Tu Shanshu App
Feb. 11th, 2013 12:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shorttemperedPlayer Information:
Name: Kaitie
Age: 24
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
redconfession | redconfession - AIM
Game Cast: n/a
Character Information:
Name: Markus (Mark) Sebastian Grayson/Invincible
Canon: Invincible (Comics)
Canon Point: Invincible Returns 1 (which takes place immediately after Invincible 70). Mark's been through a tough period in his life, with his falling out from Cecil Stedman to an army of evil versions of him from alternate Earths trying to destroy the world to multiple Viltrumites showing up trying to get him to take over Earth, one of whom leveled several cities and killed his girlfriend (she got better). He's also matured a great deal from all of these trials, curbing some of his rage and coming to understand there's a bigger picture out there, even if he doesn't see it yet. He's also just switched back to his blue and yellow costume after feeling his blue and black costume was cursed. Mark had just gotten finished talking to his girlfriend about why he had to leave with his father and Allen the Alien to wipe out the Viltrumite threat once and for all.
Age: 20ish. At the beginning of the series, it's stated that Mark is 17. However, he is since shown graduating high school and flunking at least one semester in college, making him somewhere around 19-20 as of his current canon point.
Reference: Comicvine | Image wikia | Wikipedia
Setting: At first glance, Mark Grayson's world isn't very different from our own. It's called Earth, has malls, banks, apartments, comic book stores, governments, and schools just like our Earth, and its primary inhabits are called humans just like our Earth. There are some minor geographical differences, such as Midnight City in an unnamed part of America, cursed to never again see the sun in its limits, and Atlantis being real there, inhabited by a race of fish people, but the major difference is on Mark Grayson's Earth, superheroes are real... and they're everywhere. From the government-funded (the second Guardians of the Globe), to the privately-funded (the original Guardians of the Globe), to the corporate (Capes, Inc out of NYC), to the solo acts (Invincible, Savage Dragon, and Tech Jacket to name a few), you can't really live in the United Sates (and occasionally other countries, but unless an American hero is overseas, you never hear about it in the series) without having run into at least one superhero in your lifetime. And wherever there are superheroes, supervillains aren't very far behind, and this planet is no different. There's no shortage of rogues available to fight, from the amateur evil scientist to the multiverse hopping evil genius to the anthropomorphic henchmen and everything in between.
You would think that this would cause the average person to just stay indoors, but for the people of Invincible's Earth, superfights are as common as rain and traffic. Sure, it's an inconvenience if their house is destroyed, but that's the price they have to pay to keep their standard of living sometimes. Of course, not everyone takes this so well; several people whose lives have been either directly or indirectly ruined by Invincible have come back to haunt him as supervillains, blaming him for whatever it was they lost... but those people are few and far between. Most idolize heroes the way one might an actor or sports star.
On the government end, superheroes make them nervous. To them, any and all superbeings are ticking time bombs waiting to explode. It's never been covered what they do in other countries, but in America they've hired a man named Cecil Stedman to run the misnomer Global Defense Agency (which has only been shown to deal with American or global (as in the world is about to be destroyed by a giant meteor) threats). There, Cecil keeps his eye on all threats, including superheroes and supervillains. He was once told by the previous head of the Global Defense Agency that "the truth is, you can be the god guy--or you can be the guy who saved the world. They're not always the same guy..." and those are words Cecil lives by to this day. As a result, he's unafraid to work both sides to keep the American people safe, hiring heroes and villains alike and keeping his cards close to his chest, which ultimately leads to a major falling out between himself and Invincible.
Originally, Cecil uses Mark's father, Nolan (aka the superhero Omni-Man), as his go-to hero in case of emergencies, a task that is transferred later to Mark. However, when Mark learns the truth of what exactly Cecil does, he goes off, and the resulting fight between the two nearly kills them both. Since then the pair have come to a sort of strained acceptance, but both are still weary of one another.
Then there's the Viltrumites, and the event that transferred Omni-Man's responsibilities with Cecil to young Mark. The Viltrumites are a ridiculously strong alien race closely resembling that of the human race, that possess superpowers and very long lifespans (see Mark's abilities section for more information) that live in a galaxy far, far away from Earth. They are known to the average human thanks to its former champion, Omni-Man. When Mark was 7, Nolan tells him about the great Viltrum Empire. Mark (and through him the reader), learns they were this great, peaceful race that formed the World Betterment Committee in an attempt to elevate races less developed than their own. This was what Mark and Nolan's closest friends believed was the truth... until the Omni-Man incident.
