Throughout Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley's Invincible, Mark Grayson fills out many of the tropes familiar to the superhero genre. He learns to use his powers, struggles to balance his superhero life with that of his civilian identity, and perhaps best of all he earns himself a whole host of villains that absolutely hate his guts. Known as a rogues gallery, a hero's villains are every bit as important to creating the fun to their stories as the hero is himself, and as the Amazon series gears up for more seasons, there are plenty more twists and turns to come.
The animated series only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to villainy in the Invincible universe. There are plenty more threats lurking out there in the universe or waiting still to manifest their powers and their vendettas. There are plenty of great villains in the first season, but many of Invincible's most dangerous enemies are still to come.
Powerplex
Perhaps one of the most important villains to the overall message of the story is Powerplex. Known originally as Scott Duvall, his origins were less as a villain and more as a victim. After his sister died in the clash between Invincible and Omni-Man, Duvall harbored a grudge against the hero that would steadily grow over time. And with his power to absorb and redirect energy, he could do something about it.
Duvall steadily became more maniacal in his aims, stealing experimental technology to boost his powers and staging crimes for the hopes of a showdown with Invincible. Eventually, his wife and child were roped into one of his schemes, and when Invincible arrived, Powerplex accidentally killed them. Blaming the incident on Invincible himself, the villain struggled with a psychotic fixation perfectly paralleled by his powers. In fighting him, Invincible had to learn to reason with Powerplex and let him vent his anger. Absorbing the kinetic energy from Invincible's punches only fueled Powerplex, and their clashes offered a valuable lesson in talking problems out.
Conquest
Not every villain can be reasoned with, however, and Conquest is the perfect example. As a Viltrumite warrior scarred in battles past, Conquest came to be known as one of the empire's greatest champions who never failed to bring a planet to heel. Where previous efforts to "discipline" Invincible failed, the empire sent Conquest to finish the hero and his planet off at last. What resulted were some of the bloodiest battles in the entire series.
Conquest very nearly killed Invincible and Atom Eve both, devastating the heroes in combat before seeing a narrow defeat at Atom Eve's last-minute power up. She vaporized half the villain and still Conquest fought on, narrowly surviving thereafter. In his rematch with Invincible, the two men pushed each other to their limits once more, with Conquest literally tearing Invincible's guts out as the hero strangled the conqueror in turn. In the end Invincible was victorious, but with how close Conquest came he proved himself as one of the hero's deadliest foes.
Dinosaurus
At the intersection between reason and brute strength is Dinosaurus, a concept so ludicrous that it's hard to believe that it works so perfectly. Essentially, Dinosaurus is a riff on the Hulk concept, where his unambitious human alter ego David Anders transforms due to indifference and boredom rather than anger. Though David is unmotivated and unprincipled, the super-powerful lizard Dinosaurus is motivated and principled to the point of psychosis. Many of his schemes are attempts at saving the world, but in threatening so many lives to do it he takes his goals too far.
Dinosaurus ultimately proves to be a valuable piece of Invincible's story because he spurs the hero into rethinking his modus operandi as a superhero. Just as Powerplex helped prove that not every problem can be punched away, and that villains are more complex than the sum of their evil motivations. Dinosaurus allowed Invincible to see that punching bad guys was a myopic solution to the grander problems of the world. He provided some of the most philosophically dense issues that Invincible ever grappled with. Just when you worry the comic is taking itself too seriously, you remember it's a red T-rex spouting its message, and everything is OK again.
Angstrom Levy
Rounding out the philosophical issues the hero faced throughout his career is the top contender for the spot of Invincible's arch-nemesis: Angstrom Levy. There are already strong indications that Levy is bound for the world of the Amazon adaptation, and crossing worlds is exactly what Levy is all about. Imbued with the power to open portals to alternate dimensions, the villains brought out hundreds of duplicates of himself from throughout the multiverse and attempted to combine all their knowledge into his own mind. The problem is that Invincible showed up at the last moment, throwing the experiment off and disfiguring Levy.
For that, Levy became obsessed with reaping vengeance upon Invincible, and towards the end, he proved to be one of the most terrifying menaces the hero would face. It was not Levy's considerable powers that made him so scary, but that he would mercilessly target the hero's loved ones toward the end of manipulating him. He could trap Invincible in a barren wasteland for weeks on end or assemble an army of evil Invincible's to attack Earth. The possibilities with Levy, much as in the multiverse, are endless.
Thragg
Even Angstromg Levy was not the main villain of the series, however, as that title goes to Grand Regent Thragg. Claiming the Viltrumite throne in the place of its slain ruler, Thragg reigned for thousands of years over the Viltrumites' expansion throughout the universe and their conquest of countless civilizations. With a race obsessed with "might makes right," it only stands to reason that Thragg was the most powerful among them, and he proved that time and again.
Even Omni-Man was no match for Thragg, and the Grand Regent proved so powerful that at first, Invincible's attacks barely even phased him. Thragg's accomplishments included defeating Battle Beast after a multi-day battle, scheming the survival of his species during their most desperate hour, and raising an entire army of his own children that nearly reclaimed the Viltrumites' position in the galaxy. As far as big bads go, he's as big as they get. The Amazon series may well take its sweet time introducing Thragg since he will more than likely be the adaptation's final threat.