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Before it was ever an animated show, Invincible was being developed as a live-action movie back in 2017 through Universal Pictures. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, both massive fans of the comic, were attached as producers, and their company Point Grey Pictures is still part of the production credits on the show today.
The Invincible comic wrapped up in 2018 after a 144-issue run that started way back in 2003. Robert Kirkman co-created it with artist Cory Walker, with Ryan Ottley taking over the pencils for most of the series' life. The animated show wasn't even publicly announced until a few months after the final issue hit shelves.
Amazon officially greenlit the series on June 19, 2018, committing to a first season of eight episodes right out of the gate rather than a pilot order. That's a pretty rare vote of confidence for an adult animated show nobody outside comic circles had heard of yet.
Amazon didn't wait around to see how audiences reacted. Just ahead of the Season 1 finale in April 2021, the platform locked in both Season 2 and Season 3 in one go, with Kirkman saying at the time that the response had exceeded anything he expected.
When the team first approached J.K. Simmons, they actually had him in mind for Cecil Stedman, the shady government fixer. Simmons read the script and told them he'd rather play Omni-Man instead. Kirkman and the writers agreed on the spot, and Walton Goggins ended up taking the Cecil role instead.
Because he'd only read the first couple of scripts before signing on, Simmons initially thought Omni-Man was just going to be another warm, wise TV dad. It wasn't until later scripts arrived that he realised exactly what kind of character he'd actually agreed to play.
Cory Walker, who drew the earliest issues of the comic alongside Kirkman, didn't just hand the property over and walk away. He came on board as lead artist and executive producer for the show, working to make sure the animated designs still felt true to his original linework.
The first season was brought to life by Vancouver studio Wind Sun Sky Entertainment under CEO Catherine Winder, using a mix of roughly 80% traditional hand-drawn animation and 20% CG. It's part of why the early episodes have such a distinct, slightly old-school comic feel compared to a lot of modern animation.
Wind Sun Sky only handled Season 1. After that, Kirkman's company Skybound set up its own dedicated animation arm to take over key frame work for the rest of the series, which is part of why the visual style noticeably shifted from Season 2 onward.
Mark's high school principal is voiced by Reginald VelJohnson and, fittingly, the school itself is called Reginald VelJohnson High. His character is named B.N. Winslow, a direct nod to Carl Winslow, the role that made VelJohnson a household name on Family Matters. He's probably better known to some fans as the cop who helps John McClane in Die Hard, too.
