Wikipedia

Marvel Zombies

This article is about the comic book series. For the television series, seeMarvel Zombies(miniseries).For the comic book, seeMarvel Zombies(comic book).

Marvel Zombiesis a five-issuelimited seriespublished from December 2005 to April 2006 byMarvel Comics.The series was written byRobert Kirkmanwith art bySean Phillipsand covers byArthur Suydam.It was the first series in theMarvel Zombiesseriesof related stories. The story is set in an alternate universe where the world's superhero population has been infected with a virus that turned them into zombies. The series was spun out of events of thecrossoverstory-arc ofUltimate Fantastic Four,where the zombieReed Richardstricked hisUltimate counterpartinto opening a portal to the zombie universe only for the latter to contain the former from ever coming to his universe.

Marvel Zombies
Cover ofMarvel ZombiesparodyingSecret Wars(2006), hardcover collected edition, art byArthur Suydam
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
ScheduleMonthly
FormatLimited series
Genre
Publication dateDecember2005 – April2007
No.of issues5
Main character(s)Zombieversions of Marvel Comics characters
Creative team
Written byRobert Kirkman
Artist(s)Sean Phillips
Letterer(s)Randy Gentile
Colorist(s)June Chung
Editor(s)John Barber
Ralph Macchio
Collected editions
Marvel ZombiesISBN0-7851-2277-X

Following an adaptation in the episode "What If... Zombies?!"of theDisney+animated television seriesWhat If...?,an upcoming animated miniseriesof the same nameis in development.

Publication history

edit

While writingUltimate Fantastic Four,Mark Millardecided to introduce an alternate Earth populated byzombiesin the "Crossover"story-arc, featured in issues #21–23.Marvel Comicsliked Millar's idea so, as he wrote the issues, Marvel sought out pitches for aspin-offminiseries featuring that world entitledMarvel Zombies.[1]To revisit the zombie world, Marvel hiredRobert Kirkmanto write andSean Phillipsto illustrate it. Kirkman was Marvel's first choice to writeMarvel Zombies,an offer Kirkman immediately accepted because of his love for zombies and Marvel comic books, feeling that he couldn't pass up such an opportunity. He also expressed excitement upon learning which artist would be in charge of illustrating the series; Kirkman was a longtime fan of Phillips' work, like inDC Comics'Sleeper.[2]Kirkman also didn't fear beingtypecastedas "the superhero guy" or "the zombie guy" due to his work on the series, feeling that there was enough variety in his superhero work to keep things interesting.[3]

Kirkman wrote the series in a way that would work for readers who hadn't read theUltimate Fantastic Fourissues featuring the zombified superheroes, despite noting that readers of that series would have more insight with spin-off's characters, especiallyMagneto,due to his larger role in the first issue. Comparing the protagonists with the "slow moving, mindlessRomerostyle zombies "he used inThe Walking Dead,Kirkman reasoned that the Marvel characters, either heroes or villains, retained their usual personalities and powers, only driven to devour flesh by their uncontrollable hunger, with the miniseries depicting how they deal with their hunger and how they interact with each other. Like other types of zombies, it was decided to establish how the zombified Marvel characters could specifically be killed in the story's context. Kirkman also added someblack comedyto the story, and included some gore like most zombie stories do, expressing some shock at how Marvel allowed him and Phillips to incorporate those elements.[2]An early idea Kirkman had for the series involvedLuke Cagesurviving the zombie plague as the sole human protagonist, given the character's unbreakable skin and that Millar's scripts didn't explicitly identify some characters separately. However, after seeing the finished art for Millar's issues, Kirkman discovered thatGreg Landhad already drawn Luke Cage as a zombie, and the idea was dropped, which Marvel originally objected to.[1]

To illustrate the miniseries, Phillips used an art style similar to that he used onEd Brubaker'sSleeper.As the story was asequelto theUltimate Fantastic Fourstory featuring the zombie infested world, Phillips kept the look of the characters consistent to how Land drew them, with Phillips drawing them with the same costumes Land gave them but with Phillips' own style. He particularly liked to illustrate the zombie versions ofThorandCaptain America.Drawing the superheroes as zombies was the most difficult part of the process for him, as he had grown accustomed at drawing characters in street clothes but was forced to draw their muscles in spandex costumes again. Overall, Phillips enjoyed working with Kirkman in the series, feeling that the most enjoyable part of the process was "playing around" with the huge character cast Kirkman assembled.[2]

