Marvel Zombies ending explained: Who dies and will there be a season 2?

Just like the What If... Zombies?! episode of What If…? that this series adaptation follows, the best thing about these alternative-reality Marvel Zombies stories is that anyone can die at any time, since there’s no concern about maintaining a mainline MCU continuity. What was a surprise, though, was that season 1 didn’t end the story as neatly as we would’ve thought, and left a lot of unanswered questions.

Including who dies, which characters survive, and whether a season 2 is on the cards, everything key to know about Marvel Zombies’ ending is about to be explained.

Marvel Zombies ending explained: What happened?

During the climactic battle in the finale of Marvel Zombies’ four episodes, the efforts of the remaining heroes to protect Infinity Hulk from getting his abundance of cosmic Infinity Stone powers by the zombified Scarlet Witch (aka Wanda Maximoff/the Queen of the Dead/the Red Queen), and her scion army of the undead, end in defeat.

Despite being able to smash his way to victory against zombie Thor, Wanda gets the drop on Infinity Hulk while he’s looking at Kamala, and starts to absorb all the energy of the Infinity Stones within him.

Although it’s easy to wonder how Infinity Hulk could be caught off-guard so effortlessly, since this all-powerful version of Bruce Banner is wielding the powers of all six Infinity Stones and the Hulk combined, this was likely due to his exhaustion and being rusty when it comes to fighting.

After all, he has literally just been sitting in Paris for five years doing nothing but absorbing all that energy. That also seems to be the reason even fighting a zombified Thor was still a challenge, even with all that extra power.

All of the allies of Kamar-Taj have been killed by zombies, Valkyrie has been impaled by zombie Okoye, Blade was incinerated by zombie Thor, Shang-Chi is about to become a zombie due to being bitten again, and Spider-Man and Scott Lang are moments away from being killed themselves.

With that, and being promised reality will be reset to bring her friends back, Kamala reluctantly gives in to Wanda’s demands to lend the Queen of the Dead her powers to help with wielding the energy of the Infinity Stones. Throughout the Marvel Zombies series, Wanda had been after Kamala Khan because of her own abilities via the bangles — allowing the Red Queen to utilise the Infinity Stones’ power effectively after absorbing them.

After Kamala’s powers merged with Wanda’s and the stones’, a huge blast that spread beyond Earth into space ended with Kamala being back in a zombie-free Jersey, with both Kate and Riri still alive. However, it seems like Wanda tricked Kamala after all, as it turns out she’s been trapped in an illusion that’s actually still a zombie-filled earth.

This is revealed by a still-alive Riri in the real world. After surviving her zombie bite with whatever she injected herself with in episode 1, she seems to have eventually tracked down Kamala and hacked her way through Wanda’s facade.

Despite being able to do so for a few moments, while also desperately fighting off zombies at the same time, Riri’s able to make Kamala realise the mistake she’s made – the show ending with the would-be Ms Marvel having a horrified look on her face, followed by a final jump scare showing the Scarlett Witch’s real undead face.

Whatever the exact sci-fi reasons for Kamala’s powers being essential to Wanda’s plans are, the Queen of the Dead seems to need her alive, which is presumably why Marvel Zombies ended without turning Kamala into a zombie herself and keeping her in this dream world.

Who died during Marvel Zombies episode 4?

Quite a few notable characters had already died before and during Marvel Zombies’ first few episodes: including Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Yelena Belova, Kate Bishop, Namor, Melina Vostokoff, Red Guardian, Thanos, Baron Zemo, Ghost, Groot, Rocket Raccoon, Death Dealer, and even Jimmy Woo.

Throughout the finale battle, though, the following heroes had definitely lost their lives by the ending of Marvel Zombies:

• London Master
• Rintrah
• Sara
• Blade
• Thor (zombie)
• Hawkeye (zombie)
• Hank Pym (zombie)
• Janet Van Dyne (zombie)

Did Spider-Man, Scott, Shang-Chi, Katy and Valkyrie die?

Despite being seconds away from death during the finale, Spider-Man and Scott Lang seemingly did not die during the ending of Marvel Zombies.

Spider-Man was about to get eaten by a giant zombie (presumably Hope), with Scott about to get his head jar smashed open, but Kamala’s joining of her powers with Wanda’s setting off the Infinity Stone blast likely shifted the remaining heroes elsewhere. Since whatever exactly the blast did shifted Kamala all the way back to Jersey, it’s safe to assume it would have done the same for the offers.

The same goes for Katy; while it seemed like she got bitten by the zombie Jimmy and Death Dealer, a split-second shot shows both zombies biting her share of the Ten Rings on her wrists — not her actual flesh.

With Shang-Chi, it’s a bit more complex; the ending of Marvel Zombies definitely saw the Quantum Virus infection taking hold, but Kamala and the Scarlett Witch’s blast set off just before we could see the rest of his living body turn.

Finally, while we saw Valkyrie get stabbed through the abdomen by zombie Okoye’s spear, we never actually saw her die, either.

Having Spider-Man alive is the most likely of all, since Peter Parker would be the next likely player to take the lead in Marvel Zombies Season 2. For the rest, though, the rule is always the same TV and movies: if we never see the body, they’re likely not dead.

What happened to Bucky in Marvel Zombies?

Despite being telekinetically thrown off into the great distance by Wanda back in What If... Zombies?!, we never saw Bucky Barnes again in season 1 of Marvel Zombies, nor ever even mentioned.

While the Super Soldier Serum-infused Winter Soldier could stay that way, that same rule of ‘if you never see the body…’ gives the possibility of Bucky having survived his long fall in What If…?, leaving the door open to his return in a Marvel Zombies season 2.

Is Marvel Zombies getting a season 2?

At the time of writing, whether there will be a Marvel Zombies season 2 hasn’t been confirmed just yet, but Marvel Television head Brad Winderbaum and showrunner Bryan Andrews confirmed that the show will get more episodes if there’s a big enough audience.

In an interview with Comicbook.com, the pair explained that people essentially have to “subscribe to Disney+ and watch this show”.

"If that happens, they will get more. And we are excited. We’re ready."

In a separate interview with Variety, Andrews confirmed that there’s “so much material” for a season 2. So, if we do want to see what happens to Kamala, Spider-Man, and the rest of the Marvel Zombies series universe, more will have to check it out.

Despite a mediocre critic score of 67 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences seem to be liking Marvel Zombies a lot more, with a rating of 82 per cent. Most importantly, though, Marvel Zombies is topping Disney+’s streaming charts — already being #1 in the Top 10 in the UK Today list on the streaming service.

We haven’t seen any actual viewing figures across the world just yet, but this is already a good sign that there’ll be enough demand for a Marvel Zombies Season 2 that Disney+ agrees to give us just that.

Marvel Zombies is available to stream on Disney+.

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