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Top TV Memes: The Best Meme Formats From 'Invincible'
Editor's Note: This editorial contains spoilers for Invincible season 1; read at your own caution.
Invincible is an Amazon Prime original series based on the comics of the same name, and it’s gained a huge following since its release in March. It follows Mark Grayson (voiced by Steven Yeun), the teenage son of the superhero Omni-Man (voiced by J. K. Simmons) as he discovers he too has superpowers. Despite being beaten within an inch of his life in almost every episode, Mark takes on the superhero name Invincible and seeks to fight danger across the globe.
The Invincible fandom is known for its memes, many of which have become mainstream templates beyond the fandom, such as the recent That’s the Neat Part, You Don’t. They’re also known for joking about Mark getting punched, laughing at the darkest plotlines and existing in an eternal state of chaos as they wait for season two. Here are some of the best memes, both huge and small, from the popular series, as well as the episodes they’re found in.
Most Popular Memes: Season 1, Episode 8: "Where I Really Come From"
This episode serves as the season finale, and it’s a lot to handle. It’s not really shocking to find that Omni-Man is pretty evil in this episode. If you’ve seen any Think, Mark memes from this episode, you’ve already seen Omni-Man hunched over the bloodied near-dead figure of his son, screaming at him in anger. So if you haven’t already inferred that he’s a bad guy, I don’t feel bad about spoiling it for you. Fans couldn’t say they were surprised by the new revelations that come up here, since he literally murders an entire planet in the second episode, but the casual gory murder of hundreds of people on a train is particularly random and brutal, leading to dozens of memes within the Invincible fandom about the abrupt change of pace.
Another huge meme to come from this episode is Omni-Man’s quote "Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our power!" that comes from a fight scene between him and Mark witnessed by several jets.
Aside from those three, another meme format that’s a little lesser known has recently sprung up based on episode eight depicting Mark crying while Omni-Man floats in the background, trying to explain something to him with obvious frustration. This is supposed to be one of the most emotionally charged scenes in the entire series, but the internet obviously found a way to make this into a joke as well, and Mark’s breakdown is now being used in some parts of the fandom as a reaction image.
Most Meme Potential: Season 1, Episode 3: "Who You Calling Ugly?"
In this episode, Mark teams up with other heroes to deal with a new threat. As Omni-Man watches two of the characters speak with one another about training, he stands high above them and mutters to himself, "Pathetic." Just like every other scene from a movie or TV show with the line "pathetic," this became a meme, and there was so little context or purpose to this line that it’s likely the writers of the show knew exactly what they were doing by making Omni-Man say the word. This is particularly popular within the Invincible fandom, where his quote is frequently used as a reaction.
However, one of the main conflicts of this episode remains fairly unexplored in the meme world. There’s a scene in which a villain named Doc Seismic (voiced by Chris Diamantopoulos), who allegedly is motivated by brain damage alone, tries to destroy Mount Rushmore while hurling witty catchphrases and screeching with laughter. At one point, this includes probably the most awkward line on TV as Doc Seismic tries to crush a family with the giant falling head of Abraham Lincoln, yelling, "He'll emancipate you from your lives!" The whole scene is really bizarre and unexpected for the show, and it feels like a disservice to the meme world that anything from this hasn’t become a part of the mainstream or fandom-based meme culture.
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