‘Marvel Zombies’ Review: A Superpowered Apocalypse

What If…? as a series always had me excited. Every time I watch something I’m always thinking “What if this happened instead? So being able to see that come to light in the Marvel universe was really special to me. When “What If… Zombies?!” premiered, I was pretty excited to watch but that cliff-hanger was definitely in the back of my mind to this day. Luckily, fast forward a few months and Marvel Zombies was announced at the 2021 Disney+ Day. I was thrilled and I was pretty surprised when Marvel announced that the series would be TV-MA. Read our review for Marvel Zombies.

Marvel Zombies is a continuation of the What If…? episode that follows an all new group with the same mission in mind, saving the world from the zombie virus. Their mission isn’t an easy one, as in addition to the regular zombies they now face the threat of the Zombie Queen, Wanda Maximoff who is now running free.

I think it’s only fair that we begin with the TV-MA rating. This series was pitched as the first mature project from Marvel but due to scheduling it actually ended up being the fourth (following Deadpool & Wolverine, Echo and Daredevil: Born Again). This rating mainly allowed for more gore-focused scenes whether it’s a zombie being smashed to bits or a human cut right down the middle. I was surprised when they managed to mix it up at times with options for a blood-free death here and there. This is the full extent of the rating as you won’t be seeing any of your favourite characters doing heavy swearing. Instead they stick to the words we’re accustomed to in the PG-13 projects.

The artstyle from What If…? returns in this series. I couldn’t quite figure it out but I felt like there were some improvements, giving it a visual boost. However it still managed to feel wonky at times, I especially noticed it when characters would scream. The series unfortunately misses the mark on the mid credits, they opted for something plain, the same can be said for the intro but on my first watch, it did manage to jumpscare me as I tried to figure out why I couldn’t hear anything.

Speaking of those characters, the series really made me appreciate some of the smaller characters in the Multiverse Saga as we got to experience on a more friendly level due to them having to stick together as opposed to everyone fighting each other all the time. Each episode feels like a reunion of sorts, with the characters all appearing from a certain movie and the show goes as far as to implement some of the concepts introduced in those respective projects. This also helps to indicate how long the series has been on the shelf, as the series goes on, you realise that they were only allowed to use characters from the first two years of the Multiverse Saga up to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Most importantly, the series serves as yet another phase four team up similar to the “What If… the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?” but on a much grander scale and like the “What If… the Red Guardian Stopped the Winter Soldier?” episode we also get a feel of how these characters could interact with each other in future MCU projects.

There are lots of superpowered individuals on our team and as always with animation, I’m looking for the ways they go wild with each character’s powers. I have to admit I didn’t see much of that, for example Kamala does change things up with her hard light powers but for most of the series she’s been restricted to shields, platforms and fists. I think Blade Knight would have to be my favorite despite feeling more Blade than Moon Knight aside from the lightning reflexes, you can tell there’s lots of effort put in his scenes to make him really stand out from the rest (and probably get the audience excited for his upcoming solo film). This doesn’t mean the zombies aren’t crazy in their own right.hen these characters are not held back by emotions we can see how scary they can really be. The person that comes to mind is Zombie Namor. He’s absolutely frightening in this debut episode and I wouldn’t want to mess with him. I also loved Zombie Captain America, despite being only half the zombie he used to be, he still manages to be a menace. There are two characters that I wished had more screentime but I found the concept relating to them really cool and it offered answers to their measures of power.

Each episode introduced twists and turns that felt true to the zombie apocalypse genre, while I enjoyed every episode the second half of the series is where I really had the most excitement. The third episode in particular has one of my favourite scenes. I keep thinking about the shock I felt when I realised what was going on and I’d later realise it was perfect foreshadowing for the end of the series. Regarding the finale, I really jumped into the series feeling like I had it all figured out but the ending still left me stunned. I remember the day after I kept wondering if I really witnessed that happening or if it was a really vivid dream. I can’t wait to experience it all over again on premiere day as I plan to rewatch the series yet again. I think the only problem I had was the feeling of some concepts not feeling fleshed out enough. I had a few questions throughout the series but not all of them ended up being answered. 

Overall Marvel Zombies was a great time that really gave me most of the things that I’ve wanted out of the MCU for a while. Of course, the series will feel quite dated as a direct result of it being developed early but put on the shelf. While I’m not sure if the series needs a second season, my dream is that the series is received well enough to greenlight more What If…? spin offs, especially the ones set in different time periods such as the 1980s Avengers, 1602, and 1872 as I love seeing those different takes on the characters.

Marvel Zombies is directed by Bryan Andrews, the series stars Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan / Ms Marvel, Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop / Hawkeye, Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams / Ironheart and Todd Williams as Eric Brooks / Blade Knight. All four episodes are now streaming on Disney+.

Thanks for reading our review of Marvel Animation’s Marvel Zombies. If you enjoyed it, consider checking out our other Marvel articles and the TV section.