Despite the main character being a teenager, the series' dumbest moments often come from adult characters.
Unmarked Spoilers Follow!
Season 1
- In the pilot, several White House security guards find themselves ambushed when the Mauler Twins come in an attempt to kidnap the president. Steve in fact pointed out that their training is useless when they have to deal with beings that have super-strength or the power of flight. He and his coworker are on the ground, watching as the automated defense systems fail.
You'd Expect: Steve would lie on the ground and do nothing. As he pointed out, their weapons and expertise are useless when facing a supervillain. Credit to the Mauler Twins they have some Villainous Valour that they only attack authority figures obstructing them from escape or their plots, and any innocent bystanders tend to be Nothing Personal collateral damage.
Instead: In an incredibly brave but stupid move, Steve uses his bullets to shoot out one of the Twin's eyes. It's a bullseye, but doesn't stop them or even badly wound them.
The Result: The Twins look at him in You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me! mode, after the injured one recovers. Then they prepare to kill Steve. It's only thanks to the Guardians pulling a Big Damn Heroes moment that Steve lives. - Despite being shown to be a very competent team of heroes, several members of the Guardians of the Globe make very poor decisions during their fight with Omni-Man. To the point that there are videos
commenting on it.- Red Rush is the Guardians' Flash Expy, superfast but human level durability. During the previous fight with the Mauler Twins, Red Rush focused on keeping people out of harms way and only engaged the Maulers after both Green Ghost and Martian Man had immobilized and restrained them, allowing him to attack them without risk to himself. The first thing Red Rush does when the fight with Omni-Man starts is shove Immortal out of the way of Omni-Man's sneak attack, saving Immortal's life. Then when Omni-Man continues to attack, Red Rush counters Omni-Man's speed by moving his teammates out of the way at the last second, frustrating Omni-Man.
You'd Expect: Red Rush, having seen how effective this tactic is, would continue to do support work, getting his teammates out of the way of Omni-Man's lethal attacks and helping them coordinate their offense. At the very least, since he knows Omni-Man is stronger and faster than the Mauler Twins, he'd wait until Omni-Man was similarly restrained before trying to attack the superstrong, superfast, nigh invulnerable alien.
Instead: Red Rush decides to attack Omni-Man on his own. Yes, the Fragile Speedster tries to engage the Superman Substitute in close quarters combat without any support.
Result: While Red Rush is faster than Omni-Man, the latter is able to react fast enough to grab Red Rush during one attack. And once he has his hands on Red Rush, it's a simple matter for Omni-Man to simply crush Red Rush's skull, killing him. - Darkwing functions as the team's Batman Expy, a normal but highly trained human using stealth, gadgets, skill, and intelligence to take out his opponents. During the previous fight with the Mauler Twins, Darkwing used ranged weapons against the Maulers and never got in close against them, apparently realizing his relative fragility compared to the superstrong villains. Said fragility was made even more apparent when he was nearly crushed under a truck and needed to be saved by Omni-Man, so Darkwing is aware of how physically outclassed he is against superstrong opponents. The first thing Darkwing does when the fight with Omni-Man starts (having just seen the alien murder Red Rush) is to use his throwing weapons to stagger Omni-Man and set him up for Aquarus.
You'd Expect: Darkwing to realize how limited he is in a direct fight against someone like Omni-Man (thanks to his previous fight with the Maulers), and would continue to use his weapons to distract Omni-Man from a safe distance to give his teammates openings to attack. Similarly, you'd expect Darkwing to try and get away, either to call for help or at least alert people to what's going on.
Instead: Darkwing tries to sneak attack Omni-Man via a descending drop-kick. Yes, the Badass Normal tries to engage the Nigh-Invulnerable Flying Brick in close quarters combat.
Result: Omni-Man catches Darkwing's leg mid-kick and then ragdolls Darkwing into the ground. Twice. Leaving Darkwing very, very dead.
