WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Invincible Season 1, Episode 8, "Where I Really Come From," available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

There is little doubt that the high-flying action of superheroes is fun, and Invincible is no exception. Dominating our big and small screens with their heroics, the superhero genre captivates the imaginations of its audience often with a scale of destruction that is awe-inspiring. And yet that grand spectacle too often comes without a sober reflection on the consequence of such events. Invincible changes that, turning the violence and horror of its climactic superhero battle into its defining feature. The Marvel Cinematic Universe may be content to handwave massive offscreen casualties, but the Invincible simply isn't.

Despite occurring in the realm of animation rather than live-action, Invincible enjoys a realism shared by few other superhero stories. With realistic cast proportions and attention to physics, the series proves just as concerned with its attention to details of humanity and emotionality as it does to science. This ultimately comes to a head in a conflict between Invincible and his father Omni-Man as they violently discuss the worth of the human race.

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Invincible stands on the side of human life being worthwhile, while Omni-Man tries to impress upon him the insignificance of fragile and relatively brief lives compared to their godlike alien physiologies. Purely to prove his own point, Omni-Man goes out of his way to murder countless people in front of Invincible, first by smashing a pilot's skull in his hands and then by racking up countless casualties as he lays waste to Chicago. That realistic attention not only to the physicality of what is being done, but its moral consequence stands in stark contrast to many superhero stories of the past.

The MCU is a perfect example, where the destruction of buildings and cityscapes, even beyond what Omni-Man does, implies a massive death toll in the thousands. And yet, the rare times that casualties factor into the story, such as in Captain America: Civil War, they are almost entirely offscreen where their reality to the audience is muted and their numbers are astonishingly low. The listed casualties from the Battle of New York, the collapse of the Helicarriers in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the fall of Sokovia in Avengers: Age of Ultron are each listed as 74, 23, and 177, respectively.

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If these stories are to reflect on the role of its heroes in shaping the world around them, then it is Invincible alone that treats that soberly and realistically. While the gore and violence of Invincible are not for the light of heart, the psychological damage and sheer trauma it treats violence with shows a level of reverence and respect that summer blockbusters often gloss over. Few scenes have ever been as horrific as Omni-Man forcing his son through an oncoming train as the bodies of its passengers explode against him. Still, the show understands that the event should not be taken lightly.

Whatever the Invincible's ultimate plan may be, its first season does an admirable job of constructing and inhabiting a world the audience can believe in. Even smaller aesthetic details about the design and physics of the show create an impact in the finale where Invincible simply cannot support the massive collapsing structure of a building no matter how strong he is. And his connection with the emotional resonance of the building's tenants dying in front of him creates a fuller and more fleshed-out character.

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Onni-man using Invincible to desroy a train.

The hero may be invincible, but the civilians of its world certainly are not. As Amazon gears up for at least two more seasons of the show, audiences can rest assured that other superhero media may skirt the horrific nature of their protagonist's work, but Invincible will be there to remind them of the impact these punches really should have.

Invincible stars Steven Yeun, J.K. Simmons, Sandra Oh, Seth Rogen, Gillian Jacobs, Andrew Rannells, Zazie Beetz, Mark Hamill, Walton Goggins, Jason Mantzoukas, Mae Whitman, Chris Diamantopoulos, Melise, Kevin Michael Richardson, Khary Payton, Grey Griffin and Max Burkholder. The series is produced by Skybound, and executive produced by Robert Kirkman, Simon Racioppa, David Alpert and Catherine Winder. The first season is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

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