What is Marvel's Zombies? Exploring comic origins of MCU's upcoming R-rated show

Marvel’s Zombies are headed to Disney Plus to satiate their hunger for brains. 2022 saw a plethora of new Marvel series marking it as the year of series’.

However, things will drastically change in 2023 as the era of animated series is going to take over Disney Plus.

Marvel’s animation panel at the San Diego Comic-Con announced shows like Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Marvel’s What if? Season 2, X-Men 97, and Spider-Man: Freshmen Year. Hence, the MCU is headed towards the expertise of house of mouse, animation.

While the animated series is spread across 2023 and 2024, fans are excited about the lineup and eagerly looking forward to Marvel’s Zombies.

Other than the fact that brain-eating monsters are a fun concept, the studio is about to make things spicier with the reveal that the project will be for the Mature Audience marking it as their first R-Rated series.

---

Marvel revealed list of heroes and zombies in Marvel’s Zombies, along with different factions

Named the Zombieverse in the Marvel comics, the virus spreads on Earth – 2149 when Sentry from another universe infects Colonel America with the Zombie virus. In a matter of days, the planet’s superheroes will be zombified.

Magneto, the last survivor is eaten by zombified superheroes. In future issues, the Zombie heroes do not even spare the likes of Thanos or Galactus and his heralds.

Having conquered their universe, the Army of Darkness gathered in pursuit of acquiring the Dimensional Travel machine and traveling the multiverse in search of brains. While T’Challa, Spider-Man, Power Man, and others still retain kindness despite being Zombies, as they try to stop the Army of Darkness, the horde prevails and travels to the distant universe to feast on brains.

Coincidentally, it’s the same universe of the Sentry who brought the virus on Earth – 2149 in the first place. Sentry travels back in time to Earth – 2149 carrying the zombie virus with him, forming a paradoxical time loop.

While the Zombieverse in the comics is quite different, we got a glimpse of what brain-eating monsters would do if unleashed in the MCU in the Disney Plus animated series, What If… Zombies? As expected, the episode was an absolute banger where fans got a treat of zombified versions of Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, Falcon, Wasp, and the creepy Wanda, among others.

To fans’ surprise, Marvel’s Zombies will be based in the same universe as the What If… Zombies? While they don’t know the plot details of the upcoming series, fans can expect the series to continue from a point where What If? Episode 5 left.

With the Avengers now brain-hungry monsters, the leftover group of superheroes seeks a cure for the zombie virus.

The episode ended with Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Ant-Man (just the head) escaping to Wakanda with the Mind Stone, which is a potential cure. They then find out that T’Challa’s country has been invaded by a zombified Thanos with an almost perfect Infinity Gauntlet.

Fans hope the earlier roster of characters, both uninfected as well as zombified, will make a comeback. The San Diego Comic-Con Marvel animation panel revealed that a new team of superheroes, including Yelena Belova, Kate Bishop, Red Guardian, Jimmy Woo, Death Dealer, Shang-Chi, and Kamala Khan, will be featured as non-infected in the series.

Zombie hordes like Captain America and Scarlet Witch, alongside zombie-infected Captain Marvel, Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Abomination, and Okoye will feature in the Army of Darkness.

Along with their favorite Avengers in their most primal form, fans can cheer the fact that Marvel’s Zombies are going no holds barred, as the TV-MA rating series will ensure lots of violence, blood, and gore.

It would be terrific to see a zombified Hulk tearing apart Shang-Chi in two halves or a gory showdown between Wanda and Captain Marvel.