One of the most standout episodes of What If…? season one was episode 5, simply titled “What If… Zombies?!” It imagined an alternate Avengers: Infinity War in which Bruce Banner returns to Earth to discover that it’s become a post-apocalyptic wasteland where many of his fellow heroes have been transformed into flesh-eating monsters⏤with various other familiar faces meeting similar ends during the half-hour.
Based on the Marvel Zombies comic books, it felt like there was a lot more to explore in this universe, so fans were delighted by the news that a Marvel Zombies animated series was on its way, as revealed during last Friday’s Disney Plus Day celebrations. That initial announcement was all we got about the show, though, so we have a lot of questions about it, but at least now we can confirm that it is indeed a spinoff of What If…?
Speaking on the latest episode of the This Week in Marvel podcast, the studio’s head of streaming, television, and animation, Brad Winderbaum, briefly summed up the new project. “Of course, we revealed that we’re doing a series about Marvel Zombies, continuing the universe that was set up in What If…?” he stated, before comparing the spinoff to how the comics’ Zombies-verse was established in the Ultimate series, which led to its own book written by The Walking Dead‘s Robert Kirkman. Winderbaum teased that the show will “take a look at that universe with a different lens.”
What If…? episode 5 ended with the Hulk staying behind to battle a zombie horde, leaving his fate in question. Meanwhile, Spider-Man, Ant-Man’s head, Black Panther, and Doctor Strange’s Cloak traveled to Wakanda, which they believed to be a safe haven, but the cliffhanger revealed that it has been conquered by an Infinity Gauntlet-wielding Zombie Thanos.
With any luck, we’ll get a resolution to that jaw-dropping ending when Marvel Zombies eventually rises from the grave.