Prime VideoAfter his introduction in the second season, Darkwing II returns in Invincible Season 3 Episode 1 – and after terrorizing Midnight City, he wants to be a hero again.
Invincible kicked off its story with one of the most memorable endings to a pilot in TV history: the Guardians of the Globe, a Justice League-esque ragtag group of superheroes, are walloped, ripped apart, and slaughtered by Omni-Man.
This included Darkwing, the show’s parody of Batman. Much like the Dark Knight, he kept himself occupied fighting crime in the grime and perpetual darkness of Midnight City, a clear nod to Gotham. He didn’t have any superhuman powers, instead armed with an arsenal of incredible gadgets and weapons, not to mention being an expert in hand-to-hand combat.
Darkwing II is a bit… different, as evidenced by his first scrap with Invincible. So, if you’ve just watched Season 3 Episode 1 and you need to catch up, here’s what you should know. Spoilers to follow…
Who is Darkwing II?
Image ComicsDarkwing II was the late hero’s “assistant” Night Boy.
In Season 2 Episode 2, he explains to Mark that he’s been continuing Darkwing’s work after his death. He specifically rejects the term “sidekick”, because it’s degrading.
However, there’s something a bit off about him. Firstly, Invincible finds him as he’s about to pummel a punk on the rooftop who’s begging for his life. Darkwing II says he’s preventing “scum like him from hurting an innocent person ever again”, but in the comics, he cracks under the pressure of protecting Midnight City and starts killing people who’ve committed crimes, rather than bringing them to justice.
In the show, he’s clearly lost his marbles; Cecil tells Mark to bring him in after overhearing their conversation, believing he’s “lost it”, and Darkwing II tells Mark: “So you hear them too? The voices.”
Mark tries to bring him in, and after a brief fight, he knocks him out and takes him back to GDA HQ. He’s actually quite an important character in the original comics, so he’ll likely rear his head again throughout the series.
Why Darkwing returns in Invincible Season 3
Prime VideoMark believed Darkwing II had been imprisoned after the events of the second season. However, in Invincible Season 3 Episode 1, he returns as a newly reformed superhero.
He swoops in (alongside D.A. Sinclair’s ReAnimen) to save Mark, Eve, and the Guardians from Doc Seismic and his underground monsters. Mark tells everyone that he’s a murderer – and Darkwing II doesn’t deny it.
“He’s right. I did terrible things. But that was before, but I’m better now, thanks to Cecil,” he explains.
In a later episode, Darkwing joins the Guardians, but that’s not really the point of his inclusion: it’s the catalyst for Mark’s rift with Cecil and the cost of helping people. “We can be the good guys, or we can be the guys who save the world. We can’t be both,” Cecil says.
Darkwing II powers & abilities
Prime VideoDarkwing II has similar powers to his predecessor, such as extraordinary acrobatic and martial arts prowess, but he has a unique ability: he’s able to access the Shadow-Verse.
We know next to nothing about how the Shadow-Verse works or what plane of existence it’s on, but we briefly enter it in Episode 2 when Darkwing II drags Mark in and attempts to leave him there.
Darkwing II warns there’s “dark and hungry things” in there, but we can’t see anything – all we can hear is ominous breathing and growling, intensifying when Mark grabs his arm and threatens to feed him to whatever lurks in the darkness. If we see the anti-hero again, we’d expect to learn a bit more about the Shadow-Verse.
Make sure you know exactly when each episode drops with our Invincible Season 3 release time & schedule guide. Until then, check out our ranking of Invincible’s strongest characters, why Mark’s blue suit is so important, and if you want to jump ahead, you can read the Invincible comics for free
