The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), known for its expansive storytelling and character development, ventures into an ambitious animated journey with its latest series, Marvel Zombies. This four-episode miniseries, created by Bryan Andrews and Zeb Wells, expands on a popular episode from the anthology series What If…?, imagining a world where Marvel superheroes face a zombie apocalypse. While the creative freedom in animation offers enormous potential, the execution seems misaligned, as Marvel Zombies struggles to fully capitalize on its promising premise.
Premiering in September, the series continues its narrative from the “What If … Zombies?!” episode, maintaining the same animation style and direction. However, Marvel Zombies converts the anthology’s episodic format to a more traditional structure, allowing deeper exploration of main characters like Kamala Khan and Shang-Chi. Unfortunately, the ambitious scope of its storyline feels compressed within the limited runtime of four half-hour episodes, resulting in a narrative that struggles to leave a lasting impact.
Despite this, Marvel Zombies delivers several delightful moments, particularly for MCU enthusiasts thrilled to catch countless references and surprising character portrayals. The series skillfully manipulates the potential of animated storytelling, steering away from the constraints of maintaining the integrity of the MCU’s Sacred Timeline, thus allowing unexpected appearances and scenarios. Notably, it marks the long-anticipated MCU debut of Blade – a bittersweet moment following Marvel Studios’ earlier mismanagement of the character.
Although Blade’s character is not voiced by Mahershala Ali, Todd Williams takes on the role, leading to a somewhat awkward introduction. The show combines Blade’s character with Moon Knight, adding a unique twist to the storyline. This decision, however, detracts from Blade’s essential attributes, yet the vampire hunter still contributes to some of the series’ most engaging sequences, like confronting a zombified Ghost.
Marvel Zombies excels in intense action scenes, capitalizing on its TV-MA rating to deliver thrilling encounters. While some character deaths shock viewers, contributing to the high stakes, others feel abrupt and undermine the emotional engagement. The series wrestles with striking a balance between its humorous tone and authentic emotional depth, occasionally stumbling in tonal consistency.
At its core, Marvel Zombies creatively integrates various MCU elements, from Namor’s undersea forces to the Nova Corps’ cosmic presence, weaving together decades of Marvel world-building. However, the plot leans heavily on a basic narrative device and takes an unexpected turn in the finale, reverting to an underdeveloped subplot linked to the original What If…? storyline.
Similar to the Eyes of Wakanda miniseries, Marvel Zombies is bound by its brevity, limiting the exploration of diverse narratives and characters. The show depends on the audience’s familiarity with character backstories to propel the plot, often resembling a rehash of the MCU’s greatest hits. Yet despite these challenges, the series concludes with an intriguing cliffhanger, hinting at possible future installments if the initial episodes receive favorable reception.
Should Marvel Zombies return, the addition of more episodes could enhance character development and storytelling, akin to the longer structures of X-Men ’97 and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Marvel Animation demonstrates considerable potential to expand the MCU’s animation offerings; however, granting their projects the necessary screen time is crucial to crafting a masterpiece. As Marvel Studios faces similar challenges in its live-action ventures, a reevaluation of the animation division’s strategy may be in order to truly harness its storytelling capabilities.