2021 has been a year filled with no shortage of superhero movies and shows, from The Suicide Squad and Black Widow to Loki and WandaVision. But remarkably, one of the most popular superhero shows of the year isn’t even based on a Marvel or DC comic, but the Image Comics series Invincible.
Invincible, created by Robert Kirkman — the same writer responsible for The Walking Dead — originally ran from 2003 to 2018. The comic’s animated adaptation, which premiered on Amazon Prime back in March of this year, also features Kirkman working behind the scenes as a writer and executive producer, making sure that the show stays true to the spirit of the comic. And considering that the animated Invincible has received massive acclaim from fans and critics alike, currently holding a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s safe to say that the gamble of producing a big-budget adult animated series based on an independent creator-owned comic has paid off in spades.
In fact, the Invincible animated series has proven to be so successful that it’s already been renewed for a second and third season on Amazon Prime — a fact that was publicly announced the very day that the first season’s finale episode was released. In just a few months, Invincible has gone from an indie comic known only by hardcore superhero fans to a household name and one of 2021’s biggest streaming hits. So needless to say, big things can be expected from Invincible going forward — including, it would seem, a live-action film.
A live-action Invincible has been in the works since 2017, with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg — the duo behind Superbad, This is the End, and Preacher, who also served as executive producers on both Invincible and The Boys — attached as the writers, directors, and producers of the project. There have been no updates on the movie since then, but Robert Kirkman assured fans earlier this year that the film was still in the works, and is intended to coexist with the animated series as a separate adaptation of the original comic.
But with the runaway success of the animated series, one has to wonder whether a second Invincible adaptation is necessary in the first place. It’s easy to see the appeal, of course — it’s the dream of every comic fan to see their favorite hero brought to life on the big screen. And while superhero movies were once limited by the special effects of the time, the past decade has proven that the over-the-top adventures of the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Justice League can indeed be translated to live-action while faithfully depicting the heroes and their powers in all their glory. The sort of comic adaptation that was once thought impossible has become not just possible, but commonplace.
However, that doesn’t mean that live-action film is the be-all and end-all of superhero adaptations. With the prominence of Marvel and DC’s film franchises in recent years, it’s easy to forget that there was a time not too long ago when the majority of superhero adaptations weren’t in live-action, but rather in animation. Back in the 90s, the most popular interpretations of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, and the X-Men weren’t found on film or in the comics, but in Saturday morning cartoons. Despite being ostensibly made for children, shows like Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men: The Animated Series have stood the test of time and are still remembered as some of the most iconic takes on their source material, capturing the spirit of the comics in ways that the films have arguably never done.
The trend of massively successful superhero cartoons even continued into the 2000s, bringing memorable series like Teen Titans, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Young Justice, and Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. But over the course of the past decade, superhero cartoons have gradually fallen out of the spotlight in favor of live-action films. And while the increase in the overall quality of live-action superhero films is certainly to be appreciated, that doesn’t mean that live-action is necessarily the best medium for every story, or that every great comic needs a live-action adaptation to begin with.
The world of Invincible is one filled with countless heroes and villains, all with their own unique fantastical powers and distinct story arcs. It’s a series with an intricate and tightly woven story — one that involves no shortage of gory, over-the-top fight scenes along the way. In other words, Invincible is the exact kind of story that’s better suited for animation over live-action to begin with. Plus, it’s hard to imagine any actor other than Steven Yeun bringing Invincible to life, just as J.K. Simmons is a perfect Omni-Man, Sandra Oh is a masterful Debbie Grayson, and Walton Goggins is an impeccable Cecil Stedman.
That isn’t to say that a live-action Invincible film couldn’t be good. In fact, it could very well be excellent. But with the animated Invincible already serving as a faithful, beloved adaptation of the source material, there isn’t much that a live-action movie could do that the animated series hasn’t already done to perfection. There’s been plenty of cases over the years where a live-action adaptation only serves to water down the qualities that made the original story great to begin with — a struggle that anime fans know all too well by now. So considering how well the animated Invincible has adapted the source material, it might be best to just stick with what works. Sometimes live-action adaptations aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, especially when animation can do the job just as well.