Warning: this article contains full spoilers for Invincible: Season 2, Episode 8!
Invincible creator Robert Kirkman has explained how the Season 2 finale’s multiple cameos came to be, revealing Amazon’s lawyers were particularly interested in the Spider-Man cameo.
Season 2, Episode 8 toys with the idea of the multiverse, with Mark hurtling through other dimensions and encountering heroes on alternate Earths. In one scene, Mark meets a very Spider-Man-esque character named Agent Spider, voiced by The Spectacular Spider-Man’s Josh Keaton. This scene is a tribute to the comic book team-up between Spider-Man and Invincible from 2005’s Marvel Team-Up #14.
Josh Keaton as the role of agent spider (spider-man) in the Season 2 Finale of invincible pic.twitter.com/NIS8OPglsV
— REUS | رويس (@iREUS_SA) April 4, 2024
In an interview with Variety, Kirkman discussed the creation of the scene, and how Amazon pushed for Agent Spider to be legally distinct from Spider-Man in order to avoid any issues with Marvel.
“It was just trying to figure out a way to keep that moment somewhat intact from the comics,” Kirkman said. “It seemed like something that would be a fun and surprising way to do it. Amazon legal, painstakingly, was like, ‘No, the costume can’t be that color. We gotta get away from this and that.’ There were a lot of eyes on that scene.
“We wanted to find an actor who had done Spider-Man before. [Supervising director] Dan Duncan came in immediately and was like, ‘Josh Keaton needs to do it. Spectacular Spider Man is a great series.’ He had worked on it and said Josh was great. He seemed like the best possible choice because it’s animation to animation. It seemed like it would be a fun thing.
“That said, he’s not playing Spider-Man. That’s Agent Spider. There might be some similarities, but I think Josh’s nuanced performance as Agent Spider is completely different than the way he played Spider-Man in Spectacular Spider-Man. But who knows? My opinion may be somewhat biased.”
Remarkably, Kirkman said he’s “pretty sure” Marvel only found out about the Agent Spider scene this week. “We didn’t call any Marvel lawyers or anything,” he added. “No, that was Amazon’s legal department’s job to make sure that Marvel didn’t need to know.”
Spider-Man isn’t the only superhero cameo in the series finale. Mark also briefly encounters a caped hero who’s clearly meant to be Batman.
they really got batman in invincible. 😭
— JOLLY J✨ (@DynamoSuperX) April 4, 2024
I already saw this in the comics but to see it animated with the music is so raw pic.twitter.com/ktR3dN2YOg
Again, Kirkman distanced this Invincible character from the Caped Crusader, while admitting to the reference. “Listen, I think that sequence might seem to imply a certain thing that isn’t there,” Kirkman said. “That’s not Gotham City. That’s not Batman. That’s a completely different bat character that Mark is referring to. If the audience is inferring a certain thing from it, I don’t have control over that. The audience gets to take from it what they will, but it was never our intention to imply anything remotely close to the Batman character.”
The series finale also manages to get the Dragon’s Breath sniper rifle from Fortnite into Mark’s hands. It’s an Easter egg that references the Invincible skin in the phenomenally successful battle royale, and unlike the Agent Spider and not-Batman cameos, this one came with approval from Fortnite developer Epic. Does that mean Fortnite is canon now?
Hey, it’s the guy from Fortnite!!! pic.twitter.com/1IpAScqmiS
— INVINCIBLE (@InvincibleHQ) April 4, 2024
With Season 2 done and dusted, thoughts now turn to Season 3, which Invincible star Steven Yeun discussed with IGN in a recent interview.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/invincible-creator-robert-kirkman-says-amazon-legal-had-a-lot-of-eyes-on-that-series-finale-cameo