Marvel Studios’ Head of Streaming, Television and Animation Brad Winderbaum seems to be everywhere these days.
Just recently, he disclosed that the upcoming Eyes of Wakanda animated series will be canon within the sacred MCU timeline continuity and now, he's teasing that the upcoming Marvel Zombies animated series will be taking its inspiration from the original 2005 comic book series from Robert Kirkman (yup, the same guy who created The Walking Dead) and Sean Phillips.
Speaking to IGN, Winderbaum teased, "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. "
"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."
During SDCC 2022, Marvel confirmed that the Zombies animated series would be a spinoff from What If...? season 1, episode 5 "What If... Zombies?!"
The episode envisioned a reality where Thanos' invasion of Earth played out much differently, as Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian arrived on the planet which was already overrun by zombies as Hank Pym had unwittingly unleashed the virus, years prior. The episode ended with a zombified Thanos, wielding a nearly complete Infinity Gauntlet.
In the five-issue 2005 miniseries, the undead Marvel heroes are already established, with a large contingent of the Avengers, X-Men and Fantastic Four inexplicably transporting themselves into an alternate reality in order to satiate their "hunger."
Things become very dire when the zombies get their hands on the "power cosmic" when Galactus and the Silver Surfer make an ill-timed visit.
Furthermore, a subsequent sequel series in 2007 supplied an origin for the zombie virus in the 2005 series.
Through a crossover with Dynamite Entertainment's Army of Darkness series, it's revealed that The Watcher actually caused the zombie invasion through an eternal time-loop, in which an unstoppable Sentry would be sent back in time, over and over again, to restart the zombie invasion.
Based on Winderbaum's comments, it will be interesting to see how closely the new series adheres to the original comic. While the What If...? episode definitely altered events to fit its narrative, there were definitely elements of the 2005 comic series within the episode.
Zeb Wells (Robot Chicken) is leading development of the series, which will reportedly consist of 4 episodes. Wells will write each script while Bryan Andrews (Jackie Chan Adventures) directs.
Andrews previously disclosed that he was unsure of when Marvel Zombies will be released as he stated that Marvel was continuously shifting things around, internally.