Invincible Waited 4 Seasons For Its Best The Walking Dead Easter Egg

Invincible‘s ties to The Walking Dead go back all the way to their original comic runs, as the two franchises share the same creator. While they take place in completely different universes and share little overlap story-wise, Robert Kirkman has placed plenty of Walking Dead Easter Eggs in Invincible and vice versa, particularly in the TV adaptations.

The Walking Dead‘s nods to the superhero IP are a lot more subtle, as action figures and comics can be spotted in the zombie series. However, Mark biting Conquest in Invincible season 3 was just one of several ways Prime Video’s hit show has paid homage to Kirkman’s other major franchise, and season 4 just continued this trend.

During Tech Jacket’s formal introduction in Invincible season 4, she was seen taking on an unhinged and potentially dangerous new enemy — one that she took down with ease. While this foe may not look overly familiar to non-comic fans, the villain’s name will certainly ring some bells, proving Invincible isn’t done with its TWD references just yet.

Invincible Season 4, Episode 5 Introduces “The Walking Dread”

Having included direct references to the show, shared various voice actors, and even featured a dimension filled with zombies, Invincible clearly isn’t shy about shouting out The Walking Dead, but its season 4 Easter Egg is easily the best yet. We’ve seen all kinds of ridiculous villains in the animated project, but none have quite been like The Walking Dread.

The not-so-subtle name is a hilarious on-the-nose nod to Kirkman’s post-apocalyptic masterpiece, and the character certainly resembles some characteristics of The Walking Dead. Firstly, despite being a tall, muscular brute, The Walking Dread’s facial structure is somewhat zombie-like. Visually, he looks a lot like a bigger ReAnimen, which are Invincible‘s version of mechanical zombies, making this design choice seem intentional.

Additionally, he seems like a mindless source of destruction, seeking as much power as he can get, since he has the ability to absorb energy. His season 4 cameo was likely a result of him working for Invincible‘s criminal organization known as the Order, as he was first seen during one of their meetings back in season 3.

Although the villain is clearly strong, everything about him suggests he’s practically a walking zombie that barely thinks and operates purely on instinct. Therefore, The Walking Dread’s name acts as more than a simple Walking Dead pun. Instead, it symbolizes the character’s similarities to the undead, making it Invincible‘s greatest TWD Easter Egg so far.

A Short History Of Invincible’s Connections To The Walking Dead

Considering The Walking Dead and Invincible are two of Robert Kirkman’s most successful comics and TV shows, it doesn’t come as a major surprise that they share an extensive history. Even when focusing purely on the televised projects, the overlap is rather interesting, as there are plenty of acknowledgments from one series to the other.

As mentioned earlier, toys of Mark, Atom Eve, Omni-Man, and Allen the Alien can all be spotted in The Walking Dead season 6, episode 8, while Carl is also seen reading an Invincible comic at some point throughout the series. On the flip side, Invincible pays homage to The Walking Dead in a multitude of different ways.

Mark biting Conquest mimics Rick’s bite on Joe in season 4, which is one of the show’s more subtle references. However, during season 2, Angstrom Levy traveled through various dimensions, one of which was a version of Earth that had been overrun by zombies, acting as a much more obvious nod towards Kirkman’s popular franchise.

Mark even ends up in this dimension during season 2’s finale and is surrounded by zombies, but he is teleported back to the show’s main reality before we see what happened. Perhaps the biggest overlap between the two projects is the cast members, as many of Invincible‘s characters are voiced by Walking Dead legends.

Just recently, Invincible season 4 cast The Walking Dead‘s Danai Gurira as Universa, one year after Jeffrey Dean Morgan debuted as Conquest. Steven Yeun also plays the protagonist, Mark Grayson, while both Ross Marquand and Khary Payton are regulars in the superhero show.

In the very first episode, Lauren Cohan, Michael Cudlitz, Sonequa Martin-Green, Chad Coleman, and Lennie James lent their voices to Invincible‘s original Guardians of the Globe. As a result, these two Robert Kirkman IPs clearly share a plethora of connections, with The Walking Dread’s latest appearance continuing this long-running trend.