Invincible Season 2 Episode 8 referred to one of the earliest jokes in the series, one concerning a certain archeologist with a beetle tattoo, who gets buried in the sand because Mark summons a sandstorm by flying too low.
This occurred way back in Episode 4 of Season 1. Episode 8 of Season 2 had Chloe Bennet (Quake from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D) play a companion to the daughter of this archeologist. Bennet’s character was called Riley, while the archeologist’s daughter, voiced by Ella Purnell (of Arcane fame), was called Jane.
Riley, Jane, Jane’s father, and Ka-Hor (the mummy that they resurrect ) are not a part of Invincible comics. These characters are original entries into the show and seem to be of no consequence as of now.
However, as punishing a show as Invincible is, what has happened to Riley, Jane, and Jane’s father might come to bite Mark back in future episodes. Chloe Bennet’s character in particular could be a problem, given that she is the one who has powers among the three.
Chloe Bennet’s Riley dumped quite the amount of exposition in the Invincible Season 2 finale
While her appearance in the show was brief, Invincible never wastes a scene when it comes to superpowered individuals. Chloe Bennet‘s Riley does not appear in the comics, but her origin story is very well laid out in the brief appearance that she made on the show. Audiences were made privy to the fact that she has enough power to ‘pick up’ a small truck, something she demonstrates by picking up the door to the tomb that she and Ella Purnell‘s Jane were trying to enter.
This tomb was previously infiltrated by Jane’s dad, who was buried by a sandstorm created by a low-flying Mark. We find out that Jane’s dad actually wasted away in the tomb, as we come across his decayed corpse at the foot of the sarcophagus which contained the body of Ka-Hor.
Riley, while entering the tomb, reveals that her powers come from her mother’s side, from her grandmother. It is not specified how Riley’s grandmother got her powers, although she does comment on the fact that there weren’t a lot of opportunities for women back then.
It is unknown whether her grandmother got her powers through experimentation, curses, magic, or genetics. However, judging from the age of the characters, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that her grandmother got her powers during the Second World War of this world (if it even happened).
Riley and Jane could be a call back to multiple heroes
Ka-Hor is also an entity that does not exist in the comics and seems to be reminiscent of Mumm-Ra from ThunderCats. The character seems to have custodians that come from the same family line, as Jane and her father have identical Beetle tattoos on their wrists. When Ka-Hor awakens, however, there is a slight problem in his liberation, given that both Riley and Jane are girls, and Ka-Hor specifically needs a living male body as his host.
There are multiple comic book heroes this could be a call back to, be it Marvel to DC, the beetle imagery might harken back to Blue Beetle Dan Garett, who received powers from a scarab he found in the desert. This version of the character was also an archeologist. Another character this could harken back to is Moon Knight, who similarly received his powers in an Egyptian tomb from Konshu, the Egyptian God of the Moon.
Another duo that these characters could refer to is Iron Fist and Luke Cage, given that Riley had super strength, and Jane was set to potentially inherit a magical being and his powers. The duo might not be ‘for hire’ but there is definitely something Ka-Hor is worth, as two separate expeditions were sent after him by the same family.
