The concept endures because it’s more than gore; it’s shock, novelty, and a grim fascination with corrupted heroism. Seeing Spider-Man or Iron Man as cannibals turns morality inside out. These aren’t mindless corpses but beings who keep shards of their conscience even as hunger consumes them. Those too far gone devolve into primal predators, while the surviving humans live in a shattered world that’s no longer theirs—a true Zombie Earth where no refuge lasts.
Across the print runs, the tone has shifted from straight survival horror to quests for a cure or redemption. While the animated series folds in much of that lore, catching newcomers up on how this apocalypse began and who might still be saved, that’s not enough. The characters have limited appeal. Also, the storytelling is fast-paced, often chaotic, and visually intense; while what’s presented is wonderfully visceral and violent, I feel it’s overdone. The finale hints that Wanda Maximoff—the Scarlet Witch—could hold the key to reversing it all, but she’ll have to be cleansed first.
None of this takes place in the main Marvel canon, and that’s part of the problem. I’d rather see an incursion that raises the stakes than yet another sealed-off “What If” reality. Alternate-universe stories only stretch so far before the novelty fades, and Marvel Zombies risks being just that: an echo without consequence. There was a time when marketing eclipsed storytelling—remember the Army of Darkness crossover? We didn’t need that either.
Credit where it’s due: Kevin Feige deserves applause for spinning this from a What If…? episode. But the question remains—will there be a season two? Until news drops confirming it, I’m not in a rush to finish season one. The series arrives late to the party, centres on teens surviving the undead apocalypse, and assumes everyone watching already knows the lore.
It’s made for a narrow audience: newcomers may check out early, while long-time fans might find a spark of curiosity. MCU viewers will likely connect the most, as familiar faces like Kate Bishop, Riri Williams, and Kamala Khan take the spotlight. They’re stranded together in New York, and while not all will make it, I’ll spare the specifics.
The result feels closer to Secret Wars than to a pure zombie story—a patchwork of skirmishes and moral choices, with the larger plot teased in fragments. Whether that makes for compelling television depends on what you expect. To me, it plays more like Halloween-season fan service than a bold new chapter. Disney, much like Marvel before it, seems intent on milking the seasonal buzz. The series crammed a lot into four episodes instead of building toward a greater whole. We see a lot of fallen heroes and far too many separate scenarios to really make sense of it all.
If Marvel Zombies returns, I hope it finds its bite again—not in the flesh of fallen heroes, but in the moral rot that made the original so deliciously disturbing. Until then, it’s a corpse reanimated by nostalgia, lurching through the multiverse looking for a pulse.
3 Stars out of 5
Marvel Zombies Trailer
