Does a key ‘Invincible’ season 2 character share the tragic fate of their companions?

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Invincible season 2, episode 5. The article also contains spoilers for the Invincible comic book series by Robert Kirkman.

The second part of Invincible Season 2 returned to Prime Video with bloodshed, as the Guardians of the Globe suffered gruesome casualties at the hands of the Lizard League. By the end of season 2, episode 5, Dupli-Kate (voiced by Malese Jow) and Shrinking Rae (voiced by Grey Griffin) are brutally killed, while Rex Splode (Jason Mantzoukas) is held at gunpoint by the King Lizard (Scoot McNairy). 

While Invincible is no stranger to offing major characters and pulling the rug under fans’ feet, the fact the animated show takes place in a superhero universe throws some shade at the deaths of Dupli-Kate and Shrinking Rae. Dupli-Kate, in particular, has already “died” before in the show, which might keep you wondering if she is gone for good. The answer might come from Robert Kirkman’s comic books, which inspired the Prime Video TV show.

What happens in Invincible season 2, episode 5?

In Invincible Season 2, Episode 5, most Guardians are forced to go to space to fight a horde of Sequids, an alien species that uses other beings as parasites. The Sequids are moving towards Earth, meaning the planet’s mightiest protectors must defeat the invaders to ensure humanity’s safety. Rex Splode, Dupli-Kate, and Shrinking Rae stay behind just in case the Guardians have to deal with another threat.

Unfortunately, as the Guardians fight the Sequids in outer space, the Lizard League emerges with nuclear weapons, demanding a ransom from the free nations of Earth. It’s up to Rex, Kate, and Rae to take down the villains. The trio highly underestimates their enemies, which leads to the heroes’ defeat.

In the fight against the Lizard People, Dupli-Kate makes copies that are quickly dispatched by the brutish Komodo Dragon (voiced by Jay Pharoah), a hulking member of the Lizard League with superstrength and resistance. Usually, Dupli-Kate can sacrifice as many copies of herself as she wants as long as she keeps her original body safe. Unfortunately, Komodo is so powerful that he destroys Dupli-Kate’s alters faster than she can make new copies. Finally, the villain smashes Dupli-Kate’s original body, putting an end to her life.

Shrinking Rae, who can change her body size, tries an old trick to take down Komodo. She shrinks, enters the villain’s body, and returns to her regular size. Usually, this strategy allows Shrinking Rae to implode her adversaries from within. However, Komodo’s muscles are as stiff as steel. So, when Rae tries to grow inside Komodo’s body, we can hear the spine-chilling sounds of crushed bones. Komodo then spits a mass of blood that confirms Rae is dead.

At the end of the episode, Rex Splode is alive, but he also tastes defeat at the hands of Komodo. Actually, Komodo tastes Rex after biting the hero’s hand off. The episode ends with King Lizard menacingly pointing a gun at Rex, meaning the Guardians might lose another hero in season 2, episode 6. But is Dupli-Kate truly dead in the Invincible TV show? What about Shrinking Rae?

Are Dupli-Kate and Shrinking Rae Dead in Prime Video’s Invincible?

While we won’t know if Dupli-Kate and Shrinking Rae are dead in Prime Video’s Invincible, Kirkman’s original comic books might hold the answer. So far, the Prime Video adaptation has been surprisingly faithful to the original material, meaning that the TV show version of Dupli-Kate and Shrinking Rae could have a similar fate to their comic book counterparts.

In Kirkman’s Invincible comic books, Dupli-Kate reemerges after her funeral. Dupli-Kate’s mystic powers allow her to create copies of herself that she can control as a hivemind. So, instead of dedicating her entire existence to crimefighting, Dupli-Kate actually has several copies of herself around the globe, enjoying the best life has to offer. The original body of Dupli-Kate is kept safe and hidden so that she can live on regardless of what happens to her copies. In short, every version of Dupli-Kate that has ever interacted with the Guardians has been a copy.

On the other hand, Shrinking Rae doesn’t return in Kirkman’s comic books. Komodo genuinely kills him during the battle against the Guardians.

Since the Prime Video series is an adaptation, the show might change the future of Dupli-Kate and Shrinking Rae. The show will likely stick to comic books to bring Kate back from the dead. Hopefully, they will do something similar to Rae. That’s because, in the show, Rae is a gender-bent version of the original comic book hero, who got a lot of screen time and an emotional development the male character never received — it would be a shame to waste the positive changes Prime Video’s Invincible did to Shrinking Rae. Then again, the new layers the hero got in the adaptation only make her death more tragic, which might be what the writers had been aiming at all this time.

New episodes of Invincible come to Prime Video every Thursday.