The first iteration of the Guardians of the Globe, the world's foremost and most powerful team of superheroes, (consisting of Darkwing, the Immortal, War Woman, Aquarus, Green Ghost, the Rush, and Martian Man) were suddenly and without warning brutally murdered. However, as the Immortal was not truly killed, he comes back to life and begins fighting with Omni-Man. Invincible flies over to help his father, only to arrive in time to learn the truth: his father had killed the Guardians of the Globe. It was then Mark learns the true story of his heritage, that the Viltrumites are, in fact, a vicious, violent species that believed in survival of the fittest and conquering other planets as a show of strength. Nolan had not been there to save Earth, but rather to conquer it for the Viltrum Empire. He killed the Guardians, who he viewed as a major threat, because Mark had finally gotten his powers and he felt the time was right to fulfill his obligation to Viltrum with his son at his side. Mark refuses to help his father, and the two fight. The fight kills thousands of people in collateral damage, and would have killed Mark too if Nolan hadn't fled the planet right before delivering the final blow.
The world would never have known what the fight was about had the audio, collected from an earpiece in Nolan's ear (given to him by Cecil), not been leaked to the press. But it was, and soon Omni-Man was the most hated man on the planet. Invincible would have been too had he not been heard so adamantly trying to defend the world.
And it's not just Earth that hates the Viltrumites. In fact, the Viltrumite Empire is one of the most hated and feared in the galaxy, as their strength and brutality simply can not be matched. As a result, other planets formed the Coalition of Planets to combat the Viltrumite threat. The Coalition, which consists of over 1,750 planets, observes the movements of the Viltrum Empire in an attempt to find weakness in it. For them, the Omni-Man incident turns out to be just the break they were looking for, because as it turns out, Nolan abandoning Earth was the first time anyone had heard of a Viltrumite abandoning his post before, and they took that as the chink in the Empire's armor they so desperately needed. They send their champion, Allen the Alien, to go find Nolan and bring him over to their cause. As Nolan fled Earth because he was doubting the ways of his Empire, Allen and Nolan manage to become close friends and through him the Coalition learns the greatest secret of Viltrum—there are less than 50 full-blooded Viltrumites remaining. With Nolan's help, the Coalition begins to gather any known weaknesses to the Viltrumites in an attempt to stop them once and for all.
There are other planets with life on them, unaffiliated with the Coalition of Planets, but only two play a major role at this point in the series. The first is Mars, home to the Martian race, that houses vast cities under its surface. Mark becomes familiar with the planet and its inhabitants when NASA sent an exploratory team to Mars, a team that is promptly held captive by the Martians, though not because they are viewed as invaders. See, Mars is also home to another alien race called Sequids. Sequids are little starfish-shaped creatures that share a hive mind, but only have any semblance of intelligence when attached to a host. It was through a host that they crash-landed on Mars hundreds of years ago, and when their hosts died off the Martians enslaved them. Due to Martian physiology (mainly the fact that they are metamorphs), the Sequids are unable to bond with the Martians—but humans are another story entirely. The Martians plan to capture and kill the astronauts to prevent the Sequids from attaching to one and escaping, but are thwarted by Invincible, who saves all but one. That one, Rus Livingston, had been secretly replaced by a Martian assuming his form, and thus Invincible was unaware he left one behind. Rus, possessed by the Sequids, would later overthrow the Martian race and is used by the Sequids in an attempt to take over Earth, but is ultimately killed by Invincible (one of the few people he's actually killed). It's unknown what became of the Sequid race, but they've seemingly been destroyed.
The other planet is called Thraxa, and is home to an unnamed race of short-living Mantis people. After Nolan fled Earth, he nonviolently takes over Thraxa in an attempt to offer it to Viltrum in Earth's place. It is so bloodless that they just give it to him, as the eldest member of the planet is always crowned king, and Nolan is older by centuries. There he marries Andressa and sires a child with her—Mark's half-brother, Oliver. Oliver takes on his mother's skin tone and rapid aging (at least at first), but adopts his father's appearance and powers, as Viltrumite DNA trumps that of almost any other species. Oliver returns to Earth with Mark, however, as he would vastly outlive anyone he ever knew on Thraxa, since their life-cycle is roughly equivalent to 9 months. Through Oliver, the reader learns several interesting facts about the race—for starters, they remember everything from birth and quickly grasp concepts of how to do things, which greatly increases the amount of time they can be productive members of society. Also, due to their short lifespans, they don't hold the same kinds of attachment to familial bonds or sense of self as humans do; it's all about the betterment of their society and ensuring the survival of their planet.
So there you have it, the brief overview of the colorful world of Invincible.
Personality:
Unlike most heroes, there isn't that much of a difference between Mark Grayson the young man and Invincible the hero. For Mark, wearing the costume is little more than putting on a work uniform, albeit a work uniform that protects his identity from the rest of the world. It was a trait he picked up from his father, as he learned the costume keeps his work life (as it were) separate from his home one. And from the beginning Mark has been concerned about protecting his identity, especially after the world learned he was Omni-Man's son and his real name was Mark. He had good reason to be concerned too, as he would learn when Angstrom Levy, a rogue who held Invincible responsible for the accident that horribly disfigured him, discovered his identity, broke into his home and nearly killed his mother and young step-brother. Since then he's been extra-cautious to keep that from happening ever again.
