When Invincible Is Set & How Much Time Passes Before Season 2

It’s been quite a long wait for the Invincible season 2 premiere, but in-universe, the story’s timeline is a lot more compact. After numerous production delays, Invincible’s second season finally found its way to Prime Video, with an early November 2nd release of its first episode, “A Lesson for Your Next Life.” The remainder of Invincible’s new season will commence with a weekly roll-out of episodes until a mid-season hiatus, where fans will once again be left waiting, as the second half of season 2 will premiere on a date that’s yet to be determined.

While fans continue to play an agonizing game of cat and mouse with the series — one that’s inadvertently made Invincible’s narrative feel long and drawn out — the timeline within the show is moving along fairly quickly. Invincible‘s new season continues Mark Grayson’s story after the epic fight between his alter-ego and his father, the once lauded superhero Omni-Man. Invincible season 2’s first episode establishes what’s happened in the world since their devastating battle. For fans lost in the sauce of Invincible’s production delays and the series’ exciting return, a breakdown of the time-gap between seasons 1 and 2 may be required.

Invincible Season 2 Is Set In Present Day

It has the same conventions and technologies

Like Invincible season 1 implies, season 2 seems to take place in a present-day setting. No obvious clues point to a specific year that Invincible could take place in. However, as the series seems to have all the conventions and technologies of the present day, it’s safe to assume the show takes place at or around the time of its release. After all, Mark and his friends use smartphones, and the government agencies in his world have high-tech computers and weaponry.

Invincible season 1 was released in 2021, and presumably, the events of the first season are set during that time period. That means the timeline of Invincible season 2 should be shortly after, as the premiere reveals that very little time has passed between the two outings.

One Month Passes Between Invincible Seasons 1 & 2

Cecil references the time skip

Although two years have passed since Invincible’s debut, in-universe, time appears to be a completely different story. Of course, production delays can’t particularly be helped nor avoided, but it skewed what may have been a closer timeline of the real world and Invincible’s story. For audiences, two years passed between seasons 1 and 2, but in the story, only a mere month passes from Invincible season 1’s ending to the events of the season 2 premiere.

The month that passes is confirmed by Cecil when he meets Mark at a local restaurant. There, he finds that Mark is seriously dejected by the fight with his father. Throughout the premiere, Mark has severe flashbacks to Omni-Man’s rants, the beating that he took from him, and the destruction left in the wake of their battle. Because it’s hard for Mark to cope, he implores Cecil to let him work as Invincible full-time as a distraction. However, Cecil reminds Mark that it’s only been a month since his dispute with Omni-Man and reveals that he’s not entirely sure Mark is ready.

What Happened During Invincible Season 2’s Time Skip

The world is still dealing with the aftermath of Omni-Man

Omni-Man and Invincible’s big brawl takes a serious toll on both Mark and his mother, Deborah, and that’s evident from what they get up to during the show’s time skip. Mark struggles to come to terms with his life, and as a result of his grief and regret, he takes it upon himself to right the resulting calamity with small and frequent acts of heroism. Similarly, Mark’s mother, who is also healing from the abrupt end of her relationship with Omni-Man, is shown utilizing the coping mechanisms she’s picked up since Omni-Man’s big betrayal. It is subtlety implied that Deborah is oscillating between drinking wine and keeping busy.

Mark and Deborah are both forced to live through the aftermath of Omni-Man and Invincible’s brawl, which is still marked by devastation at the start of Invincible season 2, episode 1. A short news clip scene in Invincible reveals that most civilians, specifically in the city of Chicago, are still recovering from the carnage and destruction from the battle. Evidence of the Grayson family’s agonizing road to recovery coupled with glimpses of the still-leveled city suggests that it’ll be a long time before the main characters and civilians of Invincible start to feel any semblance of normalcy.