Marvel Zombies is a comic series that was published from 2005 – 2006 and in the first season of Disney+’s What If… we saw an episode based on Marvel Zombies. Zombie Captain America also has made appearances at California Adventure during Oogie Boogie Bash
The world of Marvel Zombies i a world is where things after the events of Infinity War had gone awry and we now have a world where Avengers are now zombies and our heroes can’t be trusted.
While Marvel Zombies is perhaps the most popular example of putting it beloved characters in a world run over by zombies, we’ve seen it many times since such as with the good, Afterlife with Archie where Riverdale is run over by a zombie horde. Here with this one, the zombie apocalypse is accidentally set off by Hank Pym trying to save his wife from the quantum realm and becoming infected.
This is the zombies episode of What If… which I did not rewatch for this as I didn’t feel the need to. I did read up the Wikipedia article for this episode to remember what happened. This was a limited miniseries with all four episodes released on September 25th. This is a fine miniseries but I have one minor…. Major complaint.
Wanda is my favorite MCU character, I love the depth that was given to her in WandaVision as that is favorite MCU thing ever. I was fine with her being the villain in Multiverse of Madness as it made sense considering her arc as a fallen hero. But dear lord, please please please please stop making Wanda a villain. I get it, this isn’t the same Wanda as the one from the original MCU timeline as the Zombie world is it’s own place showing how things could’ve gone differently but Wanda being a villain once was fine as she was shown as as a tragic figure. But here, there really isn’t much of a tragedy to her as she is just shown as a manipulative. Which yeah, I get but why her? You couldn’t have used different character and instead had to use one of the Avengers who had been through the most Hell. I’m just so tired man, I love Wanda and her character means a lot to me. So seeing her as a villain again is frustrating. One time, I get it but twice is really pushing it. I’ll still use the typical categories I use when covering villains but FFS Marvel stop making her a villain
First Appearance
Zombie Wanda who is known as the Queen of the Dead in this show is a threat that looms large but is not present in the first two episodes which is fine as the first two episodes are more about showing how much this world has fallen to shambles under the zombie apocalypse. We follow a ragtag group of heroes including Kamala Khan who serves as the main character (which is wild considering her show was so family friendly and this is TV-MA), Shang-Chi, Blade who seems to have taken on the mantle of Moon Knight.
So yeah, it’s a journey through this rundown world and we don’t see Wanda until the third episode when our heroes reach New Asgard and at first she seems normal but knowing she was a zombie and advertised as the main villain, I was dreading this.
Understandably, our heroes we’re on guard seeing Wanda as again, she’s known as the Queen of the Dead but she claims she had found a way to use her powers to heal herself much in the same way she constructed the tv world of Westview, she was able to change her appearance and healed herself. But it’s all a facade as she was infected and is indeed a zombie but unlike the other zombies we see throughout the series, she isn’t brainless. She’s actually quite smart and manipulative.
Personality
So, this is a good segue into how Wanda is depicted in this series. The last time I covered Wanda on this series, I talked about how her anger at everything she lost caused her to lash out and she was a fallen hero which made sense to me considering everything she lost. Here though. I feel like there is no buildup to Wanda becoming the villain. It feels like it just happened and it’s just frustrating as a Wanda fan y’know.
This show presents Wanda as manipulative and deceptive which whatever. Now being fair, the show this is spun off from has presented other MCU heroes as villains such as Hank Pym as Yellowjacket and Doctor Strange becoming Strange Supreme when the grief of losing Christine is too much for him to handle.
I guess to me, the difference there is with someone like Stephen Strange, we hadn’t seen him as a villain before whereas Wanda being presented as a villain is a tired and worn out trope at this point. Again, we had already seen this in Multiverse of Madness and Wanda paid for her sins. Seeing Wanda as a villain again feels like the MCU just hates this character and doesn’t know to use her. Where’s Jac Schaffer when you need her?
Yes, I am frustrated by this because Wanda is my favorite MCU character and seeing my favorite character being done dirty again. Making her a villain one time was fine but a second time, eugh. Yes, she was introduced as a villain in Age of Ultron but she was redeemed and yes she was the villain in Multiverse of Madness but she sacrificed herself to pay for her sins.
Oh but I can hear some of you say, this isn’t the same Wanda as the main timeline MCU Wanda and that is true but she is based on that Wanda and is voiced by Elizabeth Olsen so, I think it’s fair game to compare this version of Wanda to her mainline counterpart. It’s just time and again, seeing your favorite character being dragged time and again gets old.
Most Evil Deed
I have so many options I could go with but imo I have to go with what we see when Wanda first appears in New Asgard. She is introduced as an ally to the Asgardians leading them to believe that Wanda wants to work together with them to stop the zombie apocalypse. This is another ruse of Zombie Wanda’s (Zombda? Nah!).
She had a provided a hearty feast of delicious food and to the Asgardians, this comes across as a sign of goodwill. But remember, Wanda can make constructs and this is the case here. They were feasting but not on food, Wanda had disguised the remains of dismembered zombies as food as a way to zombify the Asgardians. She did this to strengthen her zombie army. I am jut so tired man!
I know, I know this isn’t the same Wanda I love but compare what she did her to he construct she created with her grief when she plunged Westview into a sitcom dystopia, the audience could understand r motivation considering what she lost. But here, Wanda is treated as a purely evil villain and will no sympathetic tendencies. Or heck spoilers for Agatha All Along, we find out The Witches’ Road is a construct Billy made that was born out of desperation to find his brother. I have nothing against villains that are evil just to be evil but when a character who had fought alongside the Avengers being treated as a villain instead of the hero she is, is draining y’know.
Grand Desire
This part was a bit confusing to figure out but apparently she needed Kamala’s powers as after a fight between Spider-Man, Black Panther, and a zombified Thanos, the infinity stones went all over the world and cipher was needed to keep the power contained so Bruce Banner gave up his humanity and the Hulk became the cipher.
So apparently, Wanda needed Kamala as her powers could allow to reach the infinity Hulk as fans are calling it and seems as though she wanted to start the world anew but seeing how sketchy she is and that the show ends on a cliffhanger, I’m not exactly sure what her end goal was.
Fate
As of right now, it seems as though Wanda has won but seeing as this is only one season and there are talks of a second season, who’s to say. And true horror villains are more likely to get wins. She traps Kamala in a world where the zombie apocalypse never happened but it is a false reality as Kamala sees images of Riri and Kate (Ironheart and Hawkeye) who died in the first episode with Riri telling Kamala to fight it.
Is The Queen of the Dead a Good Villain?
I don’t care. I just don’t care! The Queen of the Dead could be the greatest MCU villain of all time but stop doing Wanda dirty like this. I’m tired of covering my favorite MCU character on a series about villains. Oh sure, I could’ve ignored covering her and perhaps I should’ve but hey every once in a while you need to vent.
Join me next time as I close out this Halloween by looking at the MCU’s personification of
Death
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You share my disappointment in Wanda constantly being used as a villain. It’s played out and really needs to stop.
It really does. I was okay with it in Multiverse of Madness but enough already