Zombies have been done to death, and that's great. True to their nature, the arguably biggest horror subgenre never dies, and there's always a new variation on the iconic monster. One way it hasn't been done enough, especially in movies and television, is with superheroes.
Based on the incredibly gruesome comic run, which is the most popular storyline of superhero undead, Marvel Animation's Marvel Zombies delivers gut-busting action, shocking sacrifices, and deadly all-or-nothing survival plans. However, where it thrives in spectacle, it falls short in compelling characters and fails to give us a reason to care.
Spoilers ahead!
Marvel Zombies explores the premise of what if (and technically, "What If?...") every superhero, even the super-healers, mutants, and gods, were infected with an eldritch, all-consuming, zombie plague. The storyline was introduced in episode 5 of season 1 of "What If?...", and the Marvel Zombies mini-series roughly continues where it left off. However, one doesn't need to have seen that one episode to enjoy Marvel Zombies as it stands alone competently. It doesn't even go into how the zombie virus started, but we know that there are zombies, and lots of them.
The short 4-chapter run of 30-minute episodes is surprisingly packed full of action and adventure, which puzzles me why it wasn't just made into a movie. With a little trimming, Marvel Zombies would've made a perfect 2-hour and 30-minute runtime. Some obstacles did feel trivial and forgettable, only there to move the characters from one point to another. Like most zombie adventure stories, every settlement the band of heroes stumbles upon is eventually corrupted by the undead horde, no matter how many soldiers or walls they have. We aren't given a lot of time to explore these iconic Marvel settings, so when they fall, there's no weight to them.
Even when a slew of characters die, it can start to feel forgettable. They hop on the adventure train, and then they die, randomly. Sometimes the death is cool and creative, but often it feels like they're written off as if they didn't contribute anything at all. Alexei's death bothered me the most, followed by Yelena's sacrifice. After Alexei lost his wife, Alexei was distraught. And then in the next episode, Yelena sacrifices herself. The worst fear for a father and any parent is to live longer than their children. Sure, he knew the dangers of a zombie apocalypse, but it sure didn't fill him with fulfillment to have failed to protect his family. This was building a good internal struggle for the character. Kamala even reminded him of his own wise words to "honor them." Only he doesn't get to do that. He eats some illusion zombie flesh, turns, and that's it. It feels too random. If anyone deserved a heroic sacrifice scene, it was him, but he instead died from the equivalent of a stomach bug.
What else lacks weight, in an honest opinion, is the art. I don't blame the animators, as budget constraints and direction is out of their control. However, I believe it's worth mentioning that the rounded, soft lines of the models make most of the gore and action look spongy and soft. It doesn't have the grit a zombie-infested world should have. But despite that, there are some creative scenes where the art unleashes potential and packs a punch. My favorites would have to be when Alexei flattened Captain America and Valkyrie bay-bladed inside a titan-sized zombie's arm and minced its head from the inside out. You only see creative kills like this when you mix superheroes with action-horror, and Marvel Animation had too much fun coming up with inventive ways to butcher our favorite heroes.
It's also admirable that Marvel Animation explores the weirder ideas we'd see in the comics. Watching Marvel Zombies feels like jumping into that new alternate comic run that's just fun exploring wild ideas. It's a kitchen sink of characters and settings ranging from sci-fi to fantasy.
It was fun, but I'm not dying to rewatch it. Marvel Zombies is the "MCU" dipping another toe in mature-rated media. It achieves this through blood and grotesque violence, but it lacks the darker themes that could've come with a mature story. Perhaps I'm fatigued from mainline Marvel, but most of the humor did not land with me. In fact, it was eye-roll worthy. Marvel Zombies was at its best when heads were rolling or when characters sat down and reflected on how many people had to die to keep them alive. Was it all worth it? I was left questioning that in the bitter ending, which screams season 2, possibly. Despite its shortcomings, Marvel Zombies sank its teeth into me, so I'd finish the show and hunger for just enough to see whether it was all worth the sacrifice.
Final Verdict: C+