Marvel Zombies has lastly delivered the Avengers-level occasion the MCU has been lacking since Avengers: Endgame. The animated sequence is a spin-off of What If…? and follows the occasions of the episode “What If…Zombie!,” now specializing in a brand new group of survivors attempting to outlive the zombie apocalypse that occurred on this alternate Marvel timeline. With a lot of the primary Infinity Saga heroes off the board, by necessity, Marvel Zombies has to shine the highlight on the varied new heroes of Section 4 and 5 that the MCU has struggled to ship on.
Though the Multiverse Saga shall be about 5 years shorter than the Infinity Saga, the sheer variety of entries in a brief interval has left many new heroes — like Kate Bishop, Shang-Chi, and Ms. Marvel — on maintain. In the meantime, characters just like the Eternals stay on the again burner, and Blade has but to seem regardless of his movie being introduced in 2019. Marvel Zombies unites these varied characters collectively for the primary time in a method that feels as epic as an Avengers story, using attention-grabbing dynamics to disclose new particulars about these heroes that can hopefully carry over into the live-action Sacred Timeline when these characters meet.
The MCU Has Failed To Develop Key Dynamics Between Its New Heroes
A part of what made the Avengers movies satisfying and the shared universe successful was that they allowed characters to work together and develop new friendships and dynamics past their particular person movies. Avengers: Infinity Struggle‘s tagline was “A Universe United,” promoting audiences on the notion of seeing The Avengers work together with new heroes like Physician Unusual, Black Panther, Spider-Man, and the Guardians of the Galaxy. With Section 6 having simply began, it turns into clear that many have not even gotten the possibility to fulfill their fellow new batch of heroes and have little connection to the established faces of the MCU.
One of many greatest benefits the Infinity Saga has over the Multiverse Saga is that the Avengers motion pictures served as conclusions to the primary three phases. This made the six heroes who have been within the founding Avengers, particularly the three lead heroes — Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor — the focus of the franchise, with their very own mini-trilogies. But with Marvel Studios having held off on an Avengers movie till Doomsday, and utilizing the model to shut out sagas as an alternative of phases, the universe feels fractured, and most of the nice team-ups followers cherished are lacking.
There have been a couple of notable exceptions, comparable to Physician Unusual within the Multiverse of Insanity, that includes Scarlet Witch, and The Marvels, which brings collectively Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau, and Ms. Marvel. Nevertheless, the primary true crossover team-up movie was Thunderbolts*, on the finish of Section 5, which revealed itself to be an Avengers film in disguise.
The movies have largely centered on established heroes from the Infinity Saga period, comparable to Spider-Man, Physician Unusual, Thor, and Sam Wilson, whereas failing to introduce new heroes to assist join the universe. This has come on the expense of the heroes who have been meant to hold the franchise and construct foundations that may assist the way forward for the MCU. Marvel Zombies corrects that, as with the Avengers gone, the main focus shifts to the unlikely new batch of heroes launched throughout the Multiverse Saga.
Placing the Highlight on the Section 4 and 5 Heroes
The Marvel Zombies-impressed episode of What If…? aired on Sept. 8, 2021, simply 5 days after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings opened in theaters and proper in the beginning of the MCU’s Section 4. Having been greenlit throughout Section Three, the What If…? episode primarily centered on the heroes of the Infinity Saga. Marvel Zombies was introduced in November 2021, and the primary particulars have been revealed in 2022, as Section 4 was coming to a detailed with the discharge of Black Panther: Wakanda Without end later that 12 months. As a consequence of What If…? having killed off a lot of the Infinity Saga heroes, Marvel Animation discovered itself ready to heart Marvel Zombies on the brand new heroes launched throughout the Multiverse Saga.
This can be a much-needed improvement for the MCU. Regardless of introducing new characters that have been seemingly set to be the brand new leads of the franchise, the shortened window of the Multiverse Saga, mixed with the shortage of direct sequels, has left many heroes with minimal appearances within the MCU outdoors their debuts and fewer time to construct a fanbase. Other than Loki and Daredevil: Born Once more, not one of the live-action MCU sequence have gotten Season 2 orders, leaving the destiny of characters like Moon Knight, She-Hulk, Kate Bishop, and now Ironheart up within the air. Regardless that born out of storytelling necessity, it’s refreshing to see the MCU lastly repay the heroes that have been constructed up as the way forward for the franchise and truly handled as such.
