There will undoubtedly be a lot of monsters and other creatures headed to theaters for spooky season, but the MCU is also providing some frights for the small screen with its highly anticipated Marvel Zombies. The new horror show is based on the comic of the same name and hit the 2025 TV schedule on September 24. Critics had the opportunity to screen all four episodes of the miniseries, they mostly had fun with this gory take on our beloved superheroes.
Set in the alternate timeline introduced in the animated series What If…? (available to stream with a Disney+ subscription), Marvel Zombies centers around a group of survivors who must fight superpowered zombies to save the world. Jesse Schedeen of IGN rates it a “Great” 8 out of 10, saying that while it’s formulaic at times, Marvel Zombies satisfies in a way the MCU hasn’t in recent years. The critic continues:
The fun character dynamics and the fact that the series is far better than the regular MCU at building bonds among the various Phase 4 and 5 characters are enough to make Marvel Zombies worth watching. The series finally casts aside that formula in the finale, which delivers an epic showdown to rival the likes of Avengers: Endgame. If the MCU’s Multiverse Saga is leaving you feeling cold of late, Marvel Zombies serves as an unlikely but welcome alternative.
Amon Warmann of Empire gives the show 4 out of 5 stars, saying Iman Vellani stands out in this gory and inventive MCU expansion that doesn’t quite stick the landing. In Warmann’s words:
The animation frequently levels up when depicting brutal, no-holds-barred fight sequences, especially when it comes to characters with huge power levels. ... Frustratingly, though, it doesn’t quite stick the landing. With alternate universes, you can take big risks, and ultimately the final moments of Marvel Zombies play things way too safe. It’s an underwhelming ending to a really fun ride.
Alex Maidy of JoBlo rates Marvel Zombies a “Good” 7 out of 10 and calls the upcoming Marvel TV show the most violent MCU project to date. The critic says the miniseries would be better as an ongoing anthology like What If…?, but fans should enjoy the four episodes all the same. Maidy writes:
I had fun with this storyline, the focus on Ms. Marvel, Ironheart, and Hawkeye, and the incorporation of countless characters and references from the MCU at large. … As a quick binge, fans will have fun watching for easter eggs and callbacks, but those watching Marvel Zombies for what it is will find a solid horror story wrapped in a mash-up of comic book lore and zombie tropes. Marvel Zombies is a fun watch, just in time for Halloween, that makes good use of the concept despite the potential to be so much more.
Jarrod Jones of AV Club gives it a C-, noting that the upcoming zombie series is at its strongest when our undead Avengers weaponize their superpowers, but Marvel Zombies ultimately has “plenty of gore but no guts.” In Jones’ words:
The result is an ambitious, if busy and ceaselessly quippy, miniseries that demands some labor from its viewers. Without keeping meticulous pace with MCU Phases Four to Six, several open Wikipedia tabs might be needed to understand who’s who and why they matter. That’s Marvel Zombies: a TV-MA spectacle rife with squishy sound effects and digital viscera, with stakes intelligible only to the canon obsessed.
TechRadar’s Tom Power is also left wanting, writing that the series’ brains don’t match its hyperviolent brawn. Power rates the series 3 out of 5 stars and says:
Marvel Zombies will go down as another missed opportunity in the comic book titan's animated universe. When it get things right, it's terrifically terrifying, gloriously gruesome, and sumptuously somber. However, its story, like the undead that inhabit this MCU-adjacent universe, though, rots from the inside out, leading to a TV series that's occasionally good, rarely great, and increasingly irritating to watch.
There seems to be some good and bad from every critic regarding Marvel Zombies, but at less than 40 minutes per episode, this quick binge sounds like a fun way to see Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi and other MCU favorites in unique new ways — if you don’t mind a little gore.
All four episodes of the new MCU miniseries can be streamed now on Disney+.
