Marvel Zombies (2025) is the latest project from Marvel Animation made for the Disney+ streaming service, and it’s unlike anything fans have seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe yet. Promotion for the series, much like the marketing for Daredevil: Born Again, has centered around its TV-MA rating, selling it as a vast departure from the other animated projects in Marvel Television’s slate. Filled to the brim with violence and gore, the show offers a unique take on the zombie genre, with some of the most beloved heroes in the MCU becoming superpowered, undead flesh-eaters, leaving no character ever truly safe.
This dark reality was originally introduced in the first season of Marvel’s What If…? in 2021. Now, audiences get to dive deeper into this horrific timeline in a four-episode spin-off series. Marvel Zombies, of course, features even more superpowered zombies, but also exciting twists on iconic characters. One highlight of the first trailer released is that of Blade Knight, a version of the staple vampire hunter who has now become the Fist of Khonshu. As a blend of Blade and Moon Knight, the character is an unexpected yet welcome addition to the show. Moreover, Marvel Zombies marks Blade’s on-screen debut in the MCU.
Marvel Zombies Ended Up Being Blade’s MCU Introduction by Accident
Marvel Studios initially announced a feature-film Blade adaptation to cap off their massive panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2019. There, 2x Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali walked onto the Hall H stage and revealed that he would be playing the titular vampire hunter. In Marvel Zombies, though, Blade is voiced by Todd Williams (who, coincidentally or not, also replaced Ali in the third season of Invincible on Prime Video).
As it turns out, it was never the plan to have Blade’s first-ever appearance in the vast continuity of the MCU be in a Marvel Zombies animated show on Disney+. However, like most of Marvel Studios’ success stories, it was a happy accident that Marvel Zombies co-creator/director Bryan Andrews was more than happy to take advantage of. As he revealed to us in an exclusive interview, it all happened without knowing the fate of the live-action Blade movie, which is currently on pause after multiple creative overhauls.
Including MCU Characters in Television Projects Requires a Certain Level of “Chasing”
According to Marvel Zombies co-creator/director Bryan Andrews, the whole situation was “funny.” He says that “It just seemed like Blade was appropriate to use in this project, and we hadn’t seen him before in anything at the moment that we were deciding to do this. We also knew ‘Hey, there’s going to be a live-action movie out before Marvel Zombies.’ So, we can [use this character].” It was in this creative process of choosing to use Blade that we got some additional insight into how the overlapping of characters between film and television works at Marvel Studios.
Andrews dove into the process with us, saying that “sometimes you’re doing it concurrently [with the films], you have to chase whatever they’re doing in the live action and honor what they’re trying to do. That makes it really difficult. So, we wanted to free ourselves from all that.” The desire to free themselves from constraints (which is what Marvel Zombies is all about) led Andrews and his team to combine Blade with aspects of the Marvel hero Moon Knight, who previously had his own Disney+ original series starring Oscar Isaac in 2022.
When Creating a Marvel Series, “It’s Never Going to Be What You Expect”
“We’re like, ‘Dude, if he’s the Fist of Khonshu, then we don’t have to worry about trying to figure out what the live-action movies are doing or not doing.’ Like, literally, do our own thing and create our own lore. That’s one thing [executive producer] Brad Winderbaum and I really enjoyed and wanted to achieve with Marvel Zombies,” says Bryan Andrews. As it turns out, Blade Knight slowly grew his own personality and character traits, allowing the team at Marvel Animation to write the character as they see fit. Andrews doubles down on his words as he restates that Blade Knight’s inclusion in this Marvel show is “Its own thing, its own lore.”
As for whether the numerous delays in the production of the live-action Blade film ever played a role (given that Andrews seemed to suggest earlier in the interview that Blade was originally slated for release before Marvel Zombies), the series co-creator simply answered, “It’s never going to be what you expect.” However, it would ultimately work in their favor, with Andrews stating, “that allowed such freedom, so we had no idea that this was going to be the first time he shows up, right?”
All 4 episodes of Marvel Zombies premiere on September 24 on Disney+!
Created by Bryan Andrews & Zeb Wells.
Based on Marvel Zombies by Robert Kirkman & Sean Phillips.
Directed by Bryan Andrews.
Written by Zeb Wells.
Executive Producers: Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt, Bryan Andrews, & Zeb Wells.
Main Voice Cast: Iman Vellani, Dominique Thorne, Hailee Steinfeld, Elizabeth Olsen, Hudson Thames, Paul Rudd, Kerry Condon, Kenna Ramsey, Todd Williams, Kari Wahlgren, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Randall Park, Tessa Thompson, Feodor Chin, Wyatt Russell, Rama Vallury, Greg Furman, Adam Hugill, Daniel Swain, Sheila Atim, F. Murray Abraham, & Zenobia Shroff.
Production Company: Marvel Studios Animation.
Network: Disney+.
Episode Count: 4 (Season One).
