What If Season 1 / Episode 5: What If... Zombies!?

[Pennywise]

 

[Still Wynning]

All of the episodes have felt they're being recited by a 10 year who is hyper-charged by a gallon of soda. This particular one was no different and by far the worst of the bunch. Maybe I'm just Marvel'd out at this point - I'm just not getting what I hoped for.

Eh, I don’t quite agree with that. Episode 1, while I did feel the pacing from basically trying to cover the events of Cap 1 in under 30 minutes, was still quite enjoyable for me. Episode 3 jumped from different places a bit quicker than usual, but that was by design because it was a murder mystery with characters racing against the clock to figure out what or who was killing off the Avengers. Episodes 2 and 4 had the best pacing, imho, especially the latter. It helped that it was basically doing its own thing, wasn’t trying to cover a whole film’s worth of story, was allowed to breathe, and only followed and focused on basically just Doctor Strange the entire time.

Episode 5 suffered because it basically crammed 3-4 episodes worth of storylines into a ~30 minute episode without time to process or sit in any moment, with multiple characters it was trying to serve, a whiplash of varying tones all over the place at breakneck speed, quips that felt emotionally dissonant or insensitive to other characters.

If I could apply your criticism about “10 year old hyper-charged by a gallon of soda” to any episode so far, it would be this episode. It’s like if a little kid fueled on sugar saw a reasonably paced arc of a 3-4 episode story, was told to remember and recite everything they saw in under 30 minutes, and made that into an episode of television.

I’m practically talking myself into giving this a lower grade of 5/10 as I write this down. How did this episode as it is even make it past final draft stage? I know they can do better than this because I literally watched the previous episode!!!

 

[JtheDreamer]

If I could apply your criticism about “10 year old hyper-charged by a gallon of soda” to any episode so far, it would be this episode. It’s like if a little kid fueled on sugar saw a reasonably paced arc of a 3-4 episode story, was told to remember and recite everything they saw in under 30 minutes, and made that into an episode of television.

I’m practically talking myself into giving this a lower grade of 5/10 as I write this down. How did this episode as it is even make it past final draft stage? I know they can do better than this because I literally watched the previous episode!!!

 

[Dr. Evil]

I haven't watched since the T'Challa/Star Lord episode. It has nothing to do with MCU fatigue for me, it's the fact that it's an animated series and other than Rick and Morty and Invincible, I don't regularly watch animated shows anymore.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Zyraquis]

The episode is okay, just feels unfinished like missing a third act to conclude either the day is saved or doomed.

 

[Morg]

OK, I laughed at that

 

[Pennywise]

 

[galmorzu]

A lot has already been said about this episode, most of which I agree with. The big thing that stuck out was all the attempts at humor and lightening the mood, including the weird quip from the super stoic Watcher of, "Oof. That happened." Which seemed really out of place for him.

I said to a friend that the non-stop humor felt mandated to keep the show, being animated and probably with the thought kids were watching, from being too dark with dead heroes and people getting eaten, and others dying. I felt like the thought was if they just flood the episode with funny quips and moments and joking that maybe the darker subject matter wouldn't turn people off. To which I say, it kind of ruined what they were going for and I think people could have handled it (and probably made it better).

With that said, this episode was kinda playing around with the timeline of events.

Hank getting zombified rescuing Janet was what set off the outbreak, but that probably happened during or just before Infinity War, but when the Avengers showed up in CA to fight the zombies, Cap and everyone were there, so Civil War hadn't happened yet (so it had to have been before Ant-Man & The Wasp happened). So everyone was already zombified before Infinity War in order for the Black Order to show up and get eaten.

Although Civil War not happening does explain why Spidey never got to join the Avengers.

Then Vision was hanging around treating Wanda in the US, so definitely before he got stabbed in IW, which means he never went to Wakanda to be fixed (especially since the rest of the Avengers were all dead by this point). In that case, why was Thanos in Wakanda with his gauntlet? Besides looking "cool" and being the location people remember him being in the movies, why was he there and zombified at all? And how did he have the time stone if Strange was dead before Civil War?

I know people are saying, it's an episode of zombies eating Marvel superheroes and this is what bothers you?? And kinda, though I do get this is an alternate timeline, but previous episodes did a better job incorporating when things from the movies happened. This just kinda added to the messier storytelling experience because it felt like they just wanted to have more "Oh I remember that scene/place from the movies!" and not actually build a more tangible alt-world with it. A big let down compared to how amazing the previous episode was.

