The Ringer-Verse - 'Invincible' Season 2, Episode 4 Reactions | The Midnight Boys

Episode Date: November 24, 2023

Listen as Charles, Jomi, and Van dive into the midseason break of ‘Invincible’ Season 2! The guys discuss Mark’s first interaction with his father since Omni-Man killed thousands and fled Earth and the complicated feelings that come with it. Hosts: Charles Holmes, Van Lathan, and Jomi Adeniran Producers: Jonathan Kermah and Isaiah Blakely Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal and Steve Ahlman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What would you do if everyone said they heard your trailer a hundred times? You'd probably make a new one. I'm Justin Sales, the host of The Wedding Scammer, the ringer's first ever true crime pod. We've been hunting a con man for a few weeks now, and our hunt is coming to an end. Schemes, Heartbreak, How to Put On a Wire. We've covered all this and more, but there are still a few surprises left. Binge the Wedding Scammer wherever you get your podcasts. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters.

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if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Trimfairadio.com. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer, unless you hit the beach or go camping. Then you'd want a cargo liner. Or a road trip goes sideways, ketchup goes rogue, ice cream drips. Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those WeatherTech seat protectors.

So just to be clear as the mud, you're inevitably going to step into the summer. You don't need WeatherTech unless you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. Welcome into the Ringiverse. This is, of course, the Ringer's Nexus podcast feed for all things fandom. We are! Jumby the Expoena here on your question.

We are. Jonathan, little spied, Kermen. Hey, did, Mr. Stark? I don't even hate the name, dog. Like, can you just stop with the voice? Just take out the baby voice? That's how you sound. By the way, Jonathan Kerm is fresh from the salon.

Oh, my God. He got all, he got his eyebrows arched. He, I see they cleaned. Who's your eyebrow? Who's your eyebrow? Who did your threading? He maybe got a waxed. Wow, that's a fast stop the cap.

We haven't even got through the intros yet. We're just talking about you look nice, bro. Also, Kerm, you're really fast and timely with the button when it's for you. Anytime else, you know, you got a 50 second time. I'm sitting in this agenda off, bro. This is crazy. Oh, man, man. He of the receding resurgent hairline.

Curbs got a strong hair line, strong eyebrow line. And Coke baby Chuck, we are. Coke baby Chuck. 24-caria closer, aka the brunch hiding together, we are known as a midnight, boys. See? It's a half second late with the pew-poo. But it was all about stop the cap.

You were on top of it. Chuck got you right. Steve's out today. He's on vacation. We'll see him in a little bit. We're all together. Where's your on vacation, Oblo? I'm not sure.

I think he went to. O Block. I don't know. Steve. Steve got to get these O'Blay. Steve goes to Chicago all the time is where he's from, but he never goes to O'block. I'm starting to feel away about it.

He has to go there. He has to go there. Okay? Like, he has to go there. Ringiverse, and we have any Ringiverse fans from O'Block, you know, hit Van up. Yeah. Steve has to go there. Steve has to go there.

He has to go there and take a picture to King Vaughan Muriel, we said it. And if not, I'm going to think things. All right. All right. Let's not bring King Vaughn into this shit. Harold's chicken. That's what it has to do.

RIP to King. Wow. RIP King. Wond. Jummy. What's up? We need people to follow us where? Socials.

Instust. Twitter, Facebook. TikTok, save your job. Socials update. What's going on? I mean, doing great on the socials, but I want to give you a little shout out.

Van. What's that? Top 100 blacks in America, man. That's you. Oh, Daddy. Yeah, that's crazy. That's what he said in the text, bro. That's what he said.

I would like to thank everybody at the root for putting me in 2023s, Route 100, second time I'm in the Route 100. That's right. Top 100, most influential black people in arts, media, entertainment, and all of that stuff. Thank you. Route 100. It's a ranking.

I'm number 100. I just sitting in there. Imagine if I was like 101 and I didn't make it. They never tell you. Damn, you just did make it. Shout out to everybody at the route. It is really an honor. It's a tremendous list to be a part of it.

And I really do appreciate the honor. It was unexpected. Wait, who's 99? Who's 99? Let me look. They had Kai said that above you. I don't know about that. Kai is way above me.

He's like 96, 97? He's got to be. You could make an argument that Kai said that could be number one. Probably. I don't know. After Kai was carrying on in the fake jazz. I was like, yeah, that probably

dropped them down a little bit. Probably down like a tip on the two. Let's see. Let's see. I am Fonnie Willis is number one. Cocoa Golf is number two. Hakeem Jeffries, Hallie Bailey,

John Battis, Kiki Palmer, six. Ushay Blackstock. Oh, I like her. Number seven, Simone Biles,

eight, Brill, nine, and then Jamie Harrison is 10. Let's go all the way down. I'm 100. Notice how LaPron's not on there? Yeah,

Kassanette is none. 98. See? Oh, damn. See? You could have been up there. Maybe. Maybe I had a shot. I just need to do a little bit more to get up there.

Nicole Lynn, fantastic. So shout out to everyone. I will be going to the Route 100 Gala to get my stuff and talk to everybody else's celebration of black excellence. And I am appreciative of it. Now, back to the goddamn ring of verse. Here's the deal. We got to provide this. Monday,

but match will be doing a game swap for games they miss in 2023. I'm not sure what games they missed, but they're going to be doing a game swap. Monday, House of R will be reacting to the first three. Doctor Who's 60th anniversary specials. Oh, interesting, Doctor Who.

So what are these specials? What are they doing, Dr. Who related? Are they bringing back old Dr. Hughes, or is it new stuff? I think so. I think so. They're bringing back the one way. boy who was going crazy on Tumblr back of the day

I think. Going crazy on Tumblr. David Tennant. That's Purple Man. I mean, he's Doctor Who, but he's also Purple Man. Is he not? And we also were getting an African-American. Well, he's not American. We're getting a Black Doctor Who. So I'm excited about

it. Dr. Who? Yeah. The Black Doctor Who, he travels back in time. He really can't go back in time any time before like 1970 or he's fucked, right? I mean, he could also go to the future, you know. Perhaps. I don't know.

