One episode of the first season of Marvel Studios’ animated anthology series “What If…?” showed what would happen if zombies took over the MCU. For some unknown reason, that was adapted into a four-part miniseries spin-off, “Marvel Zombies,” which continues the narrative thread in a gorier setting. This is possibly the first and only time you’ll see many of the non-Deadpool MCU characters cross into TV-MA territory. But unfortunately, the series, which is paced as swiftly as a “28 Days Later” zombie, encapsulates the weakest of the MCU’s tropes through an underdeveloped and underwhelming horror venture for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
The series’ prominent anchor is Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), who is part of a pre-established Young Avengers team with Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfield), Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), and the Iron Man-suited F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Kerry Condon). As the last line of defense against a zombie horde and a zombie Captain Marvel, Khan is sent on an adventure across this post-apocalyptic MCU landscape to get a satellite piece from S.H.I.E.L.D. to a secure place to contact the Nova Corp in hopes of their technology curing the Earth from the zombie plague. Along the way, she teams up with Blade Knight (Todd Williams), the Black Widow squad—Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), Melina Vostokoff (Kari Wahlgren)—and road warriors Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), Katy (Awkwafina), and Jimmy Woo (Randall Park).
“Marvel Zombies” immediately emphasizes its mature, violent nature, incorporating the “What If…?” cel-shaded art style with tons of grotesque guts and gore. Whereas the source episode did a good job of blending events from “Infinity War” amid a zombie outbreak, this spin-off timeline is as convoluted and confusing as the current state of the live-action MCU itself. “Marvel Zombies” focuses on characters from Phase 4 and portrays them in either pre-established dynamics that are familiar (such as the Black Widow family and Team Shang-Chi) or never really occurred. Notably, these include the MCU’s debut of the Young Avengers team and Blade, which features Mahershala Ali’s likeness and a soundalike in Todd Williams (who also took over Ali’s “Invincible” character, Titan). Yet, due to the Blade current production hell-state, this iteration assumes him as the Moon Knight/Fists of Khonshu (F. Murray Abraham), since that was also a Phase 4 entry.
Although it provides some intriguing character dynamics and a glimpse into the post-apocalyptic world, the series is so hurried that it fails to deliver a compelling and well-developed story. It never gives the audience proper time to understand the weight of its zombified reality, as it’s more concerned with seeing Phase 4 characters square off against zombie foes from the same era, from Captain Marvel to Namor and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) in complete Scarlet Witch mode.
“Zombies” could’ve benefited from more episodes to flesh out the different factions and this post-apocalyptic world-building. Granted, it takes major cues from other 2010s dystopian properties like “The Walking Dead” and “Mad Max: Fury Road,” but it finds its own charm in seeing Shang-Chi and Katy become road warriors and the Skulls being something like War Boys.
At times, “Marvel Zombies” does impress in how graphic the zombie kills go, especially when it happens to one of the heroes. However, the same problems as “What If” still exist, with showrunner and director Bryan Andrews’ ambitious scale and scope of action and direction being hampered by the stilted animation movement and hyperrealistic character designs. Somehow, the zombies have a more widened expression than the human heroes. The lighting effects team does a great job of compensating with outstanding lighting cues for each location, amping up the horror atmosphere.
Some of the returning MCU actors deliver good voice acting, as they bring a level of passion to their animated roles that the animation fails to match. The standout is Iman Vellani, who confidently carries the role of being the show’s emotional core through a fierce and passionate performance. Moreover, there is David Harbour, whose Red Guardian serves as a father figure to Kamala and brings raw emotion that even live-action Harbour did not possess in the same role.
The novelty of MCU characters killing zombies in bloody ways wears off quickly, though, mainly since Zeb Wells’ writing follows the “if it ain’t broke, just quip it” formula that has grown stale within the MCU for years. Notwithstanding the gore, “Zombies” tonally follows the same rhythm as its PG-13 counterparts.
Unsurprisingly, it’s actively annoying how often a serious emotional beat or horrific gory violence would occur only for characters to follow it with the same unfunny variation of the “well, that just happened”-styled joke. It can never pick a lane between wanting to be something like “Zombieland” in tone when it has “The Walking Dead” cues all over it. It all fuels my confusion as to who exactly is “Marvel Zombies’” audience. I initially thought “teenage boys” were the answer, considering that’s Disney’s current mission plan. But then I crossed them out because, while I assume they would feel an edge watching a TV-MA show, they’ll undoubtedly feel betrayed given that it bears the same family-oriented tone that has been present since they were children. It only begs the question: What is the point of making a series intended for mature audiences if you’re still working within the same formulaic, restrictive confines as the rest of the MCU junk?
“Marvel Zombies” may be a light watch, but the lack of guts it had to take the MCU roster to new heights is squandered by tonal stale safeness disguised as freshness.
Four episodes screened for review. New episodes streaming on Disney+.