In theory (if not always in practice), the superhero genre is founded on clear-cut morality. Sure, theres plenty of scope for costumed adventurers to grapple with power and responsibility, and their lawbreaking adversaries sometimes have a point. But in the average DC or Marvel joint hell, arguably even in edgier fare like The Boys distinguishing between right and wrong isnt exactly tough. Thats a big reason why we turn up: because we know who to root for. Its simple, its reassuring and its the opposite of what Invincible showrunners Robert Kirkman and Simon Racioppa were shooting for with the Prime Video shows third season.Whether were talking about protagonist Mark Graysons feud with his Machiavellian ex-boss Cecil Stedman, the redemptive arc of murderous Superman pastiche (and all-time bad dad) Omni-Man, or even the return of multiverse-hopping maniac Angstrom Levy, Invincible season 3s message is the same: Dont expect any easy answers.[Ed. note: This article contains spoilers for Invincible season 3, episode 8.]For his part, Kirkman credits his own DC and Marvel fandom with inspiring Invincibles murkier approach to the capes-and-tights sets ethics. The scribe took what moral ambiguity there is in mainstream superhero fare and used it as the basis for a 144-issue Image Comics series (co-created with artists Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley) that would eventually become a multi-season animated show.[Invincibles] just an effort to try and show a really dense, nuanced universe that looks at these fantastical elements and superhero storytelling with kind of a realistic slant, Kirkman says over video chat. Having read Marvel and DC Comics since childhood and watched all the movies and TV shows, theres a very clear line of, These guys are good and these guys are bad, and every now and then youre watching those movies and youre like, I think Michael B. Jordan is right in Black Panther. Were really just trying to explore that deeper. What are the motivations of all these individual characters?We see this again and again in Invincible season 3, which constantly blurs the line between hero and villain. Titan is a ruthless crime boss; hes also a loving husband and father who meaningfully gives back to his community. Marks little brother Oliver straight-up murders the Mauler Twins, but to be honest, his rationale those two were never gonna stop threatening innocent lives otherwise holds up. And lets not forget Tether Tyrant and Magmaniac, the supervillain couple whose failed attempt to go legit opens season 3, episode 3 in heartbreaking, Up-esque fashion.Theyre just human beings that got dealt a bad hand in life, Kirkman says of Tether Tyrant and Magmaniac. They got powers that they couldnt necessarily save cats out of trees with. Theres a tremendous amount of sympathy for those characters. In life, not every person thats doing bad things is a bad person.And vice versa, Racioppa chimes in. Not everyone whos doing good stuff is always a good person, right? Im sure you have a hero, someone you love, and then you read their Wikipedia article and like, Oh, actually they did a couple things that arent so good either. Thats a real person. We try to ground our characters in the real world, which means theyre not one thing or another. Theyre complicated characters that contain multitudes, right?That extends to Cecil, who finally gets a backstory in Invincible season 3, revealing a disarmingly progressive streak in the otherwise hardline Global Defense Agency director. Hes prepared to rehabilitate the likes of Darkwing and D.A. Sinclair something Mark, whos firmly in the classic lock them up crime-fighter camp, cant countenance. Its more than a tad hypocritical, given Mark is himself the beneficiary of a post-homicide second chance (even if his supposed victim, Angstrom Levy, eventually turns up alive).Even Cecils more ethically dubious moments this season implanting a sonic device in someones head without their knowledge is a dick move are easily reframed as necessary evils. From where Cecils standing, its his job to prepare for every possible threat (including Mark going rogue); otherwise, hes letting the entire planet down. If that means recruiting disgraced vigilantes or betraying his superpowered subordinates trust, so be it. As Cecil tells right-hand man Donald in episode 2, We can be the good guys, or we can be the guys that save the world. We cant be both. Some viewers will no doubt agree, and thats exactly what Kirkman and Racioppa hope has happened.If we didnt show Cecils perspective and make it a reasonable perspective and I say reasonable, one that youre like, I understand why he would do this or why he would think this way then what are we doing? Racioppa says.We tried to treat these characters as real people