History Recap / Invincible2021S02E09IThoughtYouWereStronger

* CrypticBackgroundReference: The talking dinosaurs that Mark fights in one dimension hint that humans once existed on their world, but are now seemingly extinct, with Mark being the first they've seen in a while. It's unclear if this is meant to imply that these dinosaurs are either convergently evolved from modern reptiles following humanity's extinction, took over the world following a ''Film/JurassicPark''-esque cloning experiment, or that this was at one point a ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur''-esque world where the dinosaurs never went extinct, but humans still evolved and eked out a living.

* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Lampshaded by Debbie regarding Angstrom. As far as she's concerned, for all his big talks about how Invincible is a threat that must be stopped, because of his memories being mixed up with his alternative selves who were victims of evil versions of Invincible, she points out that Angstrom is more pissed by the fact that, just for once, their roles in the main universe are completely reversed, with the former being turned into a supervillain and with Mark being TheHero. Angstrom [[BerserkButton doesn't take it so well, not by a longshot.]]
* BleedEmAndWeep: After turning Angstrom into a bloody mess in a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, Mark is obviously horrified of what he has done, so much so that he nearly throws up from the shock, and spends the entire hour in the wasteland in a mental breakdown, before being rescued by a future version of his friends from said universe.

* DeathByOriginStory: Deconstructed with Angstrom's alternative selves. According to him, the majority versions of Invincible in the Multiverse joined Viltrumite's conquering ways, and they are bound to become Angstrom's ArchNemesis, after the formers killed people the latters cared about, either out of spite or as collateral damage. This becomes a problem for Angstrom "Prime version", who after getting all the trauma of other versions of himself, he assumes the Invincible of his universe is evil (or will be evil) and decides to personally target him, even though the latter is the only known version in the entire Multiverse that didn't do anything wrong to his world, nor to him (the worst he did to him was trying to stop him with his experiment in the first episode of the second season, and even then, it was mostly Angstrom's fault).

* NobleBigot: The dark-brown dinosaur still refers to Mark as an [[ItIsDehumanizing "it"]] after finding out he can talk, implying he still doesn't consider Mark his ''equal'', but he makes his stance plain to his fellows that any species capable of speech deserves far better than being hunted down and eaten.

* EveryoneHasStandards: On of the three sapient dinosaurs Mark encounters is openly enraged when his fellows continue going after Mark after discovering Mark is sapient.

--> '''Dinosaur''': Back you brute! If it talks, it thinks!

* HeroicBSOD: After killing Angstrom in a wrathful NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, Mark is horrified by his actions, as he at first tries [[IDidWhatIHadToDo to justify them to make rational sense to what just happened]], but in the end, he forces himself to admit that he lost control and that he really wanted to kill him, he just didn't know that he would actually succeed. Even after being brought back to his own universe by future versions of the Guardians, he spends the rest of the episode beating himself up for it.

* HeroicBSOD: After killing Angstrom in a wrathful NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, Mark is horrified by his actions, as he at first tries [[IDidWhatIHadToDo to justify them to make rational sense to what just happened]], but in the end, he forces himself to admit that he lost control and that he really wanted to kill him, he just didn't know that he would actually succeeded. Even after being brought back to his own universe by future versions of the Guardians, he spends the rest of the episode beating himself up for it.

* HeroicBSOD: After killing Angstrom in a wrathful NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, Mark is horrified by his actions, as he at first tries [IDidWhatIHadToDo to justify them to make rational sense to what just happened]], but in the end, he forces himself to admit that he lost control and that he really wanted to kill him, he just didn't know that he would actually succeeded. Even after being brought back to his own universe by future versions of the Guardians, he spends the rest of the episode beating himself up for it.

* DeathByOriginsStory: Deconstructed with Angstrom's AlternativeSelves. According to him, the majority versions of Invincible in the Multiverse joined Viltrumite's conquering ways, and they are bound to become Angstrom's ArchNemesis, after the formers killed people the latters cared about, either out of spite or as collateral damage. This becomes a problem for Angstrom "Prime version", who after getting all the trauma of other versions of himself, he assumes the Invincible of his universe is evil (or will be evil) and decides to personally target him, even though the latter is the only known version in the entire Multiverse that didn't do anything wrong to the world, nor to him.

Sometime later, as Mark is still reeling from what he's done and babbling to himself, he's saved by a future version of his friends, the Guardians of the Globe. They give him a way back home but before he leaves, Future Eve confesses to Mark that she's always been in love with him and tells Mark to talk to her past self, urging him to give her some indication of whether he returns her feelings or not.

