Omni-Man's costume was meant to be red and blue in Invincible before the TV show

When Amazon first revealed the Invincible TV series and its version of the now iconic Omni-Man in his striking red and white Viltrumite suit, I thought nothing of it. I had read the comics a few times and, yes, he had always worn red and white – in fact, the attention to detail and precision was astounding. Sure, the animation is a little slideshow-y at times, but it really felt like the characters had jumped right off the page.

Color me then surprised that Omni-Man's suit had never been red and white before the TV show, and what so many of us chalked up to shading and lighting was actually a red and blue suit all along. Looking back, especially when he's next to The Immortal, it's incredibly obvious, and I'm not sure how so many of us missed that detail.

This is all according to Invincible artist Ryan Ottley himself, who responded to a fan theory that Mark Grayson's blue and black costume was meant to be the opposite of the Omni-Man's red and white. “Of course not,” he said. “Read Invincible. That's the proof. Omni-Man's colors are red and blue. It makes no sense that we would know it was going to change to white for the show so we'd do all this inverting years before. It's nonsense.”

The Omni-Man never wore a white and red suit before The Invincible TV series

Before you jump into the comments or email me about Omni-Man's later costume leading into the Viltrumite War, it's not red and white either. “Our colorist would know the name of the color. But it's actually a light greenish tan. With the red,” Ottley clarified.

The Prime Video series chose what so many fans assumed was Omni-Man's color scheme, red and white, and it has now become the most iconic depiction of the character, which is why merchandise and crossovers, such as in Mortal Kombat 1, depict him as such. But Ottley isn't upset that so many of us mistook blue for white: “I have no problem with anyone thinking it was white and red. All good.”

Omni-Man holds a man above his head in a canyon from Invincible.

Invincible isn't the only comic to create confusion about a costume's color scheme, either; even the iconic Spider-Man has gone through this debate countless times. His “classic” appearance is often depicted as red and blue, but his debut costume in The Amazing Fantasy #15 was actually red and black, with blue highlights. It's a fairly standard technique in comics, with Venom also having details highlighted in blue, but Marvel soon updated the suit, giving Spidey his iconic red and blue.

If nothing else, this is a good excuse to go back and read Invincible again – to stare intently at Omni-Man and his blue suit. I can't remove it now, and judging by the responses, many fans are in the same red-blue boat.