Even Worse: Omni-Man then throws Darkwing's corpse at Green Ghost, who instinctively solidifies to catch it. This leaves her solid and vulnerable when Omni-Man follows up with a punch to her face. Darkwing's foolishness not only got himself killed, but Green Ghost as well. - Martian Man being the expy of Martian Manhunter has the ability to restrain his opponents by turning into a set of bindings. He has a weakness in the form of his core as his brain has to go somewhere when shapeshifted. He proceeds to bind Omni-Man when the latter is killing the Guardians.
You'd Expect: For him to put his core out of Omni-Man's reach, like his back. The fact that Omni-Man was successfully restrained at all implies that he couldn't brute force his way out of Martian Man's bindings, allowing the surviving Guardians to beat him.
Instead: He leaves his core at Omni-man's chest.
Result: Omni-Man was able to eventually reach with his hands on Martian Man's core, tearing it out of his body and killing him. This kills not just him but also any chance the Guardians had at winning as an unrestrained Omni-Man kills the Immortal and War Woman soon after. - In hindsight, Omni-Man also gets this with his murder attempt against the Guardians. He was careful to disable the security cameras and failsafes in their tower before doing so, as well as to demand back the suit he was wearing from the GDA hospital since it bears evidence that the Guardians defended themselves and went after Omni-Man to buy a few more minutes of time. The Immortal and Blur are the only ones who could have survived the encounter in theory, as we see in Immortal's rematch with Omni-Man.
You'd Expect: He'd have thought ahead of time about setting up a fall guy or a patsy, someone who could legitimately take out the Guardians in their home base. As we see, many villains have the means to get the jump on the Guardians and the motive, including the incarcerated Mauler Twins. Omni-Man could plant evidence in the Guardians' lair and come up with a plausible cover story. The public get their criminal, and Omni-Man gets a few more years to train Mark as his Viltrumite successor.
Instead: Apparently Omni-Man's plan was kill the Guardians and make it seem as if he was attacked as well. When questioned multiple times, he sticks to his story that he didn't see who attacked him. Cecil and Donald don't believe him, since Omni-Man up to this point has never lost a fight. His only strategy when Damien Darkblood investigates is to frame the demon and believe Cecil at face-value when Cecil exorcises Damien and lies that they've avenged the Guardians.
The Result: Anyone looking at the evidence is able to deduce that Omni-Man was the actual killer owing to his lack of planning. Cecil actually had figured it out from the start using Occam's Razor, but was more concerned about Omni-Man not having a reliable failsafe. Art goes Oh, Crap! when Debbie asks him to analyze the suit damage, showing her evidence that Nolan attacked the Guardians and threw the first punch. When a drunk and later sober Debbie confronts Nolan, he admits that part of him wanted her to find out, though it would impede his plans because Cecil and Donald evacuate her to a safehouse after the second confrontation. While it turns out that Cecil can't stop Omni-Man from rampaging, his strategies from launching a satellite Kill-Sat to using dead-soldier Reanimen and siccing a kaiju on the guy are enough to worry him at least. To top it all off, when Mark finds out that Nolan lied to him, killed Earth's defenders for a galactic empire, and finds out his father wants him to conquer the planet, he bluntly refuses. Omni-Man wins their fistfight but leaves in Heel Realization that he alienated his son.
- Red Rush is the Guardians' Flash Expy, superfast but human level durability. During the previous fight with the Mauler Twins, Red Rush focused on keeping people out of harms way and only engaged the Maulers after both Green Ghost and Martian Man had immobilized and restrained them, allowing him to attack them without risk to himself. The first thing Red Rush does when the fight with Omni-Man starts is shove Immortal out of the way of Omni-Man's sneak attack, saving Immortal's life. Then when Omni-Man continues to attack, Red Rush counters Omni-Man's speed by moving his teammates out of the way at the last second, frustrating Omni-Man.
- Dupli-Kate drops the ball during her subplot. Rex, who is dating Atom Eve, mistakenly believes that Eve is interested in Invincible. He convinces Dupli-Kate that he and Eve are broken up, and they start to fool around. Soon the Guardians' public funeral comes up, before the private ones with family.
You'd Expect: Dupli-Kate to tell Rex that it’s unpractical and tacky to do shower sex when they're expected to pay respects to the Guardians. They can find another time.
