How Dinosaurus Sets Up the Rest of Mark Grayson’s Journey on Invincible

This article contains spoilers for Invincible season 4 episodes 1-3.

Only in the world of Invincible can a red dinosaur monster trigger a crisis of conscience. But that’s exactly what happens when Invincible, the superhero alter-ego of teen Mark Grayson, meets Dinosaurus. A scalier, more crimson take on Marvel‘s Incredible Hulk, Dinosaurus may go to extreme ends in his pursuit of environmentalism, but he makes points that give Invincible pause on his superhero’s journey.

Voiced in both his human and raging lizard form by Matthew Rhys, Dinosaurus has a utilitarian approach to saving the world, as he’s willingness to let cities stay destroyed if it helps the environment and he’ll even let many people die if it leads to a greater good later on. For Robert Kirkman, who created the comic with artists Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, co-showrunner Simon Racioppa, and Mark’s voice actor Steven Yeun, Dinosaurus offers more than a physical challenge to Invincible.

“I think what we’re trying to do is show that Mark is impressionable,” Kirkman tells Den of Geek. He’s young. He’s trying to find his way. He’s open to everything, for good or bad. You know those ideas are going to be rattling around in his head.”

“Hopefully, people understand that Mark is a different character each season,” agrees Racioppa. “I mean, he’s the same person, but he evolves. He’s changing. He takes the wrong path, he has a thought that turns out to be incorrect. He pulls himself back, but he’s not a perfect hero—he’s a kid, he’s 21 years old.

“Mark suddenly has all these powers, all these responsibilities. He’s going to make mistakes, and he’s going to be influenced by the things that happened to him. He should feel like a changeable character who’s just trying to put one foot in front of the other and figure out how to handle himself in this universe. And Dinosaurus affects that.”

To say that Mark has changed over the first three seasons of Invincible is an understatement. When we first met him, he was a mostly normal teenager who just so happened to be the son of Omni-Man, a benevolent hero in the tradition of Superman. But after his own powers began to manifest, and he took on the moniker Invincible, Mark learned that Omni-Man came not to protect Earth but to conquer it in the name of the Viltrum Empire. Since then, Mark’s had to battle not just his father, but a whole legions of Viltrumite invaders.

And yet, for Steven Yeun, the ideological confusion Mark experiences when listening to Dinosaurus is one of the more relatable parts about the Prime Video series.

“You come to an age where you find out things aren’t as they said, and you deal with it. And I think we’re going to want to watch Mark deal with it,” he says with a laugh. “He grew up being shielded from the complexities of the world. He has all of these ideals and traditions. And then, all of a sudden, it’s ripped from him.

“That can leave you pretty cynical, so I think all that is working through Mark at the moment.”

Yeun’s phrasing suggests that the confusion will be short-lived, but Kirkman knows better. “Anyone who is familiar with the comic book knows that Dinosaurus comes back in a big way, so there’s some pretty interesting consequences for Mark,” he teases. Because a big, red, philosophizing dinosaur will always leave an impression, in our world or in the world of Invincible.

New episodes of Invincible season 4 stream every Wednesday on Prime Video.