invincible Universe: Battle Beast" #1 goes on sale in print and digital on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. It is currently available to pre-order.