Robert Kirkman and Steven Yeun Break Down That Major Invincible Rematch

This article contains spoilers for Invincible season 4 episode 5.

Since it debuted on Prime Video, Invincible has been a brutal show, even more so than the comics that inspired it. That brutality seemed to reach a climax in season 3, when the Viltrumite known as Conquest (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) arrived on Earth. Mark barely survived that battle, and yet, somehow, the rematch in season 4 is even worse, bringing to the show an unprecedented level of violence.

“We give everyone a good warning,” co-showrunner Simon Racioppa tells Den of Geek, referring (of course) to the voice actors and animators, not the viewers. “We warn them first: This is coming, be aware.”

“It is the highlight of working on this show, to be able to watch every iteration of those sequences come together,” says Robert Kirkman, who created the comic with artists Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley and serves as co-showrunner with Racioppa.

“Because it happens in the writing. There’s a lot of modulation in the writing and picturing of the scenes. Then we do the first pass on voice acting, and we start seeing animatics and we start moving things, and then we see rough animation. When we do ADR, we heighten things, and as we’re seeing scenes with the sound mix, we’re adjusting things. We’re able to modulate everything every step of the way.

“Seeing when it all comes together and knowing what each person added, you understand what a massive thing these scenes are,” Kirkman concludes.

For star Steven Yeun, who voices Mark Grayson, his contributions involve not just lines of dialogue, but also providing the proper noises to indicate Invincible’s bones cracking, in one memorable moment, Mark’s response to getting his guts ripped out by Conquest.

“That was so fun. You just have to let the organs do most of the work,” he laughs. “You gotta let the slimy noises do most of the work. But in my mind, I know it’s such deep pain that it’s beyond pain. Your body’s in pure shock.

“But also there’s this other gear where he’s trying to beat this guy, and he wants vengeance. There’s a tension between holding his grip and pushing down while his stomach is being ripped out. It’s a metaphor for the loss of innocence that Mark’s experiencing. You’re getting part yourself ripped out while you’re still trying to assert yourself,” Yeun explains, before crediting the source material.

“Good on the writers,” he exclaims. “It’s pretty damn cool.”

“He’s selling himself short,” responds Racioppa. “I like Steven because he initially records for us without any visuals. We sort of describe the scene, and he’s read the script, but when we bring him back in, that’s when we have some pictures to show him.

“When he saw these, he said, ‘Oh, okay, I have to do this again. I have to go bigger because I can hit this moment.’ Once he actually saw everything on screen, we do it again with him and he’s able to somehow make his performance even better, even if it’s just breathing or just screams or just slow moans. He is so good at it, and it adds an extra level to everything. It makes the violence feel so real and affecting.”

“It’s a very interesting volley process, because Steven does the initial voice, and that dictates the animation,” Kirkman expounds. “So then when the animation comes back, he’s able to take something that was built on what he did, and improve it by playing with what was done. It’s a remarkable process.”

Clearly, the creators of Invincible love the hyperviolence that the Conquest battle and other scenes can provide. But what about the audience? Are they thrilled or repulsed by seeing the hero torn apart?

“I’m very fortunate because my kids are very old now, and they really like the show,” says Kirkman. “I was looking forward to seeing their reactions to that sequence, especially. It was a lot of fun to see them, because that scene is so affecting and unnerving. Even seeing it 100 times like I do, I’m still like, ‘Oh my God, that is a bit much.’ But it’s great to see how a team of hundreds of people working on Invincible focus and bring something like that to life.”

In short, it takes hundreds to tear apart a hero like Invincible, and we’re all the better for it.

Invincible streams new episodes every Wednesday at 3am EST on Prime Video.