And lastly, I do think the hero zombies using their powers felt weird when normal zombies were the generic dumb shamblers. At least in the comic it was shown they could talk and were sentient, just ravenously and maddeningly overcome with hunger, so it was understandable they could use their powers still. Honestly, I think that route would have made them creepier, because then you could see Cap and Stark were still somewhere in the monsters you saw on screen. Though on second though, that was probably a lot darker than they were willing to go.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[ComicChick]

i'm up and down on this episode but overall enjoyed it. again, this one felt longer than it's runtime, which is a compliment.

i like that there was more of a team up and i like that Sharon got to do a little more than her movie counterpart.

the bucky one liners in regards to cap and falcon's death irked me slightly, but i was wondering if that was his way of detaching the monster his friends had become with who they used to be. like he knew they weren't really killing his friends. or he was channeling some winter soldier card heartedness, i dunno.

 

[ComicChick]

also did i zone out or miss this part but,

why did it take so long for Hope to turn? it seemed like the others were turning practically instantly.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Venom 1988]

also did i zone out or miss this part but,

why did it take so long for Hope to turn? it seemed like the others were turning practically instantly.

Usually it seems in zombie movies, if you get killed by a zombie, you turn right away. If you get nicked or bitten, it takes awhile to turn.

 

[ComicChick]

Usually it seems in zombie movies, if you get killed by a zombie, you turn right away. If you get nicked or bitten, it takes awhile to turn.

thanks. Not really into zombie movies so I didn’t know that. Makes more sense now with how fast Clint and Sharon turned.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Would they merge the "Deadpool kills the Whole Marvel Universe" storyline with "Marvel Zombies?"

Or would zombies be also secondary villains to vampires in a Blade movie?

 

[samsnee]

also did i zone out or miss this part but,

why did it take so long for Hope to turn? it seemed like the others were turning practically instantly.

I chalk it up to her being giant sized so it took longer for the virus to spread.

 

[ComicChick]

I chalk it up to her being giant sized so it took longer for the virus to spread.

didn't she get scratched on the train when she was regular sized?

 

[samsnee]

didn't she get scratched on the train when she was regular sized?

Yes but then she went giant sized. Look it’s science. You can’t argue with it.

 

[Spider-Fan83]

didn't she get scratched on the train when she was regular sized?

technically she was exposed in miniature forum, then noticed once she was regular size, so, the amount of infected blood/or saliva in her system would have been microscopic (also it was said that being bitten is the way of transference, not any little scratch, that it is mainly transferred through saliva) but since she literately exploded a zombie from with in (while she had an open wound) it's reasonable to assume some of the zombies blood/ saliva got into that open wound, indirectly... therefore taking longer, then if she was bitten

cause, why not

 

[Bren]

Damn!

 

[Apollian]

Nah...

What they do with zombies in another film has nothing to do with how they were employed in this episode where they gave zero inkling their zombies had any control other than pure Zombie instinct.

Using tech, weapons and magic that requires some kind of intelligence and skill was incongruous with how they showed the Zombies to be in all other ways but... This episode was chock full of "just cuz" BS to either further the plot or land a joke.


So...

The criticisms writ small of about half of what Marvel Studios puts out.

If the personalities and intelligence of the heroes had been retained in some form as is the case with the Marvel Zombies series of books then fine, but none spoke or showed any glimmer of who they were.

it has everything to do with it, because the fact that we are having this conversation means our understandings over the decades of Zombies have been a person who has lost his or her sense of self-awareness and identity, and cares only for the destruction (or consumption) of any human around, no matter what the circumstances, or cost to his or her self.

but in those films I talked about, including Marvel Zombies, their definition doesn't match those traits. In any zombie movie, there is always a patient zero: the first infected person, that gives us a clue to the way Zombies act.
In Marvel Zombies: Resurrection, the infection began when a majority of the heroes answered a call from Captain Marvel.
it was an intelligent virus that reproduces and consumes like the Brood, so like I said, Zombies aren't what we think they are in the old sense. like in the Zack Synder movie Army of the Dead, it's basically a new life form.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Except these were shown to be just mindless Zombies from the start so... Do you even understand what the criticism is or are you being willfully ignorant or... What?

 

[Mike Murdock]

With that said, this episode was kinda playing around with the timeline of events.

Hank getting zombified rescuing Janet was what set off the outbreak, but that probably happened during or just before Infinity War, but when the Avengers showed up in CA to fight the zombies, Cap and everyone were there, so Civil War hadn't happened yet (so it had to have been before Ant-Man & The Wasp happened). So everyone was already zombified before Infinity War in order for the Black Order to show up and get eaten.

I think the timeline works fine as long as you assume that they all put aside their differences quickly to show up to fight Zombies (so Civil War did in fact happen). Everything else seems to fit fine.

 

[Pennywise]