I just got finished watching all four parts of Marvel Zombies on Disney+, and I found it lackluster. It is what it is. I know there’s probably some bias in there, and I’ll be honest with you, I can’t fully tell you why I feel the way I do. That’s my big thing with this one.
This is going to be kind of a rambling review, mainly because from a technical side everything’s fine. I personally was never a fan of the What If…? art style. It grew on me by virtue of the storytelling, such as it was. I was kind of hoping for some sort of a Watcher intro, because this is tangentially connected to What If…?, but unfortunately we didn’t get that. So, you know, whatever.
It’s your basic story, and all four parts carry you through it. There’s a MacGuffin that the Young Avengers girls get. That’s Riri Williams, Kamala Khan and Kate Bishop, who are the three starting protagonists, and by the end of this thing it’s Kamala Khan who’s leading the whole charge. They come across a thing that’s actually a Skrull transmitter that maybe can call the Nova Corps, who can come help with the problem they’re having. The zombie outbreak problem.
The Characters You Jump Me Into First
Right out of the gate, I have a problem with the fact that they made Kamala Khan the center. Not because she’s not a fine character. I don’t care one way or the other, and it’s not for the reasons other people are going to have. The reason I have an issue with Kamala Khan is that I don’t know anything about her in the MCU, with the exception of her show, which I barely got through three episodes of. Even my daughter, who at the time was the right age, said it felt like they undershot their age group, and she didn’t have any interest either. So I didn’t really watch that.
I did see The Marvels, and I liked her in that. I thought she was one of the best parts, actually, and I definitely like the energy that actress brings to the role and to the MCU in general.
But Riri Williams, Kate Bishop, I don’t know. I don’t want to say it’s not earned, but I didn’t care. That’s my problem. The characters you jump me into first, I don’t care about at this point. They’re not characters I’m super overly concerned with, and I would’ve liked to have seen other characters focused on more.
Yelena Is the Comic Relief?
I say the Thunderbolts, but really they brought in Yelena, voiced by the indomitable Florence Pugh, and they also had David Harbour playing Red Guardian. And I felt like she was sidelined to being the person who said the joke in her funny Russian accent.
And I’m like, really? Yelena is the comic relief? I mean, I guess I used to see Natasha in that kind of similar role, perhaps. But I don’t know. Tell me what you thought. Did I misread that whole thing?
Way Off Book
Each of the episodes deals with a stage of the journey Kamala is on to get you to the very end, and at each point you deal with the realities of the zombie apocalypse. Then we get to this crazy bit of information that I didn’t realize. There was a zombie Thanos.
Now, they don’t really tell you why that happened, or what the scenario was by which that happened. We’re just dropped into, oh, there’s Thanos with the glove, and apparently he’s learning, which only informs them more that there’s the potential for intelligence there. Something along those lines.
So for anybody who’s read it, this definitely goes way off book. If you’re expecting to see Marvel Zombies the comic book, no. Because unfortunately that’s the one lesson Marvel doesn’t seem to know how to do, especially in animation: give us excellent retellings, in motion, of good stories. Make changes relevant to the MCU, sure. But otherwise, Marvel Zombies is right there, and it does a really good job. Seriously. There are several parts, but I’m talking about the one that’s really focused on Peter Parker at the time. You could easily have done this opening part as that.
And I know you’re kind of like, well, that’s what the What If…? episode was. Eh, kind of. I feel like that was more of a mini version. I feel like you go into a longer, more protracted version of that story here.
Wanda’s Voice, and Blade Knight
I loved hearing Wanda’s voice. “These weary travelers are confused. Grant them mercy.” Love that. That was great. And again, I’m not one for this animation anyway.
The standout is Mahershala Ali’s Blade, which is not voiced by Mahershala Ali, but clearly that’s the pattern they’re using. This was produced after the announcement, and there’s been no clear movement on it. Who would’ve ever thought that at this point in the life cycle of the character? When this was put into production, we should have known who he is by now.
And he’s the Moon Knight of this universe. Blade Knight, whatever. It’s funny, because I feel like he works the Khonshu angle almost like Ghost Rider, in terms of really harnessing that power when it comes time to do the vengeance-y thing.
I’m pretty sure the guy they got to voice Khonshu is the same guy who voiced him in the original TV series. One of the best voices I’ve ever heard. “Has the world changed so much that the Asgardians no longer recognize my deity?”
This Feels Very Last Phase
But yeah, I wasn’t overly impressed. And mind you, I’m not licking my wounds after Fantastic Four. I thought Fantastic Four was fine. I’m actually very happy with it, and I feel like that’s a good way to start turning the ship.
This doesn’t feel like a good way to turn the ship. By that I just mean this feels very the last phase. I have a feeling that when they put this in production, not only was Blade supposed to be a more consequential character, I feel like we should have had the Young Avengers by now. Obviously Ironheart would have been out sooner, and probably would have been received better. I don’t know. There’s a lot of presumption being made in this that I don’t know that I agree with.
It made the four episodes a slog for me. Even when we get inklings of interesting things, there’s not much to those things. Baron Zemo is running the Raft, and really it’s just an excuse for him to bring food to the Atlanteans, thus protecting Namor and his people there, I guess. So it’s a very weird setup. And everybody fights, everybody sacrifices, the whole nine yards. It’s a whole thing.
Infinity Hulk, and the Rules of This World
I don’t know how I felt about Infinity Hulk. The only thing I can think to call him is Infinity Hulk. I’d have to do some research, because I don’t even know if he’s somebody from the comics, if we’ve ever seen anything like that, or if he was invented purely for the sake of the series. He probably was, which I’m fine with, whatever.
But I just feel like, what an unused and missed opportunity. Not to mention the fact that you have this clearly nigh infinitely powerful being, and the solution is to just wear him down with numbers. I don’t know. I had a problem with that. And the fact that he somehow heals, but slowly. The rules of the world didn’t work for me as much as I think people might want them to.
What I Think What If Should Have Been Giving Us
Overall, I enjoy this for what it is, which is more of what I think the What If…? universe should have been giving us. And I feel like we never really got that. There’s still a ton of What If stories. So maybe I’m a little bit hurt about that, you know.
I got what it was. I enjoyed it for what it is. It’s a nice morsel of a Marvel thing where I’m like, ooh, that was fun. In all honesty, I don’t know if I’m going to watch it again.
There you go. Now you know. And if knowing is half the battle, you’re halfway to being a know-it-all yourself.
The Verdict
Marvel Zombies, all four parts, the miniseries itself, gets a middling 6 and a half out of 10 on the Know-It-All Index.
Yeah, I don’t know, man. I wasn’t super impressed. I really wasn’t. The animation is fine for what it is, though I’m not a fan of this style overall. I think it does what it’s doing. I think you don’t get enough of the characters, and of these wonderful voice actors being their characters, because there are so many of them. And I feel like in animation you should have picked a focused event in Marvel Zombies. Just my takeaway.
Do you have a better, sunnier outlook on it? I’d love to hear that, because Lord knows I don’t know that I have one right now, and I can’t tell why. Was the animation good? Did you care about any of the relationship things? Let me know what you thought about the entire thing in the comments on the video above.