From the beginning, Mark's adhered to a very strict moral code that defined what was bad (ex. someone who was maliciously harming someone else), what was good (ex. people who knock... no, seriously), and how he should behave (ex. never kill). Anything that strays into "bad" on his moral compass was seen as something to be taken down immediately, with no exceptions... even to things that may be considered a positive in the long run. In fact, until recently Invincible was completely oblivious to the fact "the big picture" was even a thing that existed. Things were black and white, good or bad, no exceptions. However, after dealing with the invasion of alternate versions of himself, the brief death of his girlfriend, and multiple fights against Viltrumites, he's starting to mature and recognize it, and no longer clings to his moral code like a suit of armor like he once did.
Mark also believes he has a responsibility to help everyone, rather than as many people as he can, or he failed. It doesn't matter if he managed to save 1000 people after a city was destroyed, he'll focus on the millions he didn't. He takes every person who died on his watch to heart, and in this series that's a seriously high body count, as multiple cities have fallen in battles between Invincible and his more powerful rogues. While this has, on occasion, crippled Mark emotionally, he's managed to push past it each time with the help of his family and friends, and is far more likely to use it as motivation to try harder next time. It doesn't matter to him what he has to sacrifice, so long as at the end of the day, the world (and to him it doesn't matter which world) is safe.
Which leads to the next point: Mark takes his job as Invincible very seriously. When he first started he took it seriously, sure, but he saw it more as a game between those with superpowers where no one really got hurt except for the occasional building. Even immediately following the Omni-Man incident he didn't fully grasp the gravity of what it meant to be a superhero, telling Cecil "All I have to do is just be a superhero and allow you to tell me where I need to be when bad stuff happens? And in return you'll take care of my mom and I get a scholarship? Count me in." That attitude doesn't last very long, however, as each adventure and fight reminds Mark exactly what it is he signed up for and what that entails for not only himself, but the people around him, friend and stranger alike. Even as these situations bring him to the brink again and again, he continues to fight, believing that it's his responsibility as one of the (if not the) most powerful beings on the planet to continue doing what it is he does.
This commitment to the job has gotten him into trouble more than a few times. His grades tanked since he never had time to study, first in High School where he was barely able to graduate, and then again in college where it eventually got so bad Mark dropped out all together. After the Omni-Man incident, Mark’s mother fell into a bad place and took up drinking. Though Mark was only a two minute flight away, he barely went home, as he was having a difficult enough time coping on his own and didn't know how to help her, especially since any attempts at an intervention were met with a cold dismissal. Mark’s first girlfriend, Amber, was kept in the dark for some time about Mark’s superheroics, and as a result thought he was both dealing drugs and a coward. Even after learning Mark’s secret, she still had difficulty coping with having a boyfriend who was never around and who left for months at a time until she ultimately broke it off. Even his relationship with his best friend, William, suffered after a while. William was the only one to discover Mark’s identity of Invincible on his own and was always very supportive, but Mark always put William and William's needs on the backburner to his own responsibilities as Invincible, even when William really needed him (such as when their friend Rick went missing), causing the rift. The two are still good friends but aren't as close as they once were.
That being said, Mark tries desperately to be a good friend. He’s a very friendly and outgoing guy. He genuinely cares for his friends and respects their lives and opinions. Even if he doesn't want to do something, he’ll do it for the sake of his friends, such as taking William flying shortly after William discovered Mark was Invincible. The rub is that he doesn't have time to cultivate the friendships he makes, and as a result tends to take them for granted, forgetting that in order to get something out of a relationship you also have to give something to said relationship. Don’t get me wrong, Mark really tries and would love to put more time into his relationships, but he spreads himself too thin due to all the time he spends as Invincible and rarely has time for anything else.
The only real exception to this is his step-brother, Oliver. When he brought Oliver back to Earth after meeting his father again, he took time out of his schedule to drop by and visit with the boy. As their father wasn't on Earth and Mark’s mother was raising him alone, Mark tried to be something of a father figure to the boy. He wanted Oliver to have a similar upbringing he had (without the “my dad tried to kill me in the name of the Viltrum Empire” part)… and he wanted Oliver to have similar morals to the ones he has, rather than those of the Viltrumites.
By far, Mark's greatest influence growing up was his father, Nolan. To him, his father was the ideal superhero, the person that Mark really modeled himself after once he gained his powers. His father was also his role model as a person in general, as Nolan always appeared to perfectly balance his time at work with his family time, was always there when Mark needed him (unless Nolan was trapped in an alternate dimension), and seemed to genuinely love his mother. Even after the Omni-Man incident, Mark had difficulty coming to terms with everything he knew about his father seemingly being a lie. Even as he hated Nolan for killing everyone that day and betraying Mark's (and really all of Earth's) trust, Mark still couldn't bring himself to hate him, as evidenced when he sees his dad for the first time after the incident and the first thing he does was hug him while crying. To Mark, his father is everything he wants to be, and tries to emulate him whenever possible, and what his father did is just one of the many factors that keeps him fighting.
