The show Mark, the superhero Invincible, both hail from.
While the story of the Viltrumites is slowly developing in the animated series, their bloody and tragic backstory has been well documented in the original Invincible comics. All 144 issues of the series, which ran from 2003 to 2018, hold keys to the future direction of the animated series story.
Viltrum
The Viltrumites hail from the alien world of Viltrum, a relatively Earth-like planet in an unknown part of the cosmos. The planet was known as a paradise before it was destroyed in the civil war that ravaged the Viltrumite people and continues to fracture them into the time of the comic book series.
The sudden and shocking loss of Viltrum has some mythological analogs, certainly in Krypton from the Superman mythos, but also the fall of Atlantis and the exile from Eden. Viltrum is an idyll that none of its people can ever go back to.
Civil War
The aforementioned civil war amongst the Viltrumites occurred in the ancient past. It began when the leader of the Viltrumite people. Lord Argall, was killed by an upstart, Thaedus. Thaedus acted to end the violent empirical behavior of his people, who had been conquering other worlds for years.
Though his motives were well-intentioned, Thaedus set off a bloody civil war that led to the ruling party eliminating everyone they considered 'weak' among their people. This bloody reprisal for Argall's death forced Thaedus to flee the planet and try to defend the universe against the expanding empire.
Thragg
The legacy of Lord Argall was taken up by Thragg, one of the most powerful characters in Invincible. After he successfully put down the rebellion, he was made Grand Regent of Viltrum and bestowed with the duty of finding an heir to the throne of Argall. In this way, he was something like the Steward of Gondor, though his search was simply for show.
Thragg secures his power on Viltrum by keeping the skull of Argall around as an emblem of the past. It becomes a strange point of fixation for him though, and he occasionally speaks to it, especially as the comics go on and Thragg discovers that there are true heirs of Argall out there in the cosmos.
The Heir Of Argall
Thragg's dominion over the Viltrumite Empire becomes complicated when he discovers that one of his own footsoldiers, who the Earth knows as Nolan Grayson, Omni-Man, is in fact the Heir of Argall. It's especially complicated since in the comics, Omni-Man ultimately rejects his evil assignment to conqueror the world.
a rough story plan for up to seven seasons.
The Scourge Virus
The civil war decimated the Viltrumites. The Scourge Virus nearly made them extinct. The Coalition of Planets rose up to defend the universe against the aggressive expansionism of the Viltrumite Empire. Their solution was to infect the alien invaders with a virus, which ultimately killed all but a handful of them.
The virus attacked the vaunted strength and invulnerability of the Viltrumites, making them easier to kill in combat by other alien races. Mark Grayson eventually became infected with it but was able to overcome it thanks in part to his being a descendant of Argall.
The Empire
Like the best zombie movies ever, Invincible deals a lot with superhero tropes. Among them is the idea of an alien coming to Earth as a hero, which was embodied in the story of Mark's father, Omni-Man. Omni-Man didn't come to Earth to protect it, though. He came to conqueror it for the Viltrumite Empire.
The empire sent out numerous warriors like Omni-Man to worlds across the cosmos. They infiltrated the active population and worked from within to weaken the planet's defenses, making it vulnerable to the inevitable Viltrumite invasion. Omni-Man was doing just that when he murdered the Guardians of the Globe.
Coalition Of Planets
Thaedus is one of the best characters in the Invincible mythology because of his complicated past. Though he kills his leader, he actually seeks peace. Part of his efforts includes forming the Coalition of Planets, the largest interstellar opposition to the Viltrumite Empire.
The coalition persists for years against the evil actions of the Viltrumites, and eventually, allies with the empire after Mark Grayson ascends to the throne. Thragg goes into exile, ushering a new era of peace in the galaxy not seen in many thousands of years.
Superhuman Powers
The Viltrumites attack their enemies with a combination of stealth and deception, which in itself is very damaging, but also sheer strength and power. They are so fearsome because they are naturally super strong and invulnerable, with their powers mirroring those of Superman and other Kryptonians on Earth.
The Viltrumites have the ability to fly, are super strong, agile, and effectively invulnerable. They can survive in the void of space and thanks to their genes and metabolism, age very slowly. Omni-Man and Thragg are both thousands of years old at the beginning of the comic book series.
Weaknesses
Despite their incredible power, the Viltrumites are not omnipotent. They have a variety of weaknesses that were revealed in the comics. One of the most debilitating has to do with their ears. Certain sounds and frequencies can destabilize their equilibrium, rendering them helpless.
They are also vulnerable to other aliens. One of the alien species they fear most is the Rognarr, whose claws can rip right through Viltrumites. They're also vulnerable to the guns and ammunition of the Space Racer, an alien who flies through space on a hoverbike.
The Viltrumite War
The past and present ultimately collide in the comic books in the cataclysmic Viltrumite War. After Thragg discovers Omni-Man on Earth and the fact he has a son with a human woman, he leads the surviving Viltrumites to the planet to jumpstart a new human-Viltrumite hybrid race.
This leads to a massive battle between Thragg, Omni-Man, Invincible, and their many allies. It ends with Thragg in exile and Omni-Man on the throne of the empire, but that wasn't exactly the end of the story. The conflict would go on for some time before the series ultimately ended.
