Review: Marvel’s What If…? “What If…Zombies!?”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

When a zombie plague infects the Avengers, the surviving heroes search for a cure.

Our Take:

The multiverse is full of events that occurred differently than others. Events that lead to either something extraordinary or something ultimately consequential. This part of the multiverse has events that lead to something more terrifying. The halfway point of Marvel’s What If explores a different universe where our favorite heroes become one of the things that fear us more than death itself: zombies.

The episode starts the same way as the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War, with Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) being sent down to Earth and crash-landed onto Strange’s house. However, instead of being greeted by the Sorcerer Supreme, he’s greeted by the zombie apocalypse. It was revealed that Janet van Dyne had been infected with a virus during her time in the Quantum Realm. When Hank finds her, she infects him before returning to the lab, spreading the virus across the world. After encountering the zombified versions of the Avengers, Bruce is rescued by the remaining survivors of the apocalypse.  

The survivors consist of Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Spider-Man (Hudson Thames), Bucky (Sebastian Stan), Okoye (Danai Gurira), Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp), Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), and Kurt (David Dastmalchian). The remaining heroes journey to a survivor camp in Jersey to search for a cure that can destroy the infection and save the world. Upon their arrival, they discover a threat that’s greater and more powerful than the zombie Avengers.

The storyline in this episode happens to be inspired by the Marvel Zombies comic book series, in which our favorite Marvel heroes and villains become mindless, brain-eating monsters. Even though I haven’t read the comics myself, I was interested in seeing this fresh and creepy take on the Marvel universe brought to life in animated form. The best way I can describe this chapter is that it’s Dawn of the Dead with Marvel characters. In fact, it’s the only way I can describe it. While a step down from last week’s episode regarding its horror cliches and emotional depth, this is another fun scenario that offered some originality in its MCU storyline.

One of the major things that worked for me was that it gave some of the supporting characters the spotlight instead of the main protagonists, especially Kurt, who hasn’t had a lot of screen time in the Ant-Man films compared to Scott Lang. Kurt served as the comic relief in this episode, which was surprisingly balanced well with the zombie action. Who knew David Dastmalchian could make Kurt’s fearful personality hilariously attractive? Hudson Thames replaced Tom Holland for the role of Peter Parker, and he admittedly did a remarkable job in manifesting Holland’s portrayal of our friendly neighborhood web-crawler. Spider-Man happens to be the beacon of hope in the devastating zombified world. Even though things look bleak, Peter always finds a way to keep moving with a smile on his face. The episode showcased that important message nicely without becoming too preachy for its older audience.

The story also featured another appearance of Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa, another survivor who is also food for Vision’s (Paul Bettany) infected lover, Wanda Maximoff, following his portrayal of Star-Lord T’Challa in episode two. What more can I say about Boseman’s performance other than the fact that he’s highly talented? The rest of the voice cast was also solid in their roles, ranging from Lilly as Hope to VanCamp as Sharon Carter. The main highlight of the chapter would have to be Spider-Man’s zombie survival video regarding its humor. It gleefully referenced Jesse Eisenberg’s survival guide in the Zombieland films and the zombie genre itself.

Overall, the zombie episode of Marvel’s What If faltered in its emotional core, but it had enough moments in its action, humor, and animation to prevent it from being infected by boredom. It doesn’t hold a candle to what the Doctor Strange episode offered when it comes to the bold storytelling. However, it does deliver an entertaining and beautifully animated story that’s more suitable as a Halloween episode.