Summary

Collider’s Maggie Lovitt chats with Invincible creator Robert Kirkman at New York Comic Con 2025 ahead of Season 4.

Invincible Season 4 introduces Lee Pace as Thragg, Grand Regent of Viltrum Empire, and ups the stakes as Steven Yeun’s Mark Grayson is changed forever.

In this interview, Kirkman teases the darker path Mark heads down, just how much Thragg we’ll be seeing, why Episode 4 will be pivotal to the season and Bruce Campbell’s role in it, and why “Superman sucks.”

Robert Kirkman is one of the premier names in the world of comic books. Whether he’s advancing the story of a pre-existing character or delivering an original story, Kirkman is always pushing the medium in print or on screen. The latest work by the mind behind The Walking Dead, Outcast, and Ultimate X-Men, Invincible, is a series based on his own comic. As a signature face of the comic book industry, Kirkman is a mainstay at all conventions, especially Comic-Con, where he is always honest and open about his artistic process. Invincible, Kirkman’s animated superhero series for Prime Video, follows a teenager, Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), whose father, Nolan Grayson (J.K. Simmons), is the most powerful superhero on the planet, known as Omni-Man to the public. Mark follows in his father’s footsteps by taking on the alter ego of Invincible, Earth’s new mightiest hero. The series is set to release its fourth season in 2026, with a fifth season recently picked up by Amazon. The stacked voice cast also includes Sandra Oh, Gillian Jacobs, Jason Mantzoukas, Walton Goggins, with Season 4 introducing Lee Pace as General Thragg. Kirkman returned to New York Comic-Con 2025, where he chatted with Collider’s Maggie Lovitt to discuss all things Invincible. The writer-producer teased many exciting details about the upcoming fourth season, but he’s aware of the high expectations the show has set for itself. Describing Invincible as an “escalating show,” Kirkman said, “If you saw the finale of Season 3, we’re definitely going to have to do something in Season 4 to top that in some way.” Kirkman also teases Bruce Campbell’s anticipated involvement in Season 4 in the completely original storyline the creator wrote for Episode 4, and attempts to settle another vital question: who would win in a fight between Omni-Man, Homelander, or Superman? Check out the full interview between Kirkman and Collider in the video above or the transcript below.
‘Invincible’s Mark Grayson Is Going Down a “Dark Road” in Season 4

Robert Kirkman also teases General Thragg’s involvement in the season.

Thragg holding Invincible by the neck in spaceImage via Image Comics

COLLIDER: Let’s kick things straight off with Invincible. I want to know what you can tease about the upcoming season. What is the threat level of Season 4? ROBERT KIRKMAN: Invincible is an escalating show, so if you saw the finale of Season 3, we’re definitely going to have to do something in Season 4 to top that in some way, and I’m very confident that we do. I think that in many ways, the events of Season 4 are something that we’ve been building to since the very first minute of Season 1. This is going to be a really exciting season. There’s going to be, possibly, a little bit more Omni-Man than we’ve seen in past seasons, and it’s going to be a huge transition period for Mark. As we saw at the end of Season 3, he’s decided that striving to not kill villains is a mistake in the wake of what happened with Angstrom Levy and Conquest. He’s going to be taking a different path starting in Season 4, and that is going to take him down a dark road. There’s going to be some huge ramifications of that. We’re just really excited for people to get to see it. I know a lot of fans are really excited about Thragg. What can you tease about him? Is he the main antagonist for Season 4, or will there be more threats beyond him that we need to worry about? KIRKMAN: I feel like the less said, the better at this point. But I will say that he is in this season far more than you might expect, far sooner than you might expect it. Oh, that’s a good tease. KIRKMAN: I’ll say that. That’s a very good tease. KIRKMAN: You are not going to be watching Season 4 going, “I wish there was more Thragg.” You will, but there’s still going to be a lot. I love that.
Bruce Campbell Is a Major Player in ‘Invincible’ Season 4, Episode 4

Kirkman wrote an original story for Episode 4, not seen in the comics.

