Why Invincible Isn’t Realistic

There’s one big reason why Invincible season 3 will never be the realistic superhero animation that it truly wants to be…

“It’s like peeing your pants on purpose!”

• Omni-Man

“Iconic” is a word that’s overused to the point of meaninglessness, but it’s pretty safe to say that the power of flight is the one most associated with being a superhero. There were plenty of super strong heroes in myth, legend, and even popular culture for centuries, but combining that with the power to defy gravity and fly is where what we know of as a “superhero” really begins to take shape. Even Superman, in his earliest stories, couldn’t outright fly, and was instead “able to leap tall buildings in a single bound,” a power often described as being limited to about 200 yards at a time. Eventually, self-directed flight became more convenient from a storytelling perspective…not to mention cool.

Sure, there have been plenty of “explanations” given for superheroic flight in various stories through the years, but nobody has ever tried to fully explain the reasoning behind it as well as Invincible. Originally a brilliant comic from Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley, it has been adapted into an equally brilliant adult animated series on Prime Video. With Invincible season 3 now finally here, we thought it might be a good time to take a look at the Invincible concept of self-directed humanoid flight, whether it makes sense in the story, and if there’s any scientific hope whatsoever that one day humans might be able to shake loose the bonds of gravity.

Check out the latest episode of Does it Fly? for the answers to these questions…

SUGGESTED VIEWING 

Look, all of Invincible on Prime Video is masterful superhero storytelling. Less nihilistic than The Boys but every bit as thought-provoking and violent, you really need to check it out. That being said, pretty much everything you need to know about the rules of flight as they’re portrayed in this show come from the first three episodes of season one. But trust us, you’ll want to watch more.

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Of course you do! 

The Law of Conservation of Momentum

Not to spoil everything right up front, but this basic law of physics pretty much crushes our dreams of ever flying like Invincible. Let NASA explain…they would know!

Gravity

Gravity is another one that’s kind of tough to get around. Again, we figured NASA probably has the best explanation here.

Spacetime Diagrams

There’s no easy way to summarize these, but especially for our audio-only listeners who couldn’t see our visualization, this should help.

“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”

For some variations and historical context on that Archimedes quote go here!

Birds do it. Bees do it…

But we can’t? That’s not fair! Here’s how birds and insects are able to fly, though.

And for the non-scientific stuff…

The article that Tamara quotes about the matter of making Mark Grayson bi-racial in the TV series can be read in full here.

Hakeem refers to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History, a truly incredible podcast which did a series on  World War I called “Blueprint for Armageddon” which can be found here. We’re big fans. 

And also, do not forget that Invincible was an AMAZING comic long before it was a TV series. Need something to while away the long wait between new Invincible seasons? Want to get even further ahead in the story? Invincible from Image Comics is the way to go.

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

This isn’t the first time we’ve tackled superheroes on Does it Fly? so you might want to check out our episodes on Batman, The Boys, and Iron Man to get a better sense of the real world concerns that superheroes (and villains) might face. And for a different kind of superheroic flight, check out our episode on The Rocketeer, too!

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