Mark also wrestles with this kind-of, sort-of huge problem. While he considers himself human, he is still half-Viltrumite, a race that have bred for cruelty and violence as positive traits in their offspring. These aren't traits that Mark displays on a regular basis (though he's certainly capable of both of them when pressed), but they are there, bubbling just under the surface, leading Mark to desperately rebel against everything Viltrum stands for to prove to himself he's not that like them. He believes that as long as he keeps fighting, he'll never become that kind of person.
Finally, Mark will be torn about being told he is now part of the In Between. He will desperately try to find out from the Kedan if there is a way to get back, since he's needed to fight the Viltrumites alongside his father and the Coalition of Planets, and because he feels he needs to be a part of that fight, needs to know that the Viltrumites are all gone and none of them are going to come back to Earth to try to destroy it or force him to take it over. He'll calm down when he realizes that there is nothing that the Kedan know of that will get him back, because its not their fault he's stranded there, but will make an effort to try to find ways to get home with anyone else he knows of also making the same effort. At the same time, there is this little tiny voice in the back of his mind grateful that he's stuck there, because he knows how badly he needs the R&R from world (and universe) calamities for a little while... not that he'll never vocalize this.
Appearance:
Invincible | Mark Grayson 1 | Mark Grayson 2
Abilities:
- Flight (even in Space)
- Enhanced Stamina - Mark has been on multiple occasions holding his breath for several hours.
- Super-Strength - When Mark's abilities first surfaced, he accidentally tossed a trash bag into the air and it landed in London (Mark lives somewhere in the US). He's been seen playing catch with his father by tossing a baseball around the world. He once benchmarked over 400 tons. Oh, and he, his father, and his step-brother once destroyed a planet simply by flying through it.
- Super-Speed - Mark can fly from the US to Africa in several minutes
- Near Invulnerability - While Mark can still bleed if you hit him hard enough, it takes more than the average punch to do anything but hurt your hand. He's also been seen able to withstand a nuclear blast.
- Accelerated healing - While not instantaneous, Mark can recover from wounds quicker than the average person, such as recovering from near disembowelment in two months.
- Extended lifespan - Due to his Viltrumite heritage, Mark begin to age much slower as he grows older, and will probably live for hundreds if not thousands of years.
Inventory: His costume (the yellow and blue one, he currently believes the blue and black one was cursed) & a cell phone for the superhero security business he started with his current girlfriend, Eve (Invincible, Inc.)--it will be non-functioning in terms of making calls/texting/etc, but will hold value to him as it contains pictures of Eve.
Suite: Earth sector with no preference to floor. Despite his username, Mark's really only quick to anger if you go against his morals. Usually he's an easy going guy who will sacrifice his own well-being for the well-being of pretty much everyone and everything else. For example, in the beginning of the series Mark is shown as being a good student, but his grades tank once he became a hero as homework gets in the way of saving the world. He's also sacrificed relationships in the name of saving the world. To him, helping people is the only thing that really matters.
In-Character Samples:
Third Person:
"It is time, son. You are needed. The time for war is upon us."
Gee, hello to you too, Dad. Glad to see our people didn't brutally murder you like they said they were going to when they left me for practically dead on Thraxa. Oh, mom's fine, Oliver's going through puberty--Mom raised him, which you should really thank her for somehow, by the way--and I think I've just talked myself off of a nervous breakdown. How are you?
Mark instantly chided himself for his thoughts. This was serious. Would he rather his dad start with that or end with it? At least now it wasn't looming over their heads, waiting to drop whilst they made idle chit chat. He knew that his battle against Conquest wouldn't be the last time he would have to fight the Viltrumites, he just never expected it to be so soon, and certainly not all of them at once...
Eve seemed to sense his tension and squeezed his hand, snapping him out of it. Has he mentioned how amazing his girlfriend was, always looking out for him when he needed it, and able to stare at a red, 6 foot, cyclopean alien and the most hated man on the planet without so much as batting an eye? Because she was truly the most amazing woman in the world, and he was the luckiest guy in the world to have her at his side.
"I'll just be a minute, okay?"
She nodded and reluctantly Mark released her hand. He pointed up, and in a flash the trio were 10,000 feet in the air.
Network:
[A young man in a bright yellow and blue costume turns on his webcam and stares blankly at the screen for a moment before beginning to speak.]
So uh, I figured I should meet the new neighbors since I'm stuck here and I've been told this is the best way to do it. Hi, my name's... [He reaches up to touch the fabric around is ear.] Invincible. Jeez I really have to stop getting so used to wearing the costume, forgot if it was on or not.
...
Does anyone happen to know if this In-Between place is like a multiverse thing or something, if you know what that is? I'm trying to get a sense of my bearings and the Kedan weren't exactly very helpful.
Uh... Not that they aren't already being ridiculously helpful right now what with giving me a room and some money and all that...
[He tugs at the back of his hair and sighs.]
Can someone do me a favor and tell me again that I can't just wake up or fly out of here? The Kedan must have told me about 20 times but I figure I need to hear it at least 20 more before I start to believe it.
Thanks, and sorry this got depressing fast.
