This new post-credit scene in Invincible showed Damien Darkblood's return and points to a revived scrapped story that comic fans can't spoil in Season 4.
After three seasons, Invincible has stuck closely to its comic book source material while expanding on it, such as giving Debbie a bigger role or letting Shrinking Rae live. However, it's never done anything wholly original. The closest thing to original material for the show has been Machine Head becoming the head of The Order.
One of the other changes made from the comics was Damien Darkblood becoming a far more important character in Season 1. While he played no role in Seasons 2 and 3, the third season finale indicates he'll have a bigger part to play in Season 4.
Daimen Darkblood's Return Revives Scrapped Story From Comics
In the post-credit scene for Invincible Season 3, Episode 8, "I Thought You'd Never Shut Up," Clancy Brown's Daimen Darkblood makes a shocking return, still in Hell, after being banished there by Cecil and the GDA in Season 1, Episode 4, "Neil Armstrong, Eat Your Heart Out."
In the post-credit scene, Darkblood summons another demon, voiced by Bruce Campbell, telling him he has "means to restore [him] to internal throne" with a "surface dweller of great power." Darkblood tells this demon, his lord, that "his blackened heart will be bound to your service" when he conjures him to Hell.
To put it plainly, nothing close to this happens in the comics for fans to spoil.
However, many comic readers quickly realized that co-creator Robert Kirkman was reintegrating a scrapped story idea he didn't have the chance to use in the original Invincible run, something Kirkman has expressed regret over since 2009.
In issue #15's "Fang-Mail" section of The Astounding Wolf-Man, when asked by a fan about Darkblood possibly returning in Invincible, Kirkman said he "had planned on bringing Damien back in Invincible" but "decided against it," and stipulated, "Maybe someday:"
Y'know... I actually had planned on bringing Damien back in 'Invincible' with a going to Hell storyline... because it seems like most every long-running superhero title has a going to Hell storyline... but... well... I decided against it. Maybe someday, though."
That day is coming in Invincible Season 4, with a storyline into Hell that could take up an entire episode, depending on how ambitious Kirkman wants to be with it. But who does Darkblood wish to conjure that has a "blackened heart"?
Who Will Have The Blackened Heart in Invincible Season 4?
Again, there's no potential for spoilers from the comics here. Darkblood is barely relevant in the original Invincible story, being nothing more than a gag character appearing in only a handful of issues—a shallow parody of Hellboy and Rorschach.
But in this adaptation, Darkblood was played straight, nearly outing Nolan as the killer of the Guardians of the Globe before Cecil stopped him. He was even given more backstory and motivation before becoming an obvious no-show in the cast for Season 2.
When Debbie asks Darkblood why he cares about solving the case in Season 1, Episode 3, "Who You Calling Ugly," he tells her, "Escaped from hell. Seek justice for others to save own soul."
It's uncertain if Darkblood is looking for genuine redemption by seeking justice for others or, as Nolan put it in the same episode, he is just buying himself "a few more years out of Hell."
It's uncertain how Darkblood will conjure whoever has the "blackened heart," who can only be Nolan, despite him already being on the road to redemption. After all, before being sent back to the pit by Cecil, he knew Nolan was the one who killed the Guardians, and Darkblood knows he's absurdly powerful.
But Nolan is off-world, which could make summoning him to Hell troublesome and mean that Darkblood could summon Mark Grayson to Hell in his father's place instead, accidental or not.
Invincible Season 4 will be released on Amazon Prime Video in 2026.
