Warning: This story contains spoilers for Marvel Zombies.
Long live the Queen of the Dead.
Marvel Zombies — streaming now on Disney+ — follows a desperate group of survivors as they face off against super-powered undead. Like any good zombie story, this four-part Marvel Animation series is a twisty tale, marked by moments of humor and some very, very gruesome battles. (That zombie Namor fight, gah!) But as the series unfolds, each new chapter makes it clear that no one is safe, culminating with a devastating final episode.
That’s right: The zombies win.
The final episode of Marvel Zombies finds a dwindling group of human survivors battling the Queen of the Dead herself, a zombified Wanda Maximoff (voiced by Elizabeth Olsen). Accompanied by her horde of reanimated soldiers, Wanda’s goal is to claim the power of the Infinity Stones, which have been absorbed by the Hulk. The survivors put up a valiant fight, but in the end, the Scarlet Witch reigns victorious, and she invites Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) to join her, using their shared powers to “save” the world.
Kamala reluctantly agrees, and the landscape suddenly shifts. Kamala wakes up at her home in Jersey City, where everything has seemingly returned to normal. Her family is there and safe, as are her friends Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) and Riri Williams (Iman Vellani). But as the trio sit there sipping boba, something is wrong. Kamala sees reality begin to glitch, as she realizes that it’s just another one of Wanda’s illusions. She sees (a still human) Riri struggling against an army of zombies, and she warns Kamala that everything is not as it seems.
Director Bryan Andrews and Marvel Television head Brad Winderbaum tell Marvel.com that they always knew Marvel Zombies would end with a dark twist.
“It’s a classic end to this type of genre,” Andrews explains. “There’s always something either bittersweet or dark at the end. So, we wanted to leave it at that. In early versions, it was going to be even more subtle. Somewhere along the lines after talking with our editors, we came up with what we eventually got. We’re not trying to hide the football. We [wanted to make it clear]: Something bad has occurred!”
Their goal was to unsettle the viewer and leave fans with a lingering sense of dread, ending the episode with a close-up of a screeching, undead Wanda.
“It’s ballsy, right?” Andrews continues. “It’s like Empire Strikes Back. It’s these movies that end with a certain big question, where it makes you go: ‘What! You can’t end it there. What happens next?’ Leaving them with a ‘what happens next?’ is great. Then, they can write Marvel and demand more!”
“And please do!” Winderbaum adds with a laugh.
In fact, Andrews and Winderbaum say they have plenty of ideas about where Marvel Zombies could go next. A second season has yet to be announced, but the filmmakers already have a long list of characters and potential storylines they’d like to bring to the screen.
“Developing this thing, there was too much story than could be contained,” Andrews adds. “So, there’s a number of big ideas that were just carved right on out — but we can just jump right in again and continue.”
“Bryan and I will just lose hours on the phone sometimes just talking about characters and what they’re up to that we didn’t get to put in [the show],” Winderbaum adds.
Sounds like the Queen of the Dead’s story may not be over just yet.