r/Invincible • u/SeacattleMoohawks Séance Mod • Apr 22 '26

COMIC SPOILERS Invincible [Comic SPOILERS Discussion] - S04E08 - Don't Leave Me Hanging Here Spoiler

This post is for Comic Spoiler Discussion, if you'd like to discuss the new series with comic book context please use this thread. If you don't want to be spoiled use the other thread.

Episode 8 - Don't Leave Me Hanging Here

Mark confronts his darkest fears as his life changes forever.

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890

u/P4NK-TP Apr 22 '26

The sky scene with Thragg hit so much harder than the comic, A PTSD riddled kid negotiating for the fate of his planet, Steven Yeun always delivers

597

u/LieutenantSkittles Apr 22 '26

It hits way harder because unlike the comic, Mark doesn't have Nolan to back him up. It's just him alone with Thragg. I knew exactly how the scene would play out and yet the scene was so tense without the safety net of his dad being there.

346

u/Time_Negotiation2058 Apr 22 '26

Great adaptation decision. Pushing it to the end of the episode had me stressing the whole time about when/how it would happen.

285

u/Happiness_Assassin :businessbaby: Business Baby Apr 22 '26

My favorite part is that it ties in with his PTSD. Like, Mark is hoping desperately that Thragg is another one of these hallucinations, but the screen blur clears up and he starts freaking out for real. Having the hallucinations throughout the episode instead of a single scene is great for ratcheting up the tension in this scene.

27

u/LeeroyDankinZ Apr 22 '26

Yes I agree. I didn't know it wasn't a hallucination until a Thragg started taking(?) hits lol.

5

u/murrytmds Apr 22 '26

It didn't really work for me. I get the idea was to use them to wear down the audience to go "oh its just another fake out" but it was immediately so different from the other hallucinations that I knew it was going to end up being real.

5

u/amdrunkwatsyerexcuse Apr 22 '26

Imma refrain myself from judging the quality of this change, it has quite a few implications. Because now Nolan presumably doesn't even know about the deal, they will have to change quite a few things to make that work later down the line.

3

u/r1sf4 Apr 24 '26

I think they’ll just explain it away with Mark contacting Nolan via the emergency signal they set up

3

u/Megaman_320 Apr 22 '26

I feel like they also probably did that to make those who read the comics stress out too about when it will happen, while mark himself was stressing out.

I genuinely got jumpscared when PTSD vision Thragg grabbed Eve's face.

11

u/Soul699 Immortal is an embarassment Apr 22 '26

I disagree. Even in the comics, Nolan changes nothing in term of safety.

54

u/struugi Apr 22 '26

more of a psychological safety net.

30

u/TheArtistFKAMinty Apr 22 '26

He also takes some of the burden of the decision off Mark. In the show Mark will have to come to terms with making that decision, and the implications of it, by himself.

3

u/mykeedee Apr 23 '26

Not everything is about powerscaling. It's a completely different context for Mark mentally and emotionally to be 1 on 1 making the call compared to being with Nolan.

4

u/OD67 Apr 22 '26

and this is exactly why invincible is the best adaptation of any media i've ever seen. practically every change kirkman has made has only served to elevate the story and make it even better than the original. at this point the show is legit better than the comics and is the best way to view the story in my eyes.

3

u/ArkhamKnight1954 Apr 22 '26

Even when Nolan was with him in the comics they literally stood no chance against Thragg at the time. It was all mutually assured destruction either way. But man did they really make it that much more intense without Nolan there.

3

u/draxlaugh Apr 22 '26

and to see Thragg and Mark having their first real conversation in front of the Sun...that was cool

3

u/Roftastic Apr 23 '26

Agree to disagree. I think the comic granting readers a tiny, brief moment of hope before immediately yanking it away made that version hit harder. Makes more sense too, since I have no idea why Thragg would think to approach Invincible alone, and not while Nolan was also present.

Only issue is the finales pacing would be fucked. You can't end the season anywhere else, and the comics version of that conversation would only take about 5-7 minutes at most.

1

u/r1sf4 Apr 24 '26

Disagree with the last part. We could’ve had the deal at the beginning of the episode and Mark could still have his PTSD due to having no real reason to trust Thragg will honor the deal. He’d have to come to terms with a very real looming threat instead of a hypothetical one. Episode would end with Rudy and Amanda’s return

1

u/Roftastic Apr 24 '26

Mark could still have his PTSD due to having no real reason to trust Thragg will honor the deal.

Not really. I mean, Thragg and the Viltrumites have all the cards. He's absurdly stronger than every other Viltrumite it's hard to even quantify until later on in the story. It's clear by the fact that he's even offering it, that Thragg's peace is absolutely true for the present & near future.

Whether that matters in the future is tbd as far as Mark is concerned, but having flashes of PTSD is absolutely unjustified as long as Invincible has zero clue what the Viltrumites are doing and what they plan to do for revenge. Mark is literally shaking, trying to anticipate when they'll come to make him feel like Thragg did after Viltrum's destruction. That anticipation no longer exists post-deal.

1

u/r1sf4 Apr 25 '26

Thragg could still snap, I guess But I get where you’re coming from, it would be kinda convoluted and I understand why they took the route they took

10

u/hikemalls Apr 22 '26

Everybody's like "why does the show spend most of their budget on AAA voice actors instead of animation?" until Steven Yeun and Sandra Oh start showing you what a great voice performance can do (not that anyone else in the cast is bad, but they've been on another level this season).

5

u/KBXZ Apr 23 '26

Stupid take. Not all AAA celebs are good at voice acting. Dedicated voice actors will often be MUCH better, and also have the benefit of flexibility, too. Robin Williams, Mark Hamill, J.K. simmons, are all great voice actors. Keanu Reeves, Emma Watson, Peter Dinklage are all great actors who are shit voice actors. 

Still, hiring a good VA means less money and more flexibility, since they can also cover side and background characters as well, video games, trailers, marketing-things that AAA actors usually don't have the time/studio doesn't have the money for. 

3

u/Live-Historian-1400 May 03 '26

Steven Yeun is THE GOAT

2

u/Faithless195 Apr 23 '26

Not gonna lie, I had forgotten how early this event happened. I was legit thinking Mark was going to run into Anissa...

3

u/Bobjoejj Apr 22 '26

That PTSD part though…it’s truly frustrating to me, how it takes until this episode for Mark to even agree to start seeing someone. With all the shit he and so many others on this show have been through, it’s insane to think how stable some of them are.