‘Invincible’: Is Omni-Man Good or Bad?

It is not a secret that Omni-Man is one of the most important characters of ‘Invincible’ and is undoubtedly one of the strongest characters in the entire storyline. We also know that he played the role of the villain during the first season of the series, only for him to become more level-headed in season 2 when he and his son Mark reunited after several months. But is Omni-Man good or bad?
Omni-Man did horrible things
During the early part of the ‘Invincible’ storyline, one of the things that we saw was that Nolan “Omni-Man” Grayson was the greatest superhero in the world and was the most heroic person, as his son Mark Grayson idolized him and wanted to be like him. But after Mark awakened his powers to become Invincible, Nolan decided to take action by killing all of the members of the Guardians of the Globe while also pretending that he wasn’t responsible for the crime.
Omni-Man did what he did so that he could weaken the defenses of Earth. The truth was that he was sent by the Viltrumites to infiltrate and weaken Earth’s defenses so that the planet would be ripe for the taking for the Viltrum Empire. He needed Mark’s help to weaken the planet, and that was why he decided to try to convince his son to join him.
Nolan fought with Mark and killed countless people, especially in Chicago, going as far as treating them like insects that he could squash at any given moment. He also killed the Immortal once more, as it was clear that he was hellbent on convincing Mark to join the Viltrum Empire and take over the entire planet for the sake of the Viltrumites.
The death toll of Nolan’s battle with Mark was catastrophic because countless people were killed due to the things that happened during their fight. In fact, the entire city of Chicago was almost destroyed as the two Viltrumites squared off against each other.
That means that there is no doubt that Omni-Man was actually bad during the earlier part of the ‘Invincible’ storyline. He was a villain in every sense of the word because he killed people without any remorse and was about to kill his own son before Mark’s words eventually changed the way he saw things.
Nolan tried to rectify his mistakes
Even though it may be true that Omni-Man was bad and that he was willing to kill hundreds or even millions of people to take over Earth, he eventually changed the way he viewed things. Mark told him that they would still have each other after hundreds of years, and that was what made Nolan realize that his son truly loved and cared about him.
Nolan left Earth and traveled the depths of space for months before he stumbled upon a Thraxan ship that needed his help. Omni-Man helped the Thraxans and returned with them to Thraxa to become the new leader of the planet. He had a new family on Thraxa and decided to have another son as well.
In season 2, Nolan told Mark in their reunion that he was a changed man and that he wanted nothing more than to protect the Thraxans and his new family. He went as far as asking Mark to help him protect the Thraxans from the Viltrumites. As such, it was clear that Nolan cared more about his new people and his new family than he cared about the Viltrumites and his mission for the Viltrum Empire.
During the battle with the Viltrumites who attacked Thraxa, Nolan even told them that they should leave his family alone, as it was clear that he loved his family more than anything. This was unusual for Viltrumites because Viltrumites should only care about those who were strong enough to serve the Viltrum Empire.
Thus, Nolan tried to make up for his mistakes by becoming a true hero to the people of Thraxa and becoming a real father to his new family. But he also understood that there was no longer a way for him to redeem himself after what he did to the people of Earth, suggesting that he knew that the things he did were horrible and that neither he nor the people of Earth would ever forgive himself.
Omni-Man may have changed a long time ago
Of course, in season 2, Omni-Man was a changed man who tried to find a way to redeem himself by focusing on the people of Thraxa and making sure that his new family was safe. But there are indications that he may have changed a long time ago but was merely unwilling to accept that he had changed.
During his time on Earth, he wrote different sci-fi books about the things that he encountered all over the universe, including the different things that had the ability to hurt Viltrumites. Before the Viltrumites took him after the battle on Thraxa, he told Mark to read his books because these books contained secrets that would help Mark defeat the Viltrumites. The fact that he wrote those books suggests that he had thought about betraying the Viltrumites a while back and that he was now a changed man.
There’s also the fact that his time on Earth would have certainly changed the way he saw things. For many years, he posed as a true family man on Earth as he was a real and caring father to Mark and a loving husband to Debbie before showing his true colors. Years of pretending to be a good man would have certainly changed the way he viewed things as he realized how important his family was to him. As such, there’s a good chance that he was already a changed man a long time ago but was just unwilling to accept it.
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