Marvel Zombies. No, I’m not talking about the subset of movie fans who will defend even the most heinous transgressions of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I’m referring to the 2005 comic book series Marvel Zombies published by Marvel which somehow managed to get adapted into the MCU. In a surprising push, the latest episode of What If…? focuses on what would happen if a zombie virus made it into the MCU, and the way things worked out was pretty amazing.
If you’ve yet to watch episode five of What If…?, the below contains heavy spoilers so consider this your warning before you continue.
The episode opens at the start of Infinity War, with Hulk plummeting to Earth after getting beaten by Thanos. But instead of waking up to Doctor Strange and Wong, he discovers the streets of New York are empty, the city quiet. He’s attacked by Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian, two of Thanos’s Black Order. They attack, but lucky for Bruce Banner, a portal opens behind them. He thinks he’s saved by Iron Man and Doctor Strange, but Tony and Stephen start to eat Maw and Obsidian, which is when Bruce realizes something is very wrong.
He’s saved by the Wasp and Spider-Man, and we get the official recap of what happened from the Watcher. The virus came to our world from the quantum realm, when Hank Pym saved an infected Janet Van Dyne. It took over the Western seaboard quickly, but when the Avengers were called to help, they got infected and the virus spread even quicker.
After a rundown of “the rules” from Spider-Man’s training video, Bruce meets the rest of the team, comprised of Happy Hogan, Sharon Carter, Bucky, and Okoye. They’ve intercepted a beacon from Camp Lehigh in New Jersey that states they’ve found a cure for the virus.
The team hijack a train to get to New Jersey and are overrun by zombies. They suffer losses, such as Happy Hogan and Sharon Carter, before they manage to get the train going. But the train runs out of energy before they can get to their destination. With Hope Van Dyne quickly deteriorating, she uses her last ounce of humanity to grow and carry the remaining team over the horde of zombies surrounding the train.
At Camp Lehigh, they discover Vision, who explains that he was able to use the Mind Stone to reverse the virus, showing Scott Lang as proof. Well, some of Scott anyway, as all that’s left of him is a head in a jar. Okoye realizes they can use Wakandan tech to broadcast the signal around the world and save everyone, which prompts Bucky to search the base for a vehicle to get them there.
But what Bucky finds disturbs him; Black Panther laid out on a slab, missing a leg. T’Challa explains that Vision has been using humans to feed a zombified Scarlet Witch, and just as they’re about to escape, Wanda wakes up hungry.
Through a series of sacrifices, as one would expect in a zombie movie, Peter, Scott, and T’Challa are able to get away from Zombie Wanda and get to Wakanda.
Though the episode ended on a dour note, with Zombie Thanos wielding five of the six infinity gems and his sights set on the Mind Stone, there was a hint of positivity at the end. With Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Scott Lang in control of the Mind Stone, they make it back to Wakanda, where they can transmit the stone’s powers and reverse the effects of the virus. And that’s really what equates to a happy ending in zombie movies: the final glimmer of hope, despite how out of reach it truly is.
I loved that almost the entire principle cast returned for the episode. With Mark Ruffalo as Hulk, Sebastian Stan as Bucky, Danai Gurira as Okoye, the episode has a grand return of many fan-favorite characters from across the different Phases. Even both Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly resurrect their roles before the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. But what surprised me most was hearing Chadwick Boseman reprise his role as Black Panther. We’d seen (well, heard, really) Boseman already in the second episode of the series, “What If…T’Challa became a Star-Lord,” which I thought marked the end of his involvement with the series. So imagine my surprise, and my excitement, when I saw his name in the opening credits.
In fact, the only actor who didn’t reprise their role was Tom Holland as Spider-Man. Due to contractual obligations, Holland wasn’t able to voice Spider-Man in the What If…? series, but thankfully Marvel found a great work-around. Spider-Man was voiced here by voice actor Josh Keaton. Keaton’s body of work is extensive, and he’s no stranger to the Spider-Verse, having voiced Norman Osborn in the 2017 Spider-Man animated series on Disney XD. Despite the change, Keaton’s imitation of Holland is almost spot on, just about as perfect as Lake Bell’s take on Scarlet Johannsen from the third episode.
The episode is great in that it reimagined what took place during WandaVision. In WandaVision, Wanda was so overcome with her grief over the loss of Vision that she created a world in which they could still be together. However, in What If…? Vision, an android who doesn’t understand grief, does what he can to maintain his life with the woman he loves, even if his choices defy logic. It shows that Wanda and Vision are star-crossed lovers, and no matter what they do, their relationship is doomed.
Another interesting thing about this episode is how gruesome it is. When dealing with zombies, one expects to see a touch of gore. After all, they are a creature famous for eating flesh and devouring brains. But the amount of zombie explosions here is innumerable. I’d never expected to see so many beheadings, dismemberments, and even Sam Wilson getting bisected by Okoye’s staff in an MCU property, but here we are. Because of the animation medium, I’m sure the writers felt they could take some liberties and be a little more graphic. I’m not saying this as a criticism, just an observation. So, if you’re not into stuff like that, you may want to tread carefully.
Despite the gore, though, the episode is really funny. Spider-Man’s wise-cracking and movie references always bring some levity, and his zombie apocalypse training video is good for tongue-in-cheek exposition of the genre. But there were a few other moments, like Giant Wasp flinging a zombie at the escaping Quadjet, that had me cracking up. It was wise of the writers to balance the graphic stuff with humor as it made the episode easier to take.
The latest episode of What If…? really highlights what I love about the concept. Zombies as a whole just seem out of place in the MCU proper, but thanks to the multiverse, it’s an idea that gets to be explored, if just superficially. Given how the episode ends, though, I hope it’s a world that will someday get revisited, as I would love to see what a zombie Thanos with the power of the Infinity Gauntlet is capable of, as well as maybe delivering on the promise of a magic-powered, zombie-hunting Spider-Man.