Plot
Mark Grayson is the son of Nolan and Debbie Grayson. Nolan is an extraterrestrial from the planet Viltrum, acting as Earth's most powerful superhero under the guise of "Omni-Man," who can fly, has super strength, super durability, super speed and a healing factor. Growing up, Mark displays no signs of powers and Nolan tells him of how their people, Viltrumites, go to different planets and help the people who live there. When Mark is 17, his powers kick in and he starts to fight crime under the name "Invincible." For the next few weeks, Mark gets used to his powers and fights criminals. During this time he meets the Teen Team and their members which include Robot, a robot, Rex Splode, who can make items explode, Dupli-Kate, who can duplicate herself, and Atom Eve, who can manipulate molecules and who he becomes close with. He also meets the one-eyed alien Allen, who tells Mark that he works for an organization called the Coalition of Planets that makes sure planets can defend themselves from threats.
Later, Nolan brutally murders the Guardians of the Globe, the greatest hero team on Earth. The world is initially unaware of his actions, until the villainous cloning duo, the Mauler Twins, revive the team leader, the Immortal, who attacks Nolan on live television. Nolan kills the Immortal again, which Mark sees. Nolan then tells Mark the truth about Viltrum — the Viltrumites are actually planet-conquering warriors who are in the process of taking over the universe with their Viltrum Empire. Nolan originally came to Earth to conquer it and tries to convince Mark to join him. Mark refuses and the two fight, with the destruction killing thousands of people and Nolan beating Mark nearly to death. When Nolan asks what will Mark have after 500 years, using the Viltrumites thousands-of-years long lifespan as justification for Mark to leave humanity as he would also live for thousands of years, Mark responds that he will still have Nolan. Disgusted with what he did, Nolan leaves Earth with tears in his eyes.
Mark is taken to a hospital where he recovers from the fight and Debbie goes into a depressive state. Mark meets Cecil Stedman, the director of the Global Defense Agency, the organization that works with heroes to fight threats to the planet. Cecil hires Mark as an asset and Mark continues to fight crime. During this time, he continues to bond with other heroes and comes across villains who become major recurring enemies, which include the Sequids, alien starfish that attack like a hive mind, the Flaxans, green aliens from another dimension where times passes by much quicker than on Earth, and Angstrom Levy, who can open portals to different universes. In a raid to defeat the crime boss Machine Head, Mark helps his enforcer Titan fight Machine Head's goons. The duo and the Guardians who arrive as backup are able to defeat all but the feline warrior Battle Beast, who spares them and leaves, though Machine Head is captured. Under the direction of Cecil, Robot forms a new Guardians of the Globe team, with the Teen Team joining, along with new heroes like Monster Girl and a revived Immortal. Allen returns to Earth and tells Mark that the Coalition of Planets is looking for allies to defeat the Viltrum Empire. Angstrom Levy attempts to merge the knowledge of his alternate selves in order to gain knowledge on how to solve problems in other universes and enlists the help of the Mauler Twins, but when Mark intervenes, the resulting explosion kills Angstrom's counterparts, one of the Maulers and severely disfigures Angstrom. He plans to get revenge on Mark.
Later, Allen is attacked in space by three Viltrumites looking for Nolan. After being brutally beaten within an inch of his life, the Coalition recovers him and helps heal his body to become stronger than the average Viltrumite. The leader of the Coalition, Thaedus, reveals to Allen that he is a Viltrumite, the first to rebel against the empire until he heard of Nolan and Mark. He tasks Allen with retrieving the two of them to help the Coalition. An alien insect from the planet Thraxa, whose lifespan is only about nine human months, asks Mark to come to his planet and help them with a crisis. Against Cecil's wishes, Mark decides to help them. There, he discovers that Nolan is there and is their emperor. Nolan reveals that he had a child with a Thraxan woman, Andressa, and has had a change of heart and needs Mark's help to defend the planet against the Viltrumites. Mark and Nolan somewhat reconcile and Mark agrees to help Nolan. The Viltrumites who attacked Allen attack the planet, killing millions of Thraxans. Mark and Nolan battle them, with Nolan killing one off them and knocking the other unconscious, Lucan, surviving his encounter from earlier launched at Nolan and incapacitating him. More Viltrumites arrive and recover the bodies, Lucan, and take Nolan prisoner. The Viltrumite General Kregg designates Mark as the new Viltrumite to conquer Earth. Before being taken away, Nolan asks Mark to read the books he wrote during his time on Earth. Mark spends time on Thraxa helping to rebuild the cities after the Viltrumite attack. Andressa asks Mark to take the child with him back to Earth, as she believes he can have a better life there as he would outlive everyone on Thraxa, as his Viltrumite DNA would make him live almost as long as a Viltrumite. Mark returns home with the child, who Debbie names Oliver and soon becomes happy again.
