The 4-part series premieres today, September 24, on Disney+.
My husband and I arrive early for the Marvel Animation + FangoriaMarvel Zombiesscreening event at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. I’m getting the “Husband of the Year” award for bringing Matt as my plus-one, as we’re both mega fans of the source comic series, and are more than a little excited to see what Fango and the MCU have in store for us tonight. Our first stop is the step-and-repeat, the fancy Hollywood term for a big, branded banner used for bragging rights event photos. As long as I’ve lived in LA, this silly tradition remains a fun part of a night.
(Credit: Sean Abley)
Once inside, Fango’s presence dominates the cocktail area with a to-scale cover providing another photo op. Unsurprisingly, the zombie plague is in full effect, and some of the super-infected, including a zombified Captain America and Captain Marvel, are already staggering through the crowd, thankfully without biting anyone. We quickly realize the plague has jumped from the heroes to the catering waitstaff as well. Apparently, when there’s no more room in Hell, the dead will walk to the Earth to serve finger food at television premieres.
When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will graciously serve finger food (Credit: Sean Abley)
We’re offered “human flesh” in the form of steak and chicken wings, a fancy rice bowl that is delicious (but perilous for someone with a big beard), plus sweet “brain” parfaits and skull cupcakes for dessert. Jones Soda is on hand with their Marvel Zombies “Undead Heroes” collection, and I can attest to the Red Queen/Queen of the Dead-inspired “Blood Moon Zest” being quite tasty. On the boozy side, I choose the “Flaming Shield,” which is served literally on fire (again, beard danger!), but injury is averted, and the drink goes down smoothly.
Sufficiently fed and liquored up, Matt and I head into the main ballroom area, where more food is available, albeit leaning more toward an undead palate. I do my best with the finger food.
Talk about an undead palate (Credit: Johnny Love)
Now that's what I call finger food (Credit: Sean Abley)
Next up is The Black Moon cosmetics booth, on hand for “temporary tattoos + lipstick application.” I jump at the chance to sit with makeup artists Erin Nakashima and Lauren Frances for some Marvel Zombies ink. (By this point, the event is getting very crowded, and I forget to get my lipstick done!).
Sean gets inked courtesy of Erin Nakashima and Lauren Frances (Credit: Sean Abley)
Dead center in the room is a conspicuously well-lit throne that definitely appears to be from the Asgard Collection. The hero zombies aren’t camera shy, and as they gather around the fancy chair for yet another photo op, co-creators Bryan Andrews and Zeb Wells and executive producer Brad Winderbaum appear and ascend to the throne. After this, I jump in, and zombie Red Guardian takes that opportunity to try some unorthodox tattoo removal by taking a bite out of your cub reporter’s Marvel Zombies ink.
Bryan Andrews, Zeb Wells and Brad Winderbaum take the throne (Credit: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Disney)
After chatting with some Fango family, including publisher Abhi Goel, director of marketing Sabrina Sieck, Chainsaw Awards director Michael Varrati and production designer Brendan Haley, and Armen Aghaeian, SVP of Fangoria Studios, we’re ushered into the theater for the main event. Matt and I grab some popcorn with “blood” butter and settle in for the screening of all four Marvel Zombies episodes, which dropped on Disney+ that same evening. Andrews and Winderbaum take the stage and ask all the folks in the crowd who worked on the mini-series to stand up and be acknowledged; then, the screening proper begins.
Bryan Andrews and Brad Winderbaum take to the stage (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
Set five years after the events of the “What if… Zombies?” episode of the Disney+ animated series What If…?, created by television writer A.C. Bradley, Marvel Zombies begins with a supply run that gets complicated by an aircraft crashing in the middle of New York. We’re well into the zombie apocalypse, and after all this time, certain heroes have transcended their undead status. The first super zombie sighting is Hawkeye, still a dead shot after all these years. He bedevils living survivors Ms. Marvel, Ironheart, Kate Bishop, plus Tony Stark’s F.R.I.D.A.Y., as they investigate the wreckage, which holds the promise of planetary salvation. Able to plan, plot, and reason, Hawkeye and the other zombie heroes serve a “Queen of the Dead,” in a larger, planet-clearing agenda.
What struck this viewer immediately was the visual language of Marvel Zombies. Each category of action manifests in a distinct artistic silo, yet all come together as one cohesive piece of gorgeous animated art. The zombie/human battle scenes, whether they be one-on-one or all-skates, are so detailed as to be almost overwhelming. Thankfully, the “camera” expertly guides the viewer’s eye to the important moments in each scene. The impossibly large energy battles are rendered in Easter-flavored color blocking – pink, green, and yellow have never been so terrifying as when the Red Queen has decided enough is enough. The gore is plentiful and horrifyingly clinical, often helpfully presented in slow motion to fill your eyeballs with every microscopic detail.
And to that end, Marvel Zombies favors no sacred cows. When a beloved MCU crimefighter is incinerated within the first twenty minutes of the first episode, the series is serving us a warning – all super flesh is to be slaughtered. Few of the two-dozen established MCU legacy heroes and civilian characters last until the final episode’s credits, and most who die do so quite gruesomely. For Fango fans who enjoyed the source material, but worried a Disney property could never be as hardcore, fear not – the MCUndead ladles out the wet stuff in abundance.
The sprawling narrative, full of quests, setbacks, victories, and death, spends time in New York, outer space, Asgard, and the bottom of the ocean, before settling into a signature MCU final battle. While CGI is an incredible tool for filmmakers when creating cinematic magic, and Marvel has consistently pushed the art form into new and exciting directions with each live-action film, the infinite possibilities of animation are what the creative team behind Marvel Zombies indulges in to absolutely winning effect for the finale of this mini-series. The showdown is truly spectacular, with all of the previously established visual landscapes and techniques coming together seamlessly, plus a final boss-type design for a beloved character that transforms them from a line drawing into fine art. The final ten minutes of this series will fill your TV screen with some of the most beautiful animated footage the writer has ever seen, and is a prime example of what filmed television entertainment can be when approached with a thoughtful eye for both quality and fun.
The evening ends with Andrews, Winderbaum, and Wells all mobbed by the enthusiastic audience, the energy high after watching the four episodes of Marvel Zombies. The show wouldn’t be a part of the MCU if the last moments weren’t followed by a big, fat, “Is it over…?” ending, and this writer is ever hopeful that question will be answered with another season of dead superheroes.