Bruce Campbell spoke with us about his series Hysteria! at SDCC 2024.Image via Comic-Con

With Season 3, you wrote two episodes. How many episodes did you write for Season 4? KIRKMAN: Technically, only one. Is it the premiere or somewhere in the middle? KIRKMAN: I wrote the fourth episode. I can say that. I shouldn’t have said that. I should have said what it was. It was a very special episode to me because it represents a new story that isn’t from the comics, and so I wanted to tackle that. Then the whole season was so complicated that I was really just working with Simon Racioppa to make sure all the beats land and everything. But we have a great writing staff that handled the specific stuff. I love a good writers’ room.

Robert Kirkman talking to Maggie Lovitt at NYCC 2025 for Invincible Season 4.Image via JT Anderson

What can you tease about Bruce Campbell’s mysterious demon and all of those components? Because I know people are really excited about that. KIRKMAN: Possibly a big part of this aforementioned Episode 4, which, cat’s out of the bag, I guess. So congratulations, Collider. Bruce was absolutely awesome. Huge part of that episode. He’s an icon in the industry, and I’ve known him for a while, and was really excited that he was able to come in and do that voice. I don’t want to spoil too much, but there’s some cool stuff in that episode, and it’s definitely off the beaten path, a big sidestep from what you’d normally expect from an Invincible episode, which is really fun and exciting for me. So, I hope fans really enjoy it. I’m sure they will. I know a lot of people are really excited for this at Collider. One of my coworkers made a really interesting point about how Invincible has done really well with some of the meta-casting. You have Jeffrey Dean Morgan having another face-off, you have Bruce Campbell becoming the Evil Dead. What goes into some of these choices in the casting and making it more than just a cameo? KIRKMAN: It’s really just the best actor for the role. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was the best Conquest. He was absolutely perfect for that role. And I think that in the past, someone might have thought, “Well, it’s going to be like fourth-wall-breaky if it’s Steven Yeun versus Jeffrey Dean Morgan again, and it’s going to maybe take people out of the story,” but I feel like the media-consuming public has become so savvy and so aware of so many behind-the-scenes things that go on in production that it’s not really a concern anymore. I think that in some way it’s almost additive. We have a really crowded media landscape. There are 1,000 TV shows, 100 movies, streaming has exploded what’s available to us. Decades of old entertainment is available at the tip of our fingertips. So, I think a show needs every little thing that it can do to stand out and get attention, and I think that anything like that, where it’s like meta-casting or something that draws attention to a role beyond just being a great actor and a cool story and everything, we need all the help we can get these days. So, we just try to go for it. We absolutely do, and I’m glad people are tuning in and watching Invincible.
Robert Kirkman Settles This Super Debate

“Superman sucks.”

Robert Kirkman talking with Collider at NYCC 2025 for Invincible Season 4.Image via JT Anderson

I want you to settle a debate that we’ve had at Collider. Who would be walking away from a battle with Omni-Man versus Superman versus Homelander? This has been a hot debate among the Slack channels. KIRKMAN: Well, Homelander is a weakling. And that’s not any kind of antagonistic thing. It’s a very grounded world, and so Homelander, on the scale of other superheroes, is very low. But Superman sucks. Omni-Man takes him down easily. I’ve said this before. Every time I say it, a bunch of Superman fans, if you can believe there is such a thing, come out of the woodwork and attack me online as if I said something that’s not definitively and indisputably true. But Omni-Man would completely trash that guy. Superman, “Oh my gosh, in the golden age, he moved planets.” Okay, whatever. Who knows if Omni-Man could do that? Maybe he could. Maybe pay attention to Season 4. Who knows? But, yeah, I think that Superman is absolute trash. But James Gunn’s movie was excellent. It was very punk. [Laughs] KIRKMAN: [Laughs] She said dismissively. No, it was very punk. I loved it! KIRKMAN: I know what you were trying to say. It’s okay. Collider does not endorse the James Gunn’s Superman. You heard it here first. That is not true! I’m actually a huge Superman fan. I’m so offended. [Laughs]

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Release Date

March 26, 2021

Network

Amazon Prime Video

Franchise(s)

Invincible