Planet of the Dead. Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead mixed a wild assortment of different elements as a hybrid zombie-heist movie. The movie also put a completely new spin on zombies by separating them into the more traditional Shambler zombie group and the intelligent and socialized Alphas that reign over the abandoned Las Vegas.
Army of the Dead also brought a new zombie player into the mix with its zombie tiger, Valentine. While the movie explained much more about the Alpha zombies and their leader, Zeus (Richard Cetrone), than it did about Valentine's origins, the latter's presence in Army of the Dead showed how far Zack Snyder is striving to push the zombie universe the film established with radically new kinds of zombies. The movie's sequel, Planet of the Dead could possibly introduce new zombie variants as well, and Army of the Dead's zombie tiger gives reason to think that more animal zombies could be a part of that equation.
What Could Planet Of The Dead's Animal Zombie Be?
With a tiger being the first such zoological zombie seen in the Army of the Dead franchise, the possibilities are more vast than they seem for what the next one could be. The fact that Zeus was created in Area 51 obviously implies the Alphas were intended as weapons from their conceptual stage, and the same obviously applies to an Apex predator like a tiger. If more such zombie animals were created in Area 51, they're likely to be predators of a similar nature. This could mean that lions, wolves, bears, cheetahs, and other such predatory animals could have been given the Alpha treatment as part of the experiments that led to Zeus's creation.
Of course, for human trials like those performed on Zeus to have even taken place, they were almost certainly preceded by similar experimentation on animals, including those either connected to humans or sharing biological similarities. Lab rats and domesticated dogs might have been the first such animals to be turned into Alphas. There is also the distinct possibility that Area 51's scientists began their experiments on different kinds of primates in a lead-up to creating Zeus as the first Alpha. This means that Area 51 could well be home to chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas, and various other primates that were transformed into Alphas in the earliest phases of Area 51's experiments.
Could Alien Zombies Be Next?
On top of more animal zombies, Planet of the Dead could expand the existing zombie canvas even more by having alien zombies enter the picture. It is already well-established that aliens played some kind of role in the eventual creation of Zeus. When it comes to sci-fi movies, Area 51 of all places is the exact location where aliens are frequently seen as the subjects of research and experimentation. The U.S government might have decided to take the Alpha experiments to their greatest extreme by turning captive aliens into zombies alongside Zeus.
Aside from the zombie tiger Valentine in Army of the Dead, the robot zombie creations show the great extent of the tinkering with genetics and robotics that went on in the experiments. Zeus seemingly being part of a kind of zombie Weapon X program also does not sound like something that would draw many human volunteers, but aliens held against their will in Area 51 could have been conscripted into the experiments. These aliens, which would likely show up in Planet of the Dead, might also have been valued even more than the animals and Zeus for their extraterrestrial DNA and other properties.
