Fans Don’t Like It, But Invincible Season 5 Can’t Abandon Its Controversial Story

Despite a backlash from fans over an unloved Season 4 side episode, Invincible Season 5 can’t simply walk away from the Hell storyline. Set in Season 4, Episode 4 “Hurm,” the episode introduces Damien Darkblood’s mission and sets up a post-credits cliffhanger

A lot of fans didn’t want to spend time in Hell.

But if Invincible wants to keep its own promises, Season 5 can’t afford to abandon the controversial storyline introduced in Season 4—especially not when it’s already built the next steps into the season’s ending.

Season 4, the animated superhero series’ notable new installment, led toward the Viltrumite War—an event that destroyed the planet Viltrum. The aftermath reshaped everything. Survivors, led by Thragg, assimilated on Earth, and the stakes tightened around Mark. The season’s ending set a trepidation-heavy new reality: Viltrumites are everywhere on Mark’s home world. and their intention is to breed more of their kind.

At the same time, Allen—now the new leader of the Coalition of Planets—has a more deadly version of the Scourge Virus. The implication hanging over the season is that Allen might plan to use it on Earth to destroy Viltrum’s remaining population.

That’s the engine of Season 4: planet-level violence closing in on Earth, with Mark stuck in the middle of a war that’s already at the door. And yet, one episode pulled him into something else.

In Season 4, Episode 4, titled “Hurm,” Mark is summoned to Hell by Damien Darkblood. Darkblood recruits Mark to help Satan return to power after Satan was overthrown by Volcanikka. For many viewers. it felt like a detour—an abrupt break from the Viltrumite momentum that the season had been building toward.

The reaction was strong enough to follow the episode into public ratings. “Hurm” earned a 6.5 out of 10 on IMDb. Fans argued that its placement in Season 4 interrupted the flow of the Viltrumite storyline by turning Mark’s journey into a tangential side quest.

They also pointed to what the episode did—and didn’t—do. “Hurm” is described as only focused on Hell, with no other side stories or major characters appearing outside of Mark and Darkblood.

That’s the criticism in full. The question now is what the show owes viewers in return.

Because “Hurm” isn’t standing alone. Even with its self-contained structure, it appears to have been designed as the start of a bigger chain of events. The clearest sign comes from the post-credits scene of Season 4, Episode 4. In that moment. Satan sends Darkblood back to Earth to discover why Volcanikka came to Hell—an effort to oust Volcanikka and rule the realm.

It’s a cliffhanger, and it’s not subtle in what it’s setting up. Volcanikka is expected to become important later in the Invincible comics, and the Hell storyline is described as appearing to tie into her later reemergence—almost like the show is planting a comic storyline far in advance.

That’s the part fans may dislike in theory: an unloved episode now looks like necessary scaffolding. And it also leaves a lot unresolved on purpose. The show is now positioned to answer the cliffhangers it created, or risk letting that side detour curdle into unfinished business.

There’s also another tension buried inside the argument. Season 4 didn’t only build toward the Hell storyline. It also introduced villains like Dinosaurus and Universa, described as characters who will become more important later in the series. In other words, even the “side” material isn’t simply random—it’s part of a long setup.

And “Hurm” may be the least glamorous example of that approach, but it still has story work to do.

Still, it would be unfair to treat the episode as automatically bad on its own terms. The Hell episode. taken by itself. is described as offering unique world building: it explains the connection between Earth and Hell. revealing Hell as a realm whose inhabitants predated humans. It’s also characterized as a compelling look into the unsung history of the series’ universe.

Action is limited, and the episode leans into exposition. But even among viewers who weren’t receptive to the placement, the episode’s ideas are described as fitting the world of Invincible.

That’s why Season 5 can’t just drop it.

If the show follows through, it can use the very criticism it received as a tool—making the storyline flow naturally with the rest of the series rather than feeling like a distraction bolted onto a season with a major Viltrumite arc.

Nothing about this is guaranteed. But the structure is already there: Mark’s trip to Hell in “Hurm,” Darkblood’s mission involving Satan and Volcanikka, and the post-credits directive sending Darkblood back to Earth to uncover why Volcanikka came to Hell and how Satan plans to take the realm back.

So yes, fans didn’t like it.

But the cliffhangers don’t care what people wanted in the moment.

They care what the show built—and what it will have to resolve next.

Invincible season 5 Invincible season 4 Hurm episode Damien Darkblood Satan Volcanikka Hell storyline Viltrumite War Thragg Allen Coalition of Planets Scourge Virus Dinosaurus Universa