Invincible season 4 starts off strong, with familiar conflicts, character dynamics, and plot progression. “Making the World a Better Place” opens with a montage of various heroes fighting tons of random villains. It becomes clear that Mark is sacrificing his mental health for all of his heroics, never having a chance to breathe, as he almost kills a dinosaur villain. From there, the episode casts a wide net from Eve’s home life to Debbie’s love life and even more additional villains. After a played-out dinner scene with Mark and Eve’s parents, the primary antagonists of the episode are introduced. Sequids start taking innocent people as hosts as a woman from outside of Earth seeks to steal power from an enormous power plant. Mark, yet again concerned for Eve’s safety and his own violence, goes to save the power plant with Eve, who struggles with her deteriorating powers. Simultaneously, a newly recruited Guardians of the Globe attempt to stop the Sequid spread. Mark is forced to help, with his Viltrumite violence rearing its ugly head. 

Underneath the shocking violence and alien lore, Invincible has constantly tread the same ground seen in countless other superhero stories. Throughout its entire run, Mark has struggled with common superhero issues, wondering if his violence will get out of hand, if he can protect everyone, and if he can strike a healthy work/life balance. “Making the World a Better Place” hits all of these notes with Mark’s character while providing fairly engaging plot escalations throughout. As it stands, Invincible is extremely cluttered with creatures and costumed characters, making some of the newer ones difficult to fully engage with at first. Despite a slow start, the second half of the episode provides engaging conflict and visually compelling intercut action sequences. The groundwork for numerous conflicts is laid out arduously and clearly. Said interpersonal tension is necessary for future conflict, and some dynamics shine through, namely with Debbie and Oliver. Debbie’s reckoning with how Oliver has co-opted the iconography of Omni-Man was a dramatic highlight of the episode. 

The rest of the interpersonal conflict checked the necessary yet familiar boxes of Eve’s overprotective father, everything bad being Mark’s fault, and Eve’s loss of powers. To be clear, the scenes of character building function well within the story; they just so happen not to tell an incredibly unique one. The episode seems to promise a more interesting exploration of Mark’s violence and morality, which would be compelling had every previous season not broached the subject through various scenes of Mark, covered in blood, feeling conflicted and remorseful. In isolation, though, this was an engaging opening to season 4, extremely consistent with the rest of the show, for better or worse. The episode lays fairly compelling groundwork for future conflict, both physical and interpersonal. Nothing all that shocking happens on the front of physical or internal conflict in this episode, leaving it to feel more like another Invincible installment than a compelling hook for a new season. Regardless, the episode’s climax delivered engaging visuals and character conflict, building some excitement for the previous installments. 

Rating: 6/10