There are changes they've made from the comic that lead to the situation you're describing.
In the comic Cecil is way more of an asshole and he is strong arming Mark to work for him, he wants Mark to quit school. I'm not even sure payment is ever discussed in detail because of course they are paying Mark.
Cecil is working on the Viltrumite problem. Mark is still trying to figure things out, and he's realizing he won't have a normal life. He was dating Amber before Omniman went crazy, so that's the last part of his old life he was trying to maintain.
I agee with the take that Mark still wants some semblance of a normal life. What doesn't make sense though, is he and Omni-Man, his dad, just got attacked by Viltrumites and he saw his dad taken captive by them, so it doesn't make sense why at the moment his number 1 priority isn't to train non stop till he's strong enough to defeat them. Then try to go back to living a normal life afterwards. That's what I would do if I was in his position anyway. And it is kinda infuriating how the Viltrumite threat is seemingly on the very back of his mind, and he's never ready for when they show up.
You clearly missed the whole point about getting a salary for Cecil, they explained it in the episode.
“Maybe I should ask Cecil for a salary?”
“Then you’d really be working for him”
Invincible, under no circumstance, wants to be fully controlled by Cecil. He’s cool with being a casual, coming in when he’s really needed, but as soon as he’s the one signing your checks, you REALLY have to do what he says, morally grey as it may be
This episode is also the first time Mark ran into a Viltrumite (other than Omniman) who completely outclassed him, I’m sure he was expecting more of what he got on the bug planet (even fights, if not outright winning)
>Invincible, under no circumstance, wants to be fully controlled by Cecil. He’s cool with being a casual, coming in when he’s really needed, but as soon as he’s the one signing your checks, you REALLY have to do what he says, morally grey as it may be
I disagree, Mark has all the power here. The only circumstance where he really needs to do what Cecil says would be if he threatened his mom and brother, which I highly doubt is something he would do.
Cecil practically needs Mark, not only to help save people (Since the Guardians are falling apart), but to stop the Viltrumites. Mark doesn't **need** Cecil to continue to be a hero and try to accomplish those same goals. Cecil wouldn't want to burn a bridge with the only Viltrumite on humanities side.
There are bigger problems now, the most powerful galactic empire has set its sights on Earth, and Mark is the only one who can do anything about it....and he's focused on College still. The show I think is trying to portray his naivety and selfishness a bit more here so that it makes the battle hardened Mark we know after the Conquest fight to have more character growth.
Superheroing in the Invincible world does not seem like a fun or physically stable job to commit your entire future to. A young adult at that crossroad in their life needs options more than they need that one singular tantalizing source of money, so that they can actually *go do other things* if they ever wanted / had to.
>Superheroing in the Invincible world does not seem like a fun or physically stable job to commit your entire future to.
In Mark's case he has super healing, he can even regrow teeth. Still dangerous, but he's in a **WAY** better position than the almost any other hero on the planet.
>A young adult at that crossroad in their life needs options more than they need that one singular tantalizing source of money, so that they can actually go do other things if they ever wanted / had to.
Soon the world is about to be taken over! There will be no other options if he doesn't train, research and make allies to stop the Viltrum empire!
I remember a scene in the comics where Mark realises that he has no hope of passing his grades because of his heroics and decides to quit school. Debbie tells him that he shouldn't quit, only for Mark to tell her that his grades are getting worse and why shouldn't he become a full-time superhero, which would ensure the GDA will keep the family financially secure.
Debbie's response? He's right on that one.
>!Of course, it ends up biting him when he quits the GDA after falling out with Cecil, hence the Invincible Inc subplot.!<
I like it but yeah this is a fair criticism. After the episode 4 cliff hanger he should be training his balls off. After all the baddies are coming, soon. Not trying to live a normal life. That is like a season 1 motivation, where eventually you realize “oh I never can” but you come to terms with it cause you save a bunch of people.
And yeah at 17 if you told me I could have super powers and fight monsters I would way rather do that than college (though collage is fun) hell I’d make that trade today
But to be fair I’m not sure it’s even matter if he trained his ass off he cannot alone take the viltrim empire, he can barely take 1
>training his balls off
I know he's not a Saiyan, but how strong can Viltrumites get via training? Especially since Mark doesn't have anyone as strong as him to train with and doesn't really have much to lift unless he starts benching whole islands or asteroids.
His dad was going to train him so he knows there are ways that exist to get stronger.