Robot creates a human body using the DNA of Rex Splode and reveals it to the Guardians. The Sequids attack once again but Mark and the Guardians are able to repel the threat. Angstrom returns, and attacks Mark, Debbie, and Oliver. Angstrom reveals that in multiple universes, Mark joins Nolan in taking over Earth. Angstrom sends Mark through multiple universes in an attempt to weaken him and beats Debbie. Enraged, Mark tackles Angstrom out of the house and their fight takes them across multiple universes. The fight ends with Mark seemingly beating Angstrom to death, but he is horrified by what he did. Mark did it in a desert wasteland universe, leaving him stranded. He is rescued by a future version of the Guardians, who reveal that with him gone, Earth's future is not good. Before they send him home, the future Eve confesses that she loves him.
Oliver grows at an accelerated rate, becoming a preteen in a few weeks and starts showing signs of Viltrumite powers. Allen comes to Earth to recruit Mark and Nolan, but Mark tells him about the Battle of Thraxa. Mark gives Allen the books Nolan told him about, which he believes shows weapons that can be used to fight Viltrumites. Allen thanks Mark for the information and begins to search for Nolan. A Viltrumite named Anissa comes to Earth to check Mark's progress. When she realizes he made no progress, the two fight with Anissa quickly subduing him with no casualties and few injuries to Mark. Anissa warns Mark that another Viltrumite more dangerous than her will come later and if Mark continues with his defiance, Earth will pay. She leaves and Cecil has Mark train rigorously to hopefully stand against the empire. When Anissa leaves, she finds Allen who allows himself to be captured to find Nolan.
Later, a geokinetic villain named Doc Seismic kidnaps Earth's heroes except for Mark and Eve. The two attempt to rescue the heroes but Seismic's creatures that he commands are too much for them. Cecil sends in robot zombies that another villain, D.A. Sincliar, who Mark defeated earlier, had made. He also sends in Darkwing II, another villain that Mark defeated who can slip between shadows. The villain force helps free the heroes and defeat Seismic. Mark is enraged that the villains are free and confronts Cecil, who reveals that he believes that some villains can be used to help the GDA protect the world. Mark disagrees and a fight breaks out between Mark and the robot zombies, "Reanimen." Cecil also reveals that he discovered a Viltrumite weakness — certain sound frequencies can disrupt the powers of Viltrumites. The fight carries over to Guardian headquarters and Mark cuts ties with Cecil, with some Guardians going with Mark and others staying with the GDA. Eve is one of the heroes that support Mark and the two begin dating.
Mark begins to fight crime independently and begins training Oliver. During a mission to fight the Mauler Twins, Oliver kills the two, as he believes that killing their enemies would make things easier in the long run, much to Mark's dismay. Meanwhile in space, Allen comes across Nolan in a Viltrumite prison ship. Nolan was sentenced to death for his actions on Thraxa and Vilturmite law dictates that he must be in a healthy condition to be beaten to death. Allen convinces Nolan to join the Coalition and the two break out, who with the help of Battle Beast who was also imprisoned on the ship kill the two Viltrumite guards along with most of their security forces. Battle Beast disappears and Nolan reveals to Allen that there are less than fifty pure-blood Viltrumites left in the universe. Mark continues to fight crime and his morality is continually questioned, with him having to kill a future version of Immortal who was left in charge of the planet after Mark left, helping Titan stay in control of his crime business as less people die and get hurt with him in charge, and fighting the revenge obsessed supervillain Powerplex, whose family was killed during Mark and Nolan's fight. During this period, Mark and Eve's relationship continues to grow and the two fall in love. It is also during this time that Mark and Oliver realize that they are being watched by mysterious technological floating orbs. Robot is unable to figure out who sent them and Cecil denies GDA involvement.
