Latest news with #Invincible
Geek Tyrant
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Robert Kirkman Breaks Down INVIBCIBLE Season 3, Why Mark's Future Should Scare You, and Lessons Learned from THE WALKING DEAD — GeekTyrant
Robert Kirkman knows how to wreck a superhero emotionally and physically, and Invincible Season 3 is a showcase of that skill. As the second half of the season wrapped on Prime Video, fans were left reeling from the mental toll on Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), his brutal battle with Conquest, and the growing realization that Mark may be heading down a darker path than anyone expected. In a recent interview with Deadline, Kirkman offered a candid breakdown of Mark's psychological spiral, his complicated relationship with his half-brother Oliver, and how experience from The Walking Dead helped shape a more structurally sound adaptation this time around. Mark's Crossroads Season 3 is all about what kind of man—and hero—Mark is becoming. One of the most telling dynamics this year is the brotherly bond (or fracture) between Mark and Oliver, the half-Viltrumite sibling he barely knows but is now responsible for mentoring. The tension between their moral codes becomes a mirror that Mark can't look away from. 'I think it's good to give Mark as many outside influences as possible,' Kirkman said. '...One of the results of interacting with his father was that he brought Oliver home. Oliver has the same dad but is from an alien world... For Mark, his feelings can sometimes be scary when he seemingly agrees with some of the crazy things that Oliver is saying.' That inner conflict is no small matter. As Kirkman explains, Oliver starts off saying 'harsh things that make you worry,' but by the end of the season, Mark finds himself more aligned with his brother than before. 'So, by the end of this season, you should be worried for where Mark is headed in Season 4 and beyond.' A Relentless Descent Mark's downward arc isn't just philosophical, it's paved in blood. From Powerplex to the Invincible War and finally to his knock-down, drag-out fight with Conquest, Kirkman makes clear that the exhaustion and trauma have layered onto Mark's conscience in ways that aren't going away. 'He is unsure of himself and fears that he could be on the path getting closer and closer to what Omni-Man was... Without having any time to process that or work through it... Conquest comes and does more damage that Mark feels responsible for,' Kirkman said. It's that spiral of grief, guilt, self-doubt, then rage that sets the stage for Season 4's more dangerous version of Mark. As Kirkman put it, 'We're trying to deal with what it would be like to have the burden of the responsibility of having this much power... and we're excited about how the show goes into some really dark places.' The Teenage Factor But this is still a coming-of-age story, and Mark's contradictions are intentional. 'He's a somewhat erratic character by design,' Kirkman noted. 'We're constantly pushing this character to make bold statements and then go against those statements... That's kind of the life that we all experienced as a teenager... and it's fun to see a character go through that same process while he's able to crush planets.' Walking Dead Wisdom If Invincible feels more structurally sound than The Walking Dead ever was. Kirkman says the experience of adapting a comic he hadn't finished yet taught him some hard lessons. 'There were times [on The Walking Dead] when it was like, 'Yeah, let's make that different. That'll be fun.' But then you get to Season 6–Season 9, and you have entire storylines from the comic that don't work anymore...' Now, with Invincible, Kirkman says they've done the opposite. 'There's a lot of decisions that were made on Invincible Season 1–Season 3... so that when we're going Season 5–Season 6... we know the track has been laid.' The Conquest Challenge Of course, making Invincible isn't just emotionally demanding, it's a logistical beast. The fight between Mark and Conquest in the finale was one of the toughest scenes yet to animate. Kirkman revealed: 'We had to get extra board artists to come in... Usually, you have four or five board artists... I think we had six or seven that were doing two to four-minute chunks... It was an all-hands-on-deck kind of effort.' That battle was a key point of escalation—and that escalation is something Kirkman is intentionally building season after season. 'We're trying to make the show an escalating show... so that when you watch the show, you get a sense of growth... and intensifying stakes.' The Role of Violence As for the show's signature blood-and-guts spectacle? Kirkman says the violence only works if it means something. 'I don't really think of the violence as are we going too far... I'm thinking, is this violence resulting in the correct emotions we're trying to elicit...?' he said. 'We're trying to push the emotional buttons... so that you have that feeling.' And while streaming gives them room to push boundaries, Kirkman points to The Boys as the trailblazer that lets Invincible fly under the radar. 'I get to watch that show and go, 'We can do anything.'' Where It's All Going Mark Grayson may have set out to be Earth's protector, but Season 3 leaves us with a much more complicated reality: he's not just battling villains anymore—he's fighting who he might become. And that, according to Kirkman, is exactly the point. 'By the end of this season, you should be worried for where Mark is headed in Season 4 and beyond.' If that's not a warning shot, nothing is.
