Marvel Zombies Spoiler Review: Brutal Deaths and MCU’s Darkest Story

Marvel Zombies is a four-episode, TV-MA animated miniseries on Disney+ that continues the universe seeded by What If…?’s “Zombies?!” episode. It follows Kamala Khan and a rag-tag group of Phase 4/5 heroes trying to survive and — crucially — find a cure for the zombie plague that has turned many MCU icons into ravenous undead. The Queen of the Dead — a zombified Wanda Maximoff — is the primary antagonist. (Release: Sep 24, 2025.) 

Episode-by-episode spoiler breakdown

Episode 1 — “After the Fall” (setup, survival beats, first losses)

• We rejoin an MCU Earth five years after the outbreak. The surviving core group includes Kamala (Iman Vellani), Riri (Dominique Thorne), Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), Yelena (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian/Alexei (David Harbour), Jimmy Woo (Randall Park), and others who have become hardened scavengers/raiders in this wasteland. 

• The episode establishes the rhythm: travel to known MCU hubs, scavenge for tech or supplies, be ambushed by zombified heavy hitters. We get gruesome takes on classic heroes — e.g., undead Cap reduced to a torso but still deadly — underscoring that “super” doesn’t equal safe. TVTropes and early recaps list several callbacks and grisly beats here. 

• The first major emotional hook: Kamala’s desperate determination to find a cure (or at least hope) for the living, and her growing surrogate-family bonds, particularly with Red Guardian. This episode sets the tone: stakes are real, and comfort is rare.

Episode 2 — “Close Quarters” (character work, a brutal reveal)

• This episode digs into team dynamics. The Kamala–Kate–Riri trio get genuine screen time — banter, training, small domestic moments — so when things go sideways the emotional impact is stronger. Iman Vellani as the heart of the series; Episode 2 is where that resonates hardest. The undead threat becomes more tactical: disguised ambushes, zombified versions of usually reliable allies, and a mounting body count. We also see the show leaning into horror setpieces (close, claustrophobic fights that play up gore).

Episode 3 — “All Is Lost” (losses mount, Blade/Khonshu twist)

• Stakes escalate. Several supporting characters are killed in ways that remind viewers the show will not politely sidestep violence for nostalgia’s sake. The episode includes the show’s most wrenching personal loss(s) — character names omitted here if you’d prefer less spoilery — but Reddit reactions and recaps make clear this is where the emotional toll lands hardest. 

• A striking reinterpretation: Blade is reintroduced not as Mahershala Ali’s live-action Blade but as “Blade Knight,” now an avatar of Khonshu, channeling Moon Knight’s mythos. Vocal performance by Todd Williams gives Blade a savage, supernatural edge in this world. That creative mashup is one of the series’ bold tonal gambles. 

Episode 4 — “The Queen & The End” (finale, epic battle, and the twist)

• The finale goes big. After three episodes of repeated survival beats, Episode 4 opens up into an Avengers: Endgame-scale confrontation where the survivors attempt a decisive strike against the Queen of the Dead—Wanda—who has become the focal point of the plague. Reviewers called the battle sequence show-stopping and cinematic in scope. 

• Crucial reveals about Wanda: she’s not a mindless monster. Even as a zombie, she retains an intelligence and purpose. Her actions suggest a perverse mercy — creating an illusionary reality for the remaining living or trying to stop them from resisting (different outlets parse it differently). The “Wanda as Queen” concept is the emotional and philosophical heart of the finale. 

• The ending sequence is deliberately divisive: after massive loss and sacrifice, the show closes on an ambiguous/bleak note. One reading (favored by multiple explainers) is that Wanda, corrupted by the virus and perhaps warped further by grief, has looped the survivors into a controlled illusion — a twisted attempt to spare them pain by trapping them in a fabricated “peace.” Another reading: her actions are strategic control to quash resistance and make the world easier for the infected to consume. ComicBookMovie, ScreenRant, and other analyses lean into the WandaVision echoes — the false-comfort motif — when interpreting the finale. 

Who dies (major casualties)

I’ll be blunt and list the big losses most outlets and fan threads confirm: several supporting heroes — some recognisable MCU faces reimagined as terrifying undead opponents — are dispatched in grisly ways across episodes 2–3. The series spares a few of the main emotional cores (Kamala and Riri survive into the finale), but numerous fan-favourite cameos are used to amplify horror rather than nostalgia. TVTropes and recapper sites catalog the most shocking deaths (e.g., the surprising taking of Kate and other notable moments). 

