Marvel Zombies is the newest and first TV-MA original show made by Marvel Studios Animation. The story is a continuation of an episode of What If…? that was loosely based on the original Marvel Zombies comic that was written by Robert Kirkman, who is known for his other comics like Invincible and Walking Dead. The lead writer Bryan Andrew had this to say about the the story of the show “There’s some inspiration from the comic, the fact that they’re zombies, but we’re not doing the comic, like, in any stretch”.Marvel Zombies is a fun watch, but due to some problems involving the story, it is not able to deliver on its full potential.
The story revolves around a group of survivors trying to deliver a distress signal to space that could spell the end to the zombie apocalypse. The plot is interesting, but unfortunately, due to only having four episodes, it feels like the plot is not given any time to breathe, making the show go at a breakneck speed.Also, the characters do not really get that much of a chance to shine due to the large cast.
Another problem is how the show handles characters, where most of the characters introduced feel like they have very little impact on the show. There are a ton of deaths, and it feels like it’s hard to care about these characters since there is so little time spent expanding on the characters.It also feels like all of the characters barely get the chance to shine due to the mini-series format of the show.
However, the show is able to deliver amazing action scenes that feel very dynamic and is able to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Due to the mature audience rating, the fight scenes are able to get extremely bloody, which makes the fights feel more serious in tone. It also helps to make the zombies feel like a threat and scary.
Horror aspects of the show have moments where they are very scary, like the trip through no man’s land. But the show switches back and forth from having this full-on horror to a campier horror, which makes the show feel inconsistent. Which wouldn’t be a problem if they decided to just line up fully with the camp.
Marvel Zombies is one of many mature-rated MCU projects coming to Disney+, but the show doesn’t manage to use the MA rating to its fullest. The show is a good watch if you’re a fan of Marvel or the original comic. However, if you’re looking for a more horror-like show, then it’s not the best due to issues with pacing and the overall tone of the story.
