Perhaps it was a mistake to transition from the The Boys to Invincible; too many superheroes, too much shock-effect gore. It's not that Invincible is a bad show in any way. The animation has some slightly odd moments, but for the most part is top-notch; the voice acting and cast are great, no doubts there; and the world is well constructed. It just lacks some subtle x-factor.

I think one part of it is how much this is a clone of DC. It's so 1:1 that this cannot be a mistake – this is intentional. But it also makes for quite a boring world. The joke about the Guardians of the Globe being literal clones of the Justice League, down to origin stories and powers, is just a little boring, and Omniman being the evil equivalent of Superman is not the big reveal it feels like the show wanted it to be. What reason could he have for suddenly killing everyone other than that his people are a colonialist, imperialist galactic superpower and he's the forerunner to a full-scale invasion. Also, because "bad dad Superman" is really the only way this world deviates from the DC universe, there isn't much attempt at world-building beyond it. And these aren't parodies or seedy, realistic equivalents; outside of Omniman, the heroes are all the same brooding-but-pure-hearted people we see in DC. There's no illicit drug use or power/fame struggles, like The Boys. It's much more vanilla than that.

When the show shines it's the episodes that step away from the whole Omniman/DC stuff. The subplot around Titan (possibly one of the only clear Marvel rip-offs, though I imagine there is a DC character that fits as well) is great, introducing a little more grit into the world, giving Invincible a moment to actually consider the implications of being a hero that go beyond the comic book stuff, and lending a hint of nuance to the story that is otherwise heavily lacking. Is Titan a villain? He's a gangster, sure, but he seems to have relatively moral motives. Similarly, the subplot/mystery around Robot was at least diverting and I thought the pay-off was fairky good. I also enjoyed the college day out episode, though did find the whole cyborg thing (and particularly how their one friend then gets targeted) a bit of a stretch. Still, again, we get some actual character development for our titular star and some focus on the impact of trying to be both a hero and a teenager at once.

Elsewhere, though, the show has opportunities to explore the same themes and falls short. Eve's whole arc could have been way more interesting, for instance, looking into how female superheroes are treated by the media, by fans, by their colleagues, and could also have looked more into her clearly strained relationship with her parents, powers or not. None of this would have been new, but it would have been better than what we got.

What I will say is that the show handled Omniman's final reveal pretty damn well. The mystery build-up had been interesting enough, mainly thanks to his wife and the demon investigator (one of the few slightly original characters, I'd say), but the pay-off was particularly brutal. Not just in the graphic violence, which did at least present a more realistic portrayal of two superpowered people duking it out – and did a solid job of showing just how little Omniman cared for humans on an individual level – but also in how utterly cold he became. Referring to his wife as "like a pet", talking about humans as little more than livestock, about how bored he was with this little "excursion", it all added up to quite an emotional blow for everyone else.

And I guess that's the thing here: the show had to get past the whole "Omniman is evil" thing. Now that's done, perhaps the next season can explore the characters and world a little bit more, flesh things out, and have some fun with the premise beyond simply cloning DC. Time will tell.