mark was getting clobbered by fucking maulers 3 episodes ago now he’s able to beat a full grown soldier viltrumite that’s been conquering worlds for millennia just because he “stopped holding back”. Even Nolan who got hospitalized by the guardians while soloing them, only suffered a cut on his head fighting THREE viltrumites!!! Just makes them look weak in comparison. I feel like they shouldn’t even have any chance winning that battle at all, not alone surviving in better condition than against way weaker foes
I do think that Thula (the female viltrimute) was holding back and not really trying as hard as she could have. Reason being, the viltrimutes never have opponents on their level, so when they do they enjoy it. For example, when Mark finally got a good hit on her, she went “finally”. And if you look at Thula when Mark was holding her up by her hair, she had nearly no visible damage on her while Mark was beaten, bruised, and bleeding from many areas on his body. She then smiled and revealed she was faking it as she stabbed Mark. So I do think Thula was just toying with Mark rather than full on trying.