Scotsman
6 days ago
- Sport
- Scotsman
Hearts to recreate history as Craig Gordon reveals Rangers and Celtic career-changing moment
Derek McInnes is preparing for the 2025/26 Scottish Premiership season Sign up to our Hearts newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Hearts fans exhilarated by the mere mention of George Burley's 2005 team will be roused knowing Derek McInnes is planning to recreate history at Tynecastle Park. The new head coach has explained to players that the pace-and-power football which characterised Hearts 20 years ago is exactly what he wants to instill for the new season. Craig Gordon, the club's most experienced player at 42, was the goalkeeper in Burley's side which stormed to the top of Scotland's top flight. They were unbeaten when the then-Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov inexplicably sacked Burley in October 2005. The team went on to finish second but there remains nagging frustration over what might have been that year. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad There are also fond memories for supporters who revelled in the attacking approach Burley preached. Gordon acknowledged that McInnes fully intends to bring that type of bullish and assertive style back to Gorgie. 'Absolutely. I can't wait if he can because that was an unbelievable team to play in,' said the Scotland internationalist. 'The power of that team, the speed that they played at. It was a great team to be part of. 'If we can recreate that here, the fans will get right behind it. It'll be a real difficult place for anybody to come. If we can get anywhere near that in terms of intensity from our team, then I think the fans will really buy into that and we'll have a very good season. They're bringing in some new players, so I think it's something that he's looking to try and implement. 'It's up to the players to do what the manager wants them to do. I think that whatever they're told they'll carry out to the best that they possibly can. We'll see what that brings. If there's different players coming in that can do it better, then they'll play. I'm sure that the guys that are already here will be right up for it to make sure they're keeping their place in the team and doing exactly what the manager needs from them.' Hibs, Aberdeen, Rangers and Motherwell lost at Tynecastle against Hearts Those initial weeks of season 2005/06 saw Tynecastle become the proverbial fortress as Hibs, Aberdeen, Motherwell and Rangers all lost there against Burley's swaggering Hearts side. The intimidation felt by opponents was clear even in the tunnel before kick-off. 'I definitely felt that at Celtic during the Invincible season, that we'd line up and we just knew we were going to win the matches. I think that George Burley team was similar,' explained Gordon, recalling his time in Glasgow. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Everybody trusted each other and we knew that we had quality all over the pitch. It was just a matter of time before we'd score goals. I think everybody knew their role really well. If we can get back to that and be an intimidating team here, especially with a crowd on our side, it's going to be a really good season.' Whether Burley's side would have beaten Celtic to the 2005/06 title will always be a question pondered by Hearts fans and players. 'We will just never know. I think we'd have been closer. Whether we would have won it or not, I'm not sure,' Gordon remarked. 'I think we would have been a little bit closer in the end than what we actually were. We still managed to finish second, but I think that will always linger of what might have been for that season, probably for the rest of my life. I'll always think that was an opportunity.' Gordon moved on to Sunderland in a record £9m transfer deal before six years at Celtic. In between, he spent two years out of football due to a troublesome knee injury which threatened to force him into early retirement. Ironically, the man credited with saving his career is the Rangers physiotherapist Steve Walker. He helped the goalkeeper strengthen muscle and return to full-time training - ironically for Celtic's benefit. 'I spent the first year out not really doing very much,' recalled Gordon. 'I probably thought for that first year that I wouldn't play again, until the beginning of the second season where my knee started to feel a little bit better. When I went into Rangers, I worked with Steven Walker, the physio there, and he was really good with me. He spent a bit of time trying to figure out how I could rehab my knee without it hurting, giving me exercises that I could do that were less painful but were still building up my leg. