Shapesmith May Be The Weirdest 'Invincible' Character Yet
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The following story contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 2 of Invincible on Prime Video.
A LOT OF the characters in Invincible are fun to watch for a very specific reason: their parallels. The world of Invincible is certainly well-built on its own, but the main draw, really, is that it can essentially function as a Marvel or DC story that comes without the guardrails and, for lack of a better word, "rules," that tend to come along with such precious properties.
Invincible himself, for instance, (voiced by Steven Yeun in the Prime video show) is basically a Superman/Spider-Man hybrid that writer Robert Kirkman could do whatever he wants with; he doesn't have to follow any kind of Marvel lore or traditions. Omni-Man (voiced by J.K. Simmons) is, essentially, an (evil) older take on Superman. The Immortal (voiced by Ross Marquand) is a version of Wolverine, Damien Darkblood (voiced by Clancy Brown) is Hellboy meets Rorschach, so on and so forth.
Fans of the superhero genre—whether it be from the source material or in film or television—will likely recognize these parallels quickly. It's part of the fun of Invincible to notice this and follow just how subversive the story can be, and how different the characters can be, without any of those aforementioned rules. But the lack of those rules can also allow for some other characters who don't really have a Marvel or DC equivalent, and are kind of, again, for the lack of a better word, just absolutely bananas.
Enter the astronaut Rus Livingston, who, starting in Season 2, Episode 2 of Invincible, begins to go by the name of Shapesmith.
Who is Shapesmith in Invincible?
Perhaps the strangest character yet in Invincible is Shapesmith, which is kind of a new superhero identity of astronaut Rus Livingstone, but not really. That's because Rus Livingston (a character we originally met in Invincible Season 1, Episode 4, "Neil Armstrong, Eat Your Heart Out") is actually currently on Mars, with an alien-race called a Sequid possessing his brain, killing Martians and generally making moves to take over the planet (and perhaps more).
So who the hell are we seeing? The "Rus Livingston" who made it back to Earth is actually a random Martian who shifted into Rus' spot when the astronauts returned home in Season 1, and has been living as "Rus" ever since. Except clearly he's bad at it. He acted strange enough to get fired from his job (and thought he was being executed when that happened), didn't pay rent, has a zillion frozen pizzas in his house that he eats without cooking, and, broadly, is kind of just a weird dude who doesn't act normal.
While he's eating his uncooked frozen pizzas, he learns of Martian Man (the late member of the Guardians of the Globe that Omni-Man killed back in the very first episode of the series), and figures that he could be Earth's next great Martian superhero—even if he doesn't plan on anyone ever learning he's a Martian. "Rus" creates the identity of Shapesmith, helps the new Guardians of the Globe defeat the Lizard League, and, kind of by proxy and necessity, gets invited into the group (only after shape-shifting into a version of Rex Splode).
By the end of the episode, Shapesmith gives an absurd, not-at-all believable story of his origin, and none of the Guardians of the Globe seem to buy it—while we cut back and forth with the actual, possessed Rus on Mars, killing Martians like he's the Terminator. Welp!
Ben Schwartz voices Shapesmith in Invincible
A character as strange and bizarre as Shapesmith would only work with an energetic, amiable voice behind it—and who better than Ben Schwartz? The 42-year-old actor and improv comedy expert is probably best known for his role as Jean-Ralphio on NBC's Parks and Recreation, but he's also recently put his voice acting chops on display as the voice of the titular character in a pair of hit Sonic the Hedgehog movies.
Schwartz has also done some good work on TV of late as well, starring in the first season of Apple TV+'s The Afterparty and appearing in an episode of The Muppets Mayhem on Disney+. He also appeared as one of the villains in the Dracula comedy Renfield, which was released earlier this year.
Is Shapesmith in the Invincible comics?
Shapesmith is, indeed, a character featured prominently in the Invincible comics. He first showed up in October 2004's Invincible #18, and essentially appeared throughout the entirety of the 144-issue Invincible run. His final appearance came in 2014's Invincible #112.
Just like in the show, the comics version of Shapesmith is a random martian posing as a human posing as a superhero. It's very strange, very funny, and, honestly very endearing. And as we said to start the story—the kind of thing that maybe only Invincible could pull off.
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