‘Invincible’ Season 2 Part 1 Didn’t Do Enough With Angstrom Levy

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Invincible Season 2 Part 1.

The first season of Amazon’s Invincible ended on a high, harrowing note with shocking revelations about Omni-Man’s origins and objectives. This newfound information created a paradigm shift for all key players in the show. So, when we meet them in Season 2, they seem a bit different; they seem to carry a sense of brokenness around them. Alongside them, there are also an array of new and interesting characters — such as the leader of the Viltrumite army, General Kregg (Clancy Brown), and Invincible’s half-brother, Oliver Grayson (Max Burkholder) — but there was one particular character whose powers and origins left a powerful, lasting impact, and that was Angstrom Levy. The way his story played out with such razorsharp focus, we were convinced that Angstrom would have a paramount role to play in the upcoming episodes. But then, all 4 episodes went by, the first part of Invincible Season 2 ended, and we never heard from him again.

invincible

Invincible is an adult animated superhero series that revolves around 17-year-old Mark Grayson, who’s just like every other guy his age — except his father is the most powerful superhero on the planet, Omni-Man. But as Mark develops powers of his own, he discovers his father’s legacy may not be as heroic as it seems.

Release Date

March 25, 2021

Cast

Steven Yeun, J.K. Simmons

Main Genre

Superhero

Seasons

2

Creator

Robert Kirkman

Number of Episodes

9

Angstrom Levy Didn’t Begin Evil in ‘Invincible’

We first meet Angstrom Levy in a different universe where Invincible (Steven Yeun) has teamed up with Omni-Man (J. K. Simmons) to enslave earth. But just when he’s about to get killed, he gets pulled into another dimension by a different Angstrom, the one we’ll be following throughout the story. Angstrom Levy is a self-described pacifist who wants to use his powers to better the world. And his powers are extraordinary; they allow him to open portals between different dimensions. Given his unique powers, Angstrom has seen a similar fate befall many dimensions, and he has also seen dimensions where it never happened. He has seen worlds where cancer is cured, and worlds where no one dies of hunger. If one could harness and bring together this knowledge from different worlds, they could easily build a utopia, and that’s what Angstrom intends to do.

So, he recruits around a thousand versions of himself and devises a plan to merge the knowledge of all his multiversal selves into one. To this end, he seeks help from the Mauler twins (Kevin Michael Richardson), breaking them out of prison and having them build a complex, volatile machine that can combine thousands of minds into one living entity. But before the fusion can be completed, Invincible intervenes. He doesn’t understand what the Mauler Twins are up to, but given their history, he reasons that they can’t be up to any good. He charges head first into the twins, warning them to halt their experiment. Of course, the twins don’t listen and a clash ensues. Angstrom, who is strapped to the machine, uses his powers to bring out more Mauler twins from different dimensions to overpower Invincible. But when he sees that they’re about to kill him, he stops the procedure half-way, blowing up the place and killing thousands of himself in the process.

When the dust has settled, we see that Angstrom has survived, but the botched experiment has disfigured him, causing his head to expand. Inside his head, something has snapped. He is consumed by the versions of himself that have witnessed Omni-Man and Invincible’s takeover, and vows to kill Mark.

Angstrom Is Invincible’s Arch-Nemesis in the Comics

In the Invincible comics, Angstrom is a recurring, primary enemy to Invincible. While he isn’t considered as threatening as the Viltrumites, he weaves the fun and intrigue of the multiverse into the story. Angstrom’s origin story has remained unchanged in the show, so there’s good reason to believe that Amazon’s Invincible will follow closely with the comics. In the comics, Angstrom disappears for a while after he’s disfigured and returns with newly acquired tech, knowledge and strength. And he uses it all to torture Invincible.

Eventually, he escapes this mad multiverse and fights Angstrom, but he forgets that Angstrom isn’t nearly as strong as he is, and he ends up almost killing him. As Invincible realizes this, shock and grief wash over him, and he says, “I thought you were stronger,” which is remembered as one of the most powerful moments in the comics. In a notable instance, Angstrom recruits the different versions of Invincible from various dimensions and brings them to the original earth to kill Mark. It sets forth the lengthy and devastating “Invincible War” arc, which is one of the most fascinating storylines in the comics. In such a way, Angstrom isn’t treated as the ultimate villain of Invincible but rather as an intimate enemy to the show’s protagonist, helping him grow as a hero and a human.

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Angstrom Levy’s Story Arc Was Halted to a Point of Disinterest in ‘Invincible’ Season 2

Amazon’s Invincible handled Angstrom’s origin story exceptionally well. The earlier scenes established Angstrom as smart, kind, and an interesting character who is generally fun to follow. We see very little of what he becomes after the botched experiment, but his maniacal anger and thirst for revenge suggested something sinister was brewing inside his mutated head. It was a promising premiere that left us wanting more of Angstrom. But then, that’s all Season 2’s first part affords us of him, and it felt somewhat disappointing. It was a grand set-up that didn’t provide any pay off at all.

Seeing as we didn’t witness more of Angstrom in the following episodes, it suggests that the show is saving him for the second part of Season 2. And maybe it will be something big, but there’s a problem with this narrative structure: it removes any sense of urgency from Angstrom’s revenge plan, which sounded so passionate and immediate. Since we don’t see him seek out Invincible soon enough, we don’t find him quite as threatening. But more alarmingly though, the episodes that follow develop the story in a very different direction that entirely overpowers the flavors of Angstrom and the multiverse.

We’re handed some very heavy information and plot progression in regard to the Viltrumite storyline that easily dominates any other sub-plots. We meet Nolan, who seems to have changed his mind about conquering worlds and has resorted to a life of peace. We see the much awaited confrontation between him and Invincible after the battle on earth. We see Allen the Alien (Seth Rogen) battle Viltrumites. We even see more Viltrumites who seem to be strong enough to take down the great Omni-Man. After witnessing it all, the Viltrumite storyline comes out as the more pressing one, and under its weight Angstrom’s revenge quest feels rather trivial, a secondary embellishment to a more important story. At any rate, though, Angstrom will inevitably return in the future episodes, and he will wreak havoc in Invincible’s world. But having been away for so long, it’s hard to say if we’ll actually care about him when he comes back.

Invincible is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.

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