Spinning out of the animated anthology series What If…?, the upcoming Marvel Zombies show is set to adapt the fan-favorite Robert Kirkman comic book storyline for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The four-part series will plunge a cast of familiar heroes and villains into a full-blown zombie apocalypse, promising a unique blend of horror and superhero action. While the gory source material provides the primary inspiration, the series draws from a much more unexpected well for its narrative structure and tone. In an exclusive interview with ComicBook, showrunner Bryan Andrews and Marvel Television head Brad Winderbaum revealed the surprising cinematic influence that shaped Marvel Zombies, a choice that stemmed directly from the decision to place a specific young hero at the center of the carnage.
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“It was pretty early on because when we looked at the pieces on the board, you know, she was in a perfect position,” Andrews said about selecting Ms. Marvel (voiced by Iman Vellani) as the protagonist of Marvel Zombies. “Because the timeline of things happening right around, like [Avengers] Infinity War. You know, she’s extra young. She hasn’t had her other adventures yet, so she’d be like this new green, naive, hopeful, rosy-eyed person getting these powers with this onslaught of death all around her, like the most horrible circumstance. It seems to work well within the genre, having the young, idealistic character, and like, can they weather this storm?, You know what I mean? So it was pretty early on.”
The decision to anchor the story with Ms. Marvel provides a powerful narrative contrast, dropping a character defined by her optimism into the MCU’s most brutal and bloody landscape. The series will follow her as she navigates a world of the undead alongside other survivors, facing off against powerful zombie villains like the Scarlet Witch while allies like Blade take on new mantles, such as the Fist of Khonshu. Ms. Marvel’s position as a young hero thrust into a world-ending conflict makes her surprisingly similar to another iconic character, the hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood). This comparison is no accident, as the creative team behind Marvel Zombies looked directly to The Lord of the Rings for inspiration.
How Is Marvel Zombies Compared to The Lord of the Rings?
A sprawling fantasy epic is not the most obvious point of comparison for a superhero zombie show steeped in gore and horror. After all, Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels is celebrated for its grand scale, intricate world-building, and earnest depiction of good versus evil. Yet, the core premise of both stories is strikingly similar. Each follows an unassuming and unexpected hero who must undertake a perilous quest against insurmountable odds. Just as Frodo had to journey into the heart of enemy territory to destroy the One Ring, Ms. Marvel must find a way to survive and fight back to prevent her world from being completely engulfed by darkness.
“Brad and I always looked at this kind of like our own fantasy epic,” Andrews explained. “Yes, it’s horror. But we kept looking at it more like a fantasy adventure, right, a quest. And so we kind of referenced her in a way like, ‘It’s a little bit of a Frodo,’ and we have the 9, the Fellowship [of the Ring], right, whether our numbers exactly match the 9, you know, depending on what episode you watch. There are 9, and sometimes there are fewer. That was the idea, that we wanted to have that kind of questy feel, and she felt like just like Frodo, ‘I’m not ready for this. I’m not prepared for this.’ We felt like she could be that kind of character.”
Marvel Zombies is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ on September 24, 2025.
What do you think of using The Lord of the Rings as the main inspiration for Marvel Zombies? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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Image courtesy of Lucasfilm
