Zombies are undead characters that appear in the episode "What if... Zombies?" from the Marvel Animated Universe, appearing in the Disney+ animated series "What if...?".
Personality[]
Zombies from the Marvel Animated Universe are highly aggressive like other cinematic zombies, except that infected superhumans, such as the Avengers, are still capable of using their special abilities. While powered zombies may be difficult to defeat, zombies that were once regular humans roam the abandoned streets looking for food after being infected by the Quantum virus.
Biography[]
Two weeks before the Quantum outbreak, Dr. Hank Pym went looking for his lost wife in the Quantum Realm, unaware that she had been infected by a virus that had corrupted her body and brain. As soon as Hank discovered her in her horrible zombie form, she attacked and infected him, and such was the reason that when they returned, the two attacked those who were waiting for them. Hope Van Dyne (Wasp) was able to get out alive but Scott Lang was trapped with the two and became a zombie.
Within weeks, the virus spread throughout the United States and all the inhabitants of the nation were infected and turned into zombies. The Avengers tried to end the situation, but before they could do anything, the infected Hank Pym bit Captain America and the zombies started attacking the Avengers. Dr. Bruce Banner (aka Hulk) fell into the Sanctum Sactorum to alert humanity about the arrival of Thanos, but to his bad luck, the streets were empty as if there was no one except the Doctor Strange's cape who gave clothes to Bruce.
Going out into the street, Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian appeared, they arrived in search of the Infinity Stones, but at that moment Tony Stark, Doctor Strange and Wong appeared and confronted them. At first Bruce was excited to see them, but after witnessing his not only killing but eating the alien aggressors, he realized that they were no longer the people he once knew. The zombies attempted to attack Bruce, who was making desperate efforts to become the Hulk, however, Hope van Dyne, the Levitating Cloak, and Peter Parker arrived in time and defeated the zombies before taking Bruce to their hideout.
Later, the heroes decided to join forces to find the cure and end the apocalypse, upon reaching the subway, they decided to get on the train and split up. They were attacked by Falcon but they managed to defeat him. However, Happy Hogan was infected by Hawkeye, though the others were able to kill him and flee aboard a subway train.
Later, Sharon Carter heard the footsteps of someone walking on the roof and was attacked by an infected Steve Rogers. Bucky Barnes confronted Steve, catching his shield when it was thrown and threw it right back, slicing the undead captain in half.
The train ran out of fuel, but Hope had suffered a scratch on her shoulder, meaning that she was infected. Before succumbing to zombification, she grew to a giant size to slow down the progress of the virus and sacrificed herself for the heroes to get to the other side of a massive zombie horde. The surviving heroes watched with sorrow as Hope was overwhelmed by the horde. However, the heroes noticed that the zombies didn't come after them once Hope had turned, and realized that Vision had immobilized with the Mind Stone.
Vision revealed that he was able to restore Scott Lang, but not completely since only his head remained. While Barnes ventures into the dark warehouse, he found T'Challa on a stretcher and having only one leg. There, it was revealed that everything was a trap and that the zombified Scarlet Witch was inside. Seeing this, the heroes confronted her and Vision committed a suicidal act by removing the Mind Stone from his head. The heroes took the stone and fled, but the zombies started to chase them once more. Bruce stayed behind to give the others time to escape, transforming into the Hulk and throwing himself into the undead horde.
Later, Peter, Scott and T'Challa flew to Wakanda where they hoped they would be able to produce a cure for the Quantum Virus. However, not only was Wakanda already under attack by a large wave of zombies, but also Thanos had turned into a zombie and possessed a near-complete Infinity Gauntlet.
Curiosities[]
- The "What If... Zombies?" story was inspired by the Marvel Zombies comic books.
- In the comic, Bruce Banner is bitten and infected before he can transform into Hulk. It is unclear if he turns into a zombie in "What If... Zombies?"
- It is unknown to some extent how Thanos could have been infected by the Zombies.
- Throughout the episode you can see two zombies with the same suit that are defeated by the heroes but they reappear as if nothing had happened.