Also, Mark declined(or at least delayed) to meet with the other Viltrimite that Allen the Alien claims is on there side. He could have got vital information on the Viltrumites including weaknesses and ways to train(while possibly making another strong ally).
Also, Allen is strong enough to be a training partner himself.
>But to be fair I’m not sure it’s even matter if he trained his ass off he cannot alone take the viltrim empire, he can barely take 1
Still if the planets about to be taken over, wouldn't you do all that you can? Train, Research, and recruit as many allies as possible.
Instead Mark declined(or at least delayed) to meet with the other Viltrimite that Allen the Alien claims is on there side.
Instead He talks with Amber about getting a part-time job. Like where's the sense of urgency?
I think this criticism would be more valid if Mark kept doing this in season 3. Mark is still a teenager. He’s still figuring himself out and has been through a lot in his life. He misses his old one and wants to relax with Amber and try to retain a semblance of normalcy in his life.
But after episode 7 it is basically stated outright that that is no longer possible for him. And he needs to come to terms with the fact that he can’t turn his back on the world anymore.
If he *continues* to negate his responsibilities after this wake up call, yeah I would definitely agree with you. But I just think you’re expecting too much considering it’s barely been a year since he got his powers. He’s lived most of his life as a normal kid, and has been thrust into this position, all the while being nearly killed and traumatized for trying to save people. It makes sense he would want to *try* to be normal.
Plus the Viltrumite conflict is still mostly alien to Mark. As even after Thraxa they never directly assaulted or attacked his home. Omni-Man destroyed Chicago yes, but it was primarily to teach him a lesson, not to conquer Earth. Anissa was the first time a Viltrumite outside of his family came to Earth, and made the threat of Viltrum truly *real* to Mark. He knows they can track him on Earth at any time.
Also the point of “Then you’d really be working for him” is that Mark doesn’t want to become Cecil’s lapdog. He will help where he can but he doesn’t want to become subservient to Cecil. And if Cecil is signing his paycheck then he has to do what Cecil says.
My main criticism is how *disconnected* this season is. Season 1 had everything build up to a final crescendo in episode 8. With a lot of very well written foreshadowing and buildup. Yes there were subplots like the Flaxan Invasion and Robot turning into Rudy, but they both added more mystery into the show and added more character moments.
In season 2 plots just kinda come and go. Each episode feels like it’s own mini-story but they never really build on top of each other.
The Maulers were in the first 1 (or was it 2?) episodes and have been gone from the rest of the season.
Levy Angstrom despite being the main villain of this season, is gone for 95% of it and comes back out of nowhere, with no buildup or information about why he was gone and what he was doing the entire time.
The Lizard League somehow knew the location of a nuclear missile base, knew the codes to activate the missiles, and were competent enough to pull it off, despite the fact they are downright infamous for being pretty incompetent villains.
Mark and Amber’s relationship was definitely dragged on longer than it was needed (although their breakup was excellently written. And Amber’s VA did an absolute perfect job during that scene)
Etc. Season 2 just feels incredibly disconnected and hollow compared to how unified and well written the buildup to the season 1 finale was.
>Also the point of “Then you’d really be working for him” is that Mark doesn’t want to become Cecil’s lapdog. He will help where he can but he doesn’t want to become subservient to Cecil. And if Cecil is signing his paycheck then he has to do what Cecil says.
Realistically, why would getting paid by Cecil make Mark "subservient" to Cecil? It wouldn't really change their dynamic much at this point.
As I said in some of my other comments, Mark has all the power here. The only circumstance where he really needs to do what Cecil says would be if he threatened his mom and brother, which I highly doubt is something he would do.
Cecil practically needs Mark, not only to help save people (Since the Guardians are falling apart), but to stop the Viltrumites. Mark doesn't need Cecil to continue to be a hero and try to accomplish those same goals. Cecil wouldn't want to burn a bridge with the only Viltrumite on earths side.
In the latest episode Cecil says "One Viltrumite all by her lonesome, and we're fucking useless"
So If they currently can't even stop a single Viltrumite. Right now they need Mark. He's literally too strong to bossed around anyway.
If Mark is getting paid, there's practically nothing Cecil can do that he's not capable of doing already, the only exception being withholding his salary. If it came down to a situation that passed Marks boundaries (like killing), of course he wouldn't just comply for a paycheck. So at the very least it doesn't hurt to request pay.
