Marvel Studios animation is back, and it’s bringing the Zombies, Marvel Zombies. You may remember an episode of Marvel’s animated What If…? series that imagined a world of superpowered zombies and a group of ragtag survivors? This is a continuation of that story, although it isn’t required viewing. That said, the more of the Marvel characters that you can recognise, the more you’ll get out of the experience.
Rotting Legends and Twisted Icons
This time, the post-apocalypse carries an 18/Mature rating, which means actual gore and some fittingly shocking and bloody deaths. It doesn’t go hard on adult themes, but prepare to see the insides of a few bodies. It’s not as non-stop and full-on as something like Invincible. But that animated show wasn’t far from my mind when the blood hit the fan.
It can get quite harrowing and at times hopeless, which is done well. But despite all this, the universe refuses to let go of the Marvel formula. Expect some one-liners and a bunch of quips, some characters also come off a significantly more silly. I guess that confines most of the cheese to just when those characters are on screen. We can presume that they just kinda cracked under the dire circumstances and endless losses.
Horror Wears a Cape: Inside Marvel Zombies
Marvel Zombies‘ story centres on Kamala Khan, Ms Marvel, as she quests to send an SOS message. She’ll team up with various heroes as she journeys across the world. Getting to see these kind of team ups and new dynamics is all I ask for from these animated shows. I hope we get so much more!
As much as I feel like some recent fandom shows and movies abandon decent writing for figuratively mashing together their action figures, it’s so nice to see Marvel bring down the walls between movies and let us see some really fun dynamics. The last season of What if…? Brought us Winter Soldier and Red Guardian, Zombies brings us Ms Marvel meeting Spider-Man, and a fresh new take on Blade. Granted, I think they fully expected the Blade movie to have shown up by now. We also get more Shang Chi, who is still waiting for a second appearance in live action after his movie teased something big was coming during the post-credit scene.
The show is a bit dark, visually speaking. That plays up the grim tone and takes the uncanny edge off the art style used for What if…?. You may want to turn off the lights, close the curtains, and check your TV brightness settings, though.
Horror Meets Heroism
Marvel Zombies is more than willing to kill off your favourite hero, meaning it’s much less predictable than I expected. It’s not quite the peak of shows like The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones, but I was frequently shocked and occasionally sad. Some viewers may not agree with the unceremonious and/or gross ways certain people get taken out, but just relax and remember this is an alternate universe.
Flying viscera and entrails don’t just pop into existence, though I was really impressed with the action. Fast but clear enough to follow, creative, and with some solid stakes. Not having to worry about grounding a live action movie in reality, there are some bleeding cool set pieces, to borrow the videogame vernacular. It doesn’t go completely over the top, but it’s a very fun approach, and we get to see heroes use their powers in ways we’ll never see in the movies.
Brains, Banter, and Brutality
Marvel fatigue might be a thing, but I have to say I have missed these characters, and so many of them should have had sequels by now. Add to that the brutal action, a lot of fun dynamics, and even some actually funny jokes, and I really enjoyed it. I’ve some concern that Marvel is moving away from these kinds of projects, but animation has proved to be an excellent sandbox for telling stories we’ll never get in the movies, at least not any time soon.
The ending is a little rough and seems to suggest someone needs some better communication skills, a trope that’s a pet peeve of mine. But there’s room for interpretation, so I don’t even know how hard to roll my eyes.
Is Marvel Zombies a Bloody Good Time or Just Brainless Fun?
Just a quick aside, Marvel Animation also released Eyes of Wakanda not too long ago. I bounced off the first episode hard. The whole thing pulled together for a conclusion that tied into existing lore in a way I wasn’t expecting. And again, that journey featured some excellent action and let us see new characters.
I still find something to enjoy in each of these Marvel projects. But Marvel Zombies is definitely worth your time. It might not be as hardcore as some zombie fans would like, but it’s also not a tame 12A like the movies.
Watch On Disney+
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