Marvel Studios’ recent animated projects have been tailored to a wide variety of audiences. From Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, aimed at younger kids, to X-Men ‘97, made for nostalgic, older fans who grew up with the original series, the new Marvel Animation division has most of its bases covered. The quality of these projects ranges, though; X-Men ‘97 has been hailed as one of Marvel’s very best shows, while What If…? was heavily criticized by fans. Enter Marvel Zombies, a four-episode spin-off series from What If…? that further suggests Marvel Animation may need deeper soul-searching in terms of their original programming.
Marvel Zombies picks up 5 years after the What If…? season one episode, “What If… Zombies?!”, which was based on the titular 2005 cult comic series of the same name written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Sean Phillips. Many heroes introduced in Phase 4 of the MCU make a notable appearance here, some even interacting with each other for the first time in the entire franchise. For example, viewers are treated to a budding trio dynamic between Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), and Ironheart (Dominique Thorne).
Blade (Todd Williams) also makes his MCU debut in this animated series, albeit in a multiversal Moon Knight mashup role; it’s still evident that the performance is inspired by Mahershala Ali, who will eventually portray Blade in live-action. All of this is cool and all, but it doesn’t necessarily make for a great show.
Iman Vellani is the Star of Marvel Zombies
Marketed as an ensemble piece featuring a host of fan-favourite Marvel heroes, from Shang Chi (Simu Liu) to Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), audiences may be surprised by how the narrative of Marvel Zombies mainly revolves around Ms. Marvel. Viewers are reintroduced and guided across this undead pocket of the Marvel multiverse through her eyes. This is perhaps the show’s biggest strength, as it places the emotional weight of this horrific story on a character as young and joyful as Ms. Marvel. In return, all the tragic deaths and bloody violence feel even more poignant, as they are seen through the eyes of such a pure-hearted hero.
Iman Vellani returns to voice Ms. Marvel and truly shines, as her passion for both the character and the MCU in general is palpable. In traversing this alternate reality, Vellani is allowed to showcase new facets of Kamala Khan that have not been previously explored in live-action, specifically her emotional limits for regret and anger. Marvel Zombies co-creators Zeb Wells and Bryan Andrews really put Kamala to the test, and Vellani delivers on all fronts. Without her honorable voice performance, this animated spin-off show would likely fall apart across its four episodes, leaving nothing salvageable.
Elisabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch is the Perfect Villain for this Story
Outside of Iman Vellani, Marvel Zombies features a plethora of famous MCU stars reprising their roles, including Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tessa Thompson, Randall Park, Elizabeth Olsen, and many more. Olsen’s return as Scarlet Witch is a welcome surprise, although she takes on the most sinister version of the character yet, dubbed “The Queen of the Dead” in this universe. Fans can be left to guess what that moniker means, but what can be said without spoiling is that Olsen brings a supremely menacing presence to Marvel Zombies. Put simply, she is the perfect antagonist for this story.
Unfortunately, that’s where compliments for the voice cast nearly end. Certain supporting heroes get some genuine bonding moments together, and it’s definitely fun at times to see unexpected crossovers of long-time MCU characters. Yet, too many of these reprisals are given dialogue that is too goofy for its own good. Meanwhile, other familiar faces are killed off far too quickly to have any impact on the overall plot. Whereas these deaths should raise the stakes, as Marvel fans get to see their favorites torn to pieces, it begins to have an opposite effect. This universe feels so pointlessly doomed that yeah, maybe these heroes are probably better off dead!
Blade Finally Makes his MCU Debut as a Glorified Background Character
Blade Knight is an interesting addition to this mix. It’s clear that when Marvel Zombies was first developed, Blade was written in with the knowledge that he would have a live-action film released by now. Well, we’re in 2025, and a Blade movie is woefully farther away than it was in 2020. Admittedly, Marvel Animation is not to blame for this, and these delays miraculously allowed them to pivot to a conceptual mashup of Moon Knight and Blade. Sadly, for any Blade fans out there, only the Moon Knight elements of the character actually serve a purpose here, and even then, those elements are used sparingly.
It’s fascinating that they insisted on keeping Blade in this show, considering the writers give him quite literally nothing to do other than some cool action sequences. Undeniably, these action scenes highlight the show’s 3D animation style at its peak. Aside from that, Blade Knight is basically a glorified background character, joining the main group of survivors as they travel around the world. The character isn’t essential to this alternate timeline, and barely gets to play with the other recognizable faces. As exciting as it is to get a glimpse of what Blade’s fight scenes could look like in a live-action MCU movie down the line, that’s about all that Blade Knight has to offer.
An Unnecessarily Complicated Story
The story of Marvel Zombies starts off on a strong note, featuring the trio of Kate Bishop, Ironheart, and Ms. Marvel. Their chemistry suggests that these characters should absolutely be brought together in a live-action project, sooner rather than later. However, as the plot pivots to a mystery surrounding a basic but intriguing enough MacGuffin, Marvel Zombies falls into an all-too-familiar issue in Marvel Animation.
Various episodes of What If…? ended up being unnecessarily complicated, centering on these grand concepts that are almost too nonsensical just so there’s a crazy threat that can be vanquished by the end. Marvel Zombies is no different. Rather than keeping the narrative simple with a zombie apocalypse, the second half of the miniseries overcomplicates everything so much that you’ll be stuck wondering what the goal is for the heroes during a well-animated fight sequence. The overly complicated story does Marvel Zombies a disservice, leaving you disengaged from any sort of stakes heading into the finale.
This may start out as a riveting adventure across a zombie-filled wasteland, but it quickly devolves into a convoluted mess that will leave fans with more frustrating questions than answers by the end.
All four 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).
