Amazon shines a green light on Robert Kirkman’s Invincible animated series

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

I hope you're in the mood for something quite brutal, because Amazon Studios has announced that they've given an eight-episode hourlong animated series order to INVINCIBLE, an adaptation of the Image Comics series of the same name co-created by THE WALKING DEAD's Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker and artist Ryan Ottley.

Set as the first series to be given the go-ahead since Kirkman penned a deal with Amazon Studios last year, INVINCIBLE is an adult-oriented animated superhero show that centers around Mark Grayson, a normal teenager except for the fact that his father is the most powerful superhero on the planet. Shortly after his seventeenth birthday, Mark begins to develop powers and is then made to fly under his father's wing. In my time spent reading the series, I've found it to be an emotional and action-packed roller coaster ride that in many ways goes against the typical grain of superhero stories. However, while the story does focus on team-building friendships and coming to terms with the monumental responsibilities related to being a superhero, it's also quite dark, and at times, extraordinarily violent.

INVINCIBLE is produced by Skybound, with Simon Racioppa (TEEN TITANS) set as the upcoming animated program's showrunner. Racioppa will also executive produce alongside Skybound’s Kirkman and David Alpert (THE WALKING DEAD, FEAR THE WALKING DEAD), Catherine Winder (STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS) with Supervising Directors Justin & Chris Copeland (AVENGERS ASSEMBLE, ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN).

“Robert has an uncanny talent to predict the zeitgeist, and we are incredibly excited to see him break boundaries in an animated one-hour format,” said Sharon Yguado, Head of Scripted Genre Programming, Amazon Studios. “In a world saturated with superhero fare, we trust Robert to subvert expectations while encapsulating a story filled with heart and adrenaline. We love his ambitious plan for the show and believe it will look like nothing else on television.”

Oh, but an 8-episode series isn't all that's in store for Kirkman's second-longest comic book series. INVINCIBLE, which ended its 15-year-long run in February of this year is also in the process of being developed into a major motion picture. For the moment, there's no telling how the animated presentation will handle the book's over-the-top superhero violence, or if it will explore some of INVINCIBLE's harsher themes of parental abandon and forced heroism.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the series Cory Walker, Ryan Ottley and I did together for over 15 years,” said Kirkman. “To know our characters will live on in multiple iterations in other media is almost too exciting to bear! What Amazon is allowing us to do in animated form is nothing short of ground-breaking, and I can’t wait for our rabid fan base to experience it!”

When INVINCIBLE arrives, it will premiere globally on Amazon Prime Video in over 200 countries and territories.