Marvel Studios’ Head of Streaming, Television and Animation Brad Winderbaum just confirmed that the company's upcoming project, Marvel Zombies, is going to be "pretty intense," and will likely necessitate a TV-MA rating. We already knew this show was going to be bloody, but it looks like it'll be even more graphic than we thought.
Winderbaum revealed as much in a recent interview with IGN about X-Men '97, where we asked him if Marvel might delve more into the growing genre of adult animation.
"In terms of more mature animation, yeah, we're making a Marvel Zombies show right now that is pretty intense that's for sure a TV-MA show," he said.
Comparing it to X-Men '97, he added, "And again, it's trying to honor the comics. And what was so great about the comics was it not pulling its punches. That's certainly what we're going for on that project also."
Comic fans got a sneak peek at what some of their favorite heroes would look like among the undead in Season 1, Episode 5 of What If...?, when the Avengers are infected with a quantum virus that starts a full-on zombie apocalypse. The episode ends on a suspenseful note that left many wondering if they would see more of Zombie Thanos or any other post-mortem versions of popular MCU characters, for that matter.
The answer is a resounding yes. During Marvel's animation panel at 2022's San Diego Comic-Con, the company revealed the aftermath of the What If...? cliffhanger is coming in the form of a miniseries called Marvel Zombies, inspired by a five-issue limited comic series of the same name. The animated show will feature zombie variations of heroes like Yelena, Kate Bishop, Red Guardian, Jimmy Woo, Death Dealer, Shang-Chi, Ms. Marvel, and Ikaris in all their brain-hungry glory.
Without getting too specific, the Marvel team hinted to convention-goers that the show will have all the "gore and splatter you want from a zombie show."
That's not completely out of left field for Marvel, which had its first official TV-MA-rated show earlier this year with Echo. That TV-MA rating is defined by the FCC as "intended to be viewed by mature, adult audiences and may be unsuitable for children under 17."
Marvel has also dabbled a bit in adult animation in recent years, with a couple of shows released on Hulu in 2021: M.O.D.O.K. and Hit-Monkey. Marvel Zombies will also be a short entry into the MCU canon, executive producer Zeb Wells told ComicBook.com in an October 2022 interview. The upcoming series will only have four episodes, making it shorter than just about every other Disney+ series in the MCU (with an exception possibly being I Am Groot, which has ten four-six-minute episodes).
Marvel Zombies is currently scheduled to be released on Disney+ sometime in 2024. As for what the series may imply for the future of adult animated content in the MCU, we'll just have to wait and see.
Katie Reul is a freelance journalist whose entertainment reporting has been featured in IGN and Variety.
