A new fan trailer has imagined what a movie based on Marvel Zombies might end up looking like. Taking place on an alternate Earth, the series sees a zombified Sentry crash land on the planet after arriving from another dimension and infect the world’s heroes. Their powers allow the virus to be spread far faster than is typically seen, and before long, the planet is overrun.
The footage of the trailer is taken from existing MCU movies, but the ostensible context of it being a zombie tale cleverly transposes it in the mind of the viewer to that of a horror film, interspersed with some shots from World War Z that cement the new setting. Included are moments from the scene prior to the climax of Iron Man after Obadiah Stane steals the arc reactor in Stark’s chest that keeps him alive, leaving him pale, sweating and near death in a manner that victims of a zombie bite often look right before turning, as well as shots of the Hulk at his most animalistic that mimic the mindless rage of the undead, or the vision of the Avengers lying dead seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Additionally, dialogue is repurposed, such as Black Widow talking of a life of endless killing, along with a couple of voiceover lines lifted from I Am Legend, and the ubiquitous BRAAAHHM from the Inception trailer, that discordant orchestral crash that signifies mounting danger.
In the comics, the infection is spread by bite and comes with an insatiable desire to consume human flesh. Unusually, the infected retain their personality and mental state, although both begin to deteriorate the longer they go without eating, the need to feed eventually overriding all other considerations. They also retain any superhuman powers other than healing, although those who do have such an ability, such as Wolverine and Deadpool, are less susceptible to the virus.
There are currently no plans to make a Marvel Zombies movie, and given the filming complexity and star power it would require it would probably work better as an animation. That being said, the story might be visited in the forthcoming alt-reality series What If…?, and given the perennial popularity of tales featuring ravenous revenants, Marvel could probably do worse than giving a full feature of superhero undead a try.
