Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Invincible season 4, episode 6, “You Look Horrible.”

With <em>Invincible</em> season 4 diving deeper into the Viltrumite War, we’re seeing some of the franchise’s most powerful characters band together in order to take on the show’s most dangerous foes. Having seen the damage and devastation that Invincible‘s strongest Viltrumites can do, it makes sense that the Coalition is gathering everyone they can to stop this empire once and for all.

Although there are some notable exceptions, like Atom Eve and Robot, most of Invincible‘s most powerful characters have assembled to join the resistance. We’d already seen the potential of Allen and Battle Beast in previous seasons, while the likes of Tech Jacket and Space Racer have demonstrated their value in the past few episodes, which offers a sense of hope.

Likewise, Mark, Nolan, and Oliver’s return was crucial to helping ensure Talescria didn’t fall, but there was another fighter who proved to be just as formidable — Thaedus. Despite being the Coalition of Planets’ leader and a Viltrumite, Thaedus hadn’t been involved in a physical confrontation until “You Look Horrible”, and he instantly showed his true potential.

Thaedus Finally Joined The Viltrumite War & He’s Even Stronger Than We Thought

Looking at Thaedus’ credentials, it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that he’s a powerful fighter — he is a Viltrumite after all. However, seeing him in action was a whole different story, as he was able to go toe-to-toe with some of Viltrum’s most menacing fighters and come out on top, proving he is arguably the Coalition’s greatest weapon.

It was only a matter of time before he got his hands dirty, and while it’s unclear whether he always planned on joining the combat or not, he didn’t have much of a choice once the Viltrum Empire invaded Talescria. The villains did manage to cause plenty of casualties, but the Coalition successfully fought them off, and Thaedus was one of the MVPs.

With the Viltrumites seeing him as “The Great Betrayer” since he was the first of their kind ever to betray the Empire, it only feels fitting that he’d be a formidable adversary, and while he may look old, he fights as though he’s still in his prime.

Until we see more isolated battles, we may not know his true strength, but Thaedus seems capable of giving almost any Viltrumite a challenge, maybe even Thragg, hence why he’s one of the most powerful members of Invincible‘s Coalition.

The evidence so far may be minimal, but he fended off General Kregg, Anissa, and Lucan by himself, with none of them able to do significant damage. As a result, it’s safe to say he was even stronger than many of us could have predicted, making his involvement going forward all the more interesting.

Thaedus’ First Fight Proves He’s One Of The Coalition’s Strongest Fighters

Characters like Mark, Omni-Man, and Allen are all pretty battle tested when it comes to Viltrumites, but even they haven’t made quite the impression that Thaedus did in his first fight. Mark has had more confrontations than anyone throughout Invincible, and despite losing many bouts early on, he has only grown stronger, finally taking down Conquest on his own.

This cements Mark as one of the show’s greatest fighters, and Nolan’s ability to deal with two Viltrumites at once back in season 2 also puts him right up there. We know Allen and Battle Beast are also no push-overs, but Allen’s strength has fluctuated greatly throughout the series, and we haven’t seen Battle Beast fight any notable Viltrumites, despite killing one previously.

Questions remain about the rest of the Coalition members, as despite Tech Jacket undergoing some big changes in Invincible season 4, she’s clearly not capable of taking down a Viltrumite on her own, at least not yet. She did beat an evil Invincible variant by herself, but he was much weaker than the show’s main version.

In addition, Space Racer has a deadly weapon that killed an off-guard Viltrumite, but most will be fast enough to dodge this weapon, and we haven’t seen much of his hand-to-hand skills. Oliver is strong but still vastly weaker than his enemies, suggesting he isn’t a major threat compared to someone like Thaedus.

The Coalition leader had General Kregg in serious trouble and was essentially fighting Anissa and Lucan at once — both of whom have scored victories over Mark and Nolan throughout the series — albeit with some necessary context. Regardless, Thaedus can clearly hang with the best Viltrum has to offer, meaning he is easily one of the show’s best combatants.

Mark’s ever-growing strength makes it hard to place him alongside others like Battle Beast who has barely broken a sweat throughout the series. However, Thaedus certainly competes with Allen and Nolan in terms of power level at least highlighting his overall importance to challenging the Viltrumites.

Thaedus’ History With The Viltrum Empire Makes Him Even More Important To The Coalition Than Mark & Omni-Man

Naturally,Invincible‘s more central characters will feel like the more important ones but when it comes to the Coalition of Planets no one is more integral than Thaedus. Obviously being the leader of this group makes him a key figure but his history with Viltrum is even more crucial since he was the first Viltrumite to wake up to their cruelty.

The fact that he was willing to stand against the Empire and was responsible for wiping out 99.9% of their population gives hope that these elite beings can be defeated. He’s also very aware of various Viltrumite weaknesses and how they can be utilized highlighting his overall significance.

Even if his combat alone isn’t enough to lead the Coalition to victory his leadership keeps some sense of optimism among the resistance and he knows how to use Invincible‘s best weapons against the Viltrumites. Thaedus also has a backup plan if everything goes wrong having refined the scourge virus to be even deadlier than before.

The last time he used this virus on Viltrum it reduced their population to less than 50 people. However this time it would kill every Viltrumite if released including himself Nolan likely Mark too. Oliver could even be a victim since he’s also part Viltrumite showing how powerful his creation is.

Between his strength durability wisdom and of course his fail-safe Thaedus is easily the most important member of the Coalition of Planets making his survival essential. He may end up sacrificing himself for the cause at some point in Invincible, but no matter what happens during the Viltrumite War Thaedus will play a key part in determining its outcome.