Marvel's greatest heroes and villains into bloodthirsty monsters.
From crossovers with Ash from The Evil Dead, to fights with the dastardly Ultron, the Marvel Zombies storyline has taken fans on a roller coaster ride over the years. In all, the twelve miniseries that encom Marvel Zombies so far, have all done their best to scare the wits out of unsuspecting readers.
Age Of Ultron Vs. The Marvel Zombies (2015)
Age of Ultron vs. The Marvel Zombies allowed Marvel to mash up two of their most infamous baddies into one terrifying miniseries. Set in the wastelands of Battleworld, Hank Pym is sent into the zombie infested landscape to save whoever hasn't been eaten or destroyed.
The Marvel Zombies aren't the main focus of the series and it gets somewhat bogged down in the complicated Battleworld storyline. For Marvel Zombie fans though, it is a unique treat to see them do battle against a worthy opponent like the Ultrons.
Marvel Zombies Destroy! (2012)
The Marvel Zombies gave writers a chance to dream up nightmarish scenarios that cross dimensional boundaries. Marvel Zombies Destroy! follows Dum Dum Dugan as he teams up with Howard the Duck to stop an army of Nazi zombies from infiltrating other universes.
As silly as the plot sounds, it is actually a compelling use of the Marvel Zombies mythos. The addition of Howard the Duck was a nice touch, and his partnership with Duggan is one of the funniest friendships in Marvel comics.
Marvel Zombies Supreme (2011)
Outside of the main Zombies storyline, many of the miniseries stood as isolated stories that were somewhat self contained. Marvel Zombies Supreme features Jill Harper as she attempts to stop several zombified superheroes from escaping a Project: Pegasus facility that was experimenting with the virus.
Certainly more horror-oriented than a lot of the other miniseries, Supreme pulls no punches in the blood and guts department. Returning the series to its roots, the five issue set reminds readers that the Marvel Zombies are still one of the most powerful villains in the universe.
Marvel Zombies 5 (2010)
By the fifth installment in the spooky Marvel Zombies universe, it seemed as if every dark corner of possibility had been explored, however, writers still managed to present a new nightmare for fans. Morbius sends a rag-tag group of heroes into other dimensions to retrieve samples in order to study the virus.
With goofy heroes like Howard the Duck leading the way, the miniseries is a romp through five different styles of zombie. Each alternate universe pulls inspiration from the likes of Sam Raimi, and several other notable takes on the zombie phenomena.
Marvel Zombies 4 (2009)
In a meeting of the monsters, Marvel Zombies 4 presented a battle between the best of the bad, in one team-up. Morbius leads the Midnight Suns on a mission to stop a small zombie outbreak, only to learn that the evil villain, The Hood, plans to use the virus to destroy all superheroes.
Watching notable monsters like Morbius and Deadpool's severed head, is one of the funniest ideas to come out of the entire Marvel Zombies universe, and it carried over into other books as well.
Marvel Zombies: Resurrection (2019-2020)
Over a decade since their debut in the comics, the Marvel Zombies showed that they still had power when they appeared in Marvel Zombies: Resurrection. The zombified body of Galactus arrives on earth and sparks off a brand new zombie outbreak which leaves Spider-Man and a small group of heroes to save the planet.
Using an alternate universe to essentially reboot the story, Resurrection gives Spider-Man the chance to play hero instead of villain. As is usually the case with the Zombies series, the intrigue of the virus' origins keeps readers engaged between the scenes of horror.
Marvel Zombies 3 (2008-2009)
Marvel Zombies 3 brought the horror home, and set its story on Earth-616, the main Marvel Universe. When zombies attack through the Nexus of All Realities, Morbius leads a team into the zombie dimension to secure an uninfected human to make a vaccine.
Marvel Comics has presented some wild alternate dimensions, and the zombie universe was one of the most frightening. By bringing the zombies into Earth-616, the writers created severe implications for all of the heroes of the Marvel Universe, and it altered the direction that all future Marvel Zombies series would take.
Marvel Zombies 2 (2007-2008)
While they were scary enough to begin with, Marvel Zombies 2 introduced an entirely new dimension of terror to the story. After devouring all life in their universe, the Marvel Zombies decide to rebuild their dimensional portal and set out for new universes to consume.
Years in the future, the now aged Black Panther is cast as humanity's last defense against the zombies, and he seems to be up to the chilling challenge. Unlike the brainless zombies of many films, the Marvel Zombies are extra terrifying because they are capable of outsmarting their opponents, and often do.
Marvel Zombies (2015)
The Battleworld storyline gave writers the opportunity to reintroduce the Marvel Zombies in a different context. The 2015 miniseries known as Marvel Zombies, follows Elsa Bloodstone who is ordered to serve as a guardian to make sure that the zombies don't infiltrate Battleworld. The presence of a human child amongst the zombies spurs her into action to save the little girl.
A strong mix of horror and action, Marvel Zombies was a fresh look at the franchise. Seen from a human perspective, the series returns the zombies to their original state as an un-thinking horde of terrifying monsters.
Marvel Zombies Return (2009)
Most of the Marvel Zombies miniseries told a drawn-out story that played out over all of the issues, but Marvel Zombies Return took an entirely different approach. Each issue of the series focused on one character from Earth-Z, it caught readers up on the whereabouts of Spider-Man, The Hulk, and others.
The continuity of each issue runs concurrently with the others, and though they are isolated stories, the actions of each character has an effect overall. Eventually, the final issue served as the finishing point of all of the story threads, and it tied things cleverly with the original run of Marvel Zombies.
