The MCU’s latest TV series, Marvel Zombies, is a bit of graphic, gory fun. I admittedly slept on its release – mainly because I was not the biggest fan of What If…?, which asked audiences to really suspend disbelief and turn a blind eye to the established superhero lore.
While Marvel Zombies requires similar concessions to enjoy its story, it also shows a glimpse of what could have been in the first two Phases of the Multiverse Saga, had there been a more robust plan put in place… and arguably fewer shows and films to divert attention from building character arcs.
If you’re not aware, Marvel Zombies follows on from one of the alternative world stories proposed in the animated show, What If…?. The premise is simple: what if a zombie apocalypse took over before Thanos invaded? Who would survive, and which heroes would be turned to the dark side of the undead?
The show puts a spotlight on some characters that have been previously left by the wayside and demonstrates why they may have succeeded if they were given a chance.
Kamala Khan’s missed team dynamics
While Ms. Marvel was rated one of the best MCU Disney+ series by critics, Kamala Khan’s adventures have (seemingly, for now) been deprioritised in favour of bringing back old faces such as Robert Downey Jr. – that’s most likely due to the box office bomb that was The Marvels.
And Marvel Zombies shows why that’s such a shame.
Disney/Marvel
Iman Vellani delivers a solid performance in the hero role of this show, bringing her infectious charm and empathy to every scene. Her character’s tendency to blurt out what she’s thinking plays off well against some of the more straight and narrow personalities, while her powers are used to their full (and often quite violent) potential.
But arguably, she’s at her best when she’s in a trio with Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams and Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop. The three bounce off each other so well, bringing the fresh energy that we’ve really been missing from this franchise so far… because they’ve all been kept mostly in separate projects.
Because Phases 4 and 5 were overstuffed with shows and films, there hasn’t been the opportunity for many of these new characters to interact with each other onscreen – and we most likely won’t see these three together in Doomsday. As of the time of writing, none of them are on the confirmed cast list. If they do show up, I expect their screen time to be limited.
I believe the original plan was to build towards a Young Avengers team with these three heavily involved, but with the new pivot of Marvel towards the X-Men and revisiting many of the classic Avengers, I’m not entirely sure when (or even if) that plan will come to fruition.
No Blade to be compared to
So… Blade is in this show. Because, you know, the creators fully expected that by this point, Mahershala Ali would have made his MCU debut.
Blade is arguably one of the biggest Marvel missteps of the past few years. Eric Brooks was first teased in a post-credits scene for Eternals in 2021, but a standalone film about his character just cannot seem to get off the ground. The project has been delayed numerous times (currently indefinitely) and has had two directors and a whopping six different writers.
Disney/Marvel
The half-vampire has appeared in the MCU… sort of. Deadpool and Wolverine smashed through the multiverse and brought back Wesley Snipes as the character, who was last seen in the 1988 adaptation of the daywalker’s story.
Regardless, the fact that we don’t know the new Blade is painfully obvious in Marvel Zombies. For one, the writers have decided to make him into ‘Blade Knight’, a crossover with Moon Knight – presumably to differentiate this multiverse variant from the main version of Blade.
Which we don’t yet have, because that project is a mess. So, this is really the first time we’re getting a glimpse of what the performance may be like, but it’s so hard to judge because there’s no live-action version to compare it to.
While some of his powers and scenes are cool to see, it only makes me wonder whether Ali’s film will actually come to pass, or if it will be scrapped like many other projects in the universe.
Shang-Chi being left by the wayside
Speaking of scrapped projects… what is happening with Shang-Chi 2?
The first film starring Simu Liu was, in many regards, a rousing success. It grossed over $430 million at the box office worldwide and achieved both extremely high audience and critics’ scores from Rotten Tomatoes. Despite all that, no news about a potential sequel has been announced.
Collider speculates that one of the reasons we may not have heard anything is that the superhero’s story may have been entwined with Kang, whose entire arc has been wiped following Jonathan Majors being charged with abuse, and Marvel pivoting to a new villain, Doctor Doom.
In Marvel Zombies, we get to see the unique battle style and friendly banter that we may have been treated to had Shang-Chi been brought in for more than one film. And it feels criminal that he hasn’t, especially since his solo outing had one of the best fight scenes in the entire franchise.
Shang-Chi will be appearing in Avengers: Doomsday, but will that film have the time to set up a sequel with so many other characters in the mix? It sure seems like a tall order. We do know that a sequel is still on the cards, it’s just a matter of when.
Director of the first film Destin Daniel Cretton was still meant to be attached… but he’s currently busy with a little film called Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Of course, there is still chance for all these things to be rectified, but with their shows and films getting older by the day, it we could be in for a long wait for pay off.
All four episodes of Marvel Zombies are now available to stream on Disney+ – the show is rated for 16+ audiences.
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