Instead: They hook up at the Teen Team headquarters, the day of the funeral and Dupli-Kate uses her powers to enact a fantasy for Rex.
The Result: Eve came to investigate because she noted her boyfriend and friend weren't at the funeral, and Kate goes Oh, Crap! when hearing her enter the locker room. She tries to deflect and stall, but Eve busts them by walking into the shower, going Squick and What the Hell, Hero? that Rex had a quadruplet fantasy and thought Eve was interested in another guy just because she talked to Invincible. Eve then breaks up with Rex, quits the Teen Team and refuses to join the new Guardians, telling Robot she can't be on the same team as those two. Robot calls out Rex for how his philandering cost them a team member, but he doesn't do the same to Kate who should have displayed some common sense given Rex is already established as a Dumb Jock. - Damien Darkblood is investigating the crime scene, after Cecil shoos out the cleanup crew. His powers tell him how the dead Guardians spent their last moments, but not much else. After some investigating, Damien reports to Cecil that Omni-Man is the most likely suspect. There are several reasons for this: he was the only survivor, claims that he doesn't remember who attacked him, and has the strength to murder the best superheroes on Earth. In fact, Debbie later comes to the same conclusion when reading Damien's notebook and seeing the evidence he gathered. We find out even Cecil came to this conclusion using Occam's Razor; now his bigger concern is the why, and also getting a failsafe for Omni-Man. Most powerful being on the Earth, and a terrible enemy to have.
You'd Expect: If Cecil wants to keep the investigation under wraps, then he should communicate to Damien Darkblood the And Then What? problem of the situation. Omni-Man can't kill the demon, but he can kill practically anyone else on the planet, and Mark is the only thing that could possibly stop a rogue superhero. It's Cecil's job to protect everyone on Earth, and doesn't want to incentivize Nolan to lash out. Damien would understand the need to stay on the down-low and not anger Omni-Man since he has been around for a while.
Instead: He yells at Damien Darkblood, claiming that the thought of a beloved hero committing mass murder is ridiculous, and orders him out of the Guardians' headquarters. Then he orders Donald to conduct surveillance on the Grayson household, but keep a low profile.
The Result: Damien logically concludes that he needs to carry on the investigation alone, and talks with Debbie civilly to get information. This leads to Nolan planting Guardian blood in his office, and Cecil exorcising Damien, considering him an unwanted factor. - In Episode 4, Mars turns out to be infested with Sequids, starfish-like aliens with a Hive Mind. By themselves, they're docile, but once a single sequid takes over the mind of a native life form, it strengthens the mind-link between the other sequids and they can overrun the planet. Martians are immune to them, but are still determined to make sure they don't destroy another world.
You'd Expect: The Martians to kill off the sequids while they're docile, or at least lock them up.
Instead: They let the sequids roam free.
Then when the human astronauts land on Mars, the Martians are determined to kill them to prevent them from carrying any sequids to Earth.
You'd Expect: They kill the humans right on the spot.
Instead: They capture the humans, bring them to their underground home, and keep them alive long enough for Invincible to track them down.
End Result: Invincible rescues the astronauts and they escape back to Earth, but don't realize that one of them has been replaced. Back on Mars, the sequids have taken over that astronaut's mind, and then begin overrunning the planet. - A criminal named Titan begs Invincible for help, after painting most of his name in bright letters. He shows Invincible that a crime boss named Machine Head is running the slums, burning down people's apartment buildings for insurance money, and using the garbage delivery to launder drugs throughout the system. To top it all off, Machine Head is threatening Titan's family to keep him as an enforcer. Nolan gets suspicious when Mark relays the story over dinner, and the potential plan to storm Machine Head's skyscraper.
You'd Expect: Nolan would advise Mark that people aren't all they seem, and to maybe do some more research about Titan and Machine Head if he is going to start Storming the Castle. Forewarned is forearmed, after all. Or tell him to work with Cecil, since the man keeps tabs on metahumans and would know if Mark can trust Titan. If he doesn't want Mark to do this job, maybe find a more plausible excuse.
