Marvel Zombies (Disney+) – Review

Despite the apparent oversaturation of content from and around the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), there are some stories that bear revisiting, and the recent What If…? animated anthology series, based on the comics of the same name, offered an interesting premise of events that deviate from the main MCU. Taken in short, bite-sized chunks, it takes the familiar and allows audiences to consider the potential possibilities.

And across three seasons, the one that audiences have hungered for more, is the fifth episode from the first season, What If… Zombies?!, which is also loosely based on a highly successful comic book series that turns superheroes and villains into zombies, adding a horror element to the superhero genre. In this reality where an infection turns everyone into mindless, hungry creatures, the majority of heroes are no more, and instead, attention is placed on a group of lesser known characters.

The same goes for this upcoming four-episode sequel that deals with further repercussions of a zombified Earth, where the survivors believe there is still hope for some sort of rescue from the Nova Corps. Oh, and it’s safe to say that knowledge of the original episode is key to understanding where some of the zombie characters end up, and their motivations. Yes, in this realm, there is a ring leader, so it’s not as if the survivors are fighting mindless creatures. Originally conceived as an animated movie, each episode is now a mini-story that effectively focuses on the current generation of MCU heroes, meaning not so much on the OG Iron Man, Captain America, or the Hulk, but more on the Riri Williams aka Iron Heart, Kate Bishop aka Hawkeye, Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel, Yelena Belova aka Black Widow, Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian, Shang-Chi and even F.R.I.D.A.Y.

Yet, not all of the original actors have returned to voice their characters, as while Dominique Thorne, Hailee Steinfeld, Iman Vellani, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Simu Liu and even Kerry Condon are part of the voice cast, Hudson Thames, who has voiced Peter Parker aka Spider-Man in several animated MCU projects, continues as the web crawler, while Kari Wahlgren is the voice of Melina Vostokoff, and Todd Williams voices Eric Brooks aka Blade Knight.

Since Mahershala Ali (The Green Book) has been cast but has yet to appear as Blade in the MCU, Marvel Zombies takes some creative liberties by having Blade be the new avatar of Khonshu, Moon Knight, so we don’t get to see what Blade actually looks like in the MCU, since he’s currently dressed as Moon Knight. And since this is an alternate reality story, not all characters appear as who they are in the main MCU, so it took a while to realise that it was Wyatt Russell voicing John Walker, but not really as US Agent. 

Because this is not the main MCU, there are surprising deaths across the four episodes. The appeal of the comics was to see how the heroes would handle a zombie infestation, and in that series, senseless deaths permeated the short run, and here, the deaths are displayed in glorious blood and gore, making this the first M-rated release from Marvel Studios, unsuitable for those under the age of 17. But if this is the only chance we get to see Spider-Man decapitating multiple zombies with his webs, we’ll take it.

As shown in the trailer, well-known characters get decapitated, gutted, sliced in half and torn apart, and while there is some twisted satisfaction in watching these futile sacrifices and deaths on TV, the short story across the mini-series doesn’t live up to the visuals. The deaths of certain heroes because of sacrifices on their part to lead a team to inform the Nova Corps of what has transpired on Earth in the last five years, for example, does elicit sadness, but by the third episode, the shock value is lost, making it seem like the writers just wanted some of newly-introduced characters to bite the dust just because they deemed it so.

As for the final wrap, it seems the bleak nature of the Marvel Zombie universe will continue, because [mild-spoilers ahead] the ending doesn’t seem to make sense. The Scarlet Witch, via a returning Elizabeth Olsen, who controls the zombies, wants to harness reality-altering power from the grasp of Ms Marvel, but all she ends up doing is making Kamala believe the young girl has succeeded. 

In a separate interview, Marvel Zombies series creator and director Bryan Andrews shared that the team has a handful of other ideas in the vault that are “ready to go [and] continue”, if there ever is a sequel, so a continuation of some sort may be in the cards. But given Disney’s recent mandate to have a lower quantity and focus more on quality, it’s unclear if there will be one. Until then, there’s only much more that the series can do to entertain, and it’s unfortunate that we’ve come so far only for more ancillary content to be taken from us.

HSALS

Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?