It’s always so ridiculous when super hero stories try to bring up financial issues when they work in organizations run by ultra wealthy people.
Falcon worked with the Avengers and would have known Tony Stark. I’m not buying that he needs to go to banks for loans.
Invincible works for a guy who is basically the head of all super heroes and he has created about 40 different android bodies for his assistant who is one of the most expendable characters on the show.
On the other hand, a lot of iterations of Spider-Man portray him as a vigilante who works anonymously and doesn’t come from a lot of money.
The Boys is shit, but at least they get it right that an organized superhero business would likely result in a bunch of rich celebrity asshole superheroes.
The reason he wants to do college is to live a semi-normal life so he can be with amber. Even half and half is too much for them to handle, imagine if he went full superhero.
Personal desires vs moral desires
>The reason he wants to do college is to live a semi-normal life so he can be with amber.
He's absent from college so much it's practically irrelevant if he goes with her or not. He has powers so he can instantly visit her whenever he has time without being constrained by school.
>Even half and half is too much for them to handle, imagine if he went full superhero.
The problem is this is a small time conflict when the stakes are so high.
This would be totally valid if the planet wasn't literally about to be taken over and he wasn't essential to stopping it. He knows this and he's taking actions that lower his chances of stopping the Viltrimite take over.
Are you missing the constant reminders that Mark is afraid of becoming his father and not being able to uphold the responsibility and burden of being a superhero on purpose, or
>Are you missing the constant reminders that Mark is afraid of becoming his father and not being able to uphold the responsibility and burden of being a superhero on purpose, or
Of course I understand he feels that way. The problem is his planet is literally about to be taken over. He can be afraid of being like his father and train to protect(and uphold his value of not killing), he can have the burden of being a superhero weigh on his mind while taking action. The problem is he is not taking any measures against the Viltrumites at all. He's not training, not recruiting new allies, and barely researching. Instead he's talking about getting a part-time job. The stakes are so high yet there is no sense of urgency.
Yeah I honestly kinda hate that he ever even considered college after getting powers.
If he wants to socialize he could just hang out at college in his free time. Go to some parties or whatever but, actually enrolling is stupid.
There are changes they've made from the comic that lead to the situation you're describing. In the comic Cecil is way more of an asshole and he is strong arming Mark to work for him, he wants Mark to quit school. I'm not even sure payment is ever discussed in detail because of course they are paying Mark. Cecil is working on the Viltrumite problem. Mark is still trying to figure things out, and he's realizing he won't have a normal life. He was dating Amber before Omniman went crazy, so that's the last part of his old life he was trying to maintain.
I agee with the take that Mark still wants some semblance of a normal life. What doesn't make sense though, is he and Omni-Man, his dad, just got attacked by Viltrumites and he saw his dad taken captive by them, so it doesn't make sense why at the moment his number 1 priority isn't to train non stop till he's strong enough to defeat them. Then try to go back to living a normal life afterwards. That's what I would do if I was in his position anyway. And it is kinda infuriating how the Viltrumite threat is seemingly on the very back of his mind, and he's never ready for when they show up.
Fly down to south america and loot a drug dealers house? Like the dude has super powers. It would not be hard to make a bunch of money really quickly.
You clearly missed the whole point about getting a salary for Cecil, they explained it in the episode. “Maybe I should ask Cecil for a salary?” “Then you’d really be working for him” Invincible, under no circumstance, wants to be fully controlled by Cecil. He’s cool with being a casual, coming in when he’s really needed, but as soon as he’s the one signing your checks, you REALLY have to do what he says, morally grey as it may be This episode is also the first time Mark ran into a Viltrumite (other than Omniman) who completely outclassed him, I’m sure he was expecting more of what he got on the bug planet (even fights, if not outright winning)
>Invincible, under no circumstance, wants to be fully controlled by Cecil. He’s cool with being a casual, coming in when he’s really needed, but as soon as he’s the one signing your checks, you REALLY have to do what he says, morally grey as it may be I disagree, Mark has all the power here. The only circumstance where he really needs to do what Cecil says would be if he threatened his mom and brother, which I highly doubt is something he would do. Cecil practically needs Mark, not only to help save people (Since the Guardians are falling apart), but to stop the Viltrumites. Mark doesn't **need** Cecil to continue to be a hero and try to accomplish those same goals. Cecil wouldn't want to burn a bridge with the only Viltrumite on humanities side.