Instead: He condescendingly says that as a half-Viltrumite, Mark shouldn't lower himself to help people below him. Nolan also notes bluntly that Titan is using Mark, something that is obvious. Mark acknowledges this but points out Titan has a family and a daughter. He can't ignore a child in distress.
The Result: Debbie intervenes; she says that people aren't always what they seem, but no person is too small to need Mark's help and it should be their son's choice alone. She tells off Nolan for being condescending, reminding him that she taught him about Earth and its people when he was a Smug Super. It turns out that Nolan was Properly Paranoid; Titan and Invincible nearly die when they learn Machine Head used a microchip to anticipate their invasion, and hired some super assassins. Nolan could have saved them, as he was watching, but he wanted Mark to learn firsthand the consequences of trusting someone asking for help. Debbie reads him the riot act when Mark is in intensive care, though it's unclear if that was about his inaction. Titan also bails when the tides have turned thanks to the new Guardians, apologizing to Mark because he didn't want a teenager hurt on his watch; we find out he wanted to take over from Machine Head and reform the city. He's a Karma Houdini as of this episode. - While doing a college tour and double date, Mark wants to find Amber and reconcile with her while William is concerned when Rick calls him and the call goes dead. William has just found out that his best friend is Invincible and begs him to help but Mark understandably isn't in the mood and thinks that he made things worse by stopping the first Reanimen, given Amber broke up with him just then. He does tell William to call him if he doesn't find Rick. William sees the signs of a struggle with Rick's broken phone, a smashed beer six-pack, and an open sewer next to the mart.
You'd Expect: He would do as Mark tells him and call Invincible to notify him, or dial 911 or campus emergency services. Dialing all three would be a great option since this is an emergency. William could explain he sees the signs of his boyfriend struggling, that it looks like kidnapping and the sewer shouldn't be open. Given what happened earlier, campus services would be interested in hearing about kidnapping since two have happened on campus already.
Instead: William goes into the sewer to find Rick. Love Makes You Dumb is not an excuse; you need certification to do that in real life as well as equipment. Plus, no one knows where he is.
Predictably: The Reanimen cyborgs kidnap William, who only then thinks to make the call while he's struggling and screaming for help while cell service is terrible. Mark goes because he sees a picture of the cyborg with his arm around William's neck, and flies in record time to stop him from losing his arm. While the GDA takes charge and promises to help a cyborg Rick and the others, William goes Never My Fault in the next episode by saying that if Mark had come to help him find Rick, his boyfriend would still be human. No; even if Mark had searched with him, it was a cyborg Rick that kidnapped him so it was way too late and William should have more common sense than to chase after a kidnapper alone.- On the other hand, Mark managed to locate William in the sewers within minutes of his kidnapping, and arrived before his first incision, much less complete conversion into a cyborg. If Mark — who has super-speed — had searched with William or even gone ahead of him, they may have at least found Rick earlier in his conversion and mitigated the damage, if not prevented it outright.
- Atom-Eve's parents are well-meaning but are very old-fashioned; they hate the fact that she's a superhero owing to how dangerous the work is, and that she broke up with her boyfriend who could "protect her". Her dad is more of a Jerkass about it, saying he wants her to get married and have kids, despite the fact that she hasn't even graduated high school yet. Eve angrily points out that Rex cheated on her and she's the strongest member on the former Teen Team by default. She then packs her suitcases and says she's leaving to focus on solving humanitarian crises rather than fight supervillains. Her parents only have one legitimate point: to complete this plan, she's giving up college and graduating early.
You'd Expect: They would say that if she wants to stop dangerous superhero work, which is what they wanted her to do in the first place, maybe college would help bulk up her real-world experience and give her perspective on humanitarian causes. Or ask And Then What? since Eve doesn't have an income, a degree, or anything for a day job. That Eve can create all the items she needs is irrelevant.
Alternatively: Her mother would realize that Eve is reeling badly from the breakup and needs some space, not No Sympathy.
Instead: Her mother expresses some My Beloved Smother territory that she doesn't want her little girl going off into the world alone. She then says nothing when her husband shouts that Eve getting her powers was the worst day of his life.
