'Marvel Zombies' Finally Gives Fans the Avengers Story They've Wanted Since 'Endgame' Actorsvaultpro

Marvel Zombies has finally delivered the Avengers-level event the MCU has been missing since Avengers: Endgame. The animated series is a spin-off of What If…? and follows the events of the episode “What If…Zombie!,” now focusing on a new group of survivors trying to survive the zombie apocalypse that occurred in this alternate Marvel timeline. With most of the main Infinity Saga heroes off the board, by necessity, Marvel Zombies has to shine the spotlight on the various new heroes of Phase Four and Five that the MCU has struggled to deliver on.

Although the Multiverse Saga will be about five years shorter than the Infinity Saga, the sheer number of entries in a short period has left many new heroes — like Kate Bishop, Shang-Chi, and Ms. Marvel — on hold. Meanwhile, characters like the Eternals remain on the back burner, and Blade has yet to appear despite his film being announced in 2019. Marvel Zombies unites these various characters together for the first time in a way that feels as epic as an Avengers story, utilizing interesting dynamics to reveal new details about these heroes that will 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

Disney+

Part of what made the Avengers films enjoyable and the shared universe a success was that they allowed characters to interact and develop new friendships and dynamics beyond their individual films. Avengers: Infinity War‘s tagline was “A Universe United,” selling audiences on the notion of seeing The Avengers interact with new heroes like Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Spider-Man, and the Guardians of the Galaxy. With Phase 6 having just started, it becomes clear that many haven’t even gotten the chance to meet their fellow new batch of heroes and have little connection to the established faces of the MCU.

One of the biggest advantages the Infinity Saga has over the Multiverse Saga is that the Avengers movies served as conclusions to the first three phases. This made the six heroes who were in the founding Avengers, specifically the three lead heroes — Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor — the focal point of the franchise, with their own mini-trilogies. Yet with Marvel Studios having held off on an Avengers film until Doomsday, and using the brand to close out sagas instead of phases, the universe feels fractured, and many of the great team-ups fans loved are missing.

There have been a few notable exceptions, such as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, featuring Scarlet Witch, and The Marvels, which brings together Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau, and Ms. Marvel. However, the first true crossover team-up film was Thunderbolts*, at the end of Phase 5, which revealed itself to be an Avengers movie in disguise.

The films have largely focused on established heroes from the Infinity Saga era, such as Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Thor, and Sam Wilson, while failing to introduce new heroes to help connect the universe. This has come at the expense of the heroes who were meant to carry the franchise and build foundations that can support the future of the MCU. Marvel Zombies corrects that, as with the Avengers gone, the focus shifts to the unlikely new batch of heroes introduced during the Multiverse Saga.

Putting the Spotlight on the Phase Four and Five Heroes

Yelena, Ms. Marvel, and Blade in Marvel Zombies

The Marvel Zombies-inspired episode of What If…? aired on Sept. 8, 2021, just five days after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings opened in theaters and right at the start of the MCU’s Phase Four. Having been greenlit during Phase Three, the What If…? episode primarily focused on the heroes of the Infinity Saga. Marvel Zombies was announced in November 2021, and the first details were revealed in 2022, as Phase Four was coming to a close with the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever later that year. Due to What If…? having killed off most of the Infinity Saga heroes, Marvel Animation found itself in a position to center Marvel Zombies on the new heroes introduced during the Multiverse Saga.

This is a much-needed development for the MCU. Despite introducing new characters that were seemingly set to be the new leads of the franchise, the shortened window of the Multiverse Saga, combined with the lack of direct sequels, has left many heroes with minimal appearances in the MCU outside their debuts and less time to build a fanbase. Aside from Loki and Daredevil: Born Again, none of the live-action MCU series have gotten Season 2 orders, leaving the fate of characters like Moon Knight, She-Hulk, Kate Bishop, and now Ironheart up in the air. Even though born out of storytelling necessity, it is refreshing to see the MCU finally pay off the heroes that were built up as the future of the franchise and actually treated as such.

Marvel Zombies is primarily focused on characters introduced in Phase Four titles (which is when the series would have been greenlit or put into development), such as Black Widow, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Hawkeye, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Moon Knight, and the then-announced but still unreleased Blade. Characters like Yelena Belova, Red Guardian, Ghost, John Walker, Ironheart, and Ms. Marvel have all appeared in Phase Five titles, and the series featuring both villainous roles for Thunderbolts* members John Walker and Ghost makes Marvel Zombies truly feel like a culmination event of the past two MCU phases, like an Avengers title would. Notably, the Infinity Saga heroes who play a major role in Marvel Zombies are those who have featured films in Phases Four or Five, such as Spider-Man, Ant-Man, and Thor.

‘Marvel Zombies’ Truly Passes the Baton to the Phase Four and Five Heroes

Ms. Marvel, Blade and Red Guardian in Marvel Zombies

One of the genius moves of Marvel Zombies is to use the structure of a zombie story, a hero traveling and meeting different groups of survivors who join their cause while others die, being a great way to set up a dynamic for various heroes in the MCU to meet one another in circumstances they normally wouldn’t find themselves in. The series immediately starts with a version of the Young Avengers featuring Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel, Kate Bishop / Hawkeye, and Riri Williams / Ironheart. Although the MCU has struggled to bring The Young Avengers together over the past four years, Marvel Zombies features a group of young heroes working as a team.

It then quickly pairs off different heroes. Ms. Marvel meets Blade (before the MCU has even gotten around to introducing him), and then they cross paths with Yelena Belova, Melina Vostokoff, and Alexi Shostakov / Red Guardian. Then Shang-Chi, Katy, Jimmy Woo, and Deathdealer join up. Yelena flirts with Shang-Chi, and that minor interaction between the characters not only hints at a fun potential romance that the franchise has largely avoided in recent years but also fleshes out the characters in the universe, providing a new and interesting connection.

It is also worth noting that this is the first interaction in the MCU, the Sacred Timeline, or any alternate universe, where Shang-Chi and Yelena Belova have interacted, despite both having been introduced in 2021 at the beginning of Phase Four. That minor interaction of characters from two drastically different corners of the franchise makes the universe feel connected in a deeper way than just story events like previous MCU stories have relied on.

It doesn’t stop there. The series establishes a history between the Egyptian God Khonshu and the Asgardian gods that both Moon Knight and Thor: Love and Thunder failed to capitalize on. Episode 2 features a climactic battle between Shang-Chi, Ms. Marvel, Blade, and Red Guardian against a zombie-infected Namor. Not only would normal Namor be an Avengers-level threat, but it sees four different heroes from different franchises teaming up to fight an antagonist from another MCU film, similar to the original Avengers fighting Loki. After four years of waiting for the likes of Shang-Chi and Ms. Marvel to meet one another and interact with the various corners of the MCU, Marvel Zombies delivers what the live-action slate of titles has failed to do.

Marvel Zombies fleshes out these characters, showing that they can be just as interesting and captivating as the likes of Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor, and all Marvel needed to do was invest the time and money into them like they did those original Avengers characters (who were not household names when the MCU began). Marvel Zombies fulfills the promise that the new heroes of Phases Four and Five can be worthy successors to the original MCU heroes, while providing the Avengers-level event fans have waited six years to see. It certainly is a nice treat to tide fans over before Avengers: Doomsday, seeing how that movie won’t arrive for another 15 months. Marvel Zombies is streaming now on Disney+.