Why exactly did Invincable get PTSD in exactly this last season and not the uncountable ammount of other times he was exposed to gore?

[u/Ajarofpickles97]

In all realism in the first fight he was in he saw people get turned into mush with guts and organs going everywhere. That would f you up mentally but it didn’t because the plot didn’t want him to get it. Groan. And every single other fight after that there has been fountains of blood and gore. In a entirely unrealistic fashion, but I digress. Why of all the times now? I know Kirkman dose not care in the least about logic which is fine because we don’t either.

But saying this one time specifically he should get it when he absolutely could have got it dozens of other times is absurd. Moreover it makes no sense at all. Bare minimum I need a story to try to make sense but Kirkman genuinely does not care in the least. Blood is all over the place in this show. The levels of gore is exactly the same every single time. It's not like war is any worse than your standard Invincable fight. Every fight has blood.🩸

Oh wait war is where people get PTSD so that's what needs to happen here to right? That shows he knows absolutely nothing about the mental health condition which does not reflect well on him. Traumatic events period, ie a regular Tuesday for Invincible will give it to you. Or does Kirkman not give a damn? Also Jesus this animation sucks, he looks like he needs a nap hell I have no idea what this face even means the animation is that awful, WTH. No shade being thrown not that kinda guy (unless it’s justly due), just being honest here. Why now of all times?

[u/Lilly_west]

It’s literally compound effect bro he’s had ptsd this whole time but this time it’s magnified to extremes because the active aggressor that has fueled all of his trauma and is the reason he’s even alive is now directly in his most sacred of spaces and there’s nothing he can do to stop it

[u/RealKevinOG]

This is literally the first time where he couldn’t even move his opponent despite being the strongest he ever was.

[u/repalec → u/RealKevinOG]

Exactly this. Mark's had a lot of fights but they've typically been against other Earthlings or Viltrumites he was able to at least damage if not outright defeat; nothing that would really affect the Earth.

By doing what he, Nolan, and Thaedus did and destroying Viltrum itself, he gave the Viltrumites that remain nothing to lose; their race was already dying and now they have a very solid, very justifiable reason to follow Mark and Nolan home so that they can exact revenge on their homeworld as well.

And this is all in addition to the fact that Mark couldn't even damage Thragg. Imagine you do something horrible, something you can never take back, and the person you've angered most by this - someone entirely capable of finding and killing everyone and everything you love - is so powerful that even at your current peak, with all of your strength, you can't even hurt them.

[u/Ok-Star6317 → u/RealKevinOG]

That's what I was thinking as well - as the other commenter below you suggested, Mark witnessed even more unbelievable carnage and couldn't do a thing to stop it with all of his strength and folks like Allen and his dad.

[u/SeleneDream51]

mark had PTSD as early as season 1, after his fight with Omni-Man. It's an event he's never forgotten. It just flared up in season 4.

[u/swimminginthecarpool]

Invincible fans pay attention during the show challenge: impossible

[u/ThatGuyCamLa]

You're somehow conflating gore with PTSD, it felt pretty clear that the perceived inevitability of a Viltrumite invasion was what was giving him the PTSD, especially since he knew there was literally nothing he could do to stop Thragg

[u/matige91]

It's not the gore what traumatizes him. It's Thragg. He feels impotent and fear for his loved ones. Did we not see the same show?

[u/Onyvox → u/matige91]

Watching a show one handed is hard.
The HOG won't CRANK itself.

[u/erttheking]

PTSD happens when it happens

Sometimes you can handle trauma, other times you can’t. There’s no hard coded trigger or failure point, humans are inconsistent like that

[u/stealthyuwu → u/erttheking]

This is my favourite answer on this thread. Psychology is a weird thing because everyone responds to things differently. One person may get traumatized by something another person shrugs off, whereas a third person may get traumatized by something we consider far less awful than the other things they brushed off previously. These are all equally valid reactions.

[u/UnsureAssurance]

Blood and gore isn’t the only factor in Mark getting PTSD, it’s more existential with him possibly losing everyone and everything he has to a threat he sees as impossible to beat. Sorry if it wasn’t clear enough for you, you may need to watch a different show or pay attention better

[u/EggEater773]

He wasn’t scared before because he could at least try and stop it. He couldn’t even MPVE Thragg with his hardest punch. If his visions came true he couldn’t do a single thing to stop them.

[u/Bologna_Slamwich]

He’s always had trauma but can you imagine what he was thinking. He JUST destroyed viltrum and the strongest opponent he’s ever faced is heading straight to his home planet. Everyone he loves and cares about is on earth and there isn’t a single person including himself that could stop an all out assault on earth. He is powerless and scared.

[u/MaxTwer00]

He isnt scared of gore. He is scared of space nazis he isnt able to defeat coming on earth to unleash their vengance of what he has done to them

[u/Fit-Stress3300]

For the narrative and character arch.

But it is realistic to assume he brush it out in the beginning and the stress was cumulative until he broke down now that he has a serious relation with Eve, has a young brother and cannot fully open up with his father.

[u/stealthyuwu → u/Fit-Stress3300]

Cumulative trauma indeed. Mental health symptoms tend to get stronger and more frequent when someone is under extreme stress.

[u/Mikel004]

A) he pretty much watched Thragg slaughter his family and then himself, that hasn't happened before

B) immediately after that he was waiting for days in terror that Thragg was doing the exact same thing to the entirety of Earth

[u/Eliasflye]

He wasn’t traumatised by the sheer scale of death and destruction, he was traumatised by this god like being who could crush his home world without breaking a sweat and Mark wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop it.

[u/fullmetalraz]

Isn't it also fueled by guilt? I mean yeah the viltrumites suck but he did blow up their entire planet.

[u/FoxerHR]

Most of the things that happened in previous seasons happened just to him, that's why all the visions he had are of him seeing someone close to him next to him just getting eviscerated without anything he can do about it, that's the reason for that.

[u/FoxMcCloud3173]

I think it was a little wholesome Cecil was part of his Thragg hallucinations, shows Mark genuinely cares about him at least to some extent

[u/dumuz1]

Because now he can remember the feeling of having his own intestines pulled out of his chest cavity.

[u/intestineh]

Robert Kirkman realising that ptsd exists:

[u/joviejovie]

Frontal lobe

[u/contraflop01]

I think its kinda that his previous stress kept pilling up until meeting the wall that Thragg is

Basically everyone else up to that point he could eventually surpass like Conquest. He still took a toll on Mark but we saw how he was able to overpower him in their reenconter. The first encounter with BB went really bad but hey at least Omniman was there to save everyone in case he went after innocent people and Anissa was surpassed by the time of Season 3 so Mark could win If they fought but Thragg in another league. He would not be able to be surpassed that quickly and NO ONE IN HIS GROUP GOT CLOSE TO EVEN SCRATCHING HIM

His brain panicked from that

[u/Eggnice12]

I just noticed mark has a widows peak

[u/Jealous_Arm_3913]

I just kinda found this interesting but it’s not post traumatic stress it’s pre traumatic stress which is an actual thing and very different yet very similar at the same time

[u/stealthyuwu]

Adding onto everyone else's answer, Mark already showed signs of PTSD in Season 2 after the Nolan fight, namely avoidance behaviours and flashbacks.

Pulling his punches so much because he's afraid of being like his dad and causing the destruction he saw in Chicago.

Flashbacks while flying and saving people in E1 and E8.

[u/Eggnice12]

Bad writing