Yeah. Maybe. Oh, way stuff is going in this country. I don't know. Maybe he can go to the future. Maybe the only year he can go to is 2009, basically Obama. Maybe that's the only year that's okay for him. And even that was fucking.

Honestly, that was the beginning of the end. You know what I'm saying? That was like, they were just like, we'll never let black people be the same beginning. Nah, man. I remember just real quick. So I used to do this after-school basketball program, right? Somebody that I knew. I did a couple of different mentorships, but this one was just kids doing basketball,

teaching them how to play the game, the whole nine and stuff. But it was mixed, right? Some kids were white, some kids were black. Also, the counselors and stuff were mixed. This is a true story, by the way. The counselors and stuff would mix. We teach him how to play basketball, teach him how to do different stuff, whatever.

It was like 29 at the time at a school over in Hollywood. And one of the kids came up to me, and there's a little black kid, a little black guy, he goes, you like Barack Obama? And I was like, yeah, I like Barack Obama. He's like, I like Barack Obama too. And he looked at him and he goes, how do you become the president? And I was like, oh, man. You know, because most of the kids, they want to know how to you.

become basketball players and how they become football players, all of that stuff, how they become a rapper. I want to be a rapper. I want to be this. This kid goes, how do you become a president? I go, well, you got to get really good grades. Barack Obama went to Harvard, the whole nine and all of that stuff. Like, you got to do really, okay, cool.

I think I want to be the president like Barack Obama. I'm here all moved. And one of the other people that was, not the guy that was running it, that was a friend of mine, but somebody else that was helping him do it. I was like, what do you ask you? I'm like, he asked how he becomes the president. goes, oh, we got everybody's going to run out. Kids are going to try to be the president now.

We're not going to have anybody to play for the Lakers. Army Brown went. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. I was like, he was white. I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like. It's like one of those moments where you go, wait, what? What? And he starts laughing.

I'm like, yo, that's not fucking fucking fucking. 20. Oh, you fucking, like, that's not fucking, you think I'm fucking laughing about that? Like, this is a basketball thing. You know, you think the kids want to be, now he's going to want to be the president. Nobody's going to be playing for the Lakers.

I'm like, what? It's, it's, it's, Brian ain't got no help because people out here going to Harvard itself trying to get the education on. Everybody, everybody at Harvard. That's not. Right. That's probably the reason why you got Jackson Hayes out there.

Because. Everybody. Jackson A's Christian Wood. Everybody else tried to. They stay in law school. They get in their law school. They get in their thing. You know, they get their JD. And the L'Bronka had ate chips by now, but not.

You had to go to Harvard. Fucking bruising Anthony Davis where that could be somebody who could stop him. Nah, he at Princeton. Anyway, on today's show, we're going to be giving our instant reactions to the mid-season finale of Invincible. he's invincible you guys like we did before we're going to be

spoilingly things that are in this episode and in the previous animated episodes of Invincible however we will not spoil things that Jomey and Charles have read

in the Oh my can we not do this every single episode I'm just saying because people are upset about it and we're not We do all did we spoil these people

Did we spoil anything? No you didn't So why people brought it up Some people was like Oh they keep talking about what's going on in the comics and Kerm's eyebrows and all that stuff. Guess what? Niggas need to get a like bro. Yeah. Log off. Yeah,

wow. Tough. Tirm, give me the spoiler warning. Let's see if you're competent enough to do it. Yeah! We're getting ready to talk about the episode. You're listening to a reaction podcast. The spoilers are.

Don't do that. That's on Steve. Steve did not give you the new job. Steve's not here. Don't do that. Curm is doing it, bro. No, Kerm is spelling him, bro. He's doing us a favor. Stop, stop, stop. It's a running joke. Kerm is fantastic.

We have to put you in the know for this episode. The only way to do that is the Midnight Manifest. The only person who can do that is Trump. All right, this is your Midnight Manifest for Invincible Episode 4 written by Helen Lay. Get a flashback from all this time on Thraxa after his battle with Mark on Earth. No one reveals too marked that he's at another son with athraxin but fears the ultramite agents to kill the baby for its perceived weak genetics. the Viltermites eventually attack. Mark takes his mother-in-law and brother to hide in a cave while his dad fights them off.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Adam Eve struggles with her superhero life after accidentally getting two people killed, while Debbie distanced herself from Cecil and her old life of Nolan. On Thraxia, Nolan and Mark team up to defeat the Viltermites but are battling muted in the process, and Nolan is taken away to be executed while in Viltermite informs Mark that it's now his responsibility to get the Earth ready for their invasion. And that has been your Midnight Manifest for Invincible Episode 4. all right chuck wagon your thoughts

hey it was hard I feel like Jomey can agree with me it was very very difficult not to get excited or be too excited because I knew this was going to happen like this was going to be

the episode that I think finally gets this in high gear I remember when the comics were coming out just I was like what the fuck Nolan is here they got a kid

oh like I think that this episode did what it needed to do. I think it also, shout out to the team, shined a very, very, very important light. It's something in our society that I think honestly goes unchecked a lot. Is that, you know, white people got fucked up families too, you know. Fathers be hiding kids.

You know what I'm saying? Getting baby moms, getting motherfuckers pregnant, asking they, asking their son to take care. Like, this shit. happens to white people too. And I think Invincible is shining a very, very important light that these white dads, they ain't shit. Omni Man

ain't fucking shit. I hated that motherfucker in this episode. I was like dog, he didn't even say sorry. He saw his kid. He didn't even say sorry, bro. But I will say something about this. You know, I've talked before about how the Mark

Omni Man situation is not dissimilar from my relationship with my dad in a lot of ways. I watched this and I was like, I didn't want to bring up. And I'll say something real quick. It's, you know, my parents broke up and then my dad got a new lady. And, you know, they have a kid. They have my little brother Gavin.

