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It'll be news to no one that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is on something of a downswing. While there's still plenty of excitement around upcoming releases like Spider-Man 4 (which is currently drip-feeding its new trailer) and Avengers: Doomsday, the box office is down – in fact, 2025 was the first non-pandemic year since 2011 that a Marvel Studios movie wasn't one of the top 10 highest-grossing movies of the year.
But the MCU isn't the only game in town, and neither is James Gunn's DCU. Over on Prime Video, Invincible – the animated adaptation of Robert Kirkman's comic of the same name – has quietly been going from strength to strength, despite (or perhaps because) it does superhero storytelling a little differently than what audiences might be used to from Marvel.
"I think that superhero storytelling was so novel when the Marvel Cinematic Universe started," Kirkman begins. "There was such a different feel to all that stuff that it was special in and of itself. And just seeing Iron Man existing and seeing Thor and Captain America together – everything was so new and exciting that it fed that machine for so very long. I think that we're not necessarily seeing superhero fatigue in general. I think it's just that the audience has gotten used to that. And so now the audience is very much like, 'Well, what have you done for me lately?' I think that is kind of the mode that we're in now."
There's a certain truth to the idea that Marvel's MO has gotten a little stale. Iron Man set the template for the MCU back in 2008, and nothing has truly broken the mould in that universe ever since. Invincible, which faithfully adapts Kirkman's comics, feels radically different by comparison. Instead of an endless procession of one-and-done villains, there are recurring threats like the long-teased sequid invasion (which pays off early in Invincible season 4), the intermittent appearance of the increasingly powerful Flaxans, and, of course, the looming threat of a Viltrumite conquest (no pun intended) of Earth. These have played out over multiple seasons, closely mirroring more long-term, comic-book-style storytelling.
"If you're going to do a big superhero thing, it has to be special, and it has to be unique, and it has to add something," Kirkman continues. "Just being a really good superhero thing is not going to cut the mustard because if we want a really good superhero thing, we have almost a hundred options. So I think that's what we're experiencing now. And I think that as we're seeing the landscape changing, everything that's working now brings some kind of new element to it that's novel and unique and exciting and different. And I think there's no diminished hunger for superhero material. It's just that the audience is, I think, a little bit more discerning."
Discerning audiences can get their fill of Invincible when the first three episodes of season 4 drop on March 18. For more, check out Invincible season 4 review, or never miss an episode with our Invincible season 4 release schedule.
