Set in an alternate universe outside the main universe, surviving heroes must find a way to end the zombie plague. All four episodes of “Marvel Zombies” are now streaming on Disney Plus. The mini-series earned mixed reviews from critics, fans and streamers alike. It’s Halloween Month. Meaning, I’ll be watching and reviewing Horror stuff throughout the month of October.
This review contains SPOILERS. If you’re somewhat interested in Marvel Zombies, read at your own risk. I won’t be breaking down one episode at a time. It’s a very short mini-series.
Alive & Dead Aspects
Alive: Various Cast Members of previous MCU movies and TV shows reprise their roles as alternate versions of prominent characters in the main universe. They all did a decent job for their respective performances.
Much like Marvel’s “What If?” Animation’s a mixed between 2D and 3D.
Action Sequences are bloodier and gorier similar to the zombie comics Robert Kirkman wrote.
Although Mahershala Ali’s Blade movie is scrapped, he plays a crucial role as a survivor. This time, he takes the power of Moon Knight while he remains as half-human and half-vampire. Mahershala didn’t voice Blade. Todd Williams voiced him. Marvel couldn’t get Wesley Snipes to come back. This is why we can’t have nice things.
My favorite part is when the survivors protect Hulk while duking it out with zombie Thor and zombie Scarlett Witch and her army of undead heroes.
Dead: Animator, Bryan Andrews and comic book writer, Zeb Welles didn’t do a solid job mapping out all four episodes.
Kamala Khan’s powers from her lackluster mini-series are retained instead of 100% stretchy like Mr. Fantastic. Kamala factoring in is a curse since Square Enix’s delisted Avengers game. Her mini-series was dull and her cinematic debut in “The Marvels” was horrendously bad. Kamala’s the Rodney Dangerfield of Marvel. She’s gets no respect. Kamala didn’t get her powers from a bangle, she got them from a radiated cloud. Marvel didn’t learn their lesson.
Jokey stuff in between. Not every Elseworlds story is required to have one joke a mile a minute. Robert Pattinson’s “The Batman” took itself seriously without an overabundance of quippy lines.
There are only four episodes. Seems pretty low. Could’ve expanded more material focusing on other characters like Ghost Rider mowing down a horde of undead X-Men. Storm was in an episode of What If, why can’t the rest of her team appear?
Running time for each episode is half an hour. Way too short. Felt like a two hour movie.
Scarlet Witch is the only zombie to retain her human personality. In the comics, our zombified heroes still retain their minds, but quince their thirst for human flesh.
I think the mini-series wasted a golden opportunity to focus on zombified heroes speaking in eloquent dialogue just like in the comics.
The Final Verdict: D, FOR DEAD ON ARRIVAL!
Marvel Zombies is an underwhelming mini-series relying on style over substance. It didn’t feel like Robert Kirkman’s zombie comics. I wanted to see something crazy like Ghost Rider mowing down a zombie army. What did I get? Kamala Khan, the Rodney Dangerfield of Marvel. Again, she gets now respect. Skip this in favor of watching my favorite mini-series of 2024, “The Penguin.” Read Robert Kirkman’s Marvel Zombies. It’s way better.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 