And I love my little brother. He's great. Just like I'm sure that Mark will come to love the little blueberry motherfucker that his dad has. But at the same time, at first you like, man, at first you like on something, what? It's the way it feels. At first you're like, huh? And I'm older than Mark. I was like 31 when Gavin was born.

At first you, oh, at first you're like, nah, no. But it's tough. I was going to ask, did your dad do the Nolan thing

where he's just like, come on. Like, love him. Come on. Do the thing. My dad was like, that's your brother.

Whatever you feel about me, that's your brother. That's your brother. You want to be scum? You know, take it out on a child. that's your brother. That's exactly what Omneman did.

That's nuts. Whatever your beef with me is, hey, it's cool, but he's innocent in all this. Yeah. No, but also it was really egregious

because he didn't even warn Mark before he walks in there. He's like, yo, I got a new boo thing. Like, don't even trip. Mark had to watch,

like, the woman, like, kiss his dad. He remembers Omni Man calling his mom a pet. I'm like, Omneman really ain't shit, bro. Yeah. Omneman.

Omni man. Omni Man, at least my dad kept it all the way, gangster. Omni Man be lying and he just, he is really toxic dad. He is toxic dad. You know, he really is. I'll tell you something. This episode was phenomenal, man. Like, I haven't read the comic books.

This episode was phenomenal. Were you expecting it? Like, did you expect the twist? Were you surprised? Well, I know where things kind of go. because I like I dipped into it a little bit. But for some reason, it wasn't any less effective on me when I saw it on the cartoon. Because they are going in a way that kind of makes it unpredictable still when you're looking at it.

You don't know which parts of the story they're going to put in where and how things are going to go and all of that. So it resonated the same way. It hit so hard. You feel so much for Mark. you just, it's so almost instinctual, primal, the connection to want to be, the, excuse me, the emotion, I want to have a connection to your father and I want to be seen in a certain light by him and the want to want to look up to him and to have an intact family and all of that.

And to know that there's this underlying thing of superhero angst and we have to save the world and you can't be mad at me because you have a bigger purpose. It's such an amazing way to put the hero's responsibility into context when you look at it. Like you don't have time to have emotions about what I did to you and your mother because you're invincible. You got to do this greater thing. You've got to think about everybody else other than yourself. And then even at the end of the episode, then I'll throw it to Jemey, when he's imploring Mark to fight like a vilter mite, and Mark is finding the urge to be his father,

you know, in a life or death situation, there's just so much subtext, and you just normally don't get that with a ton of animated stuff, bro. I'm sorry, it's, this show hits in a different way when it's really working. Jomi, what do you think? No, I love this episode.

You know, like Charles, I knew what was coming, but it still, it's still hit. I mean, the animation was good. The fight scene was like, it was fire, you know? And to your point, Van, this episode does so much for for Nolan, for Debbie, and for Mark. And seeing like that microcockech, like the fight with Nolan and Invincible and the two other Vulturemates. And like you said, Nolan's got to be like, hey, bro, you got to stop fighting these people like the earth people. Fight them like your life depends on it.

That's some, that's a theme that's going to continue on. like Debbie learning to to be to stand up for herself and that's going to continue on and Nolan's journey like we're just seeing the beginnings of what Invincible has to offer and for

for this like 45 minute stretch it was awesome I can't wait to see what happens next because if it's on this same level we're in for like a really special time I mean I also think what this episode did well is that I think a lot

of shows, or at least a lot of superhero shows want to do this thing where you have someone like Omni Man who is in, he's an anti-hero. And they tend to lean more on the hero. And I think that- Anti-hero. You don't think he's an anti-hero? How many people do you get to kill and still have the hero thing? I mean, how many makes it did Wolverine kill?

Not like this, bro. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Wolverine, bro. Not like this, bro. Wolverine. It's a little different, Charles. Wolverine's lived for a hundred years. Again, Wolverine to put nobody in front of no train. No, but this, curve, because I see.

Wolverine killed a lot of niggas. Let's be real now. He killed a lot of people. Wait, guys, this is ridiculous. Omni Man is like, was like Chicago. You know what I'm saying? Omni Man has killed, excuse me, Wolverine, we're going to get into a,

whole thing here. Wolverine has killed enemy combatants. Okay? Well, Wolverine has been evil. He's been taken over by Hydra. And when he was with Weapon X, they were sending him out there to kill anyone and everyone, especially in his berserk age. Like, come on.

So look, I'm telling you right now, I personally think, let me tell you something else. This is another reason why the Wolverine thing is a good conversation. Yo, you got, like, you are so mad. No, I'm saying, but it's a good conversation.

I think also the fact that Omni Man came to Earth with purely villainous intention, that it was all a fake, all a guys, all a ruse, so that he could then take over the world. And then on the way out, when Mark found out about him, he just go ahead and killed five, six thousand people. I think that's pretty squarely villain territory. I don't know if you can really compare him to Wolverine. I'm not saying he's a good guy. He's a bad guy, but he's an anti-hero. He saved a lot of people before this.

I would say at the end of the episode, seeing like how the viltramites are and how that's just the culture he grew up in, the fact that he's slightly resistant. I see your point, Charles. All right, I'll put him in this. He's closer to like a Vegeta. from Dragon Ball Z, then he is a villain, where it's like, yeah,

you know, killed a couple thousand people, that is bad. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna defend that, but what I was going to say is that I think what this show does well is that they allow Nolan to be an asshole.