Plot

edit

Within theMarvel Multiverseis an alternate Earth designatedEarth-2149,which contains alternate zombie versions of Marvel superheroes. The story begins as anunknown superherofrom another dimension, brought by the "Hunger", crash lands before infecting theAvengers,X-Men,Fantastic Fourand almost all other superheroes. The infection spreads by contact with the blood of the victim, usually through a bite by an infected individual. Thezombiesuperheroes largely retain their intellect, personality and superpowers, and are able to function regardless of the damage to their brain,[4]although they are consistently driven by the "Hunger" for human flesh.

The series begins where theCrossoverstory-arc ended, withMagnetodestroying the cross-dimensional transporter after theUltimate Fantastic Fourand survivors escaped back to the Ultimate universe. After a battle with the zombies, Magneto learns that theAcolytesandForgeare still alive onAsteroid M.However, before he can reach them, he is attacked once again, killed and eaten by the zombies, though he manages to behead the zombifiedHawkeye.TheSilver Surferarrives on Earth and informs the zombies that his masterGalactusis en route to devour the planet. The zombies attack the Silver Surfer, who is overpowered and devoured by several of the former superheroes:Captain America,Iron Man,Giant-Man,Spider-Man,Luke Cage,theHulk,andWolverine.After acquiring a portion of the Power Cosmic, they slaughtered most of the remaining zombies, intent on satiating their hunger despite the latter's unpalatability.

The Acolytes return to Earth to find Magneto, but instead, discover a still-livingBlack Panther.The Panther has escaped from the lab of the zombie Giant-Man, who has been keeping him alive as a food source, as a result of which the Panther is now missing an arm and a foot. ZombieWaspgets into an argument with her husband when she discovers he was hoarding the Black Panther. He promptly decapitates Zombie Wasp by biting off her head, which remains sentient. After observing the Wasp's head begging for the flesh, Black Panther reasons that hunger is more psychological than physical.

Meanwhile, the zombies have decided that the flesh of other zombies just isn't satisfying.Galactusthen arrives on Earth and is attacked by the zombies, but he repels them easily. Giant-Man, Iron Man and Bruce Banner create a device that amplifies the powers they gained from the Silver Surfer, and together with Captain America, Luke Cage, Spider-Man and Wolverine they are able to injure Galactus. The cosmic-powered zombies fight off zombified versions of several supervillains, although Captain America is killed by theRed Skull,and then proceed to devour Galactus. Giant-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Man and Wolverine are then infused with Galactus' power cosmic', the group thus becomes collective Galacti.

Five years later, Black Panther, the Acolytes, and the Wasp, restored with a cybernetic body, return to Earth to find the planet depopulated. Unknown to them, the Zombie Galacti have taken their hunger to the stars. In the final scenes, an intelligent alien race on a distant planet is fearful of the coming of Galactus, as they can see the signs of his imminent arrival in the night sky. To their horror, the Zombie Galacti land on their world instead and immediately begin to consume the populace.

Sequels

edit
Main article:Marvel Zombies(comic book)

Anintercompany crossoverbetween Marvel andDynamite Entertainment,published from May to September 2007 provided information as to the source of the zombie infection in the five-part limited series titledMarvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness(Marvel) andArmy of Darkness(Dynamite). In July of the same year, aone-shotgraphic novel,Marvel Zombies: Dead Daysprovided more story details, and the zombies also appear in a three-part storyline inBlack Panther(vol. 4) #28 – 30, although they make their appearance in the last page of #27 first, and encounter theEarth-616Fantastic Four.

A sequel to the original series, the five-issueMarvel Zombies 2,was published from October 2007 to February 2008, andMarvel Zombies 3a four-issue series, commenced October 2008.Marvel Zombies 4is a four-issue limited series published over the summer of 2009, and features characters from Marvel's horror comics (Man-Thing,Morbius the Living Vampire,Werewolf by Night,andMephistoamong others).Marvel Zombies 5is a five-issue direct sequel toMarvel Zombies 4,published in June and ending in October 2010.Marvel Zombies Returnis a five-issue miniseries begun in September 2009, and is a direct sequel toMarvel Zombies 2that wraps up the original zombie plotline. Several other sequels and spin-offs have been produced.

