Television series
Invincible
Invincible is Steven Yeun's animated superhero coming-of-age story that starts sweet and turns savage: Mark Grayson discovering his powers under his legendary father's tutelage, then discovering exactly what that father is capable of. It's ultra-violent adult animation with real grief and real stakes, funny and horrifying in the same breath, built for people who thought they'd outgrown capes.
If you liked this
The Boys2019
If Invincible's willingness to show exactly what a body looks like after a superpowered punch appealed to you, this got there first and never blinks — corporate satire wrapped around genuine horror.
But The satire is broader and meaner, more interested in shock value and gross-out gags than earned emotion.
Watchmen2019
Same instinct to ask what superheroes actually cost the people around them, swapping teenage coming-of-age for a slow-burn mystery about American history and inherited violence.
But Dense and structurally tricky; it demands more patience upfront than Invincible's punchier episodes ever ask for.
My Hero Academia2016
The gentler mirror image — same mentor-under-a-legend setup, same slow unlocking of powers, but played earnestly instead of nihilistically for anyone who wants the sweetness without the gore.
But Shonen pacing and filler episodes will test anyone used to Invincible's tighter, more adult structure.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Leaving Neverland: The Aftermath2019no page yet
Invincible's central gut-punch is discovering the beloved public hero is a monster at home; this documentary is that same betrayal, minus the fiction and minus any relief.
A documentary about a beloved, godlike public figure who was, in private, someone entirely different to the people closest to him — the exact horror Invincible fictionalizes, here unbearably real.
But This isn't entertainment in any comfortable sense; it's a serious, devastating account of real abuse, not a genre thrill.
More like this (8)
Jupiter's Legacy2021no page yet
Legacy superheroes, disappointing children, and a father whose ideals don't survive contact with his own family — almost the same premise, told straighter and more soberly.
But Cancelled after one season and it shows; less confident, less funny, and it never quite finds its footing.
Attack on Titan2013
Brutal, escalating anime that keeps redrawing who the real villain is, sharing Invincible's appetite for turning a hero's worldview to rubble partway through.
But A long commitment with dense mythology, and a very different visual style if you came for Invincible's American-comic look.
Harley Quinn2019no page yet
Proof adult animation can do superheroes with real blood and real jokes at once — raunchier and sillier, but sharing that gleeful willingness to break its own toys.
But Broader comedy and looser plotting; it's chasing punchlines far more than it's chasing tragedy.
Logan2017
The film that proved a mainstream superhero story could be genuinely brutal and genuinely sad, with a father-figure-and-successor dynamic that rhymes with Mark and Nolan.
But Slower and more elegiac than anything in Invincible; if you want spectacle, this mostly withholds it.
The Umbrella Academy2019
A family of superpowered siblings raised wrong by an absent, controlling patriarch, played with the same mix of dark comedy and real dysfunction.
But Twistier, weirder plotting and a much bigger ensemble to track than Invincible's tighter focus.
X-Men: Days of Future Past2014
If it's the scale and the bone-deep sense that one choice can wreck the world you're after, this is the mainstream superhero epic that actually earns its stakes.
But Studio-safe in a way Invincible never is — nobody's head comes off, metaphorically or otherwise.
The Iron Giant1999
Same premise — colossal strength, a choice about whether to use it, a mentor shaping that choice — played as hope instead of dread.
An animated film about an immensely powerful being who could destroy everything, learning restraint under a human mentor — the sweetness Invincible flashes early on, sustained instead of undercut.
But Gentle and PG, made for children; nobody gets hurt the way they do in Invincible, and that's entirely the point.
East of Eden1955
Nolan and Mark's father-son wound, the favored-versus-unfavored son, and whether a father's love is conditional on obedience — Steinbeck and Kazan got there seventy years early.
James Dean as a son desperate for his powerful father's approval, competing with a golden sibling, in a film that quietly invented the template Invincible's family drama runs on.
But Black-and-white 1950s melodrama with none of the spectacle — it's all in the faces and the silences.
People
Cast
Writing
- Robert KirkmanCreator