Marvel Zombies: 5 Things We Learned From The Comic-Con Panel

Robert Kirkman is one of the people who helped bring us the modern age of zombies in pop culture with "The Walking Dead," first as a best-selling comic and then as a series of hit shows on AMC. But Kirkman also touched the Marvel Comics universe with his take on the undead with "Marvel Zombies," a beloved storyline that takes place in an alternate reality and, as the name implies, shows us the heroes and villains of Marvel as zombies. Now, following the success of the "What If...?" season 1 episode that tackled the material, we're getting a full-on "Marvel Zombies” animated series on Disney+.

The Marvel Studios animation panel at San Diego Comic-Con provided our first good look at the show and, as luck would have it, we were on hand to get all of the details. Here are our findings.

The show will very much be picking up in the aftermath of the aforementioned "What If...?" episode, meaning that the things that happened in that episode will have a bearing on what happens here. For one, even though it looked like zombie Captain America may have been dealt with, zombies have a knack for staying undead until their brains are taken out. As such, we have a creepy half-Cap set to appear in the show. Beyond that, zombie Hawkeye has deteriorated even more since last we saw him. Punches are not being pulled.

One of the biggest reveals at the panel had to do with the introduction of many of the heroes that we're going to see in the series. What was perhaps most surprising about the lineup is that it is very heavily weighted in favor of heroes we've met during Phase 4 of the MCU.

First look at the new heroes of ‘MARVEL ZOMBIES’, including Kate Bishop, Yelena, Shang-Chi, Ms Marvel and Jimmy Woo. #SDCC pic.twitter.com/RcExvddw2A

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) July 22, 2022

The lineup consists of Yelena Belova from "Black Widow," Katie from "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," Kate Bishop from "Hawkeye," Red Guardian from "Black Widow," Jimmy Woo from "Ant-Man and the Wasp," and yes, Shang-Chi himself. It's not clear yet if all of the original actors will be back to voice the characters in the show but many of them feel like safe bets.

Now, the other thing worth noting is that the heroes, good of a lineup as it may be, are going to have their hands full — and that may well be an understatement.

The villains of #MarvelZombies! Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and Bucky included. pic.twitter.com/Oyak6z0VhU

— Total Film (@totalfilm) July 22, 2022

During the panel, we were shown artwork for zombie Ghost ("Ant-Man and the Wasp"), zombie Abomination ("The Incredible Hulk"), zombie Carol Danvers ("Captain Marvel"), Zombie Scarlet Witch ("Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness"), and zombie Okoye ("Black Panther"). Not only that, but we got looks at groups of zombie Widows and zombie Skrulls. That is a murderer's row of powerful zombies to contend with. But, amazingly enough, that may not be the worst of it.

Much can be said of "Eternals” as a movie and now is not necessarily the time to re-evaluate the film as a whole. One thing we can say definitively is that Ikaris (played by Richard Madden) is easily one of the most powerful beings we've met in the MCU to date. And we haven't seen the last of him...

🚨BREAKING: Zombie Ikaris will appear in "Marvel Zombies"(2024) pic.twitter.com/0mBjwRdOFx

— eternals comfort (@eternalscomfort) July 22, 2022

Yes, indeed, it was revealed at the panel that those heroes who have managed to remain uninfected will also have to contend with a zombie Ikaris. Not to make an easy comparison here, but that is kind of like having to deal with a zombie Superman on top of already dealing with Captain Marvel and Scarlet Witch. Yikes. Beyond that, it also signals that Marvel Studios, as a whole, is not quite ready to give up on the "Eternals" franchise — or at least some of those characters — just yet.

One thing about much of the Marvel content on Disney+ is that it hasn't been what one might call mature. So, how does one go about adapting an inherently violent, horror-influenced story for that platform? By staying true to the source material. "We are not shying away from the things that made the comic book so great. Not just the storytelling, but also the gore, the splattery-ness, and the grossness," producer Bryan Andrews said. To further cement that point, the show has been confirmed to be rated TV-MA, meaning they are not going to be trying to hide any of this or creatively dance around the horror of it all. This is going to be a true blue zombie show, through and through. Buckle up.

"Marvel Zombies" does not yet have a release date set.