Prime VideoAfter his efforts against Conquest in Invincible Season 3, viewers are keen to know if he dies in the comics. If you want to spoil it for yourself, keep reading.
For those who haven’t read the Invincible comics, Oliver’s introduction would have been an enormous shock. He’s Mark’s half-brother, born to a Thraxan mother after Nolan fled Earth in the wake of Season 1’s finale.
Due to his Thraxan genealogy, he ages much faster than humans. By the start of the third season, he’s already a young boy and very eager to fight crime, especially after he gets his powers. However, after he murders the Mauler Twins, it becomes clear that he doesn’t fully understand right and wrong – nor does he believe that all life is precious.
In Robert Kirkman’s eyes, the Invincible TV show is a “second draft” of the story, so there’s a chance it could change Oliver’s fate (especially after the Invincible vs Conquest fight). However, if you want to know if he dies in the comics, here’s the answer.
Does Oliver die in the Invincible comics?
Prime VideoYes, Oliver dies in Invincible Issue #132, killed by Thragg as he tries to protect Mark and Eve’s daughter Terra.
There’s a lot to take in from that sentence if you haven’t read the comics. In short, Thragg is the big bad of Invincible; he’s stronger than Conquest, Omni-Man, Anissa, and pretty much every other character in the story. He’s the Grand Regent of the empire; in other words, the head honcho.
As for Terra, she’s born under… violent circumstances that I don’t want to divulge, because that’s not why you’re here. Besides that, she’s as normal as the child of a half-Viltrumite and a woman with transmutation powers can be.
At this point in the issue, Mark returns after a not-so-brief trip to the past (stay focused!) and decides to spend some time away from Telescaria (you don’t want this context yet, trust me). However, Thragg finds his location and orders his children (Ursaal and Onaan) to kill him.
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Image ComicsWhen they arrive, Ursaal focuses on Eve while Onaan pursues Mark as he tries to get Terra to safety. He drops her… and she realizes she’s able to fly. Phew!
Alas, Thragg swoops in and grabs her by the ankle. Just as he’s about to crush her head like an empty soda can, Oliver gets there just in time to tackle him.
They fight, but it doesn’t go well. “Now I see where your loyalty lies,” Thraggs tells him, and after a scuffle, Thragg punches straight through Oliver’s chest, splaying his insides out of his back. He appears to die almost instantly from the attack.
How the comics explain Oliver’s death
Image ComicsViltrumites seem to endure much worse than what kills Oliver in Invincible, but there may be a key to their regenerative abilities and durability: their hearts.
Think about it: Nolan’s back was broken in Invincible Season 2, but that didn’t kill him; Omni-Man beat Mark to a pulp in Season 1, battering his face until it was unrecognizable, and he still survived; and Nolan and Allen killed a Viltrumite soldier in the prison breakout by double-punching his head, effectively decapitating him.
In other words, you can definitely kill a Viltrumite by removing their head. However, Oliver takes a punch through the chest, an injury that happens to other characters elsewhere in the comics – and they survive (after a lengthy stint in hospital, of course).
So, why does Oliver die? It’s never stated outright, but it’s clear his heart was damaged (if not pulverized) when Thragg punched him. As… another character explains, if a Viltrumite’s heart is damaged, the body may not be strong enough to repair itself.
Oliver’s death is still controversial for Invincible fans
Prime VideoIt’s a big deal when a character dies in Invincible. There are several moments where it seems like someone is dead, but they miraculously recover from their injuries – but when they die, the impact of that moment is seismic.
Oliver’s death is weirdly understated and rushed. It eventually causes a rift between Mark and Allen, as well as giving him a reason to get back into the fight, but we don’t really see how it affects his wife, Haluma, and their twin children.
“It’s honestly such bullsh*t,” one Redditor wrote. “It’s upsetting because Oliver was such a fun and interesting character but it felt like they just tossed him aside at the end.”
“Oliver’s death is horrific and meaningless and a very bad writing flaw. It just doesn’t make sense I hope that in the series if he’s going to die I hope he dies in a better and better-built way and that it generates more consequences,” another commented.
“I feel like it was definitely underplayed, but it was important to establish Thragg as the super strong big bad. I only wish it would’ve happened in a more logical way for a Viltrumite,” a third wrote.
Kirkman hasn’t addressed the criticism surrounding Oliver’s fate. It’ll be a long time before we get to that moment in the show, so perhaps he’ll figure out a slightly different version of his death.
After the finale, find out what we know about Invincible Season 4 and read our guide on how to read Invincible comics if you want to know more spoilers – like what happens to Powerplex, Angstrom Levy, and Darkwing II.
You can also keep tabs on the show’s soundtrack and find other shows like Invincible to watch next.
We also spoke to Robert Kirkman, who explained why Spawn couldn’t appear in the Invincible War and why there may not be a Rex Splode special anytime soon. He also gave us an update on the Invincible video game.