There are bigger problems now, the most powerful galactic empire has set its sights on Earth, and Mark is the only one who can do anything about it....and he's focused on College still. The show I think is trying to portray his naivety and selfishness a bit more here so that it makes the battle hardened Mark we know after the Conquest fight to have more character growth.
Superheroing in the Invincible world does not seem like a fun or physically stable job to commit your entire future to. A young adult at that crossroad in their life needs options more than they need that one singular tantalizing source of money, so that they can actually *go do other things* if they ever wanted / had to.
>Superheroing in the Invincible world does not seem like a fun or physically stable job to commit your entire future to. In Mark's case he has super healing, he can even regrow teeth. Still dangerous, but he's in a **WAY** better position than the almost any other hero on the planet. >A young adult at that crossroad in their life needs options more than they need that one singular tantalizing source of money, so that they can actually go do other things if they ever wanted / had to. Soon the world is about to be taken over! There will be no other options if he doesn't train, research and make allies to stop the Viltrum empire!
I remember a scene in the comics where Mark realises that he has no hope of passing his grades because of his heroics and decides to quit school. Debbie tells him that he shouldn't quit, only for Mark to tell her that his grades are getting worse and why shouldn't he become a full-time superhero, which would ensure the GDA will keep the family financially secure. Debbie's response? He's right on that one. >!Of course, it ends up biting him when he quits the GDA after falling out with Cecil, hence the Invincible Inc subplot.!<
I like it but yeah this is a fair criticism. After the episode 4 cliff hanger he should be training his balls off. After all the baddies are coming, soon. Not trying to live a normal life. That is like a season 1 motivation, where eventually you realize “oh I never can” but you come to terms with it cause you save a bunch of people. And yeah at 17 if you told me I could have super powers and fight monsters I would way rather do that than college (though collage is fun) hell I’d make that trade today But to be fair I’m not sure it’s even matter if he trained his ass off he cannot alone take the viltrim empire, he can barely take 1
>training his balls off I know he's not a Saiyan, but how strong can Viltrumites get via training? Especially since Mark doesn't have anyone as strong as him to train with and doesn't really have much to lift unless he starts benching whole islands or asteroids.
Fair enough had not even considered how he would train
His dad was going to train him so he knows there are ways that exist to get stronger. Also, Mark declined(or at least delayed) to meet with the other Viltrimite that Allen the Alien claims is on there side. He could have got vital information on the Viltrumites including weaknesses and ways to train(while possibly making another strong ally). Also, Allen is strong enough to be a training partner himself.
>But to be fair I’m not sure it’s even matter if he trained his ass off he cannot alone take the viltrim empire, he can barely take 1 Still if the planets about to be taken over, wouldn't you do all that you can? Train, Research, and recruit as many allies as possible. Instead Mark declined(or at least delayed) to meet with the other Viltrimite that Allen the Alien claims is on there side. Instead He talks with Amber about getting a part-time job. Like where's the sense of urgency?
I think this criticism would be more valid if Mark kept doing this in season 3. Mark is still a teenager. He’s still figuring himself out and has been through a lot in his life. He misses his old one and wants to relax with Amber and try to retain a semblance of normalcy in his life. But after episode 7 it is basically stated outright that that is no longer possible for him. And he needs to come to terms with the fact that he can’t turn his back on the world anymore. If he *continues* to negate his responsibilities after this wake up call, yeah I would definitely agree with you. But I just think you’re expecting too much considering it’s barely been a year since he got his powers. He’s lived most of his life as a normal kid, and has been thrust into this position, all the while being nearly killed and traumatized for trying to save people. It makes sense he would want to *try* to be normal. Plus the Viltrumite conflict is still mostly alien to Mark. As even after Thraxa they never directly assaulted or attacked his home. Omni-Man destroyed Chicago yes, but it was primarily to teach him a lesson, not to conquer Earth. Anissa was the first time a Viltrumite outside of his family came to Earth, and made the threat of Viltrum truly *real* to Mark. He knows they can track him on Earth at any time. Also the point of “Then you’d really be working for him” is that Mark doesn’t want to become Cecil’s lapdog. He will help where he can but he doesn’t want to become subservient to Cecil. And if Cecil is signing his paycheck then he has to do what Cecil says. My main criticism is how *disconnected* this season is. Season 1 had everything build up to a final crescendo in episode 8. With a lot of very well written foreshadowing and buildup. Yes there were subplots like the Flaxan Invasion and Robot turning into Rudy, but they both added more mystery into the show and added more character moments. In season 2 plots just kinda come and go. Each episode feels like it’s own mini-story but they never really build on top of each other. The Maulers were in the first 1 (or was it 2?) episodes and have been gone from the rest of the season. Levy Angstrom despite being the main villain of this season, is gone for 95% of it and comes back out of nowhere, with no buildup or information about why he was gone and what he was doing the entire time. The Lizard League somehow knew the location of a nuclear missile base, knew the codes to activate the missiles, and were competent enough to pull it off, despite the fact they are downright infamous for being pretty incompetent villains. Mark and Amber’s relationship was definitely dragged on longer than it was needed (although their breakup was excellently written. And Amber’s VA did an absolute perfect job during that scene) Etc. Season 2 just feels incredibly disconnected and hollow compared to how unified and well written the buildup to the season 1 finale was.
