Invincibles Most Mysterious Character Doesn't Appear in the Comics

The Big Picture

• Ka-Hor falls victim to Mark Grayson's unintentional mistake, adding a humorous twist to typical villain tales in Invincible .
• Despite Ka-Hor's malevolent spirit being trapped in the tomb, there's hope for his return in a potential Season 3 appearance.
• The offbeat Ka-Hor subplot offers comedic relief to the superhero series, with the fate of the character still up in the air for now.

The first two seasons of Invincible featured a curious ongoing subplot involving an undead mummy character named Ka-Hor (Clancy Brown). Thus far, Ka-Hor, an original creation for the series, has been featured twice on the show as a background character, but never appeared in the original Invincible comic series created by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley. Although the Ka-hor subplot is original to the animated series, it certainly meshes with the spirit of the original comics and offers some humorous texture to the world of the show. Ka-Hor has yet to physically encounter series protagonist Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), aka the superhero Invincible, but there's hope that Ka-Hor's story is not over yet. It's time to take a deeper look at this bizarre subversion of superhero tropes with the character of Ka-Hor in Invincible.

Invincible

Invincible is an adult animated superhero series that revolves around 17-year-old Mark Grayson, who’s just like every other guy his age — except his father is the most powerful superhero on the planet, Omni-Man. But as Mark develops powers of his own, he discovers his father’s legacy may not be as heroic as it seems.

Invincible Beats Ka-Hor by Dumb Luck

Ka-Hor makes his first appearance in Episode 4 of the series, "Neil Armstrong, Eat Your Heart Out." While Mark is out flying with his father, Nolan Grayson (J.K. Simmons), aka Omni-Man, an archaeologist named Bryant (Brown again) is leading an excavation of an Egyptian tomb. Bryant appears to worship the nefarious Ka-Hor as his master and means to unleash Ka-Hor's evil upon the world. Ka-Hor awakens and seems to possess the body of Bryant, who begins to emerge from the tomb. However, the activity caused by Mark's flight above the desert causes the wind and sand to blow over the area, prompting a door to shut over the tomb. The action traps Ka-Hor using Bryant's body within the tomb. Mark was unaware of the incident, and he unintentionally trapped and defeated Ka-Hor, stopping him from escaping the tomb by pure chance.

This demonstrates how Invincible plays around with, and often subverts, decades-old comic book superhero conventions and tropes. Usually, a setup like the one with Ka-Hor is a common supervillain origin story or how an ancient, malevolent villain starts his reign of terror in a superhero comic. The buildup to Ka-Hor essentially acts as a bait-and-switch for the audience. The narrative draws in the audience with the eerie, mysterious setup of a mummy-like villain, only to stop the threat of the monster dead in its tracks with Invincible inadvertently and unknowingly hindering the monster. It’s somewhat reminiscent of how The Venture Bros. would toy with similar action series and superhero tropes, upending or subverting them in the pursuit of comedy. While this was not the end of the Ka-Hor saga, Invincible would not revisit the character until the Season 2 finale.

Ka-Hor Returns in 'Invincible' Season 2

Not until the end of the second season would viewers discover the fate of Bryant and Ka-Hor. In Invincible's Season 2 finale, "I Thought You Were Stronger," two women are back at the same archaeological dig site depicted in the first season. One of the women, Jane (Ella Purnell), bears a similar matching scarab tattoo as Bryant did in the first season. The other woman, Riley (Chloe Bennet), possesses super strength and lifts the large stone door that Invincible previously caused to collapse over the tomb and trap Ka-Hor.

Deeper in the tomb, Jane and Riley discover Bryant's decomposing corpse, and Jane reveals that Bryant is her father. However, Ka-Hor's malevolent spirit once again rises from his sarcophagus. There’s just one small problem: Both Jane and Riley are women. As Ka-Hor points out, "I must inhabit a living male host to escape the curse of this tomb!" So, it looks like Ka-hor is at an impasse since his curse only allows him to possess human males. Some rumbling in the tomb is caused by Mark's flight path, as he once again flies over the desert with no idea of what's happening beneath him.

Aside from the fact that Ka-Hor can only inhabit a male host, the group is still trapped inside the tomb, and Mark's flying apparently covered the tomb with sand. Yet again, the Ka-Hor crisis is seemingly averted. However, the scene switches to Mark, and the audience is left wondering about the fates of Jane, Riley, and Ka-Hor's spirit. So far, the Ka-Hor subplot has been a recurring comedic gag, not meant to be taken too seriously. And that begs the question: What do the writers have planned for a potential return for Ka-Hor in Season 3? The vocal cameos of Purnell and Bennet are also fun, considering Purnell stars as Lucy in another popular Prime Video series, Fallout, based on the iconic video game series. Bennet is likely best known to viewers of Invincible as Daisy Johnson, aka Quake, in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Did You Catch Those ‘Walking Dead’ Easter Eggs in ‘Invincible’ Season 2?

Robert Kirkman makes a nod to another one of his creations in the Prime Video series.

Will Ka-Hor Finally Meet Invincible in Season 3?

Based on the Season 2 finale, the stage is set for Ka-Hor to make another appearance in the third season. Considering that Ka-Hor has been an easily dispatched gag character, it would constitute an amusing change of pace if he manages to escape the tomb and perhaps even comes into physical contact with Invincible or members of the Guardians of the Globe. However, in keeping with the portrayal of his past two appearances, Ka-Hor should still be defeated rather easily. Regardless, the Ka-Hor subplot has been an amusing subplot separate from the main story so far, but we won’t know what happens with Ka-Hor until Season 3 makes its debut later on.

Both seasons of Invincible are available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.

Watch on Prime Video

ncG1vNJzZmibn6G5qrDEq2Wcp51ktq%2FCyKeaopqcmnq0sdGinKxlk6S6qq%2FSZqKaZZikv3A%3D