Expanded Death / Zombification List (Confirmed & Implied)

Survivors / Likely Survivors

• Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) — remains alive through the finale and is central to the closing sequence. 

• Riri Williams (Ironheart) — also survives; she and Kamala wake in the “reality flicker” scene in the ending. 

• Wanda Maximoff / Queen of the Dead (Scarlet Witch, zombified) — survives as the central antagonist, retaining agency and control. 

Wanda — the Queen of the Dead: motive, method, meaning

• Motive: Wanda’s motivations are filtered through both grief and infection. The show suggests that Wanda’s original trauma (ala WandaVision) is amplified: the zombie virus fused with her reality-warping instincts, producing a “mercy” that looks monstrous — either granting an endless, controlled illusionary peace to the living or simply enforcing a permanent end to resistance. ScreenRant, ComicBookMovie, and others highlight the WandaVision parallels and the “illusion as shelter” reading. 

• Method: Wanda uses a mixture of psychic dominance and the undead horde to remake the world. She’s the only undead who retains full agency, making her the central antagonist rather than a generic boss-zombie. That difference is what separates the show from the Kirkman/Phillips comics and grounds the series’ final act. 

• Meaning: Thematically, Wanda’s choice forces the show’s survivors (and viewers) to confront whether an effortless, controlled “peace” is preferable to a brutal but real life — and whether agency matters when survival is impossible. The bleak ending asks: is freedom worth unbearable pain? Or is a false peace preferable? That moral ambiguity is the series’ most interesting leftover, even if the show doesn’t spend equal time interrogating it. 

Key themes & tonal choices (and whether they work)

1. Consequences and mortality: The series strips Marvel’s usual plot armor. That’s cathartic and occasionally moving; it forces characters and viewers to accept finality in ways the live-action MCU rarely does.

2. Character-first horror: By using Phase 4/5 characters, the series explores relationships the films introduced but rarely developed — and those interpersonal beats give emotional heft to several deaths. Iman Vellani’s Kamala anchors the heart of the series. 

3. Missed philosophical opportunity: The show abandons the most provocative idea from the comics — sentient, morally challenged superhero-zombies — choosing instead to follow a more conventional survival-horror template. That decision makes the show more accessible but less philosophically daring.

Animation, gore, and design — strengths and limits

• The cel-shaded, What If…?-adjacent look sometimes flattens faces in quiet scenes, but the style flexes spectacularly in action. When the pace ramps, the visuals become wildly kinetic — almost anime-like in motion — which elevates the finale’s large-scale battles. Multiple reviews noted the contrast between quieter characterization and explosive action sequences as one of the show’s aesthetic highs. Gore is explicit and unapologetic — this is Marvel’s TV-MA experiment, and it leans fully into it. 

Fan and critical reaction — split but engaged

• Critics are mixed-to-positive: Rotten Tomatoes early numbers sat in the 60–70% range with audience scores stronger (mid-80s); consensus: smart character work and a show-stopping finale offset some formulaic middle episodes. Fan forums are full of heated discussion about the ending and how far the show goes with beloved characters. 

What this means for the MCU & possible Season 2 hooks

• Short term: The series demonstrates that Marvel can successfully do TV-MA animated fare that treats stakes seriously. It’s also proof that Phase 4/5 characters can be compelling when given concentrated screen time. Several outlets (and Marvel producers) have hinted that renewal depends on audience numbers; the finale’s open questions practically beg for a follow-up. 

• Longer term: Because the show sits on the fringes of the main MCU continuity, its tonal and narrative choices aren’t guaranteed to bleed into live-action — but the characterization wins here could influence how Marvel writers treat these newer characters going forward (if the studio chooses to lean into deeper relationship work). The finale’s ambiguous fate for the world and Wanda’s method are obvious hooks for Season 2 or other tie-ins. 

Final take (spoilered verdict)

Marvel Zombies is messy, bleak, and at times profoundly effective. It pays off emotionally by taking risks — killing what the mainline MCU protects — and focuses on a roster of characters who finally get to act like a team under pressure. The cost is predictability in the first half and a choice to sidestep the comics’ most subversive idea (intelligent infected heroes). The finale lands as a high-risk, high-reward gambit: if you’re willing to live with an ending that’s morally ambiguous and intentionally cold, the ride is worth it.

At its blood-soaked core, Marvel Zombies is as bleak as it is brilliant. By daring to break its own toys, the MCU finally feels dangerous again — and the finale cements this miniseries as one of Marvel’s boldest experiments to date.

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