Marvel's What If? TV Series Teases Marvel Zombies

During its Hall H presentation as San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Marvel Studios revealed its Phase 4 [...]

By Jamie Lovett

During its Hall H presentation as San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Marvel Studios revealed its Phase 4 slate. The event revealed films and Disney+ series releasing in 2020 and 2021. One of those Disney+ series is the animated show What If…?, inspired by the classic Marvel Comics series about alternate versions of classic stories. Marvel revealed the series will be hosted by Jeffrey Wright as the Watcher. The studio also revealed the What If...? logo, which may hide clues about stories to come from the animated anthology.

Fans on social media noticed that one of the characters in the logo is a skeletal figure in Captain America's costume. Some believe this is the Red Skull wearing his sworn enemies' colors as he did in the comic story "Old Man Logan." Others believe it is a zombified Steve Rogers, hinting that Marvel Zombies may be coming to Disney+.

What do you think? Take a look at the image below.

Marvel Zombies began as a five-issue miniseries published by Marvel in 2005 and 2006. The series was written by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman and drawn by Sean Phillips, with covers by Arthur Suydam. The series is a spinoff of Ultimate Fantastic Four, where the zombie Reed Richards tricked his Earth-1610 doppelganger into opening a portal into the Marvel Zombies universe.

Marvel Zombies takes place on Earth-2149 in Marvel's multiverse. In that universe, an infected version of the Sentry from another universe crash-landed and spread his infection to the other Marvel heroes, including the X-Men, Avengers, and Fantastic Four. Unlike traditional zombies, the infected heroes and villains retained their intelligence but were consumed by "the Hunger," which drove them to devour flesh. As the story began, the heroes had consumed all organic life and were attempting to figure out a new food source.

Marvel Zombies was so successful that it spawned an entire mini-franchise. The book received five core sequels. It also crossed over with Dynamite's Army of Darkness comics in Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness. Several spinoff series were released, including Marvel Zombies: Dead Days, Marvel Zombies Return, Marvel Zombies: Evil Evolution, Marvel Zombies: Supreme, and Marvel Zombies: Destroy!

In July, Marvel announced a new Marvel Zombies series titled Marvel Zombies: Respawn. The series sees the zombified characters riding Galactus's corpse to a fresh new Earth. The series is written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and drawn by Leonard Kirk. It debuts in October.

Do you think Marvel Zombies will appear in What If...? Let us know in the comments. What If...? debuts on Disney+ in summer 2021.

Other upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in spring 2021, Loki in spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, Hawkeye in fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021.

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