Amazon’s new original series Invincible brings a fan-favorite character named Allen the Alien (Seth Rogen) to the screen in episode 2, "Here Goes Nothing," but leaves out a vital conversation between Allen and the show’s protagonist, Mark Grayson, a.k.a. Invincible, as well as another later, equally important conversation with his father. Leaving out these conversations means significant changes to the characters' backstories and context for what's happening.
Amazon’s adaptation has changed several elements from the comics, including a conversation Mark has with Allen mid-fight. Mark battles the one-eyed Unopan in space in place of Nolan, who was recovering from a previous injury. In the show, Mark learns that Allen is an evaluation officer sent by the Coalition of Planets to evaluate Earth’s extragalactic defense system per the planet’s request. Their conversation also reveals that Allen meant to go to Urath, with a U, and ended up on the wrong planet of Earth, instead. The conversation in the comics, however, was left out of Amazon’s original TV show, changing Allen’s backstory and leaving out a vital piece of characterization for both Mark and Nolan.
In the comics, Allen explains that he’s been coming to Earth for fifteen years and battled Omni-Man each time but never actually talked to him. Amazon’s Invincible forgoes the brunt of this conversation, only implying that Allen only dropped by Earth once, three years prior. Leaving out this conversation doesn’t just change the show’s timeline, however. By not showing Mark’s willingness to talk to Allen over just beating him up before throwing him back into space, the show forgoes a powerful characterization moment that shows how Mark and Nolan approach problems in fundamentally different ways.
The Invincible adaptation also omits the comic book conversation Mark has with his father after fighting Allen, where Mark explains to Nolan that the entire conflict has been a misunderstanding over the past decade and a half. This is an important characterization for both because it shows that Mark is willing to listen to his foes and be comionate before fighting, a thought that simply never occurred to Nolan. The two conversations illustrate the father and son's different approaches to heroism and removing them undermines some of the depth of character for all three characters in Mark, Nolan and Allen the Alien.