Spider-Man Is Why Marvel Zombies Became A TV Show, Not A Movie, Producer Reveals
Forced to pivot, Marvel’s animation got sharper—and the stories got better, says Head of Animation Brad Winderbaum.
Marvel Zombies was apparently one big, gnarly movie-length story… until Spider-Man walked in and forced a rewrite. Classic Marvel rights tetris. The end result: a four-episode series that exists because of an inside-baseball legal quirk, and honestly, it might be better for it.
Why the big undead epic became four episodes
Executive producer Brad Winderbaum, who also happens to be Marvel's Head of Animation, said on the Who Let Us Out podcast that the original plan was one sprawling tale. But because of how Spider-Man is licensed, they had to pivot into a half-hour animated format, which meant breaking the story into four chapters.
"We can use Spider-Man in a half-hour animation... That meant we had to take our big epic story and break it into four chapters."
If you are wondering why Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man exists as a Disney Plus animated series, this is the same reason. Sony holds key Spider-Man rights, and Marvel can use the character in half-hour animation. So to keep Spidey in Marvel Zombies, the show had to fit that box. Winderbaum also thinks the structure actually sharpened the storytelling, which is a nice side effect of a very unsexy legal hurdle.
So what is this version of Marvel Zombies?
It is set in an alternate corner of the MCU that reimagines the familiar Earth-616 as overrun by the undead. Think parallel-world spin on the main continuity, but crawling with biters.
- Ms. Marvel — Iman Vellani
- Ironheart — Dominique Thorne
- Kate Bishop — Hailee Steinfeld
- Red Guardian — David Harbour
- Yelena Belova — Florence Pugh
- Shang-Chi — Simu Liu
- Spider-Man — not Tom Holland; Hudson Thames reprises the voice he used in What If...?
More characters? Maybe later
Winderbaum said there are plenty of heroes they are still talking about and would love to include if they get to make more. Director Bryan Andrews backed that up with a very Marvel answer: no spoilers because they do not even know yet, but yes, they have ideas if the door opens.
When and where
Marvel Zombies premieres on Disney Plus on September 24. Four episodes. Half-hour format. Lots of limbs.