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Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Invincible.

There was a time when that would’ve been Superman, but Invincible seems to be driving the culture surrounding superhero media, according to Robert Kirkman and Rob Liefeld. When people think of an alien superhero who flies and has super-strength, their minds go to Invincible.

“I say this with the greatest respect for Superman, but I believe now in the same way that when Star Wars came out, suddenly Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon had a Star Wars problem,” Rob Liefeld says during a recent appearance on Robservations with Rob Liefeld. “They were not defining the space anymore, and they were certainly not at top of mind. Suddenly, everything in the science fiction room was trying to be Star Wars. I was there. I watched it in 78, 79, and 80. Battle Beyond the Stars, Battlestar Galactica, and Buck Rogers. Everything had this aesthetic.”

“I believe Superman has an Invincible problem now. I believe the tables have 1000% turned, and I mean, I really do believe the space of this style of superhero is now being defined by what [Robert Kirkman], and [Ryan, and Cory did and what the show is doing, and it’s up to Superman to somehow adapt,” Liefeld explains.

Kirkman, who created Invincible with Cory Walker in 2003, sees a little bit of Invincible in new iterations of Superman media.

“When I see Superman comics where they’re giving Superman a kid, and when I see Superman cartoons where they’re making the Kryptonians Viltrumites, sometimes I’m like, hm, that’s kind of weird,” Kirkman says. However, Kirkman made it clear that he doesn’t see it as plagiarism. “Very creative people are doing this stuff, and I think it’s a zeitgeist thing. It’s not necessarily like anyone going, well, you know the Kryptonians would be cooler if they were more like Viltrumites. Although, let’s be honest, that’s true. But I don’t think it’s a deliberate thing.”

From the self-proclaimed "best superhero comic in the univrse" Invincible to the hit animated series Invincible on Prime Video, here's everything you need to enjoy it more:

• How to watch Invincible in release and chronological order
• Invincible ending explained: What happens to Invincible, Omni-Man, the Viltrum Empire, and everyone else in Robert Kirkman’s original comic series
• The biggest differences between the Invincible comic and the Prime Video animated series
• Watch Prime Video's official Invincible panel from NYCC 2025, with Steven Yeun, Gillian Jacobs, Robert Kirkman, and Lee Pace
• Prime Video's Invincible season 4 will include "a few bits" not from the comics, and co-creator Robert Kirkman is excited about it
• Invincible, the TV show, won't repeat the Spawn cameo from Invincible, the comic - here's why
• Popverse Picks: The best Invincible characters (according to me!)