Considering that in one issue, he openly chose his daughter in his original timeline over saving millions of lives in an alternate one...that, Ares, is an understatement...Ares wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 6:23 amYou know, Mark could actually be the perfect example of why superheroes NEED a secret identity and a normal life. Mark basically focused on being a superhero to the exclusion of all else, he spent most of his career being told by other people what to do, and his style of combat is exclusively about using overwhelming force. That works out in his version of the Invincible-Image-verse, but in the DC or Marvel universes I imagine he'd be in a lot more trouble.
Basically, since he never really had to spend time as a normal guy, he never got good at making up superhero excuses, thinking on his feet, or developing a supporting cast that helped keep him grounded. He also was just too happy to be led around by his dad, not-Nick Fury, Alan, Robot, Eve, and Dinosaurus, and when he rebelled against them, he often acted incredibly impulsive. And it wasn't like these people were mentoring him on how to be a proper superhero, they were just telling him what to do, and usually he did it. So he neither got actual training in superheroing from an experienced hero, nor was he mostly on his own and figuring stuff out for himself.
He also only ever fought guys on his level every once in a while, and since all of them were just different flavors of brick, he just traded blows with them until someone stopped moving. He never really had to develop any clever combat tactics, unique uses for his superpowers, brick tricks, etc. The only thing that saved him was that he was a Sayian-style alien (get a lot stronger with training and near death power-ups) in a superhero setting where every non-Viltrumite not named Alan tended to have static power-levels. If he'd been forced to stick with his original power level or grow into his power more slowly, he'd have had to become a much more balanced and clever superhero.
To give Mark some credit, he did spend some time trying to solve problems without violence. He talked one gadget criminal into using his science to help people, he talked down some interdimensional super alien into not draining the Earth of all its power, he talked down that one guy with the lightning powers who kept trying to kill him, etc. When he tried to be diplomatic he could often do some genuine good. The problem was that the series increasingly rewarded him for just beating the tar out of stuff, so he stopped trying to use diplomacy as much.
In essence, Mark should be a cautionary tale for other superheroes. He demonstrates why traditional superhero tropes exist.
BEHOLD...the new "I can haz cheezburger"...
Anyhoo, while we're in somewhat of a bit of a lull waiting on Jab's next Invincible build, there's a thread I've started over in the Gamers Handbook section of the boards that I'm trying to promote (if anyone's interested in seeing the "seed", the link to it is here). If you have anything you want to add, feel free to leave a post.