Four years ago, Marvel introduced zombies into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the release of the fifth episode of What If. In “What If… Zombies?!,” we entered an alternate universe where the Avengers had been infected with a zombie plague, leaving the surviving heroes in a race to find a cure.
The episode was one of the highlights of What If season 1 and Marvel quickly took notice of the positive reception the episode received from fans. and their calls to see the story continued. Those calls were answered with the order of Marvel Zombies, a new animated series that expands upon the story introduced in the What If episode.
Marvel Zombies takes viewers back to the universe in which the Avengers have fallen to the zombie plague, leaving a desperate group of survivors racing to find a way to save the universe. The 4-episode first season follows a band of unexpected heroes including Ms. Marvel, Shang-Chi, Blade, Spider-Man, and more discover the key to bringing an end to the super-powered undead, risking their lives to try to save the world.
After what felt like an endless wait, Marvel Zombies has finally landed on Disney+ and fans are quickly falling in love with the show. However, a growing number of fans are wondering just who the show is intended for, due in large part to the show landing a TV-MA rating.
Is Marvel Zombies safe to watch with kids?
While Marvel is known for releasing shows and movies that the entire family can enjoy, Marvel Zombies is one of the studio’s rare releases that is not suitable for younger audiences. This show absolutely lives up to its TV-MA rating and it earns that rating due largely to the show’s violence and gore.
There are also some curse words used across the episodes and there is some light alcohol use in a few moments, but there is no sex or nudity in the show. The root of its rating really comes down to the violence and gore of the show.
Yes, the show is animated, but the gore is still very intense in many situations and younger audiences are likely not going to respond well to seeing their favorite Marvel heroes killed in gruesome ways. Without getting into spoilers over the characters who are killed off over the course of the show, here’s a quick sampling of some of the gruesome manners in which iconic Marvel heroes (and villains) are killed across the show’s four episodes. WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
- One zombie character is crushed to death with blood splatters.
- One zombie throws a spear through the chest of a character leading to their instant death.
- One character uses a katana to slaughter a zombie character literally chopping them to pieces.
- There are multiple instances in which zombie characters are shot in the head in various ways with blood visible.
- A zombie character uses their hands to rip one hero in half with exposed organs seen briefly.
- One zombie character’s head explodes resulting in an explosion of blood and brain matter.
- An iconic animal-hybrid hero is vaporized, leaving only their skeleton behind.
- During an attack, one character’s heart is ripped directly from their chest.
- There is one sequence in which several zombies’ heads are ripped from their bodies with blood gushing as they fly through the air.
Again, this is just a sampling of some of the moments you can expect in the course of the show which hopefully help to give you an indication of the level of violence and gore that makes Marvel Zombies unsuitable for kids.
Of course, at the end of the day, every child is different, so there might be some parents who are okay with allowing their kids to watch Marvel Zombies. However, if the above details on the violent moments of the show sound like too much for your little ones, this is going to be a show to enjoy after they head off to bed for the night.