DISCLAIMER: The show being reviewed is incredibly violent and bloody and has multiple instances of profanity. Watch at your own risk.

There are a lot of tropes in superhero films. Whether that be the multiverse, laughable costumes or cheesy one-liners, the superhero genre repeats a lot of ideas.

One of my favorite tropes that frequently comes up throughout Marvel and DC is the no-kill rule. You see this with both Spider-Man and Batman. When a villain commits atrocious crimes, the hero contemplates killing the bad guy before staying loyal to their no-kill rule.

However, one of my favorite spins on this trope is easily done in the animated superhero show “Invincible,” especially the newest season, Season 3.

Season 3 picks up after Mark Grayson, the titular superhero Invincible, played by Steven Yeun, has gone through an intensive training routine under Cecil Steadman, director of the Global Defense Agency. As Invincible trains for the looming threat of a Viltrumite invasion, an attack by a war-hungry alien race, his vow to never kill is challenged.

A big reason why the show handled Invincible’s dilemma so well is that almost every single storyline in the season contributes to his progression. We got to see Invincible slowly begin questioning his moral compass as the guilt of the people who died piled up on him.

For example, the first storyline in the season happens directly after Invincible’s training montage. When Invincible and every other hero on Earth are captured by a supervillain named Doc Seismic, Cecil sends in Reanimen (cyborg soldiers) created by the psychopath D.A. Sinclair, who helps save the day alongside the murderous vigilante Darkwing.

Even though Doc Seismic is defeated and put in jail, the fact that Cecil has been teaming up with villains leads to a furious moral debate in which Invincible argues that villains should stay in jail, while Cecil retorts that they need to reform these villains instead and use them for good.

This eventually leads to a physical confrontation in which Invincible breaks off his cooperation with Cecil. This fallout is done so well because it’s layered with an interesting moral dilemma. Criminals like Sinclair have mutilated their victims to make their Reanimen, so he definitely deserves some sort of justice. At the same time, however, his work has been vital to defending Earth against several threats, after Cecil reformed him and forced him to use dead soldiers instead.

Regardless, this eventually blurs the line between good and bad for Invincible, while also forcing him out of GDA jurisdiction, exposing him to the real world and the trauma caused by the various threats.

Even the newest characters introduced serve to push Invincible to begin killing his enemies. One of my favorite characters newly introduced in this season was Oliver, the half-Thraxan and half-Viltruimite who is also Invincible’s half-brother. Due to the short lifespan of Thraxans, Oliver gains his powers extraordinarily fast, whilst also having the mind of a child.

Oliver is such an interesting character because even though he has powers that parallel Invincible’s, he only sees the world in good and bad. He fails to see moral nuances due to his childish ideology and firmly believes that bad guys deserve to die.

What makes Oliver stand out is his unwavering loyalty to the people he cares about. Even though he has expressed how he doesn’t care about the “normal” people, he’s fiercely loyal to his adoptive mother (Invincible’s real mother), who is “regular.” Whenever Invincible is in trouble, Oliver always leaps to the occasion without question, regardless of whether or not he can win.

The way Oliver is characterized perfectly represents how a child would act: possessing a black-and-white moral code, yet caring immensely about the people who raised and cared for him.

By far, the most complex character introduced this season was Powerplex. Powerplex is a superhuman with the ability to store electricity through kinetic energy. During Invincible’s fight with his father, the Viltrumite known as Omni-Man, in the Season 1 finale, Powerplex’s sister and niece were killed in the resulting fallout. After the incident, he has become obsessed with bringing Invincible to “justice.”

I sometimes see people complaining about how his motivation and ideology are stupid, and because of this, Powerplex is a poorly written character. While his motivation is misguided, that’s part of what makes him so complex. Powerplex is wrong. There is video evidence sent to the public showing Invincible actively fighting against his father while he is getting beaten into a bloody pulp. No matter which way you cut the situation, Invincible is innocent.

It’s less about whether or not he is correct and more about whether or not he believes he is correct, at least in Powerplex’s eyes. As his scheme to take down Invincible escalates and people he cares about are killed, Powerplex becomes so engrossed in his “mission” that it’s no longer about the law or justice: it’s simply about taking down Invincible.

The show doesn’t try to justify Powerplex’s actions through ignorance. We are actively shown that Powerplex has seen Invincible getting his face rammed into a moving train by Omni-Man. Powerplex represents how grief can distort a person’s rationality and motivations. Powerplex shows how much of a person’s life can be ruined by the destruction caused by Invincible’s villains, a fact that sticks with Invincible until the end of the show.

A positive that, frankly, everyone saw coming was the romantic relationship between Atom Eve and Invincible. Both in Seasons 1 and 2, Invincible was dating the fandom’s least favorite love interest: Amber Bennett. For the most part, while I hated how they characterized her in Season 1, I actually think she redeemed herself in Season 2. Amber seemed to genuinely want her relationship with Invincible to last, but they ultimately broke up due to how different their lives were.

In Season 3, Invincible has finally started dating Atom Eve, a superheroine with the ability to reshape matter on a molecular level. While both of them seemed to have some feelings for each other, their relationship had been platonic until Season 3.