in a grounded scenario. I think Cecils position makes a ton of sense, but I also think Marks position as a 20-year-old person is like, What are you doing? This is wrong. This is unethical. We cant do this. [] The answer is somewhere in between, and actually, in some way, there is no answer. The answer is whatever you think of that scenario. Theyre both right. Theyre both wrong. Its up to each individual audience member to decide where they fall on that spectrum.Said spectrum also applies to Omni-Man, whose ongoing tilt at redemption is arguably Invincible season 3s most contentious character arc. If this were a DC or Marvel joint, Marks old man would renounce his old ways, perform a few good deeds, and reclaim his spot in the do-gooder clubhouse despite killing millions of people at the end of Invincible season 1. After all, it worked for the MCUs Loki.That wont fly in Kirkman and Racioppas universe, though. Omni-Mans victims arent faceless collateral; theyre clearly defined people, like new season 3 foil Powerplex and his dead sister and niece. Unsurprisingly, its a lot harder to get behind Omni-Mans atonement tour when youre up close and personal with the lives hes destroyed.I love that we get the opportunity on the show to zoom in, Kirkman says of Powerplexs introduction in Invincible season 3. Theres a lot of superhero [stories] where cities collapse and they talk about thousands of people dying and things like that, but to be able to focus on individuals really brings up that question of the redemption of Omni-Man. Is it even possible when weve drilled down to the individual [level] and shown the effects of what hes done? At that level, you identify with those characters [hes killed or left traumatized] and it makes it harder to see the good in Omni-Man and understand what it is that he did. But thats the challenge before us and well see where it goes.Racioppa agrees, citing the price of forgiveness as central to Omni-Mans journey in Invincible season 3 and beyond. As it stands, Earths onetime premier superhero still has (to borrow an expression from the MCU) a lot of red in his ledger. But hes started chipping away at it, at least. The culmination of Omni-Mans season 3 reset comes when he leaps to the aid of lovable bruiser Allen the Alien in episode 4 demonstrating his renewed virtuousness in the most Invincible way imaginable: by squishing someones head.As acts of contrition go, they dont come much grislier. That feeds into Kirkman and Racioppas overarching stance on Invincibles signature ultra-violence, which reaches a whole new level in the shows third season. Season 3 wraps up with Angstrom Levy wreaking havoc across the globe with an army of evil Marks, followed by a skyscraper-toppling slugfest between Mark and Viltrumite heavy Conquest. Its not unlike the endless cycle of destruction that characterizes DCs and Marvels respective shared universes (albeit decidedly gorier); however, Kirkman and Racioppa are adamant Invincibles fight scenes are about more than creatively staged carnage. Theyre an extension of the themes and emotional arcs including moral choices at least as tough as any of Marks foes that drive the show itself.I see a lot of violence for violences sake, Kirkman says. And what we try to do on this show is that any time something horrific is happening or something thats extremely over the top, theres a level of emotion to it that I think justifies it. Or at least, thats the goal. And thats something that everybody on this show, from Simon to myself to the supervising directors, the character designers, the board artists everybody is trying to hold this stuff together with a strong emotional core, so it feels like everything that were doing is earned.Hopefully it feels like we shouldnt be able to remove a fight or an action scene from this show because youd be missing an emotional beat, Racioppa observes. Youd be missing some of the emotions of the story there. We try to infuse everything with that. So, rather than just being like, Oh, lets have just Mark have a cool fight in the sky. Thats not enough. It has to be, Why is he fighting? What is he feeling when hes fighting? What are the repercussions of this fight going forward? All that kind of stuff is its all in common. We think about that from day one all the way through to the final mix of the show. Marks trajectory in Invincible season 3 reflects this. By the time the credits roll on episode 8, our hero has officially abandoned the no-kill code (mostly) followed by Superman, Batman, and their ilk, as a direct response to his latest clash with Levy. No doubt the poor guy wouldve preferred a less agonizing teachable moment but with Kirkman and Racioppa at the helm, that was never in the cards.Invincible season 3 is now streaming on Prime Video.