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It was just his thought process around the injury. That's something I've taken away from there and always been mindful of if I've had any other injuries - how can I work around it? How can I strengthen without causing the injury any more hassle? It would be him. He was the guy that worked out how to get me back. 'The contact initially came from Jim Stewart, who had been a goalkeeping coach at Hearts and Scotland. He was at Rangers at the time. Rangers had already rehabbed a guy with a very similar injury with me. I think it was a Norwegian guy [Thomas Kind Bendicksen]. He didn't really play much in the first team. He went back to Norway, I think, and he'd managed to get him back from a very similar injury. 'He'd come in to see if he could help, and he did. So that would be the guy I would credit with helping the most. I went and got all different injections. I had PRP injections over in Barcelona with the guy that Pep Guardiola sends his players to. I had high-volume injections in London. I had all the different treatments I could possibly do to chuck everything at it, but if it's one person, I would say it would be him [Walker]. 'He was able to devise a programme that enabled me to build up the muscle around my knee to take the load off the tendon. I think it was a kind of unusual injury at the time. I think there's more of them happened since, but he was the one that managed to get the programme that actually worked. It was just purely work, long-term. It was over a number of months of starting off really slow, doing a high volume of very low weight exercise to eventually build it up over a really long period of time to get back.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Celtic Champions League highlights thanks to Rangers help Trebles and countless Champions League nights followed after Gordon joined Celtic as his career reached its peak. He rejoined boyhood club Hearts in 2020, helping them achieve promotion to the Premiership and experience European league-stage football twice. He is mindful that perhaps none of it would have been possible without Walker's intervention. 'I just never know what would have happened. I might never have had this,' admitted Gordon. 'The injury might have got better over time, but I gave it everything that I had to get back. Once I realised there was a chance to get back, I poured everything into it to give myself that one last opportunity to get to the bottom of it. If I didn't get back, then I knew I'd given it absolutely everything. If I gave it one more go and still couldn't get back, then I would have retired and been at peace with that decision. Until I'd given it everything one last time, I probably would have always wondered if I could have. Between that and the determination to get back, those were the factors that helped.' After all the help at Rangers, he promptly signed for arch rivals Celtic. 'Rangers were in League One at the time and they already had two senior goalkeepers [Cammy Bell and Steve Simonsen]. To add another one at that stage probably wasn't financially the right thing for them to do. They wanted me to play in a couple of reserve games to prove that I was fit enough to stay. If I had done that, then my injury insurance would have been invalid. So I couldn't do that. 'That was the reason it never happened. Then it was about looking for a club and I didn't know what level I could get back. I spoke to Raith Rovers, they were interested. Hearts had Jamie MacDonald here at the time. They didn't know if he was going to be leaving. I think Neil Alexander came in. Then Celtic came in. So that was the the reason I went there. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I knew I wasn't going to be first-choice when I first went in with Fraser Forster being there. But I knew I'd have, again, really good medical care. I could give it the best possible chance to continue my rehab and try and get some games. I knew there was obviously speculation about Fraser, so there was a little chink of light there to potentially him moving on and getting a chance to see what I could do. 'It's your sliding doors moment. It all fell into place all in exactly the right time. I managed to go in and play 50 games my first season back after not playing for two years, which I didn't know was possible until I managed to do it.' Gordon stressed he had no qualms signing for Celtic when the opportunity arose despite Rangers' central role in rebuilding his knee. 