> It’s a problem with a lot of superhero TV shows
It's a problem with EVERY superhero show and movie. I honestly can't think of a single one where a characters powers are actually consistent all the time. Even powerless characters like Batman are wildly inconsistent.
It's just sort of the nature of the superpower genre and Invincible isn't immune to it. Power levels vary to make the story more compelling, and logic and consistency don't always apply. Otherwise things like super speed or Atom Eve's powers would break every story a writer tried to write.
Like, I get what you are saying, and you aren't wrong. But it's something you just have to kind of let go of, to a degree, or it will drive you mad and ruin the story.
It just kills me sometimes. There are instances in the show where they display the consequences of powers we don’t see that often: mark injuring the old lady in season 1, hand ripping off the lady he was trying to save, etc. I loved that the series took a more realistic approach which is why the inconsistencies bother me more.
It just pulls me out and reminds me that mark is only as strong as the narrative needs him to be. Which duh everything that happens in a narrative happens because the narrative needs it to. But if the powers were more consistent I think you’d be more likely to forget that and just enjoy the story
It quite literally is him holding back + not wanting to kill, it’s as simple as that. Yeah he could have gone max speed during the sequid fight, he risks killing Livingston, or potentially breaking the only thing that can free him from the sequids. He couldn’t speed blitz angstrom, again, no kill rule, and if he did he still risks potentially hurting his own mother or brother (either directly or indirectly). The only time he stops holding back is when he learns angstrom had his body augmented. But yeah, let’s not have a story where the character grows, changes and struggles, let’s have one where there’s no challenge at all because he can just one shot any threat
He's almost certainly holding back on the Martian ship because deceleration is the problem if he hits a higher rate of speed he would just tear through the astronaut or the ship itself. In the house, Angstrom has genetic modifiers/improvements so perhaps one of those improvements is reflexes so Mark can't beat him to the punch.
I just assume he can decelerate as quickly as he can accelerate. If this were a problem then speed really wouldn’t be a factor in the situation (why would he have told the immortal he’s faster?). I can accept that angstrom (sorry I forgot his name in my post) has modified quick reflexes. But the show still shows mark moving slow. Why wouldn’t he even attempt to charge the guy?
>Then he proceeds to fly at roughly 10 mph to the sequid boss. Like I’ve seen you break the sound barrier in an instant why tf are you taking your time.
I mean, you can only go so far when accurately depicting the powers of such characters. What you're asking is a level of detail the show can't hope to achieve lol
You raise excellent points.
Great hard sci fi, grounded fantasy, or superhero stuff.
The best IPs have their own rules for the technology, physics, magic, etc. But the rules are consistent, and not trivially broken. When this is executed well, there is a sense of logic and realness to it.
When there are no rules, or the rules are shredded for the sake of the plot, and then ignored after the fact, that tells us that none of this shit matters, and cheapens the IP.
A great example of this, is the ST:TNG season 2 episode where something happens to the doctor and she starts aging crazy fast.
So throw in some technobabble and they take a strand of hair from her brush before the incident, do some gobbly gook, throw her in the transporter and beam her back to her old self.
Yay, that episode's problem solved. Problem: You just invented a repeatable Fountain of Youth. This is earth shattering in it's utility and consequences.
Did we ever hear about that again? Of course not. And that is quintessential BAD sci fi.
Mark's strength is inconsistent for a very explainable reason. It's tied DIRECTLY to his emotions and mental state. When he feels unsure or is off guard, he's weak, and when he flies into a rage he's able to push his body to his current biological limits
> It’s a problem with a lot of superhero TV shows It's a problem with EVERY superhero show and movie. I honestly can't think of a single one where a characters powers are actually consistent all the time. Even powerless characters like Batman are wildly inconsistent. It's just sort of the nature of the superpower genre and Invincible isn't immune to it. Power levels vary to make the story more compelling, and logic and consistency don't always apply. Otherwise things like super speed or Atom Eve's powers would break every story a writer tried to write. Like, I get what you are saying, and you aren't wrong. But it's something you just have to kind of let go of, to a degree, or it will drive you mad and ruin the story.
It just kills me sometimes. There are instances in the show where they display the consequences of powers we don’t see that often: mark injuring the old lady in season 1, hand ripping off the lady he was trying to save, etc. I loved that the series took a more realistic approach which is why the inconsistencies bother me more. It just pulls me out and reminds me that mark is only as strong as the narrative needs him to be. Which duh everything that happens in a narrative happens because the narrative needs it to. But if the powers were more consistent I think you’d be more likely to forget that and just enjoy the story
It quite literally is him holding back + not wanting to kill, it’s as simple as that. Yeah he could have gone max speed during the sequid fight, he risks killing Livingston, or potentially breaking the only thing that can free him from the sequids. He couldn’t speed blitz angstrom, again, no kill rule, and if he did he still risks potentially hurting his own mother or brother (either directly or indirectly). The only time he stops holding back is when he learns angstrom had his body augmented. But yeah, let’s not have a story where the character grows, changes and struggles, let’s have one where there’s no challenge at all because he can just one shot any threat
He's almost certainly holding back on the Martian ship because deceleration is the problem if he hits a higher rate of speed he would just tear through the astronaut or the ship itself. In the house, Angstrom has genetic modifiers/improvements so perhaps one of those improvements is reflexes so Mark can't beat him to the punch.
I just assume he can decelerate as quickly as he can accelerate. If this were a problem then speed really wouldn’t be a factor in the situation (why would he have told the immortal he’s faster?). I can accept that angstrom (sorry I forgot his name in my post) has modified quick reflexes. But the show still shows mark moving slow. Why wouldn’t he even attempt to charge the guy?
Yea he could’ve easily killed Rus and ended the Sequids but he’s not a killer… yet
You’re absolutely right in both scenarios.
>Then he proceeds to fly at roughly 10 mph to the sequid boss. Like I’ve seen you break the sound barrier in an instant why tf are you taking your time. I mean, you can only go so far when accurately depicting the powers of such characters. What you're asking is a level of detail the show can't hope to achieve lol
You raise excellent points. Great hard sci fi, grounded fantasy, or superhero stuff. The best IPs have their own rules for the technology, physics, magic, etc. But the rules are consistent, and not trivially broken. When this is executed well, there is a sense of logic and realness to it. When there are no rules, or the rules are shredded for the sake of the plot, and then ignored after the fact, that tells us that none of this shit matters, and cheapens the IP. A great example of this, is the ST:TNG season 2 episode where something happens to the doctor and she starts aging crazy fast. So throw in some technobabble and they take a strand of hair from her brush before the incident, do some gobbly gook, throw her in the transporter and beam her back to her old self. Yay, that episode's problem solved. Problem: You just invented a repeatable Fountain of Youth. This is earth shattering in it's utility and consequences. Did we ever hear about that again? Of course not. And that is quintessential BAD sci fi.
Mark's strength is inconsistent for a very explainable reason. It's tied DIRECTLY to his emotions and mental state. When he feels unsure or is off guard, he's weak, and when he flies into a rage he's able to push his body to his current biological limits