Viltrum is a lush, beautiful world ruled by a race of cruel beings with godlike powers. Viltrum has a carbon-rich atmosphere and gravity 1.25 times that of Earth. Once rich in resources, the natural wealth of Viltrum has long been depleted. Viltrum is renowned for its verdant rainforests and surreal glass deserts but is plagued by earthquakes and methane storms. The prime inhabitants of Viltrum are the Viltrumites, an advanced humanoid race of immense physical power and imperial ambitions who dominate Viltrum and every other inhabitable world within hundreds of light years. Each Viltrumite can fly and possesses incredible strength, speed, invulnerability, and other "superhuman" powers. Viltrumites age very slowly as well, living for thousands of years. The Viltrumites' physical power and near-immortality have strongly influenced their society, creating a species-wide superiority complex and the sense that they are destined to rule lesser beings.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, Viltrum was rocked by a horrific civil war before they set off to conquer the stars. Those Viltrumites who valued strength and believed in their natural superiority decided to erase the weak from the planet and set upon those who opposed them or were deemed unfit in a global bloodbath called The Purging. Years later, Viltrum lay in ruins, and half the population had died, but at last, the weak had been eliminated. From that point on, Viltrumites adopted a brutal doctrine of eugenics, meaning only the strong were allowed to survive on Viltrum.

Viltrum was rebuilt by its superhuman population, who then set their sights on creating a galactic empire. The Viltrumites established the World Conquering Committee, an organization responsible for the empire's expansion. The pattern was always the same: a planet targeted for assimilation would be offered a chance to join the empire in patronage willingly. An army of flying apex predators destroyed those who refused.

After thousands of years of expansion, the Viltrumites reached their limit. Their supply lines were stretched to the limit, and they no longer could dispatch an army to each planet they wanted to conquer. For a time, they used proxy armies conscripted from planets they had already conquered as invasion forces, but it was clear that the booming rate of growth that they had seen for millennia had ended.

A new strategy was needed. Selected soldiers on the World Conquering Committee were tasked with preparing suitable planets for inclusion into the empire. These vanguards were sent on 500-year missions to the targeted planet, where they would study the inhabitants, eliminate the defenses, and prepare the natives for the coming invasion. The most noteworthy Viltrumite vanguard was Nolan (Omni-Man), a veteran warrior who was responsible for preparing Earth for takeover before he abandoned his post.

The only force willing to directly challenge Viltrumite expansion is the Coalition of Planets, a galactic federation led by The Great Thaedus, a Viltrumite himself who secretly opposes his race's doctrine of subjugation and oppression.

It is revealed that the Coalition developed a disease capable of killing the Viltrumite population by using genetic information extracted from Thaedus. The virus had a devastating effect on the Viltrumite population, killing over 99.999% of the population. By the time a vaccine was available, less than 50 Viltrumites had been left alive. This hampered their ability to conquer planets and resulted in their lines being stretched and weakened in the Galaxy. Due to this, inter-species breeding, once seen as a taboo, was encouraged, and a vanguard was sent to the planet to scope it out and weaken it so that by the time the Viltrumites arrived, it would be relatively easy to subjugate them. With this new lifestyle in place the dead Viltrumites who succumbed to the virus were released into the atmosphere to form a ring around the planet in commemoration.

As a result of their population, when they discovered Mark Grayson and his strength, they offered him the chance to replace Nolan as the vanguard of Earth and claim it in 100 years in their name. They sent Anissa to check up on him on Earth. After discovering that he has not made any attempt, she tries to convince him that the Viltrumites will develop human life on Earth and take only what is required from the planet before leaving (and destroying Earth after). He declines again, leading to a fight. She leaves and informs General Kregg of his decision, who claims it is a shame because Mark showed such promise.

Conquest recently came to Earth to check on it. As the bloodiest and most ruthless vanguard ever, he revealed that even though he was sent to convince Mark, he would not take Anissa's route. He is delighted to see that Mark still refuses to start the work on Earth and so decides to kill him and take the planet himself. After an intense fight, Conquest was defeated and imprisoned on Earth. After escaping, he is summoned by the regent Thragg to account for his actions. Thragg spares him but warns him to kill the Viltrumite defector and his son before they reach the Coalition's home planet. An attack and a team of Viltrumites and alien allies attack the ship bound for the home planet. His attack is swatted due to the presence of other heroes, such as Tech Jacket and Alan the Alien. After Conquest is reported killed in action, the Coalition launches a full assault on the Viltrumite empire. After months of fighting, Viltrumite allies joined the opposition after seeing that the Coalition of Planets may actually win the war. When Grant Regent Thragg notices that the Coalition is winning, he attacks their home planet using information from an insider. The odds seem to favor the Viltrumites, but the Graysons arrive and thwart the invasion with Thaedus. The mole in the Coalition is killed. With their main vessels destroyed and the war moving into the final stages with the Coalition, the apparent winner is the Vilturmites, gathering at their home planet to regroup and gain their confidence.

