Out of the many, varied tales that sprung from the MCUs first animated show, What If..?, one of the most fun by far was the one that focused on the Marvel Zombies. Riffing hard on the 2005 comic written by The Walking Dead scribe, Robert Kirkman, it showed a delightful lack of reverence for the heroes we’d all come to love by choosing to fuck them up in numerous, often grotesque ways. Well, for those who couldn’t get enough of the twisted merging of Stan Lee and George Romero, What If..? front man, Bryan Andrews, has returned to give us four whole episodes of spin off that takes us back to a universe ravaged by the dead.
Of course, much like What If..? before it, it proves to be a great chance to subvert and pervert some beloved characters while giving some of the MCUs deeper bench (including a character who hasn’t even appeared yet) a chance to shine. Get ready for the the most epic, superhero/zombie mash up of all as heroes both new and old square up against the undead horde.
We return to the universe that’s been decimated by a zombie plague to discover that for all the efforts and sacrifices seen in What If..?, nothing seems to have changed much. The undead still wander around ruined cities unchecked and what meager human life still exists is reduced to hiding and dashing out for supplies whenever they can. One such group is a quartet made up of Kamala Kahn, Riri Williams and Kate Bishop who also have Stark AI F.R.I.D.A.Y. watching their back while piloting an Iron Man suit; but their days of scavenging and avoiding the attempts of Zombie Clint Barton to kill them are rudely interrupted when an Avengers Quinjet suddenly crashes in the middle of town.
A quick investigation reveals that hidden in the (mostly) dead pilot’s stomach is a miniaturized device that could conceivably be used to end the zombie threat once and for all, but to do that, they’ll have to find a SHIELD motherboard to read it. However, embarking on a cross country mission proves fatal for most of the group when they stumble on a never ending battle between a zombified Carol Danvers and a determined Ikaris who are so evenly matched, they’re destined to brawl forever.
The sole survivor, Kamala is saved by Blade, a day-walking vampire who is also the latest Fist of Khonshu, who claims that the Egyptian deity has directed him to protect Ms. Marvel and get her prize to somewhere where it’ll do some good. That place turns out to be the refuge of a clutch of Black Widows, run by Melina Vostokoff and flanked by Yelena Belova and Alexei Shostakov, who have stayed alive by using Vostokoff’s mind control tech to make the dead an immobile army of dead flesh. But when an opposing army of the dead, led by Okoye arrives, it seems that the all-powerful Queen of the Dead (no prizes for guessing who that is) will stop at nothing to thwart the plans of the living.
Taking the same throw-everything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach that What If..? took, I’d actually forgotten exactly how much Marvel’s animated anthology series managed to cram into every episode despite only being half an hour long. Well, Bryan Andrews must have raring to do it all again, because the first episode of Marvel Zombies proves to be a dizzying, often overwhelming experience that probes every nook and cranny of the MCU to provide a gloriously epic and darkly humorous horror odyssey that, for some reason, isn’t being released at Halloween.
The basics are, well, pretty basic, as the bulk of the episode takes the form of a classic road trip as we follow Iman Vellani’s Kamala and anyone who can stay alive long enough as she travels from New York to Ohio, but there’s something endearingly Tolkienesque about this sprawling journey through the realms of the dead. In fact, I’m fairly astounded at how much the episode manages to squeeze into a half hour as Zeb Wells’ script packs a metric ton of heroes, both dead and alive, into this first serving.
In fact, you could argue that Marvel is using this animated zombie spinoff to bench test a few concepts that the studio has been floating around for a while. Anyone worrying that the arrival of the inevitable Young Avengers simply won’t work will no doubt have their opinions tested by the grouping of Ms. Marvel, Dominique Thorne’s Ironheart and Hailee Steinfeld’s Hawkeye that wisely injects life and vitality into this rotting world. Elsewhere we find the intriguing addition of Mahershala Ali’s long awaited Blade, who in this universe has handily also become the Moon Knight, of course, even though we now have a daywalker that the MCU can call it’s own, the tortured production of a new Blade film means that it’s actually Todd Williams lending his vocals to the character.
Still, Ali or no, the vampire killer certainly makes quite the impact – especially in a stand out, kick-ass moment when he slices and dices a zombie Ghost despite her phasing abilites. We even get to see David Harbour’s bellowing Red Guardian finally get to have the showdown with Captain America he’s always dreamed of – or at least half of him, anyway. But while the humour and chemistry are pure Marvel, it wouldn’t be Marvel Zombies without a incredibly vicious streak that isn’t afraid to take your most beloved character and suddenly offer them a hideous death at a moment’s notice.
As if to deliver a cheeky slap to the face of anyone who forgot how rough the What If..? episode wanted to play, just when we’re nice and comfortable with the central trio of Riri, Kate and Kamala calling the shots, their misfortunate proximity with the endless battle that’s occurring between Ikaris and Carol Danvers sees Bishop completely atomised and Williams receiving a fatal zombie bite. Of course, the MCU isn’t exactly short of replacement good guys, but it’s still fun to see how fast and loose it’s willing the play with the lives of fan favorites.
As we go from the original road trip, to adding further faces such as Yelena, Red Guardian and Blade, the show also makes the wise move of installing the still youthful and still likable Ms. Marvel as its figurehead much in the same way it placed Peter Parker at the forefront of the What If..? story. While there’s no So You Wanna Survive The Zombie Apocalypse? video this time (surely Kamala should have been all over that) it’s still smart to have one of the more “innocent” heroes taking point as they reintroduce us to such a mean spirited world.
Much like Bryan Andrews’ previous Marvel animations, the sheer level of detail here is overwhelming, whether it’s the little character beats between the action or the deployment of armies of supporting characters to guarantee repeat viewings. However, surely the best thing about this opening salvo of a first episode, it that rather than getting a philosophical sound-off from Uatu The Watcher a d then moving on to another universe, we’re coming right back here for another three episodes to wallow in the darkest universe the MCU contains.
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