But within that, I think the, I don't know if it's my favorite, but the most emotionally effective part of the episode was when Mark doesn't know if he wants to punch his dad and like Nolan is like getting ready like all right we're going to have to do this thing and then Mark just hugs him because I'm like oh that is such a real emotion like everybody

especially if you have a troubled relationship with your father has had that moment where you're like I love you so much and I also want a deck you right now and I think Invincible never kind of shides away from those more difficult emotions in a way a lot of superhero movies or TV shows do it actually rakes you over the coals with them and asks you to look into yourself and things that have happened. It asks just such brutal humanity from a superhero show. It really is. And I think that's where shows like Invincible and the boys are getting it right. Because it's not just about human people. It's about human frailty. And a lot of other superhero entities try to do that. But it's a little too shiny sometimes. The

suits look too nice. Even the villains are, the stakes are too high. You know, it's hard to think about being a person when the stakes are universal, when they're, the whole galaxy is, is under threat.

But there's something intimate about this show that they get right in all of, in the main storylines and the other storylines, something just very familiar about it. I think we touched on it in like earlier episodes, but they let these characters like deal with like have their emotions and deal with it like in some other properties some sad happened that's all right pal you got to get back out there buddy you know that's like all right cool i'm just you know do my superal thing like in the first episode mark was like just in a days

right saving people not even like thinking about it just very much on autopilot and in this episode he sees his dad and for the first 20 minutes he's having just like the worst time right finding out his dad is remarried finding out his dad as a as a kid oh they didn't lie for you to get here like he's just like freaking out he's like so upset and then the virtualites come then he's got to fight them and like it's just like like your head got to be spinning like just out of control pops is like hey pal figure it out you got to you got to stop like all this like i can't die you can't die you can't let your little brother die get get to it you know and then at the end he's he's he's he's got his guts out. Like, it's just the worst time for Mark. And the only time he kind of even

little, like, figures out a little bit is when his dad's like, hey, I need you right now. Get it done. Like, that's got to be like some real mental, like, craziness going on for Mark. And we usually don't like see people get so messed up in these kind of properties. And so having Mark having to deal with that knowing like, in order. to protect the people he loves. He's going to have to become even more like his father. It's just like, it's a crazy thing he's going to have to do with.

And I love the show for that. Honestly, but to be real, you know, I think we scrubbed it from the last, or from one of the Invisible Podcasts, not to bring up the VH1 Saturday evening classic, the Jackson's, but hey, you know, Omni Man saw,

he was like, yo. Wow. Yeah. He's like, yo, Mark. Wow. Like, bro, I'm doing this. this, you got, you got, you gotta do it. And Mark, I didn't think he had it.

I didn't think Mark had it in him. That motherfucker was getting busy for a moment. I was like, okay. I apologize. You weren't familiar with this game. Hey, Mark, if we're being real, does not have a winning record on this show. He has, he doesn't have a, he's fucking punchy, bro.

He gets fucking destroyed. And you know what? that's another reason why the show works to the level that it does. Mark, seeing Mark get fucked up, teeth bust up, eye out the socket, stabbed in the chest, kicked in the mouth, kicked in his ass, all of that stuff. You feel the danger for him.

It's a really interesting storytelling device to see a hero that messed up. We know Superman gets hit, he flies back, he hits the wall, the thing goes, oh, We see the damage in how he damages other things. Oh, Superman must have really got hit hard because he flew into a mountain and the fucking mountain collapsed. He comes out, not a scratch on him. But think about the power that these people must have to be able to do that to Superman,

whatever. NIST, we always see it on Mark. We see it on Omneman. There's stakes. It's life or death. Intrails coming out. Stuff like that. It's not just used as a gore gag.

It's actually used as a, a vehicle to kind of show you that the characters are in real danger. And that's another thing about this world. All of these characters are always in some sort of actual palpable peril, whether it be emotional, whether it be physical, whether it be relationship-wise, whatever it is, you feel that. Alan the Alien in the last episode, you feel for him. It's hard to do for superheroes, but the show works.

What do we think about the other storylines that are going on? A lot of people going through a lot of shit. It's a down time. I thought the other storylines would have worked in another episode, but in this episode I felt almost like took a little bit away from the momentum. Like Adam Eve, I feel for Adam Eve, but it is hard to care as much when I'm like, yo, Mark is millions of miles away,

getting destroyed by Wilhelmites. And Adam Eve is like, I don't have friends anymore. and I'm just like, damn. Like, geez. I mean, here's the thing, too. Debbie, I did feel for her, though,

because I'm just like, you know a motherfucker is depressed when they walking around a city with no shoes on. That's what I knew. I was like, this is rock bottom, man. Well,

what I was very, what I thought was cool about, not cool, but something that the show did that I thought was very interesting was the show opens with the end of season one when Omni Man flies out

and he's just like, Going through space, bro, chilling, goes a beard, sitting on a planet, depressed, is like looking into a black hole and is letting the black hole absorb himself, right? Then we see Debbie and she's walking through the city. Yeah. She goes to the bridge. Like, despite everything that they've, like, you know, put each other through or not really put each other through, what I don't even help but Debbie through, they still like, there's like a little one, one, like, you know, some mind mails still going on. Like when they're down bad, when they, like, they reacted things the same way. You know what I mean?

I thought to show, like, you know, contrasting how they, how they do that, how they go through stuff was like pretty interesting. I don't disagree with you, Charles, about like the, the momentum getting taken away. Although I like Debbie's and Eve's little things going on, Donald, I can't co-sign. I don't know. I like, I like their storylines in any other episode. Like, I get it. Like, I didn't mind it in this episode. I didn't mind this episode.

Even Adam Eve, even Adam Eve haven't killed two people. Like, I understand. Like, I emotionally feel for her. To your point, Donald, I'm like, dog, what are we doing with Donald? I was like, bro. I was like, bro. I thought, like, I thought that was like, I thought it was going to be set up for a gag. You know, I'm sure they'll play it off later because you see him, he stabs himself.

Donald, Donald did. He, no, he blew up. He blew up. Yeah. So it's, you know, like, he's trying to figure out what happened. He's trying to figure out what's going on. He's kind of what's going on.