[And with that he quickly turns the camera off before he can further make a fool out of himself.]
Name: Kaitie
Age: 24
Contact:
Game Cast: n/a
Character Information:
Name: Markus (Mark) Sebastian Grayson/Invincible
Canon: Invincible (Comics)
Canon Point: Invincible Returns 1 (which takes place immediately after Invincible 70). Mark's been through a tough period in his life, with his falling out from Cecil Stedman to an army of evil versions of him from alternate Earths trying to destroy the world to multiple Viltrumites showing up trying to get him to take over Earth, one of whom leveled several cities and killed his girlfriend (she got better). He's also matured a great deal from all of these trials, curbing some of his rage and coming to understand there's a bigger picture out there, even if he doesn't see it yet. He's also just switched back to his blue and yellow costume after feeling his blue and black costume was cursed. Mark had just gotten finished talking to his girlfriend about why he had to leave with his father and Allen the Alien to wipe out the Viltrumite threat once and for all.
Age: 20ish. At the beginning of the series, it's stated that Mark is 17. However, he is since shown graduating high school and flunking at least one semester in college, making him somewhere around 19-20 as of his current canon point.
Reference: Comicvine | Image wikia | Wikipedia
Setting: At first glance, Mark Grayson's world isn't very different from our own. It's called Earth, has malls, banks, apartments, comic book stores, governments, and schools just like our Earth, and its primary inhabits are called humans just like our Earth. There are some minor geographical differences, such as Midnight City in an unnamed part of America, cursed to never again see the sun in its limits, and Atlantis being real there, inhabited by a race of fish people, but the major difference is on Mark Grayson's Earth, superheroes are real... and they're everywhere. From the government-funded (the second Guardians of the Globe), to the privately-funded (the original Guardians of the Globe), to the corporate (Capes, Inc out of NYC), to the solo acts (Invincible, Savage Dragon, and Tech Jacket to name a few), you can't really live in the United Sates (and occasionally other countries, but unless an American hero is overseas, you never hear about it in the series) without having run into at least one superhero in your lifetime. And wherever there are superheroes, supervillains aren't very far behind, and this planet is no different. There's no shortage of rogues available to fight, from the amateur evil scientist to the multiverse hopping evil genius to the anthropomorphic henchmen and everything in between.
You would think that this would cause the average person to just stay indoors, but for the people of Invincible's Earth, superfights are as common as rain and traffic. Sure, it's an inconvenience if their house is destroyed, but that's the price they have to pay to keep their standard of living sometimes. Of course, not everyone takes this so well; several people whose lives have been either directly or indirectly ruined by Invincible have come back to haunt him as supervillains, blaming him for whatever it was they lost... but those people are few and far between. Most idolize heroes the way one might an actor or sports star.
On the government end, superheroes make them nervous. To them, any and all superbeings are ticking time bombs waiting to explode. It's never been covered what they do in other countries, but in America they've hired a man named Cecil Stedman to run the misnomer Global Defense Agency (which has only been shown to deal with American or global (as in the world is about to be destroyed by a giant meteor) threats). There, Cecil keeps his eye on all threats, including superheroes and supervillains. He was once told by the previous head of the Global Defense Agency that "the truth is, you can be the god guy--or you can be the guy who saved the world. They're not always the same guy..." and those are words Cecil lives by to this day. As a result, he's unafraid to work both sides to keep the American people safe, hiring heroes and villains alike and keeping his cards close to his chest, which ultimately leads to a major falling out between himself and Invincible.
Originally, Cecil uses Mark's father, Nolan (aka the superhero Omni-Man), as his go-to hero in case of emergencies, a task that is transferred later to Mark. However, when Mark learns the truth of what exactly Cecil does, he goes off, and the resulting fight between the two nearly kills them both. Since then the pair have come to a sort of strained acceptance, but both are still weary of one another.
Then there's the Viltrumites, and the event that transferred Omni-Man's responsibilities with Cecil to young Mark. The Viltrumites are a ridiculously strong alien race closely resembling that of the human race, that possess superpowers and very long lifespans (see Mark's abilities section for more information) that live in a galaxy far, far away from Earth. They are known to the average human thanks to its former champion, Omni-Man. When Mark was 7, Nolan tells him about the great Viltrum Empire. Mark (and through him the reader), learns they were this great, peaceful race that formed the World Betterment Committee in an attempt to elevate races less developed than their own. This was what Mark and Nolan's closest friends believed was the truth... until the Omni-Man incident.
The first iteration of the Guardians of the Globe, the world's foremost and most powerful team of superheroes, (consisting of Darkwing, the Immortal, War Woman, Aquarus, Green Ghost, the Rush, and Martian Man) were suddenly and without warning brutally murdered. However, as the Immortal was not truly killed, he comes back to life and begins fighting with Omni-Man. Invincible flies over to help his father, only to arrive in time to learn the truth: his father had killed the Guardians of the Globe. It was then Mark learns the true story of his heritage, that the Viltrumites are, in fact, a vicious, violent species that believed in survival of the fittest and conquering other planets as a show of strength. Nolan had not been there to save Earth, but rather to conquer it for the Viltrum Empire. He killed the Guardians, who he viewed as a major threat, because Mark had finally gotten his powers and he felt the time was right to fulfill his obligation to Viltrum with his son at his side. Mark refuses to help his father, and the two fight. The fight kills thousands of people in collateral damage, and would have killed Mark too if Nolan hadn't fled the planet right before delivering the final blow.