Marvel Zombies is primarily centered on characters launched in Section 4 titles (which is when the sequence would have been greenlit or put into improvement), comparable to Black Widow, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Hawkeye, Black Panther: Wakanda Without end, Moon Knight, and the then-announced however nonetheless unreleased Blade. Characters like Yelena Belova, Pink Guardian, Ghost, John Walker, Ironheart, and Ms. Marvel have all appeared in Section 5 titles, and the sequence that includes each villainous roles for Thunderbolts* members John Walker and Ghost makes Marvel Zombies really really feel like a end result occasion of the previous two MCU phases, like an Avengers title would. Notably, the Infinity Saga heroes who play a significant function in Marvel Zombies are those that have featured movies in Phases 4 or 5, comparable to Spider-Man, Ant-Man, and Thor.
‘Marvel Zombies’ Really Passes the Baton to the Section 4 and 5 Heroes
One of many genius strikes of Marvel Zombies is to make use of the construction of a zombie story, a hero touring and assembly totally different teams of survivors who be a part of their trigger whereas others die, being an effective way to arrange a dynamic for varied heroes within the MCU to fulfill each other in circumstances they usually would not discover themselves in. The sequence instantly begins with a model of the Younger Avengers that includes Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel, Kate Bishop / Hawkeye, and Riri Williams / Ironheart. Though the MCU has struggled to carry The Younger Avengers collectively over the previous 4 years, Marvel Zombies encompasses a group of younger heroes working as a workforce.
It then rapidly pairs off totally different heroes. Ms. Marvel meets Blade (earlier than the MCU has even gotten round to introducing him), after which they cross paths with Yelena Belova, Melina Vostokoff, and Alexi Shostakov / Pink Guardian. Then Shang-Chi, Katy, Jimmy Woo, and Deathdealer be a part of up. Yelena flirts with Shang-Chi, and that minor interplay between the characters not solely hints at a enjoyable potential romance that the franchise has largely averted in recent times but additionally fleshes out the characters within the universe, offering a brand new and attention-grabbing connection.
Additionally it is value noting that that is the primary interplay within the MCU, the Sacred Timeline, or any alternate universe, the place Shang-Chi and Yelena Belova have interacted, regardless of each having been launched in 2021 in the beginning of Section 4. That minor interplay of characters from two drastically totally different corners of the franchise makes the universe really feel related in a deeper method than simply story occasions like earlier MCU tales have relied on.
It does not cease there. The sequence establishes a historical past between the Egyptian God Khonshu and the Asgardian gods that each Moon Knight and Thor: Love and Thunder did not capitalize on. Episode 2 encompasses a climactic battle between Shang-Chi, Ms. Marvel, Blade, and Pink Guardian towards a zombie-infected Namor. Not solely would regular Namor be an Avengers-level menace, but it surely sees 4 totally different heroes from totally different franchises teaming as much as struggle an antagonist from one other MCU movie, much like the unique Avengers preventing Loki. After 4 years of ready for the likes of Shang-Chi and Ms. Marvel to fulfill each other and work together with the varied corners of the MCU, Marvel Zombies delivers what the live-action slate of titles has did not do.
Marvel Zombies fleshes out these characters, exhibiting that they are often simply as attention-grabbing and fascinating because the likes of Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor, and all Marvel wanted to do was make investments the money and time into them like they did these unique Avengers characters (who weren’t family names when the MCU started). Marvel Zombies fulfills the promise that the brand new heroes of Phases 4 and 5 may be worthy successors to the unique MCU heroes, whereas offering the Avengers-level occasion followers have waited six years to see. It definitely is a pleasant deal with to tide followers over earlier than Avengers: Doomsday, seeing how that film will not arrive for an additional 15 months. Marvel Zombies is streaming now on Disney+.
- Launch Date
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September 24, 2025
- Community
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Disney+
- Administrators
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Bryan Andrews
- Franchise(s)
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Marvel Cinematic Universe