We often become the monsters we were meant to defeat, often in pursuit of defeating them, it's a nice turn on the old Proverb "we make our own monsters" But the basic idea is the same, we create what we fear, abuse is a cycle victimhood is a cycle, and so is death and destruction.
It is therefore quite ironic that the one's who are most capable of harm without a second thought, seem to have a greater choice in how that pain affects them.
I am obviously speaking of the Nature of power, power opens up choice, but it also opens up those around us to harm that they would otherwise be immune to, power enables.
For example if you punch the ground in anger you will probably just hurt your fist, but if it is a Viltrumite he will probably level the city, or he won't get his anger out properly.
And there in lies the problem with power, it changes everything, for someone not in power, if they don't stay in line, they pay the price, but for those in power, if they don't stay in line other's pay the price.
Seems like a pretty raw deal as to who is the danger here no?
So the question that Powerplex asks of Invincible does seem fair, on the surface, until you realize power is not one dimensional, someone might have power of one kind and be lacking in all the other departments, and even in that, power is a spectrum, that is why people who have been beaten up on beat up on others, sometimes unknowingly.
And the thing about hurting others is, emotional beings end up caring even if they don't want to, when they hurt others, some part of them suffers too even if no one can see it.... eventually.
They might die before that eventually comes, that is why people envisioned the idea of heaven and hell, but that is a separate discussion.
There is this need that everyone of us feels, to even the odds, to even the playing field to rise up to the people that so easily hurt us, and make them face the consequences that they so easily seem evade.
But the problem of course, is that we only ever see a part of the picture, one often needs to see all sides of the coin, and I say all because there are more than two, the edge of a coin has infinite sides, in a manner of speaking, because it is round.
But time is constantly changing everything, so by the time you get to the "last" side, the first one is probably different, and so is the last one.
This above is seen in how Powerplex only sees one angle of the fight between Omni Man and Invincible, and then, from his perspective, Invincible is one of the Villains, and as well, by the time he would get to the Omni Man part, he has also changed, of course we have seen the entire story, but he doesn't have that privilege.
In a sense he lacks that power.
And it is that lack of Privilege/Power that gave him a warped perspective and then this is what lead to his pain, his suffering, and lead him to go to unfathomable lengths to "Charge up" so he could finally get back the demon he saw in invincible.
His power charges by him being hit, in a true sense he must go through suffering to become more powerful.
It's tied into his character.
But let's leave Powerplex alone for a while and come back to him later.
Yes Rae about that.
Rae shows a side of having powers that often goes overlooked because most people feel powerless and so want to hate the powerful and not look at any struggles that would be uniquely faced by them, and faced by them because of the thing we hate.
But the thing is, such things do exist, people in power are a constant target by those trying to take their power from them, either because they think they deserve it, or because they think they can do a better job.
Sometimes one or both of the above is true, sometimes neither is, but the fact remains, living like that is difficult.
But being in power places a certain responsibility on one's shoulders making them feel obligated to do what no one else can in order to help those who can be helped by the abilities that just appeared randomly, so it would seem.
Because while many well known Super hero stories are about someone randomly gaining Super powers due to a random twist of fate, some stories are more about someone being put through inhumane experiments or unimaginable torture and being forced into a life they don't want and can't get out of.
That is the life of Rex and Atom Eve, which is probably why they dated in the beginning, and is also probably why he and Shrinking Rae connected, the problem is, for Shrinking Rae the pain of being a superhero is something she sees as a choice.
In a way, the very thing that brought them close, is what pushed her to make the choice to get away from this life, pushing them far away again.
The choice to not use your powers might seem to be a selfish one because everyone in power has a responsibility or something, but what if they never asked for it, that is the case many times unfortunately.
If you have read the comics, then Rex choosing the superhero life is extra Tragic for what is about to come. But no spoilers.
Maybe he will have a different life from the comics, like Rae did, because in the comics, she died, she wasn't here for this arc.
Besides in a world such as Invincible, other Heroes exist.
It sometimes may even seem like the correct choice to not use your powers, at least from time to time, because you understand the value of "normal" life only when you live it.
Ironic then that if Invincible had taken the other choice first then the situation might not have gotten as bad as it did.
The fake kidnapping need not have been staged, and Powerplex may not have ended up accidentally killing his own family in his quest for vengeance.
But ultimately all of this was in a sense the Sins of Invincible's past coming to haunt him, in a form of full circle moment, the weight is borne by others and not him.
As now there is a new villain that might do more unnecessary damage.
And like the title of the episode, all Invincible can say is, he is sorry.
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