The orbs are revealed to be under the control of Angstrom, who survived the fight with Mark with the help of a race of technological beings called the Technicians. In the meantime, he has been gathering around 20 alternate versions of Mark who sided with Nolan with the promise of helping them expand their empires. The alternate Marks attack Earth in an three-day-event called the "Invincible War." The heroes of Earth fight the alternate Marks and are able to kill all but eight of them, but the fallout is massive with millions of people being killed and several cities being destroyed. Several heroes are also casualties, including Rex Splode and even more are injured, including Atom Eve. When the remaining eight Marks turn on Angstrom, he traps them in the wasteland universe. Mark arrives and fights Angstrom again, with Oliver convincing Mark that Angstrom is too dangerous to remain alive. Mark agrees but Angstrom escapes before he can kill him. The GDA captures the bodies of the killed Marks and converts them into Reanimen. As Mark is helping cleanup, the Viltrumite Anissa warned Mark about, Conquest, comes to Earth to validate Mark's progress. However, Conquest came to Earth hoping Mark made little to no progress as an excuse to kill him and take control of Earth. Mark and Conquest battle, causing even more destruction and killing hundreds of people. Conquest proves to be too much for Mark to handle on his own and Oliver and Eve attempt to assist him. Conquest severely injures Oliver and nearly kills Eve. Fortunately Eve's near-death powers activate and severely burns Conquest. Using the anger of Eve's supposed death, Mark musters the strength to headbutt Conquest repeatedly, supposedly killing him. As Mark recuperates, Cecil takes Conquest's body, intending to interrogate him about the Viltrum Empire and how to stop them. Mark, Eve and other heroes attend Rex Splode's funeral, where Robot takes Rex's name and Monster Girl declaring her love for him. Immortal retires and proposes to Dupli-Kate who accepts. The Technicians claim Angstrom as a slave to find them a new home. Battle Beast recovers from the prison battle. The Sequids prepare for a final assault on Earth. Mark visits Oliver in the hospital and tells him that he will not hesitate to kill their most evil and dangerous enemies.
Nolan tells Allen about how centuries ago, enemies of the Viltrum Empire created a disease known as the Scourge Virus that killed over 99% of the Viltrum population. But with Mark's potential apparent, Earth is to become a breeding camp for the Viltrum Empire to replenish their ranks. Allen takes Nolan to the Coalition homeworld, Talescria, and introduces him to Thaedus. Thaedus tasks the two of them with finding the weapons and people that Nolan wrote in his books to aid in their fight against the empire. Nolan and Allen do so, bringing the space-traveling gun-wielding alien Space Racer to the Coalition, along with other weapons and creatures that can hurt Viltrumites. Thaedus shows Nolan a new strain of the Scourge Virus, with the potential to wipe out every Viltrumite in the universe if the empire proves to be too much for them. Mark continues fighting crime for a while, encountering the ecoterrorist villain Dinosaurus, who transforms from his human form into his dinosaur form whenever he feels indifferent about something. Mark nearly kills him before the Guardians intervene. The Sequids attack and nearly overwhelm the Guardians before Mark kills their leader, the possessed Rus Livingston and Rex kills the last Sequid. Conquest escapes from Cecil's detention center and returns to the empire, where Grand Regent Thragg orders him to kill Mark, Nolan, and Oliver. Eve also finds out that she is pregnant, but she keeps it a secret from Mark.
