Shang-Chi appears to be front and center in ‘Marvel Zombies’

Fans at the D23 event that was held in Anaheim last weekend got a quick taste of the much-anticipated Marvel Zombies. Despite not being seen since his debut in 2021, one superhero appears to be at the center of the new show (or at least its first episode): Shang-Chi.

Marvel Zombies is the direct result of a well-loved episode of What If…? in which, upon saving Janet van Dyne from the Quantum Realm, a zombie virus she brought back with her spreads across the universe. The episode was darker than usual Marvel fare and Marvel Zombies is about to take that much further. Fans have been pumped to see it finally land on Disney+ and it’s not far off now. A teaser for the show was shown at Marvel’s Animation Panel at D23 and it gave fans in attendance a pretty good look as to what they can expect from the series.

Shang-Chi finally returns!

The panel showed audiences clips of the animated series focusing on Shang-Chi and Katy. It begins with the two of them in their valet uniforms fighting off a zombie horde when Wenwu, Shang-Chi’s father, shows up in a helicopter to help save his son, demolishing zombies with his rings. Unfortunately, this distracts Shang-Chi and a zombie gets a munching on his arm. In order to save his son, Wenwu transfers the rings to him, and the power of the rings holds the infection at bay. This means that Wenwu sacrifices himself and he goes down, not too dissimilar to his ending in the film.

Then there is a 5-year jump where we see that Shang-chi and Katy have been joined by Agent Jimmy Woo. The three of them now live in an apocalyptic wasteland riding around Mad Max style fighting off a Skrull biker gang. We will also be reintroduced to Death Dealer, a high-ranking warrior of the Ten Rings who died in the live-action film. It appears from the clips shown at D23 that the original cast will return to voice their characters.

When will we get Marvel Zombies?

As of right now, we do not know the exact release date for the Marvel animation. We do know that there will be four episodes each with a TV-MA rating, meaning that the content is for a “mature audience.” It will likely be one of the more gore-filled shows that Marvel has released in recent years.