The Avengers may be gone, but hope refuses to die. Marvel Animation’s first TV-MA series, Marvel Zombies, shambles onto Disney+ September 24 with a four-part, blood-pumping adventure that drops a scrappy squad of survivors into a ruined MCU.
The lineup is stacked: Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour), Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), Katy Chen (Awkwafina), Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), and Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), among others, risk life and limbs (plural) to save what’s left of the world. Watch the trailer below:
Spun out of the fan-favorite “zombies” episode of Marvel Studios’ What If…? (2021–2024), the event series expands that nightmare sandbox without picking up the earlier cliffhanger beat-for-beat. Director/writer/EP Bryan Andrews—who also steered What If…?—says internal enthusiasm for the original episode kicked off talks long before audiences ever saw it.
The marching orders from Marvel Television & Marvel Animation boss Brad Winderbaum: if the story demands it, go adult. The comics have always swung from all-ages to ultra-mature; this show leans into that breadth while keeping the characters’ core truths intact.
New Rules, Same Heroes—Sort Of
Freed from TV-14 guardrails, Andrews and co-writer Zeb Wells push the apocalypse pedal: familiar icons like Captain Marvel and Hawkeye join the undead ranks, while unexpected players Khonshu, Rintrah, and more step forward. At the heart of it all is Kamala Khan, still early in her hero journey and perfectly positioned to be the audience’s pulse. She uncovers a game-changing clue that might save humanity—if she can survive the Red Queen herself, Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), and her ravenous army.
The series delights in first-ever onscreen pairings pulled from across Marvel lore—think Kamala and Peter Parker, Blade Knight and Namor—creating that signature “collision chemistry” fans live for. As Winderbaum puts it, the magic happens when wildly different personalities are forced into the same impossible choice and sparks fly.
Come Hungry, No Homework Required
Yes, Marvel Zombies lives inside the larger multiverse, but it’s built to stand on its own. You don’t need to binge anything else to dive in; the show gives you everything you need right out of the gate—tone, stakes, and one gnarly good time. It’s bleak, funny, and surprisingly hopeful, honoring the MCU’s beating heart while letting the horror bite down hard.
The Geek is a working screenwriter, director and screenwriting instructor.
REELated:
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu – first trailer
