Invincible Season 3 builds toward an explosive climax, setting the stage for the long-awaited Invincible War. While comic fans might think they know what’s coming, creator Robert Kirkman and showrunner Simon Racioppa promise high stakes and unexpected twists. This season, emotions ran high. From Allen and Nolan’s space Shawshank Redemption to Powerplex’s descent into darkness, heroes and villains alike faced trials that unearthed their pasts, reminding us that even the best of us can be just one bad day away from breaking.
Nexus Point News sat down with Kirkman and Racioppa to break down the season’s raw emotional depth, revisit key moments, and explore what lies ahead for the series.
Nexus: This season explores the vulnerability of the superhero community and how they were treated by their families—parents who, in many cases, sold them out for their own gain. Or, in Dupli-Kate’s [and Multi-Paul] situation, because there was no other option after her father became an inmate. In my opinion, this parallels Hollywood and child stars—actors who don’t have a choice, whose parents push them into the industry, often at their expense. How do you go about writing such a heavy topic? Are you drawing from personal experiences or from people you know who have gone through similar situations?
Kirkman: As writers, we always pull from personal experiences or things that happen to those we’re close to. That’s just part of the job. That doesn’t mean we’ve lived through the exact situations we’re telling, but we strive for familiarity and treat it with the respect and care it needs.
Sometimes I step back and think, “Wow, these superheroes have rough lives.” Back when I was working on the comic, I wasn’t deliberately trying to give every character the worst possible backstory—but in figuring out their psyche, what stresses them, and making their stories compelling, a lot of darkness naturally emerged. Starting with the whole Nolan, Mark, and Debbie dynamic, and as the series progresses, introducing other bad parental figures, like Shrinking Rae's parents and her relationship to them—it’s fascinating to see who ends up being the worst by the end of it all. Nolan is bad, sure, but Atom Eve’s dad is pretty terrible in his own way.
Nexus: I love that aspect. It’s fascinating how some of these parents, though they don’t have superpowers, still manage to inflict deep damage on their children.
Racioppa: Oh, absolutely. Parents have a superpower of damaging their own children in some cases. Every character, whether it’s Omni-Man, Superman, or any other, has a reason why it’s hard to be them. Even people who seem to have perfect lives experience hardships that shape their stories. That’s what makes drama, what makes a character human and compelling.
Nexus: Season Three, in my opinion, feels very human. We see redemption is possible for some characters, and the line between what’s right and what’s necessary is blurred. Even villains like Multi-Paul and Powerplex get fleshed out. How did you approach bringing such real-world themes into the show?
Kirkman: It’s all about humanity in all things. When writing villains, we always consider their perspective. Every person is the main character of their own story, and they need a reason why their actions make sense to them. Villains like Powerplex, as well as Tether Tyrant and Magmaniac, they started off as characters that randomly show up seemingly as throwaway villains, but over time, we pulled back the curtain to humanize them. That’s what makes them resonate.
Racioppa: I feel strongly that you should still be interested in our characters, love our characters, and follow their stories even if they didn’t have superpowers. If we’ve done our job right you can take all their superpowers away and there would still be interesting emotional stories that would still be engaging about these characters.
Amidst the drama of Invincible Season Three, some fans of the show may have forgotten about a looming threat that has finally reached earth. The mind-controlling Sequid’s from Mars.
Nexus: Last season, we saw a Sequid make its way back to Earth, now controlling Russ Livingston. Will the Sequids play a bigger role down the line, or is this meant to be a lingering threat in the background, sort of a pea in the fans’ mattress?
Kirkman: Simon says this all the time: we don’t ever forget anything. If we showed it to you, there will be a follow-up. Whether it’s a huge storyline or a quick wrap-up remains to be seen. That’s part of the mystery and fun of the show. If something is left dangling it will be tied up.
Nexus: Will there be more special presentations like Invincible Presents: Atom Eve, for her or other characters?
Kirkman: We’d love to. There’s plenty of potential to dig into the backstories of different characters, but right now, our main focus is making sure the seasons come out regularly as possible and we haven’t had many opportunities to indulge in any distractions. So, no plans currently, but we’d love to do more in the future.
As for the in the works live-action Invincible film, Kirkman and Racioppa lips were sealed.
Nexus: Can you give any updates on the live-action film?
Kirkman & Racioppa: Nope.
Nexus: (laughs) Okay, moving on! What can we expect from the final two episodes of Season Three and beyond?
Kirkman: There’s a reason we’re keeping these last two episodes under wraps. They’re the biggest we’ve ever done, but there are things in Season Four that top them. The show will continue to expand, the scope will keep increasing, the stakes will keep increasing, there’s some really exciting stuff ahead. I’m very excited for people to see these last two episodes and I think by the end of Season Three, people will have a better understanding of what Invincible can be and be much more excited for the future.
Racioppa: Mark has been on a journey since episode 1 of season 1 and these next couple of episodes are going to be some of his hardest, and they’re going to answer a lot of questions and put him to the test in ways that we’ve been building to through Season One and Season Two and Season Three up to this point so I think you’re going to find it very satisfying in a huge season finale and I hope that everyone loves it. I can’t wait for people to see these, we’ve been talking about it for a long time and were excited for people to see it.
Nexus: Finally, the Viltrumites. They have been a looming threat to the universe and the Earth since Season One, are you excited to boldly deal with these characters and bring them to earth?
Kirkman: All I will say is as the show progresses from season to season the Viltrumites will slowly become more of a regular presence. But that’s all I could really say without revealing too much but I am excited to get to every season past where we are just because I’m always excited by the stuff that’s coming next, in a lot of cases we’ve already done most of it, we’ve done a tremendous amount of work on Season Four and so as Simon [Racioppa] and I sit here now these interviews are difficult to do because we have a lot of stuff from Season Four in our heads that were excited about that we can’t talk about. We’re super enthused about everything that’s coming up and just dying to share it with everyone and getting to do more stuff with the Viltrumites and getting them to be a bigger part of the show is a part of that.
Racioppa: But it’s going to take a while!
Nexus: That is very exciting. I cannot wait! Thank you both so much for taking the time to chat today. We’re all looking forward to what’s ahead.
The penultimate episode of Invincible airs this Thursday on Prime Video!
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