Marvel Zombies Episode 1 Review

New York City

The series begins with Kamala Khan, Riri Williams and Kate Bishop scouring New York City for anything to survive during the zombie apocalypse. This is interesting as none of these three characters had been introduced when the first season episode of What If…? that inspired this series first aired. As the pair hunts, they are being tracked by Clint Barton’s Hawkeye who is works for Wanda Maximoff who is essentially the queen of the zombies. While scavenging, a quinjet comes crashing down and the three end up finding some tech to fight the zombies inside the pilot’s body. The three escape with it and then must decide what to do next.

Fleeing to Ohio

The trio decide to take the tech to a SHIELD base in Ohio. This leads to an argument with Kate Bishop being in favor of going, Riri Williams being opposed to going and Kamala Khan agreeing with everything the other two are saying. Their travels get interrupted as zombie Okoye and Captain Marvel bring hordes of fellow zombies on the three remaining humans. They have teamed up with Hawkeye who became a scion for Okoye to try to stop anything that’s not a zombie. During the fight, Ikaris, the former leader of the Eternals comes down and it’s clear that he’s been infected, even though he is an inorganic rather than a zombie. Kate Bishop busts out a trick arrow she retrieved from Hawkeye’s attempt to capture them earlier, and it turns out to be a confetti arrow. Captain Marvel is unfazed and kills Kate. Riri is bitten by a zombie and has to test an antidote on herself. And Riri’s AI, Friday, flies Kamala to safety until she’s knocked unconscious while being rescued by a stranger on a motorcycle.

Photo of hawkeye from marvel's what if...?

BladeKnight

That stranger turns out to be BladeKnight. In this universe, Blade has become the avatar of Khonshu. Blade explains that Moon Knight had been killed in the plague and he took up the mantle from his fellow Midnight Son. He also understands the importance of the tech Kamala has and will help guide her safely to Ohio, but he can’t take her to her friends who are now in a place called the Valley of the Broken Gods. They arrive in Ohio to find an army of zombies outside the facility but a human voice calls to them to help them get through.

ATTACK ON THE SHIELD BASE

The SHIELD base is run by Red Guardian, Melena and Yelena Bolova. They analyze the tech and determine it’s a communication device intended to contact the NOVA corps. They reference the Wakanda Event which links back to the end of the What If…? episode. Meanwhile, BladeKnight informs them the zombies have caught up to them. Okoye arrives with zombie versions of Abomination, Ghost, Hawkeye and Captain America. Red Guardian gets the fight he’s always wanted with Captain American (well half of him), and Melena ensures Kamala, Red Guardian, Yelena and BladeKnight escape. She’s temporarily able to control the horde of zombies until Okoye regains control and kills her. BladeKnight is able to dismember zombie Ghost proving impressive and helpful. Melena told Red Guardian to protect Kamala and now he and Yelena are working together with BladeKnight and Kamala to get her to space, but they need a ship.

What’s Next?

BladeKnight told the team he knew where to get a ship, but now the team must find a way to get there while a zombie apocalypse continues to ravage this version of the MCU. This is a series with a lot of gore and some big names will fall by the wayside. Kate Bishop, Ghost, and Melena are already gone. Plus, there’s a reference to something bad that happened in Wakanda. The What If…? episode ended with Black Panther, Spider-Man and Ant-Man’s head with Dr. Strange’s cloak arriving in Wakanda at the same time as zombie Thanos. It’ll be interesting to see how they turn that from there.

I’m willing to be a lot more of our heroes die or become zombies along the way. Plus it’ll be interesting to see who is chosen to still be human and who turns. This is looking like a fun, spooky season ride.

Check out Marvel Zombies streaming exclusively on Disney Plus.