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Marvel Studios announced that “Marvel Zombies” will be a four-episode animated event releasing September 24 as an exclusive on Disney+ The series features younger heroes with Ms. Marvel, Ironheart, and Kate Bishop fighting a zombie apocalypse in the Marvel universe.
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The announcement came with a frightening caption saying, “Don’t look away. Don’t look back.” In doing so, it set a mood that seems to promise a darker and more mature handling of the whole Marvel Zombies concept, which fans know from the “What If…?” series. Being an animated show allows going further than anything could publish in terms of very graphic images of horrific, zombified versions of these beloved characters.
The aftereffect of the reveal was…at least somewhat split. The comment sections swiftly became battlegrounds, with one side excited for the promotion of the new characters, and the other half desperately wishing for the more classic big names.
One user set the tone right away with a sarcastic type of excitement: “Oh wow everyone’s favourite characters ironheart, ms marvel and Kate bishop, who cares about seeing iron man, captain America or any other of the way more popular characters.”This set off a big array of responses, with one person saying, “Tutorial level ragebait,” while another one calmly responded: “I’m hyped to see these characters! I think they’ll be awesome. But that’s just my opinion of course, it’s ok to think differently.”
It was not just about who made up the cast of characters-the whole thing drove someone to ask the bigger question about the creative direction: “Why cant movies be as well-written as the animated series?” And then it sparked an entire discussion about budgets, development groups, whether animation is more creatively liberating than live-action constraints, et cetera.
In amongst all the criticism, others were genuinely happy. Fan: “Finally Kamala has her own superhero team!” Another fan injected a dollop of reality: “just cost an undead plague to sweep across the earth.” Also, emotional stakes did not elude the viewers, “Please don’t tell me Kamala will face her idol Captain Marvel as a zombie 😢that’s going to be heartbreaking.”
There was a whole gamut of speculation about who would survive in the comments. “‘Kate and Riri are cooked 😭’” continued one user, pessimistically, while another Kate Bishop fan pleaded, “Love Kate Bishop fr but here hoping she lasts more than ten minutes because girl I swear- 😭.”
The animation was praised as well, especially the character design. “Kate is so beautiful in this animation.😍😍😍❤️🔥” said one enthusiastic fan. And the others are just as excited about the team-ups of these characters: “Aaaah finally kate and kamala in action🙌” and “Anything for Kate Bishop content sign me up.”
Not every comment pertained to the show’s production. Some took the chance to pour scorn on Marvel, the fatigue real comment being: “Jesus the marvel fatigue is so real,” and one nostalgic commenter added, “I remember the days when Marvel content used to excite me….”
And then, a voice of reason: “Guys let’s just all be kind to each other and accept that some people are looking forward to this show, and some people don’t. It’s really not that big of a deal.”
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Those mixed sentiments might be a clue as to the present-state of the Marvel fandom–torn between those willing to embrace the new and those that still crave the very familiar. Will “Marvel Zombies” be able to build a bridge? That question will be answered when the film premiers this coming September. The series will also feature Scarlet Witch in a key role.