Yeah. Like, it's, yeah, it's mad weird because I don't, I have no idea what's going on with that. I have no clue. I got no clue. I couldn't really follow it. Like,

no knowledge from the comics to give you guys know what happened. I'm not saying nothing. And I'm not saying nothing. Wait, really quick before I forget. Very briefly on knowing. Also, one thing that, like, made me feel like, yo, this nigga ain't shit,

is that he tries to explain to Mark. He's like, yo, man, you don't understand. These aliens, the Thraxans are different. It's like one earth year, I think they say, is their lifespan. And I'm like, Nolan, that makes it worse. Because essentially he had what, he fell in love with this woman within a matter of probably like days or weeks. Then they have a kid.

Nolan does his lifespan is not a year. Why should Mark feel anything? That that almost makes me hate Nolan more. You're thinking like a Viltram right now. Yeah. You're thinking like that life don't matter because they live. No, no, it's not that their life doesn't matter, but Nolan can't use their short lifespan as an excuse for him being like,

you know, I know I did call your mom a pet. And it does seem like I got over really quick and I just made another family. But time works here differently. I'm like, you can't use that excuse. Nolan? That doesn't give you points? Well, the reality is that because time works differently, she might have been on different

time. You know, in that land, Jomey, I didn't even get a chance to, I'm already being judged. You are being prejudged, man. I'm all, I didn't even said anything. Y'all think this is right. I haven't even said it. I mean, it's how you said it, though. She's on

different time. she's on different time what's wrong with that what type of time is she on then like so you need someone and you know you can go out on a couple of dates

she's on bug lady time and this lady calling it bug lady time is crazy I don't understand what's happening I feel this is a time have you ever dated someone who's on bug lady time

how does that sound man I have I actually have. So we're dropping up a bugway for demon time. Is that what we're doing? Yeah, no, I'm saying. Look, this is unfair. You know what you guys are doing to me right now?

You're Draymond Greening me. Meaning you're assessing a technical file when I haven't really done anything. Anybody else who said that they wouldn't have got teed up. I'm getting teed up because of prior wild things that have been said. All I'm saying is this. The reason why I went faster is, because she only got a year to live. So when you get there

and you make Googly eyes with her, the first time you meet her, she goes, okay, so when we're moving in together? She ain't got the time. She got the time. Nolan does? Yeah, but Nolan. But she doesn't. I give what Ben is saying. So Nolan is reacting to her. Like Nolan is like, can we go out on a date? And she's like, nah, man, fuck all that. It's time

for procreation. You know what I mean? Like, and so, and then they had the little blueberry dude. See, y'all thought I was on some different stuff. I'm saying that the time is not Nolan's fault. Kern changed. Change your mind. I said,

I'm making sense. The time is different. I can't blame Nolan because everything moves faster there. And he's just acclimating to the society that he lives in. Ha! It made sense. We don't know with you. We don't know with you.

We don't know what you. We got to look at close. Like, you know what I'm saying? We got to be like, eh, all right. Always on a, we always got the yellow hand on the yellow card. Always stay strapped. 100 free events, 6,000 kids, one mission. Clinic Kids is using sports and evidence-based wellness coaching

to help kids build competence, resilience, and the tools they need for life's challenges and opportunities. Up through August 2026, they're running 100 free sessions for school and community-based organizations near you. Learn more at clinickids.com slash 100KK. That's Clinic with a K. Clinic Kids is registered 5.01C3 nonprofit. this episode is brought to you by nas energy every ounce of dirt sweat and gears every checkered flag

and trophy raised every lap every race every hard-bought place they're all jammed inside every can of nas energy high performance energy for burning the midnight oil in the garage and pedal to the metal human horsepower for the streets go ahead crack open a can of nas energy and get after it transport your senses with soldijanato's limited edition perfume mist collection at Spritz on lush notes of rainforest orchid and crisp sea breeze with he fresco paraizzo. Embrace a floral and fruity scent inspired by Rio's nude beach with chiqui bikini or caps for sun-kissed bliss with limonada gelada, where zesty Brazilian lemonade accord meets coconut milk and golden brown sugar. Don't miss Sol de Janeiro's limited edition perfume mist collection only at Sephora.

So we had some criticisms about the last episode. we weren't terribly critical of it. We had some criticisms. Did the strength of this episode as an ending to the four-episode trunch of Invincible that we got? Did it end strongly enough to A, kind of dispel some of the things

that we had said about the season in the past in earlier episodes? And B, leave you wanting more for when the next one's dropped. I mean, I think it definitely made me excited for the second half of this season. Yeah, they just killed it, and I'm just like, I want more episodes.

I don't know if I feel any different about the momentum in terms of, I still think that the season started off slower. And I think we honestly have the same problem where now I felt so good about this episode and I'm so hyped for this episode. I'm kind of actually bummed that we have to wait,

and I don't know how long the wait is, but I don't know if I'm going to feel the same way by the time episode five comes out, because then we're going to have to do the thing of like, okay, what happened in episode four? All right, let's get back in this. Do-da-da-da-da? Am I tripping or Jomey?

Do you think that, like, this episode was so good that it retroactively makes you think about the season differently and gets you just as excited for the second half? I don't think it makes me think about the season differently, and it definitely gets me excited for the second half. I mean, the thing is, we're not going to wait 30 months for the next four episodes. So I think, like, that's a bonus, right?

Ultimately. Does it have a date? No, I don't believe so. But they said, like, early 2024, you know, so, like, we should be in good shape the next, like, three months or so. But this episode gets me so hype for the next four. Because Mark has to come back to Earth, and he's supposed to be the person who's, you know, supposed to take over the earth for the Viltramites,

but obviously he don't want to do that. So how does he like weigh that with all his other superhero responsibilities being going to college, being a teenager, the whole thing? I can't wait to see how that goes, man. I'm excited. I don't know about you, but I'm excited.

Yeah, I'm excited to see how things work with Mark's mother. Yeah. You would think with everything else going on that that storyline wouldn't be hitting, it is, especially when you juxtapose it with Nolan's new life. Nolan's new life, and then going back to her,

just expert storytelling here. Expert storytelling. And let me point something else out here. Particularly in this episode, the voice acting is phenomenal. F.E.E. I loved J.K. K. Simmons is so good.