The Flaxans attack Earth again and Rex and Monster Girl follow them back to their home dimension. Nolan and Allen return to Earth where they recruit Mark, Oliver and the hero Tech Jacket for the war against the Viltrum Empire, the Viltrumite War. On their way back to rendezvous with the Coalition, the group is attacked by Conquest, Lucan, and Randee. Mark manages to strangle Conquest to death, but is gravely injured. Nolan and Oliver look over Mark in secret on an alien planet for the next 10 months and take the time to train and bond with each other. Allen and Tech Jacket are able to secretly return back to Talescria and spend months helping the Coalition fight the Viltrumites. Mark recuperates and he, Nolan and Oliver get to Talescria to assist the Coalition in defending the planet from a Viltrumite attack. The Viltrumites flee, and Mark, Nolan, Oliver, Thaedus, Allen, Tech Jacket, Space Racer, and Battle Beast follow them back to their home planet of Viltrum, now a memorial to those that died to the Scourge Virus. In the resulting battle, some Viltrumites are killed, and Mark, Nolan, Thaedus, and Space Racer destroy Viltrum. Enraged, Thragg decapitates Thaedus and gravely injures Mark, Nolan and Oliver. Before he lands the final blow, Thragg spares them. After recovering from the battle, the Coalition believes that the Viltrumites have gone to Earth to lay waste to it. Mark, Nolan, and Tech Jacket race back to Earth expecting it to be destroyed, but find it in tact. Thragg intercepts the group and gives them an ultimatum: allow the remaining 37 Viltrumites to breed with Earth's population and replenish their ranks, or fight them all and have every living being on Earth likely be killed in the resulting battle. Fearing for Earth's safety, Mark agrees and the Viltrumite War ends in a truce. Mark and Nolan return to Debbie, Cecil and Eve and inform them about the end of the war. Nolan and Debbie reconcile and restart their romance. Allen is made leader of the Coalition in the wake of Thaedus's death and comes across the Scourge Virus Thaedus showed Nolan, along with instructions left by him: if Thaedus dies, use the Scourge Virus to eliminate all Viltrumites from the universe.
Mark learns that Eve had an abortion while he was gone, but he doesn't hold it against her. Mark fights Dinosaurus again in Las Vegas, which results in Dinosaurus activating bombs that destroy the city, kill thousands presumably kill him as well. Mark fights Powerplex again and makes peace with him. Nolan and Debbie move to the GDA's moon base and decided to travel to Talescria to visit Oliver. Rex and Monster Girl return from the Flaxan Dimension. Dinosaurus is revealed to be alive and is captured by the GDA. Cecil and Mark travel to the ruins of Las Vegas where Cecil reveals that they are using the glass from the bombs to take advantage of solar energy to provide power to millions of people. Mark realizes that Dinosaurus's methods while abhorrent, also have positive results. Mark breaks Dinosaurus out of the Pentagon and the two team up to do good for the planet, while Cecil declares Mark and Dinosaurus as enemies of the planet. Meanwhile on Talescria, Allen reveals to Nolan that the new strand of the Scourge Virus has the potential to kill all the humans on Earth as well as all the Viltrumites in hiding. Nolan disagrees with Allen as he believes that Earth can change the views of the Viltrumites like it did for him. The two fight and Oliver intervenes before deciding to assist Allen with his plan. Nolan is imprisoned on Talescria while Allen and Oliver travel to Earth. Mark meets the two of them in space where the duo reveal the plan. Mark doesn't want to risk the lives of the humans and a fight breaks out. Mark is nearly overpowered by the two of them before Thragg arrives to assist him. Thragg and Allen talk and try to peacefully resolve the issue, but the Guardians arrive and see Mark, who is still an enemy of the planet. Another fight breaks out and Oliver attempts to unleash the Scourge Virus, but Mark is infected.
Mark is put in critical condition and Thragg has Viltrumite scientists on a Viltrumite warship heal Mark to prevent the Coalition from attacking them. Dinosaurus goes to the warship to assist in Mark's recovery. It is then that Thragg realizes that Mark is the grandson of Argall, the former Emperor of Viltrum, making Mark, Oliver and Nolan the heirs of the Viltrum Empire. Thragg attempts to kill Mark but Dinosaurus intervenes and the two escape. Mark is now healthy enough to walk, but his powers are gone. The Flaxans attack Earth and what happened in their dimension is revealed: Rex and Monster Girl overthrew the Flaxan dictatorship and became the rulers of the dimension, but an increasing amount of rebellions forced Rex into a more cold and pragmatic personality, straining his relationship with Monster Girl. This all took place over 1,000 years in the Flaxan dimension, as they very slowly aged in the dimension while the opposite was true for the Flaxans. The Flaxan attack is stopped, though there are thousands of casualties. During the attack, General Kregg, to Thragg's chagrin, saves a group of people that included a romantic partner of his. All of the Viltrumites aside from Thragg and Anissa had taken to a romantic partner and began to see the appeal of humanity and proper companionship.