'I don't know what you want me to say about that one,' he smirked. 'At certain times as a footballer, you've got to be a bit selfish and go and do the thing that's best for you. 'That was the best thing for me, for my career, to play at the highest level. Rangers took another three years to come back up to the Premiership, so I managed to get those three years playing in the Premiership and playing for Scotland that perhaps maybe I wouldn't have had. It was a difficult thing to do but sometimes you've got to do what's best.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad • Tickets for the Craig Gordon Testimonial Match – Hearts v Sunderland, Tynecastle Park, 3pm, Saturday 26th July – are on sale now through Supporters can keep up to date with all of the latest Craig Gordon Testimonial information at
Daily Record
6 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Record
Craig Gordon hopes Derek McInnes can recreate Burleyball as Hearts veteran reveals what players are really thinking
New Tynecastle boss has already name checked Burley's Jambos and Gordon reckons that side felt like they would win every time Craig Gordon hopes Derek McInnes can bring Burley-ball back to Gorgie and have Hearts feeling invincible again. The veteran goalkeeper was a key man in George Burley's side that stormed clear at the top of the table after an eight-game winning run to start the 2005-06 season. But the manager was controversially sacked by madcap owner Vladimir Romanov after 10 games and while still unbeaten. McInnes was appointed as Hearts new manager last month and admitted playing for Dundee United against the power of Burley's team 20 years ago 'hit you between the eyes pretty quickly'. And Gordon hopes he can recreate that in the new season. He said: 'Absolutely. I can't wait if he can because that was an unbelievable team to play in. The power of that team, the speed that they played at. 'If we can get anywhere near that in terms of intensity from our team, then I think the fans will really buy into that and we'll have a very good season. It'll be a real difficult place for anybody to come. 'At Celtic during the Invincible season I felt that we'd line up and we just knew we were going to win the matches. I think that George Burley team was similar. 'Everybody trusted each other and we knew that we had quality all over the pitch. It was just a matter of time before we'd score goals. I think everybody knew their role really well. 'If we can get back to that and be an intimidating team here, especially with a crowd on our side, it's going to be a really good season.' Hearts missed out on a top six finish last season after a loss of form under Neil Critchley saw the goals dry up and the tempo disappear from their game. Backed by Tony Bloom's investment, the Jambos have already added Norwegian right-back Christian Borchgrevink, Greek wide man Alexandros Kyziridis and Irish midfielder Oisin McEntee. And asked if he expected a drastic change of style under McInnes, Gordon said: 'They're bringing in some new players as well, so I think it's something that he's looking to try and implement. 'It's up to the players to do what the manager wants them to do. I"'ve already spoken to all the players on the phone, it does feel like everybody's getting quite excited about getting back to start again. 'That's the feeling that can really drive the team on and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can achieve this year.' Meanwhile, Gordon admits he thought last season would be his last after Hearts' horror start to the campaign. The Jambos went 11 games without a win in all competitions - a run that saw Steven Naismith sacked - and Gordon admits he questioned his own future. He said: 'During the European run, when there were so many games in the first part of the season, it was hard for everybody. 'Results weren't going particularly well. 'It wasn't a great place to be when things are not going well. So, yes, there were points where I thought that would probably be the last season. 'It wouldn't have been a good way to go out. I think as the season progressed, I started to feel a bit better. 'I think there's a lot more positive signs going into this season now with everything that's happening, new players that are coming in, new management teams. 'So, yes, I think there's a lot to look forward to.'
