This month marks the arrival of the miniseries Marvel Zombies, a much-anticipated release from Marvel Studios, which has recently reduced its output of new content. The studio has unveiled the official trailer for the series, which draws inspiration from the Marvel Comics series and serves as a spinoff of the 2021 What If…? episode that depicted a zombified Avengers team. This new installment is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Six.
(Spoilers ahead for the 2021 What If…? episode.)
The original What If…? episode reimagined the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp and Avengers: Infinity War, showcasing a catastrophic sequence initiated when Hank Pym ventured into the quantum realm to rescue his wife, Janet. Unfortunately, Janet had been transformed into a zombie due to a mysterious quantum virus, leading to Hank’s own infection just before they returned to their lab. While Scott Lang, also known as Ant-Man, faced an attack, Hope Pym, the couple’s daughter, managed to evade the chaos. Within a day, the zombie plague spread across much of the northwestern United States, affecting numerous Avengers who attempted to combat the rising threat.
As the episode unfolded, several heroes, including Tony Stark/Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Wong, Captain America, Hawkeye, Sam Wilson/Falcon, and Wanda Maximoff, succumbed to the infection, joining the ranks of the undead. Hope Pym rallied a group of survivors, including Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Sharon Carter, Happy Hogan, T’Challa/Black Panther, and others, including Strange’s Cloak of Levitation. Vision’s Mind Stone provided a glimmer of hope in reversing the infection, although his sacrifice was necessary to obtain it. Hope and the Hulk also fell in the struggle, leading Spider-Man, Ant-Man, T’Challa, and the cloak to Wakanda, where they aimed to utilize local technology to broadcast the Mind Stone’s energy and combat the infection globally. Unbeknownst to them, Thanos had already arrived, transformed into a zombie and wielding a nearly complete Infinity Gauntlet.
The forthcoming series, Marvel Zombies, is expected to pick up from this climactic point. It is characterized as a “four-part event,” essentially framing it as a miniseries. The official synopsis states, “After the Avengers are overtaken by a zombie plague, a desperate group of survivors discovers the key to bringing an end to the super-powered undead, racing across a dystopian landscape and risking life and limb to save their world.”
The series boasts an impressive voice cast returning to their Marvel roles, including Awkwafina as Katy Chen, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Randall Park as Jimmy Woo, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams/Iron Heart, Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/US Agent, and Todd Williams as Eric Brooks/Blade.
Marvel Zombies is set to premiere on September 24, 2025, on Disney+.
