This is a spoiler-free review covering all four episodes of Marvel Zombies, which premiered on Disney+ on September 24, 2025.
While Marvel’s What If…? might be wrapping up after three seasons, a brand new, fully-fledged spinoff has emerged: Marvel Zombies. This animated series picks up directly from the fan-favorite Season 1 episode, plunging viewers into a version of the MCU completely ravaged by a zombie plague. It’s packed with all the blood, guts, and grotesque action you’d expect from such a premise. But more significantly, it provides MCU fans with something that has been sorely absent from the Multiverse Saga in recent years.
The story of Marvel Zombies continues roughly where the original “What If… Zombies?!” episode left off in 2021. Five years have passed since a relentless tide of undead brought civilization crashing down. Now, a scattered few heroes like Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), Ironheart (Dominique Thorne), Hawkeye (Hailee Steinfeld), Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) remain, desperately striving to keep humanity’s spark alive. A glimmer of hope appears, offering these survivors a chance to reclaim their ruined world – but only if the formidable Queen of the Dead, Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff, doesn’t stand in their way.
What unfolds is a familiar, yet thoroughly entertaining, survival horror adventure. Marvel Zombies doesn’t reinvent the zombie genre; in fact, it plays it somewhat safer than its comic book inspiration by Robert Kirkman and Sean Phillips. Those original Marvel Zombies comics were distinct for making the zombies themselves the protagonists, offering a darkly comedic exploration of zombified Avengers scavenging for food in a world where living humans were a scarce commodity. The key difference was the zombies retaining their intelligence, leading to surprisingly witty and often absurd scenarios.
That particular dynamic isn’t present here. Aside from the Queen of the Dead, no other villains retain human-level intelligence, meaning the series largely adheres to the established zombie movie playbook. The initial three episodes follow a repetitive pattern: our heroes seek refuge in a recognizable MCU location, only for the undead to inevitably descend and disrupt their plans. It’s only in the finale that the series dares to break this mold, doing so in an undeniably epic and breathtaking fashion. Episode 4 reaches a scale comparable to Avengers: Endgame, featuring an enormous battle sequence that truly maximizes the horrific potential of this zombified universe.
Beyond the sheer thrill of the zombies themselves, Marvel Zombies shines thanks to two core strengths. Firstly, it offers a refreshing glimpse into an MCU where heroes are truly vulnerable, and the stakes feel genuinely high. Plot armor is nonexistent here, fostering a world where unlikely alliances are formed and even the most prominent Avengers can meet gruesome ends. Creators Bryan Andrews and Zeb Wells clearly relished exploring the long-term ramifications of a zombie outbreak in the MCU. The original “What If… Zombies?!” episode, at just half an hour, barely scratched the surface, so it’s fantastic to see the concept given ample room to develop here.
The second, and perhaps most crucial, aspect is that this series delivers exactly what the broader Multiverse Saga has failed to provide. It’s no secret that Marvel has struggled to maintain the post-Endgame momentum in the MCU, as evidenced by the box office performance of films in 2025. If there’s one overarching issue, it’s Marvel’s overemphasis on introducing new characters and plotlines without adequately weaving them into a cohesive, larger narrative. The noticeable absence of an Avengers-level team-up film between Endgame and ‘Doomsday’ (and no, ‘Thunderbolts’ doesn’t quite fit the bill) stands as a testament to this problem. At some point, Marvel needs to move beyond simply introducing new elements and start effectively playing with the existing ones.
This unfulfilled potential finally comes to fruition in Marvel Zombies. While not part of the main MCU continuity, the characters’ essence and personalities are remarkably consistent. As the mentioned cast implies, Marvel Zombies heavily features the Phase 4 and 5 heroes rather than the classic Avengers. This strategic choice allows the series to explore these newer characters and their interactions in a truly satisfying way.
The early episodes delight in the dynamic between Kamala, Kate, and Riri, fulfilling some of the untapped promise hinted at by The Marvel’s Young Avengers. Meanwhile, characters like Shang-Chi, Katie (Awkwafina), and Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) transform into hardened, Mad Max-style survivors in a wasteland. And then there’s Blade (Todd Williams), a character the MCU has notoriously struggled to launch. Here, the iconic vampire hunter is reimagined as “Blade Knight,” the new avatar of Moon Knight’s Khonshu (F. Murray Abraham), creating a wonderfully entertaining pairing. It’s a pity that Mahershala Ali is one of the few live-action actors not to reprise his role, making his vocal cameo in Eternals seem increasingly like the extent of his Blade portrayal.
As the plot intensifies and the body count rises, the series excels at fostering meaningful relationships among these characters. The evolving bond between Kamala and Red Guardian (David Harbour), particularly the latter’s burgeoning fatherly affection for his younger ally, is especially impactful. These developed connections ensure that the significant emotional moments and character deaths resonate deeply. It begs the question: why don’t we witness more of this in the primary MCU? Why does an animated zombie series succeed where the Multiverse Saga films fall short?
Everything culminates in a powerful and satisfying final episode. As noted, the sheer scope of the finale is extraordinary. While the What If…?-inspired animation style sometimes struggles with character detail in quieter scenes (faces can lack expression, and zombie wounds occasionally look like painted-on effects), it truly shines with a bombastic, anime-like quality during the action sequences. The finale masterfully builds tension, escalating the stakes until the fate of an entire universe hangs precariously in the balance. This leads to an ending that, although potentially divisive, feels entirely consistent with the grim and hopeless nature of this particular universe. Even if the first three episodes feel somewhat formulaic in their plot, the journey is absolutely worth seeing through to the end.
Verdict
Marvel Zombies might not have been the top choice for an animated spin-off from What If…?, but across its four episodes, the series absolutely justifies its existence. At its weakest, the show occasionally falls into a formulaic rhythm, moving its heroes from one location to the next to face hordes of undead superheroes. However, even these moments are elevated by engaging character dynamics and a remarkable ability to forge bonds between the Phase 4 and 5 characters – something the live-action MCU has struggled with. The series confidently breaks away from its formula in the finale, delivering an epic confrontation that rivals even Avengers: Endgame. If the MCU’s Multiverse Saga has left you feeling disconnected lately, Marvel Zombies offers an unexpected but refreshing alternative.