Marvel Zombies

An interesting miniseries for its premise and for some flashes of greatness in various characters, but one that leaves much to be desired in terms of execution.

"Marvel Zombies" is a production packed with entertainment and gore-filled scenes for fans of the genre as well as comic book readers (even if they don't have much in common). However, the miniseries takes you thru four high-energy episodes filled with character interactions that can make you smile with their comedy or simply disconnect you from the main narrative. Nevertheless, it tackles an interesting theme with enormous potential and offers glimpses of greatness at various moments.

It stems from the episode seen in the "What If...?" series and expands the lore of that universe, with the aim of delivering an interesting story that could resonate strongly with fans, although various script choices may prove counterproductive depending on each viewer's expectations.

The work of director Bryan Andrews should be highlighted, as he delivers a product full of entertainment with simple merit, allowing viewers to enjoy a couple of hours with these characters and their adventures. Although it's not excellent, it fulfills its objective of bringing creativity and taking the risk of new ideas in this genre of animation.

Among its aspects, I can highlight the conceptual art, the color palette, the design of some characters, the sound, the atmosphere, several special effects, and those small shifts in pacing that enhance the experience with each episode. Speaking of animation, it's perhaps a bit better than what we saw in "What If...?", but it still remains on the fringes. It should be noted that there are some striking sequences that may surprise you.

I've been really struck by several scenes featuring some very interesting one-shot takes, rotating combat sequences, the focus on creative kills, and those moments of pure cruelty, all of which add so much to this miniseries. I think they're among the strongest points of the four episodes.

Now, "Marvel Zombies" isn't perfect; it won't change everything Marvel Animation has done, nor does it intend to-it's simply another miniseries to boost entertainment and keep consumers engaged. In fact, you could say it's on par with this year's "Eyes of Wakanda," but far below "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man," and don't even get me started on "X-Men '97." Even so, it's fun and fulfills its goal of entertaining.

In another sense, I think the miniseries could have been better and surprised audiences more, perhaps with other executions that were more favorable to its overall theme. The choice of characters can be a very controversial and debatable point, and it's entirely understandable (not to mention the forced comedy). The depth sometimes leaves much to be desired, but it's not that bad either. In my experience, the combat moments featuring Blade, Namor, Spider-Man, and Black Panther are super enjoyable, with well-executed animation and special effects. Scarlet Witch as the counterpart is a real treat.

Marvel Zombies is an adaptation that has a small selection of positive highlights and a burdensome collection of flaws. The show is the strongest in its first episode, with its uncertainty making it a highlight. The show's inclusion of humor is frustrating. The frequency of it particularly affects the overall tone and experience. The dialogue felt unnatural at times and especially when humorous moments were forced. The story is laden with some dull moments that diminish interest. Besides that, there are some plotholes and missed opportunities within the show. The positive elements include some emotional moments, the action/gore, and general uncertainty at times. If you like marvel and zombies give it a chance, but don't expect an exceptional story.

'Marvel Zombies' is an overall decent continuation of the comic series and What If? Episode, that gives us solid gruesome action and interesting takes on our favorite heroes and villains.

It also showed us just how great Blade would be in the MCU, but where it lost us a bit was taking some characters, who in live action we haven't seen for many years, back to the beginning of their journey, and an ending that is left a little too open for what was supposed to be a one-off series.

'Marvel Zombies' is a fun, short ride that should appease most fans. It has some shortcomings with its story, but it did finally settle in well to this animation style and left us mostly entertained.

Brad: 7.5 Josh: 7.5

Full Review: wbtp.link/youtube.

I was actually really excited by the idea of an R-rated animated Marvel movie that's completely disconnected from anything else. But only half of the things I said there came to fruition; because Sony refuses to let Spiderman be in an animated movie unless its Spider-Verse, it was released as a TV mini series that Disney+ will almost immediately bury, it does actually connect to the What If episode of the same name, which is neat I guess, but it just limits them on what they can do with the characters and the story.

I think the movie has a lot of the same problems as What If; it feels like they were forced to cram in as many Marvel characters as humanly possible, but didn't bother giving half of them any amount of screen time or development. The characters they did decide to focus on are mostly really bizarre picks.

Kamala Khan, Blade, Shang-Chi, Red Guardian, Yelena, Kate Bishop and Iron Heart are all welcome additions who make sense to have large roles here since they're seemingly going to have large roles in the future of the MCU, plus they're good and likeable characters who are beloved by most fans.

But Zemo, Valkyrie, Scott Lang head, Awkwafina, Death Dealer, Jimmy Woo, and that one Minotaur from the background of Doctor Strange 2 have no reason to be here, some of them take up so much screen time and somehow manage to add nothing aside from a bunch of unfunny jokes and obnoxious lines. Some of the characters they pick to be zombies as well are really weird, Zombie Okoye? Sure! Zombie Namor? Hell yes!! But what was the need for Zombie Abomination, Captain Marvel or Ikaris?

I never thought I'd say this about an animated Marvel project, but it should have been made as a TV show. But I don't mean some 8 episode TV show that doesn't get renewed, I mean a 20 or so episode TV series that gets renewed for at least 1 more season, that way we can actually explore some of the settings and get to know the characters before "OH MY GOD THE ZOMBIES ARE ATTACKING WE NEED TO RUN AWAY" that way when characters die or sacrifice themselves it might have actually had some weight to it

Another thing that really annoyed me was the wasted character interactions, we open with Kamala, Kate and Riri all grouped together, and it would've been a great opportunity to show off their chemistry before they eventually team up in some kind of Young Avengers team. And in one singular scene, they hint at the idea of Yelena and Shang-Chi having a thing for one another, which could've been interesting to see develop since they're going to be sharing the screen together in Avengers Doomsday next year. But in both cases, they decided to kill off the characters for shock value rather than developing any story

I think as well they just threw in too many random ideas; Infinity Hulk, doesn't fit the zombie apocalypse story whatsoever, Moon Knight Blade was really cool, but since it seems like Blade might never come into the MCU it does feel a tad jarring, the whole story regarding the Nova Corps felt weird, like when was there ever a time where they saved a planet like this in the MCU? When would people on Earth have found out about the Nova Corps? And why is Kamala Khan the main character? Don't get me wrong, I like Kamala, but she seems like an incredibly arbitrary choice for the lead role. What makes her specifically the most important character here?

I don't know. The animation is great, the voice acting is well done, most of the story is pretty good, but overall I am very disappointed by this. I hope Marvel makes more animated projects in the future, I hope they make more animated movies in the future, but I hope that if they do they can be a bit better than this.

This show has amazing cameos and awesome battle scenes but if you are not a fan and are looking for something new to watch this would be very confusing. Requires watching a lot of former content to get caught up until now but as a marvel fan this is a welcome addition and I can't wait for season 2! Also if you like this show please read the comic it's based on, it's far better and is completely unrelated to the show based on it. That's not to diss on the show however, it's hard to compete!