There Was One Invincible Scene Robert Kirkman Was Waiting To See Animated [Exclusive]

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"Invincible" is on its scheduled seasonal break right now. However, original writer/co-creator of the comic Robert Kirkman has jumped back into the "Invincible" universe with his artist partner Ryan Ottley. Kirkman and Ottley are authoring a new ongoing comic book series, "Invincible Universe: Battle Beast." Set between "Invincible" issues #19-55, the series follows the catlike alien warrior as he searches the universe for a worthy opponent.

Skybound let me speak with Kirkman and Ottley for "Invincible Universe: Battle Beast," which recently published its first issue. During our conversation, we naturally turned to "Invincible" season 4, which is set to arrive in 2026. I asked if there are any moments they're especially excited to see animated in upcoming seasons. "'Viltrumite War' and I mean, so many things I want to see," Ottley replied. "Yeah, I can't wait."

"Viltrumite War" is the extra-long story (running in "Invincible" issues #71-78) that sees Mark leave Earth and finally confront the Viltrum Empire head-on with his allies: his father Nolan, his little half-brother Oliver, Allen the Alien, etc. Expect to see Battle Beast, as voiced by Michael Dorn, pop up too when the show adapts this story.

The scene Kirkman had been waiting for is the one that concluded "Invincible" season 3: "The Conquest fight was the big one, and to finally actually get to see that onscreen was pretty awesome." 

Conquest (voiced by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is one of the strongest Viltrumites, and the most vicious one. He shows up at the end of season 3 episode "What Have I Done?", leading to his and Mark's (Steven Yeun) clash in the season finale, "I Thought You'd Never Shut Up." (Both episodes were personally written by Kirkman.) The fight runs about 28 minutes of screentime, living up to the relentless and gore of the original comic.

In general, how do Kirkman and Ottley feel seeing the comic they spent 15 years on come to life in animation?

The "Invincible" animation team has more storyboards than just the ones they make themselves: Ryan Ottley's original comic panels. Ottley admits that seeing his art be replicated in animation is "awesome to see."

"A lot of people don't know, but there's a lot of paying homage to my art in the show, which is always exhilarating to see. It's super cool, a certain splash that I've drawn that they animate up to and then pause. It's just completely badass and I love it, so yeah."

The aforementioned Conquest fight includes one such moment. The end of "What Have I Done?", when Invincible and Conquest fly at each other, recreates Ottley's final page from "Invincible" issue #61. (See excerpt above.)

Kirkman describes a similar experience hearing his dialogue said aloud; it must help that "Invincible" had put together a word-class voice cast.

"I'm in all the record sessions with the actors and we do everything over Zoom since the pandemic. So a lot of times my camera's off because I don't want actors to see me doing this the whole time they're acting or whatever. And I've teared up more than once or twice being like, 'Oh my God, that's so much better than I could have imagined.' And it's nice seeing it all come together."

Kirkman and Ottley told me that another reason the "Invincible" show is gratifying is because it opened up the story for a wider audience. Old fans get to experience the story again, while new ones have been driven to the comics, eager to experience the story in its original form.

"Seeing everyone fall in love all over again with this thing that we dedicated nearly 20 years of our lives to is a really rewarding experience to get to do after the series is largely wrapped up. It's pretty cool," said Kirkman. Ottley concurs; as a regular on the comic convention circuit, he gets an up close look at how wild folks can get for "Invincible."

"Those cons can definitely get crazy these days, man. They're wild. But it is awesome to see it grow. I mean, not only is the audience huge for the show, they jump over to the book, which is pretty amazing for sure."

"Invincible" is streaming on Prime Video. "Invincible Universe: Battle Beast" #1 is available for print and digital purchase.