In 2006, the October issue ofWizardmagazine featured a one-pageMarvel Zombiescomic by artist Sean Phillips called "Eat the Neighbors". It parodiedHostesspastry advertisements featured in the Marvel titles in the 1970s, which showcased Marvel superheroes defeating villains by offering them snacks. In this instance, Spider-Man, Captain America and Iron Man serve two children as "Hostees Meat Pies" after the children mistake them for legitimate superheroes.

Another humorous one-shot comic book was also published in 2007 featuring the alternate universe animal heroSpider-Hamand titledUltimate Civil War: Spider-Ham.Spider-Ham accidentally crosses over into Earth-2149 and becomes, asJ. Michael Straczynskiputs it, "Undead Ham".[5]

Secret Wars(2015)

edit

The Marvel Zombies universe was featured in the 2015Secret Warsstoryline where it also had its own tie-in miniseries,[6]Age of Ultronvs. Marvel Zombies.The Battleworld domain of the Marvel Zombies is called the Deadlands where it, Ultron's domain, Perfection, and Annihilation's realm, New Xandar, all are separated from the other Battleworld domains by a wall called SHIELD, which is mostly made from Ben Grimm.[7]The zombies and Ultron's drones spent several years battling until they formed an 'alliance'. They start by targeting the Deadland resistance, led by surviving heroes the Vision, Wonder Man, and Jim Hammond, who gather those exiled beyond the Wall into a secure city they have established. At the time of the attack, the three heroes have managed to rescue a version of Hank Pym exiled from a Wild-West-era zone,[8]who is able to use his counterpart's notes to devise a means of shutting down the hive mind of Ultron's drones despite his more primitive background, at the cost of sacrificing the Vision and Wonder Man to make the machine work (although Wonder Man's android lover is reconfigured so that she can die in Hammond's place).[9]

During the coreSecret Warsminiseries,Black Pantheruses the zombies as an army to attack the now-all-powerful Doctor Doom in the final stand, using his new 'King of the Dead' status and the Siege Perilous to take the zombies directly to Doom's castle,[10]although even this number is merely a distraction to keep Doom occupied while Reed Richards targets Doom's power source.[11]

Collected editions

edit

There are severaltrade paperbackscollecting the various stories:

Other related collections include:

Merchandise

edit

There is a range of supporting merchandise based on the characters. Diamond Select have produced Marvel ZombieMinimates,[12]action figures[13]and a number of mini-busts.[14]

Wizkids'HeroClixhas had appearances of zombie versions ofSpider-Man,Captain America,Hulk,andWolverineas Chase figures in the "Supernova" set. In the "Mutations and Monsters" set, there was an Iron Man, Giant-Man, Spider-Man, and a Galactus-Powered Wolverine. There was also a Janet Pym bystander token in the "Mutations and Monsters" set. More recently HeroClix released a Zombie Villains series of figures. These includedDeadpool,Kingpin,Rhino,Green Goblin,Electro,Doctor Octopus,Venom,Sabretooth,andJuggernautfrom the "Deadpool" set. Additionally, a generic Skrull,Super-Skrull,Mole Man,Morbius,Gladiator,Red Skull,Magneto,Doctor Doom, and a Zombies Team Base were released in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" set. The "Wizkids Marvel" set contains a zombie Galactus colossal figure, which does not have the same Z-Virus keyword as the rest of the Marvel Zombie characters. These newer Z-Virus figures are all of rare 'Chase' or 'Convention Exclusive' with the exception of Headpool who is also the only figure who does not fit on the Zombies Team Base.

