Marvel Zombies
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Marvel Zombies is a Marvel Comics miniseries about an alternate version of the regular Marvel comics world in which all of the superheroes and supervillans have become flesh-eating zombies. The series was written by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Sean Phillips, with painted covers by Arthur Suydam. The title "Marvel Zombies" is a play on the pejorative term used for Marvel Comics fans.
Story
\"Crossover\"
Marvel Zombies is a continuation of the Ultimate Fantastic Four by Mark Millar and Greg Land, where the Ultimate Reed Richards was tricked into using a teleporter, transporting him into the universe inhabited by the zombies, who had run out of food. Reed is saved by Magneto, one of the few remaining survivors, who explains that the infection started only a few days ago after an infected superhero (the Sentry) from yet another dimension, crashed into New York City looking for more food. Magneto is able to use the teleporter to send Reed and the other few survivors back into Reed's dimension. Magneto chooses to stay behind and sacrifice himself by destroying the teleporter, making sure that the zombies won't invade and infect other realities (it is implied that, up to that point, the zombie outbreak had been spreading through universe after universe in a seemingly endless cycle).Miniseries
The miniseries starts with Magneto surviving the explosion, but seemingly being the only non-infected person around. Colonel America (never a Captain in this universe) attempts to throw his metal shield at Magneto. However, this attack is easily deflected back and subsequently slices off a portion of the Colonel's head. Unaffected by this, the zombies continue their pursuit and eventually catch and eat Magneto.It is revealed that there are 12 other survivors (the Acolytes) on Asteroid M. Based on dialogue in issue #2, there may be human survivors out west. Hank Pym (Giant-Man) has been using T'Challa (Black Panther) as a sort of larder, keeping him in a containment tank heavily drugged. The Infected have eaten everyone on the planet (that they can find, anyway) and are all afraid of eventually going hungry, so Hank was "rationing out" the still-human Black Panther by cutting off pieces of him to maintain a fallback food supply (already having cut off his right arm and half of his right leg).
The Silver Surfer (as the herald of Galactus) arrives on Earth and promptly informs the zombified heroes that Galactus is on his way to devour this planet. The zombies engage in combat with the Silver Surfer, eventually overpowering him and subsequently devouring him. As a result of this, the heroes discover that eating the Surfer grants them each a small amount of the Power Cosmic, enabling them to fly, among other abilities.
The Black Panther escapes along with the Wasp's severed, yet still alive head (that Hank Pym had bitten off and spit out in a prior argument) and meets up with the Acolytes, who were looking for Magneto. After having defeated them with the Wasp's unwilling help, he is met by the mutant Forge, who believes he survived the plague and can construct prosthetic limbs for the Black Panther.
Shortly hereafter, Galactus arrives on Earth and announces that he will devour it. The zombies attempt to conquer Galactus as well, but quickly learn that, even with the Power Cosmic, they are no match for Galactus, after which they retreat. Hank Pym, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner begin creating a device which will hopefully overcome Galactus and grant them more "food", while the rest of the zombies bide their time. They also make the discovery that they can re-eat bits of what they have already eaten, which helps fight off the hunger (making the process of thinking intelligently easier).
Upon completing the device, they return to Galactus wielding it, only to notice that several zombified villains (mainly Spider-Man villains) are incessantly attacking Galactus, who appears to be somewhat weakened. Using the device to amplify the powers they gained from the Silver Surfer, they blast a ray at Galactus, critically injuring him.
A battle ensues as the heroes and villains fight over the fallen Galactus. The only survivors are Spider-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Giant-Man (Hank Pym) and Wolverine. Colonel America was "killed" when the zombified Red Skull ripped the remainder of his brains out. Together, they attack the weakened Galactus and consume him.
The story then skips ahead five years when the group aboard Asteroid M set foot on Earth again to discover it covered in plantlife and devoid of the living or undead. When contemplating what happened to the zombified superheroes, it is shown that they left with the cosmic power they gained from eating Galactus.
The story ends with the remaining Marvel Zombies descending upon an alien planet as the new Galactus.