Stephen Young is so good. The voice acting is amazing in this. You feel the emotions of the characters. You know what I mean? It's really, really, really good. I think that's another strength of the show. The Adam Eve stuff I didn't really care about. And I will say this. Now I doing a fantastic job with Adam Eve this this season. Her one shot was really great. But as far as making her interesting,

this season, they're not doing a fantastic job with her, but maybe it's not time for that yet. You know what I mean? It's not time, but they're not doing a great job with Adam E's as of it. Am I wrong? I mean, also, but it's like there's a lot of characters that they are juggling right now. In terms of storylines, I think Adam E will get hers. It's just, to your point, Van,

she probably has the weakest storyline that isn't what's his face, isn't old glasses dude. But, oh, Donald. Can I ask you guys this? Seth, Seth Rogan has been working on a live action invincible movie forever, and it's probably going to get made now, now that the cartoon is a success.

How would you make an invincible movie now that so many people not only kind of know the twist, but it's like, is the first movie just Omneman versus Mark? Well, a couple of things. A couple of things. Number one, you have to make the Invincible movie assuming that most people don't know the twist. Right? You have to make the Invincible movie

figuring that people don't know the twist and then figuring that other people want to see it in live action. It's one reason. I wonder if J.K. Simmons would actually play Omneman. Interesting, maybe. Could J.K. Simmons play Omneman right now? I don't think. I don't know.

A little longer, too. But he has got swollen and really swole shape. Oh, for cable? Not for cable for, nigga, that was Josh Brolin. No, no, no, no, no. Didn't J.K. Simmons, wasn't he trying to?

No, it was the other guy. It was the other dude. Yeah. That's so racist. Oh. That's crazy. That's so racist. No.

J.K. Simmons got in great shape so he could play Commissioner Gordon. Mm-hmm. And. Oh. Yeah. Sorry, I got my white people. Wow.

Wow. Play the music. Play the drum. Wait, do we have the anti-Wakonda, what's the anti-Wakonda music? Kern, play the drums. You know what? I will say this. We do need music for when we're being racist to Steve.

Wait, what would the music be? I'm trying to be like MGMT, electric feel. Oh, no, I love that song. That song is so good. I love that song. There's way whiter songs than Electric Field. Maclemore Thrift Shop. Yeah.

I'll make that clip for you. No, we should just have Siri. We should just have Siri read McElmore's apology to Kendrick every single time. Play Maclemore Thrift Shop. Whenever Steve makes a point from now on, Thrift Shop will be played. It's not like Thrift Shop sucks. It's just really white. Wait, that can't be the whitest rap song ever.

What's that? What's the whitest rap song ever? The white is pretty white y'all. The white is pretty white. That's got to be number one, right? Nah, that shit goes. I'm sorry. Stop.

I mean, yeah. And listen. Ice is back where brand of dishes, something. Brasahold of me softly. Fowed like a heartbeat daily and nightly. I'm telling you, bro. That shit goes, bro. Y'all want around.

What about shaking by Metro Station? I don't know what that is. That's actually, that's a good thing. Whoa. Iggy Azalea's fans. he's like egregious. That one, I don't know, man. I'll say the thing is she was with Tia I, though.

Maclemore was just on a white island with another white boy just making hits. And they gave him all the awards. Yeah. If I was McLemore, I would have called the Grammys ahead of time and been like, I don't want it. It's like, if I was McLemore, I'd have been like, hey, hey, hey, give me four years before y'all give me one.

If y'all give me one now, it's going to look away. Don't give me the Grammy. I'm serious. This is McLemore, nigga. That's what I would have said. Don't give me the Grammy. If you give me the Grammy, it's over. Maclemore, nigga's crazy.

This is a fucking more, nigga. This is how I called away. Hello, Grammys. Yo, what up is McLemore. Don't fuck my career by giving me this Grammy. I'm telling y'all right now, y'all give me this Grammy. Around the same time, the straight out of Compton came out. and everything going on,

these motherfuckers never going to forgive me. Give it to Kendrick. This McLemore, nigga, Seattle, we out. And that would have been a whole call. To be fair, Macklemore recently has been standing on business, you know what I'm saying? You've been doing this thing.

There's nothing wrong with- Not musically, but- Like, there's nothing wrong with Mclemore. I'm just saying that they set him up when they gave him that. Why did you give it? When you gave it to him, like black people was going to be like,

ah, too much. Well, we like the song. You go to the thrift shop. It's something cool to rap about. We couldn't rap about that. There's not a black artist in the world who can make a song about going to the Goodwill. It's crazy.

Whoa. Let me ask you this. I'm telling you, it's never going to happen. Bro. While we're on this tangent, do you believe, do you believe what three stacks said? If Andre 3000 came out

with a song about colonoscopy, would you listen to it? I think he could make it ill. You're such a fucking lie. That's crazy. You're such a liar, bro. Man. I think he can make it ill.

You don't believe that. You don't believe that. You don't believe that. You don't believe that. Here's the thing. This is the thing with vision. Y'all think that the song is going to be called colonoscopy or something. The name of the song would be up my ass, right?

That's even worse. That's much worse. Nah, you think about the song, Up My Ass, and he makes a cool metaphor about it. You don't know to the end. What would be some of the first bars from Up My Ass? I don't know, bro. I don't want to wrap my ass. I'm not Andre 3000.

It's going to leave nothing. But like, if this first track is up my ass and you think it's about something different than at the end, you realize it's about a colonoscopy from a 48-year-old guy, that's the type of genius shit that makes you one of the greats of all time, one of the goats.

I don't know. It's the vision. The vision. I don't have the vision. All right, back to the goddamn show that we're here. All right, so, very important. Live action Invincible movie, Charles was talking about it.