The world would never have known what the fight was about had the audio, collected from an earpiece in Nolan's ear (given to him by Cecil), not been leaked to the press. But it was, and soon Omni-Man was the most hated man on the planet. Invincible would have been too had he not been heard so adamantly trying to defend the world.
And it's not just Earth that hates the Viltrumites. In fact, the Viltrumite Empire is one of the most hated and feared in the galaxy, as their strength and brutality simply can not be matched. As a result, other planets formed the Coalition of Planets to combat the Viltrumite threat. The Coalition, which consists of over 1,750 planets, observes the movements of the Viltrum Empire in an attempt to find weakness in it. For them, the Omni-Man incident turns out to be just the break they were looking for, because as it turns out, Nolan abandoning Earth was the first time anyone had heard of a Viltrumite abandoning his post before, and they took that as the chink in the Empire's armor they so desperately needed. They send their champion, Allen the Alien, to go find Nolan and bring him over to their cause. As Nolan fled Earth because he was doubting the ways of his Empire, Allen and Nolan manage to become close friends and through him the Coalition learns the greatest secret of Viltrum—there are less than 50 full-blooded Viltrumites remaining. With Nolan's help, the Coalition begins to gather any known weaknesses to the Viltrumites in an attempt to stop them once and for all.
There are other planets with life on them, unaffiliated with the Coalition of Planets, but only two play a major role at this point in the series. The first is Mars, home to the Martian race, that houses vast cities under its surface. Mark becomes familiar with the planet and its inhabitants when NASA sent an exploratory team to Mars, a team that is promptly held captive by the Martians, though not because they are viewed as invaders. See, Mars is also home to another alien race called Sequids. Sequids are little starfish-shaped creatures that share a hive mind, but only have any semblance of intelligence when attached to a host. It was through a host that they crash-landed on Mars hundreds of years ago, and when their hosts died off the Martians enslaved them. Due to Martian physiology (mainly the fact that they are metamorphs), the Sequids are unable to bond with the Martians—but humans are another story entirely. The Martians plan to capture and kill the astronauts to prevent the Sequids from attaching to one and escaping, but are thwarted by Invincible, who saves all but one. That one, Rus Livingston, had been secretly replaced by a Martian assuming his form, and thus Invincible was unaware he left one behind. Rus, possessed by the Sequids, would later overthrow the Martian race and is used by the Sequids in an attempt to take over Earth, but is ultimately killed by Invincible (one of the few people he's actually killed). It's unknown what became of the Sequid race, but they've seemingly been destroyed.
The other planet is called Thraxa, and is home to an unnamed race of short-living Mantis people. After Nolan fled Earth, he nonviolently takes over Thraxa in an attempt to offer it to Viltrum in Earth's place. It is so bloodless that they just give it to him, as the eldest member of the planet is always crowned king, and Nolan is older by centuries. There he marries Andressa and sires a child with her—Mark's half-brother, Oliver. Oliver takes on his mother's skin tone and rapid aging (at least at first), but adopts his father's appearance and powers, as Viltrumite DNA trumps that of almost any other species. Oliver returns to Earth with Mark, however, as he would vastly outlive anyone he ever knew on Thraxa, since their life-cycle is roughly equivalent to 9 months. Through Oliver, the reader learns several interesting facts about the race—for starters, they remember everything from birth and quickly grasp concepts of how to do things, which greatly increases the amount of time they can be productive members of society. Also, due to their short lifespans, they don't hold the same kinds of attachment to familial bonds or sense of self as humans do; it's all about the betterment of their society and ensuring the survival of their planet.
So there you have it, the brief overview of the colorful world of Invincible.
Personality:
Unlike most heroes, there isn't that much of a difference between Mark Grayson the young man and Invincible the hero. For Mark, wearing the costume is little more than putting on a work uniform, albeit a work uniform that protects his identity from the rest of the world. It was a trait he picked up from his father, as he learned the costume keeps his work life (as it were) separate from his home one. And from the beginning Mark has been concerned about protecting his identity, especially after the world learned he was Omni-Man's son and his real name was Mark. He had good reason to be concerned too, as he would learn when Angstrom Levy, a rogue who held Invincible responsible for the accident that horribly disfigured him, discovered his identity, broke into his home and nearly killed his mother and young step-brother. Since then he's been extra-cautious to keep that from happening ever again.