\"Frightful\"
The story is set to continue in the Ultimate Fantastic Four comic series with "Frightful" in which the zombified versions of Fantastic Four (aka the Ultimate Frightful Four) are unleashed and only Dr. Doom can help.After Marvel Zombies
Zombie Wolverine appears to be on a team of six alternate-reality Wolverines in the upcoming Exiles issues #85-86.In an article on the website Newsarama.com, Joe Quesada says that when he asked fans what they would like next in the genre of Marvel Zombies, an unnamed and unidentified fan screamed "Marvel Apes!", and Joe loved the idea[link]. This is generally assumed to be a joke however.
Main characters
Zombies
Living characters
- Magneto and his Acolytes
- *Fabian Cortez
- *Lisa Hendricks
- *Reynolds
- *Joanna Cargill
- Black Panther
- Silver Surfer
- Galactus
- Forge
Continuity with Ultimate Marvel Universe
The series takes place right after Ultimate Fantastic Four #23 (Crossover). The ending of Marvel Zombies #5 is set to tie-in to Ultimate Fantastic Four #30 (Frightful).[link]Differences with regular Marvel continuity
The Ultimate Fantastic Four arc and the Marvel Zombies series have revealed some minute differences with the "regular" Marvel universe:
- Captain America is known as "Colonel America" on the Zombie Earth. Issue #2 revealed that he had been President of the United States, but not for a full term.
- The Silver Surfer and Galactus appear to have never visited the Zombie Earth before the events of the series. In Marvel Zombies #2, the Silver Surfer warns the zombies of Galactus's coming, but none of the characters understand what he is talking about.
- There are also some implied continuity differences with relation to the zombification process of certain characters. These characters (heroes and villains) would seem not to have exactly the same set of powers they do in the standard Marvel continuity. For example, the Juggernaut is seen in a zombified state in the series, however it is known that the Cyttorak gem that powers him makes his skin essentially invulnerable, as well as obviating the need for him to eat, drink, sleep or breathe (it should be noted that, in the 616 universe, Juggernaut's powers have been greatly reduced, and he has lost this invulnerabilty. It is therefore possible that the same thing happened to the Juggernaut in this universe).
- The Acolytes Hendricks and Reynolds have never been seen in the main reality, though their 616 counterparts could be among the many unnamed Acolytes.
Parody covers
The cover of each issue of the Marvel Zombies mini-series parodies a famous story cover from Marvel history, albeit in a bloody and violent manner. All covers are done by Arthur Suydam.
- Issue #1 parodies Spider-Man's first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 with a skeletal Spider-Man carrying a corpse.
- *The second printing variant cover for issue #1 parodies Todd McFarlane's Spider-Man #1 - the other characters trapped in his web also appear to be homages to various comic covers, including Captain America in his crucified pose from the cover of Avengers Vol. 3 #37.
- *The third printing parodies Amazing Spider-Man # 50, the classic 'Spider-man no more!' cover which inspired the script to the Spider-Man 2 film. In the preview, the spider-symbol seen on the back of Spider-Man's costume is the same version that appears in that movie but the actual comic has the classic insignia. Disturbingly, swirling images of unnamed Marvel Zombies can be seen in the red sunset background, including, to the right of zombie Spider-Man's arm, zombie Green Goblin.
- *The fourth printing parodies The Incredible Hulk #1. As with the Ultimate Fantastic Four cover below, it features actual humans (General "Thunderbolt" and Betty Ross).
- Issue #2 parodies Captain America's first modern appearance from Avengers #4. The Avengers are undergoing substantial decay, and Colonel America's severed scalp has become a nest for baby birds. Thor is no longer merely holding his hammer - his muscles are so reduced that he is staggering under its weight.
- Issue #3 parodies the cover of Incredible Hulk vol. 1 #340 with the Hulk reflected in the claws of a decaying Wolverine. Also of note is both characters chewing on eyeballs.
- *The second printing parodies Daredevil #179, in which a rotting Elektra holds up Daredevil's mask with her sai.
- Issue #4 parodies the cover of X-Men #1 with a decaying team of X-Men battling Magneto. Of note is Cyclops carrying his own head, Iceman throwing skull-shaped snowballs, Angel with bloodied wings, Pre-Fur Beast's hands separating from his arms on the swing and Marvel Girl's torso being separated from her waist. Magneto seems to be defending himself from being eaten by the zombie X-Men.
- *The variant cover for the 2nd printing of this issue parodies the cover from Amazing Spider-Man #39, in which the Green Goblin's identity is first revealed. The finished cover has the Goblin holding a fork.