However, the Coalition takes this chance and stages a preemptive attack on the planet. Using information from Nolan Grayson; they gather a few materials and species in the universe that could harm the Viltrumites. One of these was a space gun capable of blowing through anything in the universe. The attack is unsuccessful at first; some viltrumites hide in the planet's ring and ambush the team while others emerge from the dying world. After intense fighting, Mark, Nolan, and Thaedus break free and fly through the entire planet, destroying it in the process. The remaining Viltrumites are outraged at the destruction of their heritage and fight even harder. Thragg breaks the jaw of Oliver Grayson, rips his arm off, and kills Thaedus, declaring him the ultimate traitor of the Viltrum empire by allowing his blood to be used to develop the virus which caused the Viltrumites to be endangered. Though Invincible tries to kill him, Nolan reveals that as regent, he is the absolute strongest member of their race, having been trained from birth. Thragg leaves Mark and his father mortally wounded and left with the other Viltrumites as they try to start repopulating their race on another planet.

Invincible deduces that the viltrumites would destroy Earth in return because they destroyed their home planet. This is revealed not to be the case. Because Mark displayed that he was nearly as strong as a fully trained adult VIltrumite, the Earth would be used as a breeding ground. The Viltrumites will not interfere on Earth but blend in and repopulate their species. Because there were only 35 Viltrumites still alive, they could not continue their Conquest, but 35 would be more than enough to destroy Earth and all life in it completely. However, once it reaches a formidable size, the Viltrumite empire will once again rise to reclaim the cosmos!

Powers and Abilities

The Viltrumites are a race of vicious, warrior-like super-people. They're on the brink of extinction with only 55 pure-bloods remaining. They all possess flight (can travel massively faster than light) and uncanny physical strength (Thragg directly states that 37 Viltrumites could tear the Earth in half, assuming they all do equal work to complete this task, each of the Viltrumites left alive could lift/pull/push around 160 quintillion tons), interstellar space travel, long life (some of whom being thousands of years old), predominant genetics, super speed (can dilate time up to a point which seems that it has come to a complete halt), a heightened lung capacity (being able to hold their breath for two weeks), healing factor, endurance, and reflexes. Their weaknesses are as follows: a virulent agent that the Coalition of Planets created called the Scourge Virus, tailored from the blood of a purebred Viltrumite, explicitly keyed to zero in on their secular DNA pattern and severely diminishing the superpowered abilities of any survivors as was the case with Conquest. As well as a species of feral alien savages capable of quickly killing off a Viltrumite called Ragnars. They also possess rather delicate inner ears; internal mechanisms enable them to keep balance and maneuverability while flying—when such biological functions are disrupted, it is exceedingly and devastatingly painful for them to bear, so much so that being blasted with a sonic frequency or vibrational attunement that matches their sensitivity range can prove crippling, if not fatal, to them. This was exploited once to render even half-Viltrumites entirely paralyzed from the neck down, leaving the affected in a semi-vegetative state of immobility, a prisoner within their own body. Rudy/Robot also exploited their lack of internal resilience to kill an alt. universe iteration of Mark by having a murder device slide down their throat and discombobulate their entrails. Another known weakness of the Viltrumites is the Klaxus Plant, native to an alien planet, which dilutes the maximum ability limit of a healthy race member—making them weak enough to be humanly vulnerable, allowing weaker opponents to engage them in personal combat. They are also beholden to the penetrative force of the Space Racer's destructive Infinite Gun, the beams of which can cut through planets and easily pierce through indestructible aliens. Another notable vulnerability is extreme solar heat, wherein exposure to temperatures as hot as the sun's surface can even cause a Viltrumite's impervious physique to blister and crack under prolonged exposure. It is also said that planets with high gravity can hobble even the species' laser velocity mobility and excellent strength. Such was the case with Nolan when he first discovered Ragnar's home planet.