‘Invincible’s Most Tragic Character Is Hiding in Plain Sight

In a genre that is quickly becoming saturated with dark, gritty interpretations of superhero stories, Invincible stands out from the rest. Created by Robert Kirkman, this Amazon Prime Video series was one of the pioneers in creating a more grounded, gory narrative around superheroism through its protagonist, Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun). The show continues to excel in using this teen’s adventures (and immense hardships) to create a well-rounded world of people trying to do good and the indescribable horrors that come with such a valiant mission.

From terrifying government experiments to the worst case of father-son conflict the media has ever seen, this program presents countless stories of how tragic being a hero can be and how these traumas would actually impact the people facing them. There is one character, though, who illustrates more than the others that “fighting for good” is easier said than done and that the world is not as black and white as other franchises like Marvel or DC try to present it as. She is a perfect presentation of the series’ complex, horrific themes, and that is why Dupli-Kate (Malese Jow) is Invincible’s most tragic character.

Invincible

Science Fiction

Invincible is an adult animated superhero series that revolves around 17-year-old Mark Grayson, who’s just like every other guy his age — except his father is the most powerful superhero on the planet, Omni-Man. But as Mark develops powers of his own, he discovers his father’s legacy may not be as heroic as it seems.

Creator

Robert Kirkman

Cast

Steven Yeun , J.K. Simmons

Main Genre

Superhero

Seasons

2

Streaming Service(s)

Prime Video

Release Date

March 25, 2021

Developer

Simon Racioppa

‘Invincible’ Shows the Humans Behind the Heroes

While Invincible’s story goes to some truly wild places, its main focus has always been showing Mark Grayson’s journey of discovering just how broad (and terrifying) his world is. The two seasons saw him take up the titular mantle of Invincible, learning to fight evil and eventually coming to blows with his secretly maniacal father, Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons). It’s a huge shock that challenges his perception of what villainy looks like, traumatizing him and his mother, Debbie (Sandra Oh), as they struggle to emotionally reconcile with knowing the man they loved was a monster all along.

It’s an impeccable subversion, one that combines realistic human emotions with the wild premise of superheroes and creates something relatable for the audience — though it becomes slightly jumbled in season 2. While Debbie and Mark still struggle with this revelation, these complicated feelings are largely put aside as the show transcends Earth and begins focusing more on interstellar battles than internal ones. It’s an astounding plot, but it detracts from the real human emotions that have always been at Invincible’s core; in bringing their grounded superhero story to such inhuman heights, the series has lost some of the reliability that made it so endearing in the first place.

Luckily for everyone watching, Invincible has always prioritized granting its tertiary characters their own adventures and personalities, creating as multi-faceted of a world as the comic this show is based on. Whether it be the exploits of villainous family-man Titan (Mahershala Ali) or dedicating a whole episode to the backstory of atomic powerhouse Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs), the show invests in these side plots to highlight the diverse responses people have to the mystical world they inhabit.

Yet even in this world of uniquely interesting characters, Season 1 saw Dupli-Kate, aka Kate Cha, largely sidelined, the young woman standing by and flexing her impressive ability to create copies of herself while only really serving as a pawn in Rex Splode (Jason Mantzoukas) and Eve’s messy relationship. Luckily, she received the treatment that so much of Invincible does — the creators took a closer look at her and what the reality of a power like hers would be. And in doing so, they not only granted this character some much-needed depth, but also presented one of the most tragic experiences the series has ever seen.

Dupli-Kate Lives One of the Hardest Lives on ‘Invincible’

Invincible showcases humanity in the superhuman, using its darker themes to interrogate what the real experiences of heroes like these would be. Dupli-Kate has not been one of this franchise’s flashier characters; a member of “The Guardians of the Globe,” while her fighting skills are impressive, they often pale in comparison to the earth-shattering abilities of her contemporaries. Season 2 showed her pursuing a relationship with the Immortal (Ross Marquand), and in doing so revealed an aspect of her abilities that nobody was aware of: Kate’s mind is aware and present in every one of her clones, experiencing every moment of their copied lives. This makes her mental age hundreds of years old and casts her quiet nature in a new light, the silence indicating a steely maturity that sets her above the youthful ignorance of her team members and their petty fights. It’s an intriguing new semantic of her abilities that made audiences question how mind-bending an experience living in so many different forms would feel like — and it also made them remember just how many times they’ve seen Kate’s clones die.

Through Omni-Man and the Immortal, the show stresses the pitfalls of a life that goes on for too long and how much that can warp someone’s mind. Even more, in a heartbreaking scene in Season 2’s finale, Kate makes it clear that she feels every single sickening death that her clones experience at the expense of helping out her team. Her life is one of constantly splitting herself into different pieces and then having to experience those parts dying in some of the most upsetting ways possible; the show has seen her clones get torn apart, blown up, and more, Kate feeling every second of each demise.

Despite how traumatizing these moments are, she continues to put herself into these situations all in the hopes that these deaths will help her save the day and protect innocent lives. Through Mark, audiences see how troubling it can be to give oneself up in the name of the greater good and the mental impact that would have on a person, and while his experience is extremely compelling, it doesn’t compare to the thousands of lives Kate has knowingly given up in the name of her mission. She is a teenage hero just like Mark, who understands better than anyone else what it takes to be a genuine hero in this world, and she deserves credit for committing to this cause more than anyone else in the series.

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Dupli-Kate Reveals What ‘Invincible’ Is All About

In a program as galaxy-spanning and complex as Invincible, it could be a huge storytelling detriment to veer away from Mark’s main plot that audiences have become invested in to speculate on the experiences of those around him. But it’s the way that the series grants its side plot focus that helps viewers understand the dynamics of Mark’s world and the effects it has on those within it. This is exemplified in Kate, the show using how hard she works — and how much she has sacrificed — to display the terrible messiness that comes from wholly dedicating your life to being a hero. Her powers have left her mature and deeply scarred, and it’s through this dynamic that she epitomizes the show’s understanding of “doing good” in a universe with such terrifying monsters. Kate’s life is a tragic one, but it’s one she chooses for the good of all.

Invincible is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.

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