Mark's powers return and he reconciles with Allen and Oliver. Mark continues to work with Dinosaurus to do good for the Earth. Dinosaurus reveals that he had placed bombs in Greenland to cause flooding to kill several humans and provide water to barren areas. Mark fights Dinosaurus and alerts the Guardians to the bombs, but they are unable to stop the bombs from going off, which destroys Greenland and causes floods that kill over a million people. Rex constructs a moon-sized base to cause an artificial tide to put the water back to normal. Mark talks to Dinosaurus and says that Dinosaurus might have a god-complex and that there has to be better ways to help Earth. Dinosaurus agrees and asks Mark to kill him, believing that he may go back into his old line of thinking and could cause even more destruction. Mark kills Dinosaurus and Cecil offers Mark a job at the GDA so that he won't go to prison for helping Dinosaurus. Eve reveals to Mark that she's pregnant and wants to make it work.
Thragg attacks Nolan and reveals to him about his heritage. Before he can kill Nolan, Kregg, Anissa, Lucan and the Viltrumite Thula intervene, declaring their loyalty to the rightful heir of Vilrum. The four nearly kill Thragg but Nolan orders them to spare him. Nolan is declared the Emperor of the Viltrumites and exiles Thragg, believing that to be a more fitting punishment for him. Angstrom returns and attacks Eve and sends Mark to the wasteland universe. There, he discovers that the alternate Marks resorted to cannibalism to survive. Mark and his mohawk-wearing counterpart, "Mohawk Mark," team up to survive the insane "Sinister Mark." Meanwhile, Eve talks to Angstrom and convinces him to stop his war on Mark, telling him that he could have done good with his life if he didn't focus on trying to kill Mark. Mohawk Mark kills Sinister Mark in the fight and him and main Mark go back to the main universe. Angstrom surrenders but Mohawk kidnaps him and brings him back to his universe to expand his empire. Mark asks Rex to track him down as he believes that Angstrom is still too dangerous to live. Nolan tells Allen about Thragg's exile and Allen tasks Battle Beast with tracking him down and killing him. Rex creates a device to track down Angstrom and him and Mark go to Mohawk Mark's universe to kill him against Eve's wishes. Mohawk Mark shows the duo the captured Angstrom. Rex double-crosses Mark and decapitates Angstrom and liquifies Mohawk Mark's insides and leaves main Mark stranded in Mohawk Mark's universe.
Mark enlists the help of that universe's Robot to return home. The process takes six months but is ultimately successful and Mark returns home. There, Eve reveals that Rex told everybody that he was dead. She then dumps him, not wanting to raise their child in an environment where they're not sure if he's going to survive his adventures. Heartbroken, Mark leaves the house and runs into Anissa. Anissa refused the order to mate with humans and instead set her eyes on Mark. Mark tries to fight her off but is overpowered and Anissa rapes him. Mark returns to Cecil to find out where Rex is. Rex arrives and kills Cecil and has Mark follow him to his house. Rex attacks Eve and severely injures her, forcing Mark to flee with Eve to a Viltrumite warship. While the duo are on the ship, Rex unleashes several drones that kill dozens of heroes and villains. Rex reveals the slaughter to Monster Girl, saying that he can't allow them to get in his way. She tries to attack Rex, but he sends her out into space, where Anissa rescues her. Eve gives birth to their daughter, who she and Mark name Terra. Eve and Mark reconcile and Mark goes to stop Rex. Rex sends out an envoy to the Viltrumites and explain his long-term plans to turn Earth into a utopia. Nolan, realizing that the plans do have merit and too many Viltrumites would die in the attempt to fight Rex and his drones, agrees to keeping the Vilturmites neutral in the conflict. Mark attacks Rex's stronghold, but Rex explains how Mark is both physically and morally outmatched. Mark leaves Rex to continue his utopian plans.
Battle Beast tracks Thragg to Thraxa, where he has begun the process of mating with every female Thraxan to create an army of Thraxan-Vilturmite hybrids, with him noting Oliver as inspiration given his power. The two battle across the planet for days. Mark sees the good that Rex's utopia has done, but several surviving heroes like Immortal, Dupli-Kate and Monster Girl desire revenge against Rex for the murders he committed. Believing that he would eventually intervene and cause more damage, Mark, Eve and Terra decide to leave the planet. Allen sets them up on Talescria and the three take time to grow accustomed to living there along with being parents, which Oliver, now resembling a young adult helps with. Thragg eventually kills Battle Beast by ripping out his heart but is severely injured. Allen hears of the weakened Thragg and enlists Mark and Oliver as Coalition agents to kill him. The duo arrive too late and search multiple planets to find Thragg. Mark comes across an alien cave that sends him back in time to when he first got his powers. Mark makes some changes to the past that saves millions of lives, but realizes that if he spends too much time in the past, his relationship with Eve and Terra being born would be undone. The alien in charge of the cave is disappointed but sends Mark back to his time. Mark returns to Eve and Terra, only to realize that five years passed.
