Amazon Had No Issue With The Excessive Violence in Invincible Show

Invincible creator, Robert Kirkman, says Amazon had no problem with the excessive violence featured in the new animated series. The comic book program features a spectacular array of blood, guts, and other such craziness that isn’t usually featured in animated entertainment of a similar superhero ilk.

It’s safe to say that Kirkman’s star-studded Invincible is no ordinary superhero show. The animated exploration of the story, which he first told on the paneled page in the comic series that ran from 2013 to 2018, follows Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun) who struggles to find his place in the world as he discovers his extraordinary abilities. The episodic journey Mark takes to becoming the superhero known as Invincible doesn’t just bust the tropes that come with the genre, it breaks many bones and sheds copious blood along the way, as well.

Invincible’s violence may surprise some viewers, but for those familiar with the original subject matter the show is based on, this aesthetic is not surprising. In a conversation with Collider, Kirkman acknowledges the bloody nature of the show and the ways in which the violence is an “essential element” to the story. He reveals that Amazon had absolutely no problem with them dialing up the brutality all the way up. Read what Kirkman said below:

I was waiting at any moment to get tapped on the shoulder and be like, ‘Yeah you’re going a little too far. You can’t do this.’ And it never came. If anything, we got nothing but encouragement from them which is really reassuring. I think that they recognized, especially with The Boys, which was a good example, the violence serves a purpose. It’s an absolutely essential element to the storytelling that we’re doing. Invincible wouldn’t be Invincible if we weren’t dealing with those gut-wrenching ramifications of what happens from the violence of the show. And if we weren’t showing it, it wouldn’t have the right, kind of, impact. So I think to do it without it, you’d be doing a disservice to the story. We really went for it and Amazon was supporting us every step of the way. 

The violence featured in Invincible may be an unexpected component for some viewers, but in the superhero/comic book space, this narrative choice is nothing new. The Boys is a good example of a superhero-themed series that goes all-in on the gore. The same can be said about the AMC series, Preacher, too. Tapping into comic creator Garth Ennis’s gritty style to nail home the tone of this world, and the criminality of the characters, catapulted the genre into unexpected places. And to great acclaim.

It makes sense for Invincible to go hog wild with the viscera. Unlike Kirkman’s previous TV experience adapting The Walking Dead into a live-action series, the new Amazon series breaks from the restrictions that can come with overseeing such a production. One could say the sky is the limit when it comes to animation, and if The Boys showed us anything, it’s that fans of the genre are itching for something new. Amazon clearly recognizes this. As long as the violence is justified to the story Kirkman is telling, it feels like Invincible is setting itself up for an epic, R-rated, action-packed run.

Source: Collider