Atom Eve’s relationship with Invincible is incredibly sweet and wholesome. Throughout the season, Eve has been constantly supporting Invincible’s decisions and has comforted him when he feels conflicted. She’s given him advice about how to raise Oliver. Their love also extends both ways. In the Invincible War, Invincible spends the entire episode next to Eve, making sure her injuries will heal. The usage of Joji’s “Your Man” during their first date was also a fantastic touch.

While I enjoyed all of the episodes this season, the two best were undoubtedly the last two episodes, Episode 7, “What Have I Done?” and Episode 8, “I Thought You’d Never Shut Up.”

In Episode 7, Angstrom Levy, a supervillain with the ability to create portals to alternate universes, returns after being beaten to near-death by Invincible. However, this time, Angstrom has brought 18 evil variants of Invincible along with him, sparking the Invincible War. The episode explores Earth’s attempt to defend against this seemingly unstoppable threat.

This episode does a lot for Invincible’s character development. Specifically, it is the first time Invincible vehemently decides that any villain needs to die. Near the end of the episode, Invincible has his hands on Angstrom’s throat, contemplating whether or not to end his life. With a little encouragement from Oliver, we see the first time Invincible decides to kill anyone in his right mind. Although Angstrom does escape, this marks the first time Invincible chooses to kill anyone, stepping into the threshold of killing villains.

One character that absolutely shone in the Invincible War was Rex Splode. Rex Splode has come a long way from the jerk he was in Season 1. After he beat the Lizard League single-handedly despite taking a headshot in Season 2, it seemed like we were going to get a redemption arc for Rex in Season 3.

And Season 3 absolutely delivered. While Rex still keeps his quippy and sassy attitude, he’s become a lot more considerate. When his grocery trip with Shrinking Rae, a fellow superheroine, is interrupted, Rex compensates by cooking her a steak dinner. When Rae expresses her desire to quit being a superhero, Rex voices his dissent but helps her move out regardless. Their relationship is a sweet contrast to the toxic relationship he had with Eve back in Season 1.

Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end. During the Invincible War, when his friends are attacked by an evil variant of Invincible, Rex blows up his own skeleton and takes out the variant along with him. His selfless sacrifice is truly a testament to how far he’s come from his selfish personality in Season 1.

Episode 8 is probably one of the best episodes of the entire series. Currently, it has an IMDb rating of a stunning 9.9. In this episode, while Earth is recovering from the Invincible War, the threat that Invincible has been preparing for has finally arrived: the oldest and most ruthless Viltrumite, known not by a name, but rather, a purpose: Conquest.

Conquest is probably one of the best villains in the show. Admittedly, this is the first time we’ve seen him, but the thing that makes him so memorable is that he was menacing. Not only was he incredibly strong and powerful, but he was also creepy and unsettling. Unlike Omni-Man, Conquest doesn’t kill for the mission or out of some moral belief; he simply kills for the joy of it. His “I’m so lonely” speech to Invincible sent shivers down my spine as he lamented about how cold the other Viltrumites were. Conquest has definitely cemented himself as one of the most terrifying villains of the show.

This episode is so phenomenal because this is the true crossing point for Invincible’s moral code. Near the end of the episode, Conquest “kills” Eve, sending Invincible into a furious rage. Although Eve does revive herself using her molecular powers, Invincible’s rage thrusts him into a near-death battle despite having two broken arms and a broken leg, in which he emerges victorious.

This is the first time we’ve actually seen Invincible want to kill anyone. In Season 2, when Invincible believes he killed Angstrom, he explicitly voices that he believed Angstrom could survive his attack. In “What Have I Done?”, Invincible didn’t enter the fight wanting to kill Angstrom; he only decides to after justifying the idea in his mind.

However, in his fight against Conquest, it was clear Invincible only had one thought: to kill him and make him pay for “killing” Eve. Yeun’s performance was incredible as it encapsulated this idea perfectly, showing Invincible’s desperation as he screams for someone to save Eve and his extreme rage when he swears to kill Conquest.

And that’s what I love about this show. Everything in the season so far has been building up to this one specific moment: when Invincible not only kills someone, but gives it his all to kill them. Unlike other versions of this trope, the hero doesn’t stay loyal to their no-kill rule. At the end of the season, Invincible makes a vehement promise to begin killing.

The various story arcs and characters may seem random at first, but everything compiles to force Invincible to start killing villains.

Even the costume change in the middle of the season symbolizes this. In Episode 3, “You Want a Real Costume, Right?” Invincible swaps out his iconic yellow-blue-and-black costume for a much darker black-and-blue suit. While I love the old costume design, this new suit perfectly foreshadows how Invincible would turn onto a much darker and more serious path.

Although it’s difficult to introduce such a drastic change to someone so pure and kind like Invincible, this season perfectly develops his character through a variety of seemingly unrelated storylines. In one season, the show has managed to show growth in its main character while exploring interesting moral debates, introducing new characters and adding on to old ones. Invincible shows that people can change during times of hardship, but they always have to be [title card].