I think it could be successful. I do wonder, though, if the show is better in animation because it's free of some of the limitations that live action gives us. The question is not whether or not it would be pat the same punch. It's all the things that we're talking about. The show lose 70% charm if it goes live action. Episodes like the one that we're talking about make me feel like I want to see it in live action. This is the first time I was like, I want to see this. But you know, certain things are for certain mediums.

What do you guys think? Do you know, I know what Charles is saying, but would it even work? So that's, I think what makes this show work is that it is such an ensemble where you just don't care about Invincible and Omni Man. You care about Debbie. You care about the Guardians of the Globe, robot, all of these characters. And can you get that same level of investment in them with a two-hour movie? I don't know. I don't think so.

I think if anybody can do it, like Seth can do it. They did an amazing job with honestly a bunch of shit they touch. But yeah, I don't know. I think emotionally it would be harder. But, yeah, I really want to see Omni Man versus Invincible Live Action. That shit would be ill. So brutal. I think it depends on the performances.

Like, who do you get to play Omni Man? You get to play Debbie? Who do you get to play Invincible? Because is Stephen You too old to play Invincible? Probably. maybe but are you guys are you guys smoking dope

that man is 40 like yeah it looks great like he looks great for 40 what do you want from me it looks great no they're gonna tell me McGuire

when he was Peter Barker bro they're not he's not playing Invincible bro he's not playing invisible that's a grown fucking guy they don't get Timothy Shalamay to play Invincible

they're going to get Zendaya to play Adamie. No, it's... That'd be... Timmy? Timmy has invincible? Dog. No, I mean, yeah, it really depends on the performances.

Like, if we can believe, like, we did watching the show, like, watching animated show, that holy crap, his dad is, like, the most supervillain of supervillains. And he's willing... He's, like, just on a razor's edge of willing to destroy his... Like, kill his son. and take over the world, I think it'll work, you know, no matter what.

But we just have to, we'd have to see it. Can we talk about something that we oftentimes make fun of with superhero shows that I was thinking about when I was watching this redemptive arcs of characters

who have done really terrible things? We've briefly touched on it here about whether or not Omni Man is hero or villain. But it struck me when I was watching this that what we're probably going to see is a redemptive arc for Omni Man and that redemptive arc is going to come through

his reinsertion into Mark's life as his father. And when we see redemptive arcs from people, we normally see them redeem themselves by doing really human, relatable things. Bucky redeems himself by being a friend. Things that we don't see. That is how he did.

I mean, that is how he did it, but he didn't. That's how he did it. He didn't. He didn't redeem himself in my book. Like, y'all can't just hold hands at the end of the day and be like, yo, it's all peaching. Like, you still kill one. You know how I feel.

But what I'm saying is that's normally what they do. Villains are normally depicted as subhuman because they can't do these things. can't genuinely love, they can't genuinely care. Anything about a villain that is humanly relatable is seen as a reason that they can redeem themselves, right? Like Dr. Octopus is not as bad as we think. He's trying to save his wife. Sandman, not as bad as we think, trying to save his daughter. The other people that are strictly out for power and, ah, they're bad. When I was watching this, and I know that Omni Man is probably about to be on the road to redeem. I was thinking,

motherfucker, do humans matter? You know, by the end of this episode, I am on Omneman side. I'm like, yeah, get him Omni Man, because there's a worst bad that's coming. But God damn, the last time we saw Omni Man, he was getting busy in the most brutal ways. I mean, here's the thing.

Do human lives ever matter in these movies? We watch Iron Man. Iron Man was out here selling fucking weapons of mass destruction. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know humans have ever mattered in these superhero stories at all.

Like, by the end of age of Ultron, these motherfuckers did kill a whole country. You know? Yeah. Yeah. What do they have to do then? Because I think the next four episodes

are going to deal with this. They're going to deal with Mark trying to deal with his new life. We're going to see Alan again and everything that the village. Mites did to him. And I'm certain that we're going to get something that, some storyline that, that, um, pairs Mark and, uh, Nolan together again. Uh, does that work for y'all?

I can't answer this because I know too much. And this is y'all fault. Spoiler, spoiler, spoiler. So I'm pleading the fifth. Here's what I'll say. our boy Nolan is in he's in which my prison he's supposed to get executed right like that's the that's the name of the game

though like we're gonna execute your father he it was treason this and that right yeah I can also can't answer it I'm trying to think about it I can't put it together I'm not getting caught up with this shit I'm not getting caught up

no look here's okay I here's what I'll say we go where you say you say humans don't matter right we're gonna have to go back to Earth and deal with that, right? Mark is going to have to go to Earth, but like, hey, man, I'm protecting all these people from whatever little thing y'all got going on. Meanwhile, there's like some, you know, some white clothed aliens out there who only wear, who only have

one type of mustache, apparently, and all they want to do is kill me and destroy my world. Like, how do I then, like, go to college? How do I, like, be a boyfriend? How do I be a boyfriend? How do I be somebody to my mom when the back of my head, I know that there are like people way like straight stronger to me out of your trying to like destroy me in my my, the people I love. That's going to be something that's going to be. Before, before we get off of Invincible, I have a question that's kind of semi-related. So Robert Kirkman, uh, dropped some news that I, Kirkie, Kirkie, Turkey, dog. Yeah, that I don't think he was supposed to. He said Stephen Youne hit him.

him up after a fitting for Thunderbolts and he's like, yo, I know that like my hero in the MCU essentially is blue and yellow and a lot of people are running with. Stephen might be the Century in Thunderbolts. How do you feel about Century probably being now the main antagonist of Thunderbolts? Are you all familiar with the Century? Yeah. Century in the motherfucking void. The century is so OP, you know? I hated the century in comics

because it was like, I'm like, what you're going to do, bro? Well, I mean, that's why you have the void. The void is always there to kind of bring the century back. I think that would be awesome. I think it would be awesome.

