The dead clearly haven’t got the message that they’re supposed to stay dead. Following the success of ‘Marvel Zombies‘ in 2025, Marvel Animation is bringing its gloriously gruesome corner of the multiverse back to Disney+, with not one, but three new two-part event series, arriving across three consecutive Halloweens.
The original four-part animated series spun out of the zombie apocalypse episode of ‘What If…?’, taking us into an alternate Marvel universe where Earth’s Mightiest Heroes had become Earth’s Hungriest Heroes. With survivors including Kamala Khan, Shang-Chi and a rather unexpected version of Blade trying to navigate a world filled with superpowered flesh-eaters, the series wasn’t exactly shy about dispatching familiar characters in increasingly horrible ways.
It also left viewers with a rather sizeable cliffhanger, so there are certainly some unfinished stories to explore. However, rather than a conventional second season, Marvel is taking a slightly different approach, with three interconnected specials focusing on different corners of its undead universe.
First up is ‘Marvel Zombies: The Winter Soldier’, arriving for Halloween 2027. This instalment will focus on Bucky Barnes, whose fate has been something of a mystery since the original zombie episode of ‘What If…?’. During that adventure, Bucky encountered a zombified Scarlet Witch, who promptly hurled him away, leaving his ultimate fate unresolved. Marvel Television boss Brad Winderbaum confirmed the new story will explore where Bucky has been during the events of the 2025 series, promising some major surprises along the way.
Given Bucky’s history as a brainwashed assassin, his extraordinary combat skills and that rather useful vibranium arm, he seems better equipped than most to survive the apocalypse. Although, when your enemies include undead Avengers, even having a metal arm isn’t necessarily going to save you from becoming lunch.
Halloween 2028 will bring ‘Marvel Zombies: The Fist of Khonshu’, a title which immediately suggests a return to the supernatural side of the MCU. Khonshu, of course, is the Egyptian moon god responsible for empowering Moon Knight, although the zombie universe has already put its own rather entertaining spin on that mythology.
In the original series, we met Blade Knight, an alternate version of Blade who had taken on the mantle of Moon Knight, complete with Khonshu’s powers. Whether the new special will revisit that particular incarnation, introduce another avatar of Khonshu, or explore something entirely different remains to be seen. After all, in a universe where the dead refuse to stay dead, the Egyptian god of vengeance has plenty of potential recruits.
Finally, Halloween 2029 will see the arrival of ‘Marvel Zombies: The Last Guardian’, which is set to conclude this run of stories. The title, along with its distinctly Guardians of the Galaxy-inspired logo, certainly suggests we’re heading into the cosmic side of Marvel’s undead universe.
But which Guardian are we talking about? Star-Lord? Gamora? Drax? Or perhaps someone considerably less obvious? Given the rather unfortunate fates suffered by various members of the team during the zombie apocalypse, there are some interesting possibilities.
Winderbaum wasn’t giving anything away, teasing, “I won’t tell you who the Last Guardian is, but it’s very, very exciting.”
Returning director Bryan Andrews, who also worked on ‘What If…?’, will be back to oversee the new adventures, and it sounds as though the production team is making full use of the freedom afforded by Marvel’s adult-oriented animated corner of Disney+.
“We’re about halfway through animatics, and it is a blood-splattering good time, but it’s also quite beautiful,” Winderbaum teased. “I still can’t believe Disney+ lets us get away with it.”
Considering the original series featured some spectacularly gruesome superhero deaths, that’s quite a statement. Still, it’s nice to know that even with everything else happening across the MCU, Marvel remains committed to answering that age-old question: what if your favourite superhero tried to eat your face?
All three two-part specials will stream on Disney+, beginning with ‘Marvel Zombies: The Winter Soldier‘ at Halloween 2027, followed by ‘The Fist of Khonshu‘ in 2028 and ‘The Last Guardian‘ in 2029.
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