The Marvel universe’s “What if” storyline has opened the door to a massive paradigm shift from what we have seen and expected. The MCU’s journey from 2010’s Iron Man to Endgame today looks like a drop in the bucket compared to what we are going to experience. The multiverse theories, about which “we frighteningly know very little” are steadily becoming the focus of next films’ plots.
The “What if” series depicted a variety of scenarios, including a zombified cosmos, and the new Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness also included a zombified Doctor Strange. This isn’t, however, the first time zombies have appeared in the Marvel Universe. The zombified versions of our Marvel heroes and villains were first featured in a five-issue limited series called “Marvel Zombies” written by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Sean Phillip.
The Marvel heroes are afflicted by a zombie virus in this series, which ran from December 2005 to April 2006. This has a different origin or source than the What If plot, and the characters have various roles to play as well. From October 2007 through February 2008, “Marvel Zombies 2” was released, followed by “Marvel Zombies Return” in September 2009. The main character in this metaseries, which ran from 2005 to 2009, is Spiderman.
He is infected, and his spider-sense fights the illness for a long time before succumbing to the infection and becoming a flesh-eating monster. Our friendly neighborhood web-slinging superhero has a craving for flesh and transforms into a violent flesh-eating zombie. He was ashamed and self-loathing about his acts, unlike zombies or his peers, and he even ate his Aunt May. So, without further ado, let us get started with our Zombie Spiderman video.
HOW DID IT ALL HAPPEN?
The story is from Earth-2149. A multiverse has a similar history as Earth-616. Spidey was swinging around New York when he noticed the Avengers arguing with an evidently enraged Ash Williams, who was wielding a chainsaw and a shotgun. He swung down to offer his assistance, and Colonel America instructed him to wrap Ash in webbing and transport him away, which he did. While carrying Ash around the city, he informed Spidey about his remarkable adventure from the Gates of Heaven, when a zombified Sentry slammed him into our world.
They soon encounter the zombified Sentry, who bites and infects Colonel America, Black Widow, Ms. Marvel, Luke Cage, and Hawkeye. The individual told the webmaster that he believed the root of the problem was a “Book of the Dead” known as “The Necronomicon.” Colonel America flung himself into the air and bit Spider-Man on the shoulder while they discussed how to find it. Colonel America leaps and bites Spiderman. Spidey tumbled to the ground after dropping Ash Williams at the feet of the suddenly zombified Avengers.
Spidey, who appeared to be diseased, leaped on Hawkeye and threatened to devour his brains. On the other hand, the others warned him not to bother because the corpses tasted nasty and it appeared that only total brain disintegration could kill the zombies. After a lengthy standoff, Spider-Man said that he was taking Ash because he had to listen to him talk, thus he deserved to eat him, and swung away with Ash still wrapped up. Spidey unfastened Ash on the roof of a building, who took advantage of the opportunity and hit him in the jaw. Spider-Man demonstrated that he was still human, although with a severely dislocated jaw.
Spidey recognized he needed to rescue Aunt May and Mary Jane to safety as they looked over the city and watched the damage taking place, so he swung off to save them, leaving Ash on his own. When Spidey returned home, he saw May and MJ in good health and informed them that they needed to flee. But the zombie virus was spreading throughout his body, causing him to slump over in anguish. When Mary Jane arrived to assist, she pulled his mask, revealing Peter’s necrotized mouth as he screamed at her and ate MJ. He warned Aunt May to hide when she came in from another room, but he apparently ate her as well.
While Peter was eating his aunt, Mary Jane changed into a zombie, but Spidey presumably murdered her as a zombie again so he could eat May on his own. Spidey was cuddling into his wife when Nova came at the window, perplexed as to what was going on. Nova backed off to a neighboring rooftop, where Daredevil appeared and informed Nova he needed to kill Spidey, but was immediately bitten himself.
Peter finally ate his boss, J. Jonah Jameson, for the numerous times he accused Spidey of being a threat as the two ate many others along the road. Spidey and a massive army of zombies set out to lay siege to Castle Doomstadt after Beast and Reed Richards discovered a large stockpile of meat in Latveria and the surrounding region. Peter was undoubtedly besieged by the reanimated corpses of the Deadite Legion after failing to breach the castle’s magical defenses.
Though this was clearly more of an annoyance than anything else since he eventually returned to New York totally unscathed. As the youthful Mr. Fantastic was stranded in the ruins of New York, Spider-Man snagged Reed Richards of Earth-1610 in his web. Reed escaped when Magneto unleashed hundreds of automobiles on the undead horde.
When his webbing ran out while pursuing Magneto, who was fleeing the rubble of the Baxter Building after Reed and the other survivors escaped to another reality, he missed out on another feed. Furthermore, as a result of the incident, he shattered his leg “like in half.” Spider-Man was unable to approach Magneto due to his leg, but he ultimately got a feed when the other zombies tore Magneto apart and stray chunks of his flesh fell within reach.
