Expanding on the world created in “What If…?” season one, “Marvel Zombies” rushes fans through a plethora of old and new characters as they face hordes of superpowered zombies.
“Marvel Zombies” is a four-episode mini-series spun off of “What If…?” episode five, “What If… Zombies?!,” which follows Spider-Man and Bruce Banner after Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne return from the quantum realm infected by a zombie virus.
This mini-series follows a group of heroes who conveniently all come from the newest phases of the MCU, such as Riri Williams, Shang-Chi, and Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel.
These characters are tasked with delivering what could be a cure for the zombie outbreak to a SHIELD base, while trying to fend off hordes of zombies controlled by the zombified Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff.
“Marvel Zombies”’s TV-MA rating allowed the show to show off brutal deaths for infected and alive characters alike. The most brutal blows come from the show’s new addition, Blade Knight, a combination of Blade and Moon Knight.
The character feels out of place in the show filled with already established MCU characters due to the fact that the Blade project has been in limbo for years, making this the character’s first introduction into the MCU, minus the appearance of Wesley Snipes’ portrayal of the character in “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
The show also feels like it is scared to use its mature rating, often undermining serious scenes or brutal deaths with an ill-timed joke, a MCU staple at this point.
A lot of the characters feel they are written to just die and have no real substance, even characters we have spent time with and have grown to love in recent releases, feel like they are stripped of their depth just to up the show’s kill count.
Bringing back old characters as zombies is a cool concept. Seeing zombie Okoye leading the hexed zombie looks amazing, and watching a zombified Ghost zip around Blade Knight was an amazing fight scene.
The voice acting in the show feels very lackluster. Iman Vellani, Ms. Marvel’s voice actor, has lines that often fall flat and lack emotion even during a high-intensity scene.
The constant switch between traditional 2D animation for cutaways and back to the 3D style of the character might sound like it would be overbearing, but it plays into the unsettling nature of the setting.
The visuals of the show are stunning, showing that Marvel can create a visually appealing show, just not a decent enough plot to make the audience care.
The fact that the whole cast consists of what some might consider “failed” MCU characters feels like Marvel is trying to say, “See, guys! They’re actually cool the way they are!”
While “Marvel Zombies” is by no means a bad MCU show, it definitely fails to capture the attention the studio wanted.