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Xbox Games Showcase 2025: Invincible Fighting Game Makes Its Gory Debut
Following the immense success of the Amazon Prime Video animated superhero show, Invincible, now in its third season and featuring talent such as J.K. Simmons, Steven Yeun, Gillian Jacobs, Aaron Paul, Simu Liu and more, many fans were thinking that a fighting game based on the property, à la Injustice, would be a match made in heaven. Skybound Games and their in-house studio, Quarter Up, which specializes in fighters, are of the same opinion as, during the Xbox Games Showcase, they unveiled Invincible VS, an appropriately brutal, bloody and frenetic, considering the adapted material, 3v3 tag fighter. Surprisingly, Invincible VS the trailer does not actually show the game's tag system in play, instead opting to cut to a different fight altogether in order to convey that effect, but, fighting game fans can probably expect a twist on the feature that made titles such as Marvel vs. Capcom and Dragon Ball FighterZ so beloved within the fighting game community. The comparison to these two fighting game tournament mainstays does not end here, either, as Quarter Up seems intent on delivering a game of 'tournament-quality', assuming one that would be featured during EVO, the biggest fighting game tournament in the world. What's more, Quarter Up has also partnered with the team behind the animated show for a story mode for Invincible VS. No more details are yet known about this story mode, but as the trailer shows, fans can rest assured that Omni-Man, together with Thula and Black Samson, will likely be throwing fists with Invincible, who is joined up by Atom Eve and Red Rush, across a variety of locations such as a city (presumably New York or Chicago), snow-capped mountains and even the surface of the Moon as part of the game's narrative. Invincible VS will release on Xbox Series X/S, Game Pass, PlayStation 5 and PC in 2026. Be sure to check out all of the other announcements from the Xbox Games Showcase
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Invincible' Video Game Set as Skybound Launches First In-House Game Studio, Quarter Up
'Invincible' studio Skybound Entertainment has launched its first-ever in-house video game studio, Quarter Up. The new division's first game is the recently announced 3v3 tag fighting game 'Invincible VS,' a title set in the world of Amazon Prime Video's popular adult animated superhero series created based on the comics penned by Skybound's Robert Kirkman. More from Variety Adult Animation, Anime's Rising Influence Lead WIA's 2025 Annecy World Summit Lineup (EXCLUSIVE) Skybound Acquires Digital Talent Firm Nine Four Entertainment Skybound Entertainment Appoints Skarphéðinn Guðmundsson as CEO of Iceland's Sagafilm (EXCLUSIVE) 'Invincible VS' is described as 'a brutal tournament-quality 3v3 tag fighting game that lets players become a superhero in the bloodiest fight in the universe.' The game will feature fan-favorite 'Invincible' superheroes Mark Grayson (Invincible), Thula, Atom Eve, Bulletproof and more characters in an original single-player story from the creative team behind Amazon's 'Invincible' TV series. The game, which was first teased during Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday ahead of Skybound's Quarter Up reveal Monday, is slated to launch in 2026. 'I think about our team as a group of fighting-game fans making games for the fighting-game community, and we're trying to create a game that matches what people want,' Skybound Games chief Chris Paulson told Variety. 'And it doesn't have to be this huge game that costs $100, it can be something more focused. And so we don't really think about double A or triple A or whatever, we think about making a game for an audience, and we're playing the game with the people that are going to be fans.' Headquartered in Los Angeles, Quarter Up is made up of more than 40 developers who are alums from gaming studios including Activision Blizzard, Amazon Game Studios, Double Helix Games, Riot Games, Naughty Dog, Netflix and more. The team's mission is to 'redefine the fighting game genre by being at the center of combat, presentation and passion,' but they're keeping quiet on what other projects they're planning beyond 'Invincible VS.' 'We're hyper focused on this game right now,' 'Invincible VS' executive producer Mike Willette, who previously worked on Double Helix Games' 2013 title 'Killer Instinct,' told Variety. 'We want this game to amaze people. We want them to fall in love with the characters and the world of 'Invincible.' There's so much rich lore and badass-ness that we just want people to get their chance to play with us.' But as they move forward making other games for Skybound, Willette noted how Quarter Up being an in-house gaming studio has already simplified his usual dev struggles. 'From a developer perspective, it's just amazing that you have access to all these resources,' he said. 'I've worked on projects before where you're begging, borrowing, stealing just to find, 'What is this? Can I get access to this?' Here, it's not a problem. We have decades' worth of stuff to go back through comic-wise and access to the show and the creative team. So for us, couldn't ask for anything better on the dev side.' Best of Variety 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Animated Program — Can Netflix Score Big With 'Arcane,' 'Devil May Cry' and the Final Season of 'Big Mouth?'