The Result: Their reaction only solidifies Eve's determination that she's doing the right thing. She flies out as her father ineffectually tells her to keep her feet on the ground, and creates a treehouse with modern amenities using her powers out in the woods. They have no way to reach her, which is how she likes it, and Eve uses her cellphone plan to find international problems to solve. - Donald has evacuated Debbie, and the GDA now knows that Nolan is busted, to his wife at least. Cecil admits that the biggest priority now is finding Mark, and evacuating him as well.
You'd Expect: Cecil would tell Donald to not send in any GDA soldiers into the house and monitor it remotely. For one, Debbie is safe now, and they can easily contact Eve to tell her that Mark needs to come to the GDA headquarters now, not later.
Instead: Donald and Cecil have soldiers on standby, having intuited (correctly) that Nolan would return. This leads to the initial GDA attack on Omni-Man in his house. What did they expect to happen? They already admitted they didn't have a chance against him, so why waste lives? They don't even use Machine Head's probability prediction chip in any obvious fashion.
Predictably: A Curb-Stomp Battle ensues, and Nolan finds out the GDA has been spying on him for months, meaning they have evidence that he killed the Guardians and have moved to treat him as a hostile threat. Donald pulls a Heroic Sacrifice and blows up the surveillance house to save his crew, and Cecil goes Oh, Crap! on realizing that Nolan will be looking for Mark to either recruit him to his unknown cause, torture or kill him. Despite a great effort to stall Omni-Man and warn Mark, Cecil fails, and the whole world witnesses Nolan's true colors when news reporters videotape him killing the Immortal again. - The truth is out: Omni-Man is forced to admit to Mark that he didn't come to Earth as a savior, but rather a conqueror. He was supposed to conquer Earth for the Viltrumite Empire, and sired Mark as his heir. That's why he killed the Guardians, as well as why Cecil sent the kaiju after him. Mark is in denial, calling out his father for lying to him and his mother, while in tears. He refuses to work for a tyrant. The whole world is watching their confrontation with bated breath thanks to several brave newscasters that filmed Omni-Man killing a resurrected Immortal. Omni-Man sincerely believes that because Viltrumites, even half-Viltrimutes like Mark, will outlive humans that their work will not matter in the long run.
You'd Expect: He would peacefully take Mark on a tour around the world. Fly him to the slums where the sick and hungry are dying and no superheroes can save them, or to where natural disasters have happened. Then Omni-Man could argue that at least with a Viltrumite Empire, Earth could have the resources needed to solve these problems, rather than corrupt leadership. He's lied before and he can lie again when it's too late for Mark to fight back, and he would have legitimate points to convince his son.
Alternatively: Knock out Mark, considering we see that he can fight out the latter, and imprison him to break his spirit and convince his son to join him. If he's going to be abusive, may as well be pragmatic. Cecil and the GDA have demonstrated that they can't rescue Mark from Omni-Man or fight the latter at his level, and if they don't know where Mark is, then they can't even try.
Instead: Omni-Man thinks it's a good idea to toss Mark around the world, making him kill thousands by tossing him into buildings and the way of trains where innocent bystanders get crushed, brained, or smashed, in a misguided attempt to show their utter frailty to Mark thinking that'll convince him they're thus pointless. He then beats Mark near-to-death when his son refuses to yield and keeps trying to save people.
The Result: Mark, while near-death, starts saying he wants his dad, not an empire. Omni-Man is about to kill him but realizes he can't do it and flies off in Heel Realization mode. This allows Allen the Alien to come back to Earth in a panic, warning them about a Viltrumite among their ranks... about twenty years too late. He then says the Coalition of Planets will protect Earth from a potential Viltrumite Invasion now that The Mole is in outer space, as Cecil fakes Nolan's civilian death and promises Debbie that he's going to do all he can to protect her and Mark while preventing anyone from connecting the dots and scapegoating them. Meanwhile, Amber and William do all they can to comfort a recovered Mark, who becomes determined to not be like his father. The most powerful guy in the universe and the best liar according to Cecil, but not the best at persuasion.
