The animated series Invincible on Amazon Prime Video is widely popular, adapted from the comic book series of the same name, created by Robert Kirkman. The series is developed by Kirkman, with Simon Racioppa serving as showrunner. It is currently in its fourth season, and the introduction of the Tech Jacket in the latest season has piqued the interest of fans of the comics. In the source material, the character is a teenage boy named Zack Thompson, but in the animated adaptation, the gender has been changed. In a recent interview, Kirkman explained the rationale behind the decision.
Kirkman wanted to try out “exciting things” with the character change
The show introduces Tech Jacket in season 4 episode 5, and the alter ego is a high school girl named Zoe Thompson. In an interview with Den of Geek, Kirkman explained that if he had remained faithful to the source material, the character would have been very similar to the lead protagonist, Mark Grayson, aka Invincible.
“When it came time to introduce Tech Jacket, I realized that if we had brought him straight from the comics, he’d be very similar to Mark,” Kirkman said, adding, “We decided early on that it would be interesting to gender swap this character.”
The character was first introduced in 2002 in a self-titled comic written by Kirkman. Zack Thompson, a normal teenage boy, gets bonded to the Tech Jacket suit, which is passed on to him by an alien of the Geldarian race. Thereafter, he is dragged into the intergalactic conflict between the Geldarians and the war-like Kresh. The character later becomes integrated into the Invincible universe, fighting alongside Invincible and the Coalition in the Viltrumite War—a major arc currently unfolding in the animated adaptation.
However, Kirkman, along with Racioppa, wanted to reimagine the character for the series.
“We started thinking about who Zoe would be instead of Zach. There are some exciting things that come up when you change that character,” Kirkman noted.
Notably, Tech Jacket appeared in several small cameos before being formally introduced in season 4.
Zoey Deutch voices the character, and the creator believes that the actress does justice to the vibrancy and energy of the role.
“The vibrancy of that character and the energy that she brings is so much more affecting coming from Zoey Deutch,” he said.
Racioppa also praised the actress, stating that she has a great “sense of humor,” which aligns with the traits of the character she portrays.
“She came in and knew the character. She’s so professional and fun to work with, and she has a great sense of humor, because the character is fun. They go through things, but she has great jokes, great one-liners, and Zoey just delivers on all that. We could not be more delighted when we cast her for the show,” the showrunner said.
As the Viltrumite War unfolds in season 4, it will be interesting to see what fresh perspective the creators bring with Zoe Thompson and how it differs from the source material.
Do you agree with Robert Kirkman’s decision to gender swap Tech Jacket? Let us know in the comments section below.