Once again, my whole thing with Marvel is dot, dot, dot, dot, if done right. If done right, it could be very fun. I don't know what a team featuring Black Widow is going to do it this century. No, but that's why I think it's cool.

That's actually why I'm super interested, because the team is a bunch of scrubs. Who's on it? It's Yelena. It's Ghost. Yelena. Red Guardian. Red Guardian.

Buckie. Bucky. Who else? Shit. Oh, our boy from the Paco winner soldier. Not cap, the cap. U.S. agent. Baby cap.

Yeah, U.S. agent. Yeah, I don't know what this team is doing. that shit. Wait, but I mean, assuming, I mean, Red Hulk would probably be somewhere in the mix of that situation. Not confirmed, but yeah, you'd think so. You'd think Red Hulk would be somewhere there. I mean, look, there's superhero team. Oh, also Taskmaster. That's the last one. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I mean, look, is what is the century being the villain is fine. I would really enjoy that. I would really enjoy the character coming into the MCU, the right, way. As long as there's a clear narrative with what they're going to do, I think it all works.

All of it. All of it. Let's do it all. Century. Bring everybody in there. We thought Adam Bashir, you know, what we didn't talk about is that some people were thinking that Adam Bashir was going to be in the Marbles. Nope. It didn't happen. Black, man. You're not going to be in that movie. That's not, it's not your thing. Remember everybody thought that that was about to happen? No. I don't remember this at all. What? you're talking about. I've no idea. You don't remember people saying that Adam Bashir was going to be in the Marvels? That maybe Blue Marvel was going to be in the Marvels? Am I making

this up? That I dream this? Oh, Blue Marvel? Man, Blue Marvel was never going to be in this movie. Like, that's why I can't. Some people thought he was. Some people thought he was going to be in the movie. It was a thing that was said. The same people who thought Mathista was going to be in Wanda Vision? I mean, look, everyone thinks everything. We're thinking so much

that we're not enjoying the stuff. Or maybe the stuff is bad and we're forced to think about how it could be better or more excited. All right. Are we finished talking about Invincible guys? We enjoyed the episode. I love that episode. Do we need to give a midnight meter for? Halfway. Halfway midnight meter? Halfway midnight meter. Okay, let's do that. Really quick. Uh, Jomi, start. Man, why don't I got to go, man? Now you know how I feels. Yeah, it's true. I'm going to give it.

I'm going to give it a non so far. You'll give a nine. I'm rocking with it, bro. Like that last episode, man, it was crazy, bro, let's be, let's be for real. And again, I like the progression,

like the emotional journeys of the characters that, like, we're really into. And so, like, if they can,

like, land a plane, we're watching something special. I'm going to give it a nine. I'm going to give it a nine as well. Yeah, this is going to be a seven, you know,

uh, there's a lot of room for improvement, but there's solid, solid, solid ground. And you, you don't take this seriously, bro.

Like, you, wait, what's wrong with the seven? That's a 70% You, you, like, you, like, I feel like you come in. You kind of like one of them teachers,

who's like, cool, I'm gonna come in, right? And like, it's 100% but since it's like, like, I didn't like the way you looked at me it's 10% off, right?

And then you came into class two minutes late. That's another 10% off. So your whole grade just has an 80 right now. Whoa. You got to work your way. We got to work way back. How the midnight meter works,

essentially, is like a 7 is a 70% percent. 11 is basically like extra credit like you went above and beyond. 12 is perfect, perfect. We've never seen this. You said this season,

like this half season of television is a C? We're saying the first three episodes were really, really slow. And the fourth episode picked it up. It's a past. You said that. All right. I never said that.

Van, do your whole war treaties, please, whatever you're about to do. You're tricking. I can't. I can't go tripping, bro. A C is nuts.

We're going to do this. Dog, we're going to grab our four. We're going to grab the malt liquor. We're going to do mulligans in a fucking couple weeks. And like, I will be vindicated. I will be vindicated. A sea is crazy.

I think it's a, I think a 90, I think it's a low A. And so I'm saying it's a low A. I think that these four episodes are in A. I think there was some doubt in my mind about the direction. But I think when I look at everything in its totality, especially after episode four, I'm willing to give this a 90. So this will be my last point. And the reason why I'm giving me a very, very solid.

70, a solid 70, is there was a lot of momentum coming off Invincible in that first season. I would say even if you ask the streets, I'm not hearing as much about Invincible, and I do think a lot of that has to do with splitting the season up in the first three episodes being very slow. Am I being a hater or? I don't think you're being a hater. I don't think. Well, Jomey might think you're being a hater. I don't think you're being a hater at all.

I think if you, if that's the way you feel, that's the way you feel. Here's the thing. You want to know how I know I'm not a hater? Because I fucking apologize to Jomi yesterday. All right. Jomi put me on a blue eye samurai. I was fucking wrong. I didn't trust him.

Blue eye samurai is, he's like one of the best things I've seen in a fucking minute. Then you got to tap in. Can I ask you why he's blue eye though? Oh, it's crazy. It's crazy, but I can't explain it. Like here's a thing. Here's a thing.

You're going to watch the first episode. You be like, fuck this. And then by the air, you like, I'm locked in. All right. Blue eye samurai. Watch the first episode, bro. It's lit. I'll watch the first episode of Blue Eyes Samurai today. Say less. All right, guys. That is a wrap. Make sure to follow us on socials, Insta, Twitter, Facebook. You know what it is.

On Monday, Buttonmash will be doing a game swap on games. They missed in 2023. Also on Monday, House of Our will be reacting to the first of three Doctor Who's 60th anniversary specials. And the Midnight Boys will be back on Wednesday. Our producers today are Jonathan Kerma, Isaiah Blakely. Shout out to Jomi Adoneron. Steve isn't here, so I don't have a hashtag. An additional production from Steve Allman and Arjuna Romka. We hope y'all gave thanks.

The Invincible Midseason was crazy, and don't be like Omni Man out here. Fucking and making tons of babies. Be-h!