From the beginning, Mark's adhered to a very strict moral code that defined what was bad (ex. someone who was maliciously harming someone else), what was good (ex. people who knock... no, seriously), and how he should behave (ex. never kill). Anything that strays into "bad" on his moral compass was seen as something to be taken down immediately, with no exceptions... even to things that may be considered a positive in the long run. In fact, until recently Invincible was completely oblivious to the fact "the big picture" was even a thing that existed. Things were black and white, good or bad, no exceptions. However, after dealing with the invasion of alternate versions of himself, the brief death of his girlfriend, and multiple fights against Viltrumites, he's starting to mature and recognize it, and no longer clings to his moral code like a suit of armor like he once did.
Mark also believes he has a responsibility to help everyone, rather than as many people as he can, or he failed. It doesn't matter if he managed to save 1000 people after a city was destroyed, he'll focus on the millions he didn't. He takes every person who died on his watch to heart, and in this series that's a seriously high body count, as multiple cities have fallen in battles between Invincible and his more powerful rogues. While this has, on occasion, crippled Mark emotionally, he's managed to push past it each time with the help of his family and friends, and is far more likely to use it as motivation to try harder next time. It doesn't matter to him what he has to sacrifice, so long as at the end of the day, the world (and to him it doesn't matter which world) is safe.
Which leads to the next point: Mark takes his job as Invincible very seriously. When he first started he took it seriously, sure, but he saw it more as a game between those with superpowers where no one really got hurt except for the occasional building. Even immediately following the Omni-Man incident he didn't fully grasp the gravity of what it meant to be a superhero, telling Cecil "All I have to do is just be a superhero and allow you to tell me where I need to be when bad stuff happens? And in return you'll take care of my mom and I get a scholarship? Count me in." That attitude doesn't last very long, however, as each adventure and fight reminds Mark exactly what it is he signed up for and what that entails for not only himself, but the people around him, friend and stranger alike. Even as these situations bring him to the brink again and again, he continues to fight, believing that it's his responsibility as one of the (if not the) most powerful beings on the planet to continue doing what it is he does.
This commitment to the job has gotten him into trouble more than a few times. His grades tanked since he never had time to study, first in High School where he was barely able to graduate, and then again in college where it eventually got so bad Mark dropped out all together. After the Omni-Man incident, Mark’s mother fell into a bad place and took up drinking. Though Mark was only a two minute flight away, he barely went home, as he was having a difficult enough time coping on his own and didn't know how to help her, especially since any attempts at an intervention were met with a cold dismissal. Mark’s first girlfriend, Amber, was kept in the dark for some time about Mark’s superheroics, and as a result thought he was both dealing drugs and a coward. Even after learning Mark’s secret, she still had difficulty coping with having a boyfriend who was never around and who left for months at a time until she ultimately broke it off. Even his relationship with his best friend, William, suffered after a while. William was the only one to discover Mark’s identity of Invincible on his own and was always very supportive, but Mark always put William and William's needs on the backburner to his own responsibilities as Invincible, even when William really needed him (such as when their friend Rick went missing), causing the rift. The two are still good friends but aren't as close as they once were.
That being said, Mark tries desperately to be a good friend. He’s a very friendly and outgoing guy. He genuinely cares for his friends and respects their lives and opinions. Even if he doesn't want to do something, he’ll do it for the sake of his friends, such as taking William flying shortly after William discovered Mark was Invincible. The rub is that he doesn't have time to cultivate the friendships he makes, and as a result tends to take them for granted, forgetting that in order to get something out of a relationship you also have to give something to said relationship. Don’t get me wrong, Mark really tries and would love to put more time into his relationships, but he spreads himself too thin due to all the time he spends as Invincible and rarely has time for anything else.
The only real exception to this is his step-brother, Oliver. When he brought Oliver back to Earth after meeting his father again, he took time out of his schedule to drop by and visit with the boy. As their father wasn't on Earth and Mark’s mother was raising him alone, Mark tried to be something of a father figure to the boy. He wanted Oliver to have a similar upbringing he had (without the “my dad tried to kill me in the name of the Viltrum Empire” part)… and he wanted Oliver to have similar morals to the ones he has, rather than those of the Viltrumites.
By far, Mark's greatest influence growing up was his father, Nolan. To him, his father was the ideal superhero, the person that Mark really modeled himself after once he gained his powers. His father was also his role model as a person in general, as Nolan always appeared to perfectly balance his time at work with his family time, was always there when Mark needed him (unless Nolan was trapped in an alternate dimension), and seemed to genuinely love his mother. Even after the Omni-Man incident, Mark had difficulty coming to terms with everything he knew about his father seemingly being a lie. Even as he hated Nolan for killing everyone that day and betraying Mark's (and really all of Earth's) trust, Mark still couldn't bring himself to hate him, as evidenced when he sees his dad for the first time after the incident and the first thing he does was hug him while crying. To Mark, his father is everything he wants to be, and tries to emulate him whenever possible, and what his father did is just one of the many factors that keeps him fighting.
