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marvel zombies review
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Marvel Zombies review – does the What If spinoff deliver?

Jeffrey Lyles , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Marvel Zombies Ep. 1

A few immediate thoughts on episode 1. The pairing of Kamala Khan, Kate Bishop and Riri Williams (with her Iron Man drone Friday) are a fun combination. Instead of making full Disney+ seasons of this trio, maybe devote one eight-episode season featuring the trio with the first six being two-part origin episodes and the final two somehow bringing them together. Maybe in the season finale have another teen character want to join the gang and call it Young Avengers for their own movie? Just a thought.

Also, it was pretty cool that Dominique Thorne, Hailee Steinfeld and Iman Vellani voiced their characters for the series to show that Marvel Zombies is somewhat important.

The trio have navigated zombie New York for a while when they spot a crashing Quinjet. Its now zombiefied passenger has a transponder in its stomach, which Kamala has to dig out by virtue of losing rock, paper, scissors to Riri. That’s the kind of casual fun possible when you have likable characters playing alongside each other. They can’t stay long and examine the object as Zombie Hawkeye is coming after them.

marvel zombies episode 1

Riri deduces the device is a sub space transponder that needs to be taken to a SHIELD base to decipher its full use. Time for them to make a road trip on Riri’s armored ride — The Uhura. The road trip is interrupted as they get caught in the middle of the Valley of the Broken Gods aka where the Eternal Ikaris battles Zombie Captain Marvel. It feels like Carol Danvers would be a hard one to turn into a zombie…

Kate tries the trick arrow she nabbed from Zombie Hawkeye, but it’s just a confetti arrow. Well, at least she had a mini-celebration before being incinerated by Captain Marvel. Riri gets bitten by a horde of zombies although it sure seems like she has something to stem the infection. Riri has Friday get Kamala clear of the zombies before Friday goes back to the zombie wasteland battle royal with Ikaris and Captain Marvel.

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Just before Kamala passes out, she gets taken by Blade (Todd Williams who channels a mean Mahershala Ali impression), who’s also working as the temporary agent for Khonshu with a pretty sweet Moon Knight-inspired outfit as the Blade Knight. Blade takes Kamala to the SHIELD base protected by a zombie horde under the control of Melina Vostokoff (Kari Wahlgren capably filling in for Rachel Weisz).

Naturally, Melina has Red Guardian and Yelena with her. They’re voiced by their regular actors David Harbour and Florence Pugh, who have found themselves the two busiest actors in the Multiverse Saga.

Turns out the transponder is a way to contact the Nova Corps, who may be able to whip up a cure for the zombie virus. Only catch is the broadcast would have to be made from outer space. That doesn’t sit well with the Queen of the Dead aka The Scarlett Witch who’s sent her scion, the Zombie Okoye (Kenna Ramsey) and her massive zombie horde after Kamala. And she’s got Captain America, Hawkeye, Ghost and Abomination(?) with her.

The SHIELD base has some protection with Yelena’s former Black Widow squad members, who eventually get overrun by the zombies. Red Guardian has a slapstick battle with Zombie Cap. Just once, it’d be nice to see Red Guardian portrayed seriously in a film or show.

Marvel Zombies’ first episode has some solid fights highlighted by that buzzy trailer sequence battle with Blade Knight and Zombie Ghost. Most of our heroes manage to escape, but Melina has to make the sacrifice play and gets skewered by Okoye.

At least Blade Knight knows where to find a ship. Getting there might still be a challenge, however. Beyond the insistence on constantly finding ways to keep Yelena and the bumbling Red Guardian in the spotlight, this was a solid opening act for Marvel Zombies. Strong starts are rarely a problem for MCU shows. It’s the back end and finale that are more problematic.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Photo Credit: Disney

Check out the inspiration for the series with the Marvel Zombies trade paperback available now on Amazon.

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