By George & Josh Bate
When it originally hit comic stores in 2005-2006, Marvel Zombies quickly became one of the most iconic Marvel comics. The creative decision to blend Marvel superheroes with the living dead made for a fascinating, visually spectacular tale that fulfilled wishes many Marvel fans didn’t even realize they had. After Marvel’s What If…? introduced this story to television with the episode “What If…Zombies?!”, a full-fledged series dedicated to this premise debuts on Disney+ and delivers everything you could possibly want.
Marvel Zombies is set after the events of “What If…Zombies?!” (which is not required viewing in order to understand this new series). The four episodes take place in an alternate version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one that has been devastated by a zombie plague that has turned many of Earth’s mightiest heroes into the walking dead. When the opportunity to cure the zombie virus emerges, Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) and other Marvel heroes unite to save the world. But Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), now known as the Queen of the Dead, has other plans….
Marvel Zombies wastes no time whatsoever embracing its status as the first Marvel Studios Animation series to be rated TV-MA. The four episodes developed by Bryan Andrews and Zeb Wells deliver unreservedly with the kinds of zombie guts, gore, and more that fans of zombie movies and television have come to expect. The series pulls no punches with its violence or action, which is excellently choreographed and framed by the animation team. A particular sequence involving Blade Knight (Todd Williams) fighting a zombie version of Ghost highlights just how intricate the action in Marvel Zombies is, often reminding us of the spectacular combat on display in Predator: Killer of Killers earlier this year.
The series also excels in its fusion of the superhero and zombie genres. The idea of zombies who have superheroes’ powers proves so interesting and taken full advantage of in Marvel Zombies. There’s never been a zombie movie or television series quite like this, namely due to all the different superpowered abilities the zombies possess.
Like some of the most iconic zombie stories of all time (e.g., The Walking Dead), Marvel Zombies ensures that no one, even the most revered of superheroes, are safe from death (or worse). Any character, however central to the narrative, can die at any time as Marvel Zombies exists within an alternate universe liberated from many of the storytelling constraints the primary MCU has. Throughout the four episodes, there are some truly shocking deaths that not only imbue the series with high-stakes, but also pack a lasting emotional punch.
Amidst the ensemble of Marvel heroes, Kamala Khan firmly assumes the lead role of this story. Fitting with the post-apocalyptic nature of this world, however, Khan is a decidedly more mature character here, while also never losing sight of her trademark charm and quips. Iman Vellani returns to voice the character and showcases once again that she was born to play Ms. Marvel. The series sees Khan collaborate with Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) and Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) in a team-up that will have fans salivating to see this trio together in live-action. More generally, Marvel Zombies offers all sorts of interesting team-ups we have yet to see in live-action that satisfy in the way Avengers movies delight in uniting characters we previously had not seen together on-screen.
Rather than have all the big players (i.e., Iron Man, Captain America, Thor) comprise the main cast of characters in the show, the team is largely a hodgepodge of different, sometimes lesser known characters, which creates a more organic ‘What If…?” scenario. In featuring characters like Shang-Chi and Namor, the show allows us to spend time with characters we haven’t seen for years, a welcomed return to the days of MCU past in which we got to spend time with the likes of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers each and every year.
Opposite Khan and her fellow heroes is Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch. Wanda Maximoff was the antagonist of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and is allowed to once again occupy this role in the new Disney+ series. Scarlet Witch looms large over the four episodes, even as the writing team decides to delay her full-fledged introduction for several episodes. The power and might of Scarlet Witch, coupled with the fact that she is now a zombie, make her the perfect villain for this story. The fact that Elizabeth Olsen returns to play the character here makes it all the better as, coupled with incredible animation that evokes the likeness of the live-action actors, Scarlet Witch feels like she has seamlessly walked straight from live-action to animation. The same can be said for the rest of the ensemble, in particular the animation to bring Blade Knight to life, which pitch-perfectly evokes Mahershala Ali and left us even more eager to see Ali finally assume the role of Blade on the big screen.
The story itself unfolds much like a road trip. Our collective of heroes need to make it from Point A to Point B on a mission that could potentially see the deadly zombie plague eliminated for good. Along the way, different heroes join the ensemble and different threats emerge. After kicking off with Kamala Khan in episode 1, episodes 2 and 3 each begin by pivoting focus to another hero before returning to Kamala when that given hero unites with Kamala’s team. This structure of episodes 2 and 3 feels a little jarring at first as the adventure of Kamala we are invested in is shelved (at least temporarily) in favor of newly introduced characters. Marvel Zombies proves most engaging when the story remains tighter and hones in on the key group at the heart of the mission. This mission, unfortunately, comes to an abrupt conclusion in the penultimate episode, which gives way to a new flavor of story in the fourth and final episode. While this switch-up certainly ups the ante and gives way to an epic final battle, the narrative does feel jarring as a result as it introduces various elements that were previously not on the table whatsoever.
Thankfully, Marvel Zombies sticks its landing with a cinematic climax and one hell of a cliffhanger. As the team behind the series have alluded to, these four episodes do not encompass the totality of this story, something that the very end of episode 4 confirms. Where the season leaves off has us eager to learn about what happens next in a way many Marvel shows have failed to do.
VERDICT: 8/10
Marvel Zombies gives you everything you wanted from this amazing premise. Four cinematic, epic episodes that completely embrace the TV-MA rating with bloody, excellently choreographed action will make for an enthralling watch for Marvel fans. The stakes are high and no one, even the biggest of heroes, is safe from death (or worse). Kamala Khan makes for a compelling lead, while Scarlet Witch is downright terrifying as the Queen of the Dead, who looms large over the show. Although an abrupt story shift in the final episode creates somewhat of a jarring finale, the narrative recovers with a grand final battle and a cliffhanger that has us eager to find out what happens next. Marvel Zombies is Marvel animation at its most cinematic and captivating.