Mark also wrestles with this kind-of, sort-of huge problem. While he considers himself human, he is still half-Viltrumite, a race that have bred for cruelty and violence as positive traits in their offspring. These aren't traits that Mark displays on a regular basis (though he's certainly capable of both of them when pressed), but they are there, bubbling just under the surface, leading Mark to desperately rebel against everything Viltrum stands for to prove to himself he's not that like them. He believes that as long as he keeps fighting, he'll never become that kind of person.
Finally, Mark will be torn about being told he is now part of the In Between. He will desperately try to find out from the Kedan if there is a way to get back, since he's needed to fight the Viltrumites alongside his father and the Coalition of Planets, and because he feels he needs to be a part of that fight, needs to know that the Viltrumites are all gone and none of them are going to come back to Earth to try to destroy it or force him to take it over. He'll calm down when he realizes that there is nothing that the Kedan know of that will get him back, because its not their fault he's stranded there, but will make an effort to try to find ways to get home with anyone else he knows of also making the same effort. At the same time, there is this little tiny voice in the back of his mind grateful that he's stuck there, because he knows how badly he needs the R&R from world (and universe) calamities for a little while... not that he'll never vocalize this.
Appearance:
Invincible | Mark Grayson 1 | Mark Grayson 2
Abilities:
- Flight (even in Space)
- Enhanced Stamina - Mark has been on multiple occasions holding his breath for several hours.
- Super-Strength - When Mark's abilities first surfaced, he accidentally tossed a trash bag into the air and it landed in London (Mark lives somewhere in the US). He's been seen playing catch with his father by tossing a baseball around the world. He once benchmarked over 400 tons. Oh, and he, his father, and his step-brother once destroyed a planet simply by flying through it.
- Super-Speed - Mark can fly from the US to Africa in several minutes
- Near Invulnerability - While Mark can still bleed if you hit him hard enough, it takes more than the average punch to do anything but hurt your hand. He's also been seen able to withstand a nuclear blast.
- Accelerated healing - While not instantaneous, Mark can recover from wounds quicker than the average person, such as recovering from near disembowelment in two months.
- Extended lifespan - Due to his Viltrumite heritage, Mark begin to age much slower as he grows older, and will probably live for hundreds if not thousands of years.
Inventory: His costume (the yellow and blue one, he currently believes the blue and black one was cursed) & a cell phone for the superhero security business he started with his current girlfriend, Eve (Invincible, Inc.)--it will be non-functioning in terms of making calls/texting/etc, but will hold value to him as it contains pictures of Eve.
Suite: Earth sector with no preference to floor. Despite his username, Mark's really only quick to anger if you go against his morals. Usually he's an easy going guy who will sacrifice his own well-being for the well-being of pretty much everyone and everything else. For example, in the beginning of the series Mark is shown as being a good student, but his grades tank once he became a hero as homework gets in the way of saving the world. He's also sacrificed relationships in the name of saving the world. To him, helping people is the only thing that really matters.
In-Character Samples:
Third Person:
"It is time, son. You are needed. The time for war is upon us."
Gee, hello to you too, Dad. Glad to see our people didn't brutally murder you like they said they were going to when they left me for practically dead on Thraxa. Oh, mom's fine, Oliver's going through puberty--Mom raised him, which you should really thank her for somehow, by the way--and I think I've just talked myself off of a nervous breakdown. How are you?
Mark instantly chided himself for his thoughts. This was serious. Would he rather his dad start with that or end with it? At least now it wasn't looming over their heads, waiting to drop whilst they made idle chit chat. He knew that his battle against Conquest wouldn't be the last time he would have to fight the Viltrumites, he just never expected it to be so soon, and certainly not all of them at once...
Eve seemed to sense his tension and squeezed his hand, snapping him out of it. Has he mentioned how amazing his girlfriend was, always looking out for him when he needed it, and able to stare at a red, 6 foot, cyclopean alien and the most hated man on the planet without so much as batting an eye? Because she was truly the most amazing woman in the world, and he was the luckiest guy in the world to have her at his side.
"I'll just be a minute, okay?"
She nodded and reluctantly Mark released her hand. He pointed up, and in a flash the trio were 10,000 feet in the air.
Network:
[A young man in a bright yellow and blue costume turns on his webcam and stares blankly at the screen for a moment before beginning to speak.]
So uh, I figured I should meet the new neighbors since I'm stuck here and I've been told this is the best way to do it. Hi, my name's... [He reaches up to touch the fabric around is ear.] Invincible. Jeez I really have to stop getting so used to wearing the costume, forgot if it was on or not.
...
Does anyone happen to know if this In-Between place is like a multiverse thing or something, if you know what that is? I'm trying to get a sense of my bearings and the Kedan weren't exactly very helpful.
Uh... Not that they aren't already being ridiculously helpful right now what with giving me a room and some money and all that...
[He tugs at the back of his hair and sighs.]
Can someone do me a favor and tell me again that I can't just wake up or fly out of here? The Kedan must have told me about 20 times but I figure I need to hear it at least 20 more before I start to believe it.
Thanks, and sorry this got depressing fast.
[And with that he quickly turns the camera off before he can further make a fool out of himself.]
