The expansion of the MCU knows no bounds, and now the undead are involved. After getting an episode of What If…? devoted to their brain-munching exploits, the Marvel Zombies release date is coming, with the shambling beasts now at the center of their own show.
Anyone who has accused the MCU of playing safe in recent years will have to concede that this is a bold idea: building a whole Marvel series around turning your favorite MCU characters into zombies. So let’s take a bite of this and work out which heroes and Marvel villains will show up, as we provide all of the information you need to survive the zombie hordes.
Marvel Zombies release date speculation
Marvel Zombies is scheduled for release in 2024. While no specific release window has been announced, we think Marvel would have to be as slow as a zombie not to release it in the fall, just in time for Halloween.
Iman Vellani, fresh from her stint in The Marvels, said in a November 2023 interview that Marvel Zombies is finished, at least in terms of voice work. So while it makes all the sense in the world to hold off for Halloween, it’s very possible that this installment of Marvel’s Phase 5 shows up even sooner.
Marvel Zombies cast speculation
Iman Vellani has confirmed that Kamala Khan will be one of the key characters in Marvel Zombies.
In November 2023, Vellani said: “Kamala is kind of the center of the show. They described it to me, it’s like, ‘She’s basically the Frodo of the story.’ And I was like, ‘That’s amazing.’”
Interestingly, the series was announced as “a new generation of heroes battling against an ever-spreading zombie scourge”, so we might be focusing more on youngsters like Kamala and Kate Bishop than the established big names.
Until we know for sure what the plot of Marvel Zombies will entail, any other thoughts on the cast are purely speculative. If the series does follow the storyline of the What If…? episode, we should see Paul Rudd back as Scott Lang and Hudson Thomas as Peter Parker.
From a Marvel Studios animation panel in 2022 (via CBR), we know that the bad guys of the series will include an arrow-filled Hawkeye, a cut-in-half Captain America, Abomination, Ghost, Captain Marvel, Okoye, Scarlet Witch, and Ikaris from the Eternals. As these are zombies, we don’t expect the various big-name stars to return to voice them.
If the walking dead version of Thanos does prove to be the bad guy in Marvel Zombies (more on that below), it’s also very likely that Josh Brolin would provide the voice for the character. The actor lent his vocal talents to the role for other episodes in What If…? so is clearly open to the idea.
We expect the Marvel Zombies cast list to be something like:
- Paul Rudd as Ant-Man
- Mark Ruffalo as Hulk
- Evangeline Lilly as Wasp
- Paul Bettany as Vision
- Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes
- Danai Gurira as Okoye
- Josh Brolin as Thanos
What will happen in Marvel Zombies?
We believe Marvel Zombies will continue the storyline from the zombie episode of Marvel’s What If…? series, with Kamala Khan now at the center of the fight against the undead.
The basic premise of that episode saw the world infected by the Quantum virus, with those affected rising from the dead and hunting for flesh. The bigger problem was, any superhero infected by the virus would keep their powers even as a zombie.
By the end of the episode, Peter Parker, T’Challa, and Scott Lang (or his head, at least) had managed to survive after facing off against a zombie version of Wanda Maximoff. With the mind stone in their possession, the heroes head off to Wakanda to try and create a cure for the virus.
Unfortunately, there’s a huge zombie army waiting for them there, led by none other than an undead Thanos. He really is inevitable! We’re sure this cliffhanger will be picked up at some point, and although the What If…? season 2 release date is on the way, we think Marvel Zombies would be best placed to tackle the story in depth.
We do know that Marvel Zombies is set to consist of four episodes, which means the story will be fairly short and self-contained. We also hear murmurs that the show will have a TV-MA rating, just like Marvel’s Echo. This means we can expect edgier violence than you tend to get in other Disney Plus shows in the Marvel world.
Is there a Marvel Zombies trailer?
There’s no trailer for Marvel Zombies yet, but we expect to see some footage early in 2024.
If Vellani is right and the show is mostly finished, then it won’t be long before we get a teaser trailer for this limited series. In the meantime, get a good look at the debut of Marvel’s spin on the undead in that famous episode of What If…?’s first season.
Where can you watch Marvel Zombies?
You’ll be able to find Marvel Zombies on Disney Plus, just like What If..?.
Everything in the MCU ends up joining the catalog of what’s new on Disney Plus eventually, and Marvel Zombies is headed straight there. You can already watch more of the best TV series in the MCU, including the brilliant Loki season 2.
How many episodes will be in Marvel Zombies?
Marvel Zombies will run for just four episodes, so it’s a very limited story arc. But they’re going to pack in plenty of undead action, for sure.
That’s all we know about the Marvel Zombies release date for now, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled for any more shambling corpses on the horizon then. Until then, why not check out our guides to upcoming Marvel movies, including Deadpool 3 and the Captain America 4 release date.
You can also head even further ahead to Marvel Phase 6 or learn how to watch all of the Marvel movies in order. Alternatively, read our The Marvels review and find out about the MCU’s worrying 2023 box office record.