“Let’s change this"— When Robert Kirkman explained how The Walking Dead influenced a must-make change in Invincible's adaptation

Invincible finally returned to the small screens after a year with its third season on February 6, 2025. As far as shows go, this adaptation of the classic Robert Kirkman comic book has taken the superhero world by storm and remains one of the most acclaimed animated shows of the last few years. And this is all due to Kirkman sticking by his original story from the comics.

When it comes to Invincible, Robert Kirkman wanted to avoid the same mistakes that were made with The Walking Dead series - which was also another television adaptation of his famous comic. With The Walking Dead, a bunch of changes from the comics were often made which led to much fan backlash, and Kirkman learned his lessons from there and wished for them to not continue.

In an interview with The Ringer in March 2024, Kirkman had this to say:

"I’ve learned from the Walking Dead process. In working on The Walking Dead, I was very much like, “Let’s change this. Let’s throw this out. This is going to be more exciting for me if it’s different,” because I don’t really like doing the same thing again."

He continued:

"But with Invincible, I’m trying to work on the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” model. And really it’s just a matter of going through the comics and finding where the best season finales are, because the comic was written with accelerating, heightening moments that continue to build off of each other. And so there are benchmarks along the way where it’s like, “Oh, there’s a good finale, there’s a good finale, there’s a good finale.”

---

Has the Invincible series stayed true to the comics?

For most of the part, the Invincible series has stayed quite faithful to the comics. Certain aspects here and there were changed to make the story better suited to the television format. However, most of the major moments from the comics have been translated well to the small screen - and it certainly looks like Robert Kirkman doesn't intend on changing that anytime soon.

Continuing in his interview, Kirkman realized that fans wanted certain plot points to be adapted faithfully and he recognized this as well. Further comparing it with The Walking Dead, he continued how he wanted to continue to deliver to the fans.

"If anything, it’s really just a matter of making sure that we are always true to the fan base, making sure that we are always providing them with something exciting but also never pulling the rug out from under them, never taking advantage of their devotion."

He continued:

Which is not to say that Walking Dead has done that, but it’s just a good rule of thumb at all times. I have to recognize there are certain moments from the comics that a fan base would be upset not to see adapted. So identifying those moments and making sure that we do them justice is something that we take very seriously.

---

Invincible season 3 is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video

The first three episodes of Invincible season 3 premiered on Amazon Prime Video on February 6, 2025. Fans can currently tune in for them on the streaming service, and one episode of the eight-episode season is going to continue to release on it every Thursday.

This season of the show follows Mark as he is currently dealing with the fallout from killing Angstrom Levy as well. With him having defected from Cecil and training his brother Oliver who has developed his own powers as well, Mark finally discovers the true responsibility of being a hero.

---

For further updates on the show, stay tuned with us.