Invincible Season 4 Borrows A Trick From Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Spoilers for "Invincible" season 4, episode 5 follow.

'Invincible" season 4 has officially reached the "Viltrumite War" story arc from the comics (by writer Robert Kirkman and artists Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley). The Coalition of Planets, represented primarily by Thaedus (Peter Cullen) and Allen (Seth Rogen), have decided to finally bring the fight to the Viltrum Empire. 

In order to have even a prayer of winning, they recruit powerful allies: our hero Mark Grayson/Invincible (Steven Yeun), his penitent Viltrumite dad Nolan (J.K. Simmons), Mark's half-Viltrumite brother Oliver (Christian Convery), alien warriors like Battle Beast (Michael Dorn) and Space Racer (Winston Duke), and another Earth superhero — Zoe Thompson/Tech Jacket (Zoey Deutch). The teen Zoe happened upon a suit of shapeshifting armor crafted by the Geldarian alien race, and once it bonded to her, she became a superhero. (Nolan and Allen tried to recruit some real Geldarian warriors to their cause, but settled for Tech Jacket as a suitable substitute.)

In the latest "Invincible" episode, "Give Us a Moment," Invincible and co.'s ship is attacked by Conquest (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), flanked by Lucan (Phil LaMarr) and another Viltrumite warrior. While the Graysons fight Conquest, Allen and Tech Jacket are left to handle the other two Viltrumites. Eventually, Zoe gets an idea; she and Allen fly towards the Viltrumites' ship, but when their pursuers catch up, they've vanished.

It turns out Zoe and Allen are hiding on the Viltrumites' ship. Tech Jacket's armor morphed into a pod that affixed to the ship's hull and blended in, keeping Zoe and Allen out of sight. Zoe notes she saw the trick in a movie once, and there's a good chance you know which movie she's talking about: "The Empire Strikes Back," second and greatest of the "Star Wars" films.

"The Empire Strikes Back" divides its main characters. While Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) trains as a Jedi with Master Yoda (Frank Oz), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Leia (Carrie Fisher), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhem) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) evade an Imperial fleet in the Millennium Falcon. Not even going into an asteroid field shakes the Empire off the Falcon's tail. So, Han gets an idea.

The Falcon turns around and charges towards the pursuing Star Destroyer, the Avenger. The crew think the Falcon might be pulling a kamikaze run, but then it strafes past Avenger's bridge and disappears, apparently into thin air. The suicidal task of apologizing to Darth Vader (James Earl Jones/David Prowse) for losing the Falcon falls to Captain Needa (the late Michael Culver, who helped make Needa's brief and fatal spotlight one of the most memorable "Star Wars" bits ever).

Not even the audience knows where the Falcon has gone ... until an exterior shot shows it resting on the backside of the Avenger's bridge tower. When the imperial ship dumps its garbage, the Falcon slips away seemingly undetected, but bounty hunter Boba Fett follows them.

"Invincible" began as, and largely still is, a classical superhero story. Yet a space opera has been unfolding in the background with Allen's subplots and the looming threat of the Viltrum Empire. "Viltrumite War" is the chapter where that becomes the dominant genre. "Invincible" season 4 had previously parodied "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and now "Give Us a Moment" shows that "Star Wars" references are on the table too.

"Invincible" is streaming on Prime Video.