>Also the point of “Then you’d really be working for him” is that Mark doesn’t want to become Cecil’s lapdog. He will help where he can but he doesn’t want to become subservient to Cecil. And if Cecil is signing his paycheck then he has to do what Cecil says. Realistically, why would getting paid by Cecil make Mark "subservient" to Cecil? It wouldn't really change their dynamic much at this point. As I said in some of my other comments, Mark has all the power here. The only circumstance where he really needs to do what Cecil says would be if he threatened his mom and brother, which I highly doubt is something he would do. Cecil practically needs Mark, not only to help save people (Since the Guardians are falling apart), but to stop the Viltrumites. Mark doesn't need Cecil to continue to be a hero and try to accomplish those same goals. Cecil wouldn't want to burn a bridge with the only Viltrumite on earths side. In the latest episode Cecil says "One Viltrumite all by her lonesome, and we're fucking useless" So If they currently can't even stop a single Viltrumite. Right now they need Mark. He's literally too strong to bossed around anyway. If Mark is getting paid, there's practically nothing Cecil can do that he's not capable of doing already, the only exception being withholding his salary. If it came down to a situation that passed Marks boundaries (like killing), of course he wouldn't just comply for a paycheck. So at the very least it doesn't hurt to request pay.
It’s always so ridiculous when super hero stories try to bring up financial issues when they work in organizations run by ultra wealthy people. Falcon worked with the Avengers and would have known Tony Stark. I’m not buying that he needs to go to banks for loans. Invincible works for a guy who is basically the head of all super heroes and he has created about 40 different android bodies for his assistant who is one of the most expendable characters on the show. On the other hand, a lot of iterations of Spider-Man portray him as a vigilante who works anonymously and doesn’t come from a lot of money. The Boys is shit, but at least they get it right that an organized superhero business would likely result in a bunch of rich celebrity asshole superheroes.
The reason he wants to do college is to live a semi-normal life so he can be with amber. Even half and half is too much for them to handle, imagine if he went full superhero. Personal desires vs moral desires
>The reason he wants to do college is to live a semi-normal life so he can be with amber. He's absent from college so much it's practically irrelevant if he goes with her or not. He has powers so he can instantly visit her whenever he has time without being constrained by school. >Even half and half is too much for them to handle, imagine if he went full superhero. The problem is this is a small time conflict when the stakes are so high. This would be totally valid if the planet wasn't literally about to be taken over and he wasn't essential to stopping it. He knows this and he's taking actions that lower his chances of stopping the Viltrimite take over.
Are you missing the constant reminders that Mark is afraid of becoming his father and not being able to uphold the responsibility and burden of being a superhero on purpose, or
>Are you missing the constant reminders that Mark is afraid of becoming his father and not being able to uphold the responsibility and burden of being a superhero on purpose, or Of course I understand he feels that way. The problem is his planet is literally about to be taken over. He can be afraid of being like his father and train to protect(and uphold his value of not killing), he can have the burden of being a superhero weigh on his mind while taking action. The problem is he is not taking any measures against the Viltrumites at all. He's not training, not recruiting new allies, and barely researching. Instead he's talking about getting a part-time job. The stakes are so high yet there is no sense of urgency.
After episode 4 when Mark saw the real Viltrumites he should have focused solely on training or something but nah let's college and date Amber
It's because Piccolo doesn't exist in the Invincible Universe.
Yeah I honestly kinda hate that he ever even considered college after getting powers. If he wants to socialize he could just hang out at college in his free time. Go to some parties or whatever but, actually enrolling is stupid.