Marvel Zombies was first announced at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con, as part of a splashy "Marvel Animation" slate reveal. Things went quiet after that as these shows seemingly took longer to produce than expected.
X-Men '97 and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man have since premiered, of course, and this What If...? sequel is finally set for release this fall. It follows an episode titled "What If... Zombies?!" which saw several fan-favourite heroes, including Spider-Man, fight off a whole host of undead fan-favourites.
Now, we have a first look at Funko Pops for Marvel Zombies, with the biggest talking point being the reveal of Mahershala Ali's "Blade Knight." Returning from What If...? are the undead Hawkeye and Captain America, though the latter appears to still be without his legs.
While Ali had a brief voice cameo in 2021's Eternals, the Daywalker's solo movie remains stuck in limbo after being announced at Comic-Con over six years ago. When Ali recorded lies as this Moon Knight Variant, we'd imagine the intention was for us to have already met him as Blade by the time Marvel Zombies aired.
If the Blade movie fails to materialise, then Ali's MCU work could boil down to Eternals' confusing, unresolved post-credits scene and what his role as a vampire and zombie-hunting Moon Knight in Marvel Zombies. On the plus side, our latest update was a positive one.
Disney doesn't typically release trailers for its MCU TV shows until around a month before they premiere, and while we may get something this week, a first look at the series likely won't drop until next month.
In February, Marvel Studios' Head of TV, Streaming, and Animation, Brad Winderbaum, revealed, "Hudson [Thames] has been our animated voice for Spider-Man in the MCU so far. In What If...?, in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and he also plays Spider-Man in Marvel Zombies, which comes out Halloween time this year."
With that, Thames joined a cast which already includes Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Awkwafina (Katy), David Harbour (Red Guardian), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Randall Park (Jimmy Woo), Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), Hailee Steinfeld (Hawkeye), Dominique Thorne (Ironheart), Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel), and Todd Williams in a mystery role.
Bryan Andrews directs Marvel Zombies from a teleplay by Zeb Wells. Executive Producers include Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt, Wells, and Andrews. Danielle Costa and Carrie Wassenaar produce.
A brief synopsis has been revealed, but only states, "From Marvel Animation, 'Marvel Zombies' comes in time for Halloween in October 2025." We've since learned that Marvel Zombies premieres on October 3, 2025.