- Issue #5 parodies the cover of Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21, in which Spider-Man married his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson. Spider-Man is now holding his bride's half-eaten corpse, the heroes and villains in the background are decaying, and the Spider-Man shaped heart in the background has a bite taken out of it.
- *The variant cover for the 2nd printing of this issue parodies the cover from Silver Surfer #1.
- A variant cover for Ultimate Fantastic Four issue # 30 parodies the cover of Fantastic Four #1. Most important is that it is the first Marvel Zombies cover released to clearly feature a human - Sue Storm in a dress and pose reminiscent of actress Fay Wray in King Kong.
- A variant cover for Ultimate Fantastic Four issue # 31 parodies the cover of Fantastic Four #51; the classic "This man...this monster!" story. Again, Sue Storm is still a human. What this signifies is yet to be explained.
- A variant cover for Ultimate Fantastic Four #32 parodies Fantastic Four #8, the issue that sees the first appearance of the Puppet Master. Again, Sue Storm is portrayed as completely human.
- The cover of the collected harcover edition coming out in August will parody the Secret Wars #1 cover.
- A poster for the Heroes Convention Charlotte, based on Captain America #100.[link]
Trivia
- In an interview with Newsarama, Mark Millar spoke about the original plans for the series, stating, "I'm glad Robert Kirkman was drafted in to do the Zombie spin-off instead of me (as was the original plan) because he did a far better job. Axel had coined the “Marvel Zombies” name for the spin-off and my high concept for the book was much straighter, the Punisher being the last human against all these super-zombies who wanted to eat him. But Robert just knocked the ball out of the park and made the book his own." [link]
- Originally, the superhero that brings the zombie plague across the dimensions was to be Superman.[[Citing sources citation needed]]
- Thor carries a makeshift version of his classic hammer, made from a concrete block and pipe. The inference is that Thor is no longer worthy to carry Mjolnir, having become undead.
- Though the zombified heroes and villains appear to otherwise retain all of their powers (and, unlike most zombie characters to date, still have their full intelligence and personality), the infection seems to completely block pain and severely reduce enhanced healing abilities. This has been seen with the zombified versions of The Hulk, Wolverine, Colonel America and Deadpool.
- In Marvel Zombies, it is possible to gain the Power Cosmic by cannibalizing those with it. Through devouring the Silver Surfer; Spider-Man, Colonel America and the others were able to gain a portion of his power. After consuming Galactus, the group gained more of the Power Cosmic.
- For much of the series, it was unclear what would destroy a Marvel zombie. The characters had suffered various forms of damage, including dismembering, beheading, and removal of the heart to no avail. Giant-Man noted that the characters still appear to be decomposing, and the Wasp was still able to survive as just a head. The classic method of killing a movie zombie is to damage the head; though Colonel America survived Magneto's scalping, Banner theorized that this was just because he did not lose a fatal-sized chunk of his brain, and some was still intact. Later, Colonel America was destroyed when the Red Skull ripped out the rest of his brains. Also, the group that had cannibalized the Silver Surfer had been able to burn most of the other zombies into a final death with their cosmic rays.
- Curiously, the mutating virus has affected only costumed characters, regardless of whether or how they possess powers (or the superpowered zombies overtook all non-powered ones). Zombies include superhumans (Captain America, Spider-Man and Tigra), mutants (Wolverine and Archangel), Inhumans (Black Bolt), Atlanteans (or at least Namor the Sub-Mariner, as seen in the Ultimate Fantastic Four arc), mystic characters (Ghost Rider and the Juggernaut), aliens (Captain Marvel and Super-Skrull) and costumed humans without powers (Iron Man, Shang Chi and the Vulture). Curiously, even the android Vision was seen with the zombies in Ultimate Fantastic Four, although this may have been a result of artistic license. Apparently, the plague doesn't affect symbiotes. It is stated in issue #5 that Venom's costume has been dying since Eddie Brock was no longer a suitable host.
- The Wasp is rather stealthy in this series, sneaking up on both Magneto and Giant-Man. However, a careful reader can see her hovering in the background before appearing.
- This alternate dimension has been nicknamed "Earth-666" by Marvel comics fans. Officially, Marvel has labelled it as Earth-2149.
External links
- [Newsarama: Talking Marvel Zombies With Robert Kirkman]
- [Marvel Zombies' Official Myspace]
- [Batman Zombie IGN]
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