* TheMultiverse:

Mark spends a great deal of time wrestling with himself and his guilt over accidentally killing Angstrom Levy. Cecil assures him that he did what he needed to do to protect his family. Having a talk with his mother later that night, Mark decides to leave college to fully master his powers and learn to better control himself. Eventually he encounters Eve, who encourages him to open up to her. Thinking about what Future Eve said, Mark considers saying something to her but ultimately decides not to and stays quiet.

Allen is brought to the Viltrumite prison where Nolan is being held, and he tries to recruit Nolan to join the fight against the Viltrumite Empire. Nolan contemplates if he deserves to live after everything he has done on Earth and other worlds, much to Allen's chagrin. Finally Nolan admits that he misses Debbie, giving him a potential reason to keep going instead of simply accepting his execution.

Mark confronts Angstrom Levy, who's taken Debbie and Oliver hostage [[ToThePain as a way to torture Mark]]. When Mark attempts to intervene, Levy sends him to several alternate dimensions. As Angstrom's behavior towards her and Oliver becomes more erratic and aggressive, Debbie attempts to attack him but Angstrom beats Debbie and breaks her arm, nearly snapping it off.

Mark spends a great deal of time wrestling with himself and his guilt over accidentally killing Angstrom Levy. Cecil assures him that he did what he needed to do to protect his family. Having a talk with his mother later that night, he decides to leave college to fully master his powers and learn to better control himself. Eventually he encounters Eve, who encourages him to open up to her. Thinking about what Future Eve said, Mark considers saying something to her but ultimately decides not to and stays quiet.

* LoopholeAbuse: Viltrumite law dictates that traitors must be "whole" (i.e. combat-ready) to face execution, but General Kregg spends a couple of minutes beating Nolan while he's helpless because no one will mind a few bruises.

Mark confronts Angstrom Levy, who's taken Debbie and Oliver hostage [[ToThePain as a way to torture Mark]]. When Mark attempts to intervene, Levy sends him to several alternate dimensions. When Angstrom is briefly distracted by a slew of painful memories from his counterparts, Debbie attempts to attack him but Angstrom recovers, beats Debbie and breaks her arm.

When Mark returns to find Angstrom beating on his mother he's furious and attacks Angstrom harder than he has yet. Angstrom fights back and teleports the both of them to a dimension where the world has been utterly devastated and they appear to be the only living people. Mark gets the upper hand in their fight and loses control of his anger, resulting in him accidentally beating Angstrom to death only to be quickly overcome with remorse. Worse, this means Mark is stranded in a desolate alternate dimension all by himself with no way to return home.\\
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Sometime later, as Mark is still reeling from what he's done and babbling to himself, he's saved by a future version of his friends, the Guardians of the Globe. They give him a way back home but before he leaves, Future Eve confesses to Mark that she's always been in love with him and tells Mark to talk to her past self, urging him to give her some indication of whether he returns her feelings or not.\\
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Meanwhile, the Immortal is still on his sabbatical when he returns to his hut to find none other than the original Kate. Kate confesses that she has let a clone live most of her life for her and was planning to quit being a hero but her feelings for the Immortal eventually prompted her to return. She apologizes for letting him think she was dead and going through all the grief that he's been feeling, but Immortal assures her that it's okay and the two lovers reconcile.\\
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Mark spends a great deal of time wrestling with himself and his guilt over accidentally killing Angstrom Levy. Cecil assures him that he did what he needed to do to protect his family. Having a talk with his mother later that night, he decides that he should leave college to better control himself. Eventually, he encounters Eve, who encourages him to open up to her. Thinking about what Future Eve said, Mark considers saying something to her but ultimately decides not to and stays quiet.\\
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Allen is brought to the Viltrumite's prison where Nolan is held as well. He proposes Nolan join the fight against the Viltrumite empire. Nolan contemplates if he deserves to live on after finally coming to grips about everything he has done on Earth, and confessing that he misses Debbie.

* PragmaticAdaptation: Instead of actually meeting ComicBook/SpiderMan, Mark encounters an {{Expy}} called Agent Spider. [[SubvertedTrope The Batman cameo is kept, however.]]

* HistoryRepeats: The mummy spirit Ka-Hor possessed an archeologist last season but was sealed again by Mark far away from the temple. The archeologist's daughter and an assistant with SuperStrength finds the temple again but, as they find the father's corpse and encounter Ka-Hor, Mark flies overhead, unknowingly unintentionally burying burying the temple and the two women with it.