Mark makes up for the lost time with Eve and Terra. Mark also reveals to Nolan and Eve that Anissa raped him, but asks them to spare her, as he sees that the Vilturmites are a changed people. Thragg and his army of Thraxan-Viltrumite hybrids over the course of five years have taken over dozens of planets, with the twins Onaan and Ursaal being Thragg's second-in-command. Allen tasks Oliver with infiltrating Thragg's army. Oliver works to undermine Thragg's army but Thragg tasks him with standing idle while he and the twins kill Mark, Eve and Terra. Thragg and the twins track down and attack Mark, Eve and Terra but Oliver intervenes. In the resulting fight, Terra awakens her powers and Thragg fatally impales Oliver. Mark and Eve are able to overpower the twins and Mark decapitates Onaan, telling Thragg "being a hero is bullshit," before engaging in a short skirmish with him. Thragg rips Mark in half and Ursaal beats Eve nearly to death but Thragg orders her to stop, telling her that they will mourn Onaan and leave Terra to watch her parents die. Eve's near-death powers activate and she and Mark are healed, with Mark getting stronger, but she is unable to save Oliver. Mark and Eve agree that they have to join the war effort against Thragg and his army.
The Coalition holds a funeral for Oliver. There, Mark and Allen argue over Oliver's involvement, but while Allen apologizes for taking a risk with Oliver, Mark also realizes that Allen thinks like a leader, which may be the right thing to do. Mark is able to convince Nolan to recruit the Viltrumites for the war and also reveals to Nolan about Anissa's assault. Ursaal also begins to doubt how much Thragg cares for her and his children. Mark, Eve, the Viltrumites loyal to Nolan and the Coalition is able to push back the Thraxan-Viltrumite army out of their territories and take them to a final battle near Earth's sun. Several of Thragg's children die and so do several of Nolan's Viltrumites, including Anissa, who gives Eve a final message. Nolan takes on Thragg but is overpowered and mortally wounded. Mark engages Thragg and their fight makes it clear that Thragg doesn't care about his children — he only cares about revenge against Mark and Nolan. Ursaal orders her siblings to stand down and they do, allowing the Coalition to take them into custody. Mark and Thragg fight on the surface of the sun and Rex, who heard of the battle and realizing that Thragg is a threat to humanity and the universe at large, assists Mark by sending him an armored suit to help in the fight. After a violent fight, Mark bites Thragg's throat out and sends his body into the sun to be destroyed.
As Mark recovers, Nolan asks to see him. Realizing that he can't heal properly and is on death's door, Nolan declares Mark to be the new Emperor of the Viltrumites. Nolan says that because Mark changed him, he can lead the empire into a new era and asks him to "change them" as he passes away. Mark, Eve, Terra, Debbie and Allen all mourn Nolan's death. Mark's first act as emperor is to usurp Rex's rule over the planet. Mark spares him and reduces him to a brain and asks Immortal to become the new director of the GDA, as he can be trusted to use peaceful methods to better the world but Rex can still act as an advisor to him. Shockingly, Rex agrees. Eve passes on the message that Anissa told her — Mark has a son named Markus, born out of the rape on Mark. Markus soon develops his powers and Mark comes to the decision that the Viltrumites need to leave Earth before they start to really influence the world. All the Viltrumites, including their families and the survivors of the Thraxan-Viltrumite army leave Earth, except for Markus, his stepfather and half-sister.
500 years later, the universe is a changed place. Mark and Eve have led the new Viltrum Empire into an era of peace and regularly help other planets with their problems. Markus has come to terms with his conception and his and Mark's relationship has improved, and the Coalition has disbanded. The comic ends with Mark and Eve reflecting on the universe as Mark finds amusement in the fact that it started when his dad asked, "What will you have after 500 years?".