CMON or CMON Limited (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMON_Limited) put on Marvel Zombies – A Zombicide Game on Kickstarter in January 2022. It was funded in February 2022 and shipped in June 2023. The line is two core games Marvel Zombies – A Zombicide Game, and Marvel Zombies: X-Men Resistance, both in massive boxes each with 6 Super Heroes and 6 Zombie Heroes, Bystander figures, various cards and tokens, plastic dashboards, double-sided tiles, 6 dice and additional contents including a Rulebook. The line also has four expansions in smaller boxes: Clash of the Sinister Six, Fantastic 4 – Under Siege, Guardians of the Galaxy and Hydra Resurrection, each with additional Super Heroes and Zombie Heroes (https:// cmon /product-line/marvel-zombies-a-zombicide-game/andhttps:// cmon /products/marvel-zombies-heroes-resistance-2/). Part of the Kickstarter campaign were also a Marvel Zombies: A Zombicide Game – Promos Box, the Sentinel Strike, and the massive Marvel Zombies: A Zombicide Game – Galactus the Devourer Kickstarter exclusives, including even more Super Heroes and Zombie Heroes. The four expansions also had more Kickstarter exclusives, adding to the number of with Super Heroes and Zombie Heroes (https://boardgamegeek /boardgame/351817/marvel-zombies-a-zombicide-game/expansions). In addition to this is also a Marvel Zombies: Heroes' Resistance from 2022, not a full core game, but a stand-alone game with 6 Super Heroes and 4 Zombie Heroes, as well as Bystander and zombie cardboard standees, and 4 Experience Dials instead of the plastic dashboards (https://boardgamegeek /boardgame/366023/marvel-zombies-heroes-resistance). The game is played much like the standard Zombicide game, however either playing as Super Heroes against Zombie Heroes and zombies, or Zombie Heroes against Super Heroes and SHIELD. Missions are either in Hero Mode or Zombie Mode. The gameplay in fact follows the comic books and the game feels very thematic all in all. However, like in the standard Zombicide games, the plastic game figures are not painted as the HeroClix figures.

In theVs. Systemtrading card game,the Marvel Zombies have three cards in the tournament Promo set Age of Apocalypse. If a player won the tournament where they came from, he or she would get a copy of Spider-Man as a Zombie. If a player comes in second place, he or she would get a card of Captain America. All participants got a copy of the Marvel Zombies card. The zombies in the game had a unique theme of destroying themselves to activate an effect. At the end of the turn, they would return to play.

In other media

edit

Television

edit

Video games

edit

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^abCronin, Brian (February 5, 2016)."Comic Book Legends Revealed #561".CBR.RetrievedAugust 25,2021.
  2. ^abcRichards, Dave (October 11, 2005)."Dead Man's Party: Kirkman & Phillips talk" Marvel Zombies "".CBR.RetrievedAugust 25,2021.
  3. ^Frisch, Marc-Oliver (December 17, 2011)."Interview with Robert Kirkman".Comicgate.RetrievedAugust 25,2021.
  4. ^Robert Kirkman (w), Sean Phillips, June Chung (a), June Chung (col), Randy Gentile (let).Marvel Zombies,no. 1, p. 12/1 (2005). Dan Buckley.
  5. ^Newsarama: JMS ON SPIDER-HAMArchivedMarch 2, 2007, at theWayback Machine
  6. ^"Newsarama | GamesRadar+".July 6, 2023.
  7. ^"Marvel | GamesRadar+".March 3, 2023.
  8. ^Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies#2
  9. ^Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies#5
  10. ^Secret Wars#8
  11. ^Secret Wars#9
  12. ^Marvel Zombies Minimates Boxed SetArchivedApril 2, 2015, at theWayback Machine
  13. ^Diamond Select turns Marvel Zombies into action figuresArchivedFebruary 6, 2009, at theWayback Machine,Newsarama,February 9, 2007
  14. ^DST Brings Captain America Back from the GraveArchivedMarch 11, 2011, at theWayback Machine
  15. ^Hipes, Patrick (November 12, 2021)."Disney+ Day: All The Streamer's Film & TV News From Premiere Dates To Series Orders".Deadline Hollywood.Archivedfrom the original on November 12, 2021.RetrievedNovember 12,2021.
  16. ^Penagos, Ryan; Cink, Lorraine;Iglehart, James Monroe(November 12, 2021)."First Look at Disney+: X-Men '97, Spider-Man details!".This Week in Marvel(Podcast). Event occurs at 24:52–25:14.Archivedfrom the original on December 10, 2021.RetrievedDecember 15,2021– viaSimplecast.– viaBaculinao, Michael (November 17, 2021)."What If...? Producer Confirms Marvel Zombies Animated Series Setting".Epicstream.Archivedfrom the original on November 17, 2021.RetrievedNovember 27,2021.
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marvel_Zombies&oldid=1270588528"