Invincible Creator Robert Kirkman Says Tech Jacket was Gender-Swapped to Address a Comic Book 'Shortcoming'
Invincible creator Robert Kirkman has explained why the Prime Video show chose to go a new direction in Season 4 by introducing a gender-swapped version of Tech Jacket.
The mind behind the animated superhero series and the comic book it’s based on talked about why he chose to veer from the source material during a conversation with The Wrap. When speaking about the events of the show’s latest season, he also touched on why Tech Jacket is now known as Zoey Thompson instead of the Zack Thompson from the comics.
Kirkman acknowledged that the original version of the Iron Man-like technology-based hero is a “fully well-rounded character” who was strong enough to warrant his own spinoff stories in the Invincible universe. For the purposes of revisiting the Viltrumite War through the lens of the Prime Video show, though, he felt Zack wasn’t bringing much to the table that “you’re not getting from Oliver or Mark.” He added, “There’s just a lot of similarities there.”
Season 4 of the Prime Video Invincible series sees the story’s heroes leave Earth in hopes of bringing an end to the Viltrumite War, but tackling foes like Conquest and Grand Regent Thragg means assembling a team. In the source material, the core team that heads out into battle is Mark, Nolan, Oliver, Allen the Alien, Battle Beast, Space Racer, and Zack Thompson – an all-male group.
The Prime Video show pulls from a comic book, so it has and likely will continue to make changes from the original story as it continues. Swapping Zack for Zoe while maintaining the Tech Jack name is a decision that made sense to the Invincible crew, not only to help break up the male-dominated team but to make the show better as a whole.
“One of the downsides of Invincible is Cory Walker and I were like 23 and 21 when we started that book, and your default when you’re not really paying attention is yourself,” Kirkman said. “Every time we introduce another character, ‘Oh look! It’s another white male! Who knew?’ It’s just a shortcoming that we hadn’t quite noticed and done our due diligence to correct.”
Invincible Season 4 came to an end when its last episode, Don’t Leave Me Hanging Here, premiered last week, April 22. While we wait for any news on Season 5, you can check out our 9/10 review of the finale. You can also read about what Kirkman had to say regarding the future of the show.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
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