WHAT WAS THE ZOMBIE SPIDERMAN LIKE?
The undead Spider-Man retains much of his mainstream counterpart’s demeanor. He did, however, alter after becoming afflicted. His initial victims, Mary Jane and his Aunt May, will forever make the zombie Parker feel enormous shame and sorrow after feeding, as evidenced after swallowing portions of Magneto.
However, if he does not eat, he, like the rest of the zombies, will lose all rationality and guilt, and go into a hunger-fueled frenzy as he succumbs to the Hunger and continues to eat humans; as a result, he also shows a bit of vengefulness and sadism, as seen when he was about to eat his boss, John J. Jameson, for the many times he accused Spidey of being a menace Despite all the victims he’s eaten, the great guilt and sorrow he feels after feeding is mostly centered on his devouring his wife, Mary Jane, and Aunt May first, wailing for their deaths long after they died, and even yearning for death himself, hinting some suicidal thoughts from this Spider-Man.
Regardless of the fact that no one else knows his secret identity other than the zombies, he prefers to continue wearing his mask. When Luke Cage inquires about this Spider-Man, he discloses that his culpability over killing May and Mary Jane is so great that he can’t bear to look himself in the mirror again and refuses to remove his mask. Things worsen when he succumbs to the Hunger on Earth-Z and infects five of the Sinister Six; seeking to utilize a stone tablet to heal his zombification in the hopes of becoming a hero again, he accidentally kills Harry Osborn, Gwen Stacy, and Mary Jane due to the zombie Sinister Six.
Accepting that he would never be normal again and concluding that keeping his face is now meaningless because no one loves Peter Parker, he tears the decaying skin completely off his face and tosses it in a garbage can as he walks away despondent. Notwithstanding the guilt and the Hunger, Spider-Man retained some of his personality traits, such as his habit of making jokes in serious situations or annoying everyone around him to the point of angering them; for example, on their way back to Earth after traveling through space, he constantly uses the “are we there yet?” joke, which enrages Giant-Man to the point where he threatens to kill Spider-Man.
When Luke Cage asks Spider-Man why he keeps making jokes, he says it’s because it’s the only thing keeping him from becoming what he’s become. Back on Earth, he turns against all other zombies, attempting to stop them from devouring more people, as the Hunger began to dissipate over time as they had no one to feed, restoring Spider-Man to the hero he was before the infection. On Earth-Z, the Hunger reappeared, and when confronted by Kitty Pryde, he revealed that he only feeds on terrible people and Wolverine’s leftovers.
By the time Earth-Hulk Z’s and Sentry begin their feeding rampage, Spider-Man had defeated the Hunger once more, this time for good. He was revealed to be quite the strategist and leader, having formed and became the head of the New Avengers to battle the zombie Avengers. He also retains his brilliance as he took Nanobots developed by Earth-Tony Z’s Stark and infused them into Sandman to create the ultimate zombie killer.
WAS THIS VERSION OF SPIDERMAN STRONGER THAN THE ORIGINAL?
Spider-Man has spider-like abilities that were bestowed upon him by an irradiated Common House Spider that bit Peter Parker, who was evidently already transmogrified from previous exposure to certain frequencies of radioactivity and received a final, fatal overdose during Parker’s attendance at the exhibition. Parker gained superhuman strength, endurance, durability, speed, agility, reflexes, and equilibrium as a result of the radioactive, complex mutagenic enzymes in the spider’s blood that were transmitted at the time of the bite.
Spider-Man can push himself at maximum capacity for several hours before exhaustion begins to interfere with his ability. Spider-Man has incredible flexibility. Spider-reflexes are approximately 15-18 times higher than those of a normal person. Spider-Man has the capacity to maintain perfect equilibrium in every position imaginable. Spider-Man’s feet can manipulate matter’s interatomic binding forces, allowing him to build temporary molecular links between his body and another item.
This allows him to stick to walls and ceilings using only his fingers and feet. Spider-Man has a heightened sensory “danger” or “spider” sense that warns him of impending peril. This zombie power, which was introduced as a result of the Zombie Virus, allows Spider-Man to detect any genuine flesh, as was the case with the two Skrulls who impersonated Thanos and Death and with Mysterio on Earth-Z, allowing him to discover any true form of flesh in a matter of seconds.
Spider-Man found on his first visit to Earth-Z that he could web swing by utilizing his veins and arteries as a replacement for his webbing, which he owed to the Zombie Virus. Surprisingly, despite being a zombie, this causes Spider-Man to experience agony. Comparing powers and abilities the Zombified version of spiderman outmatches the original spider man from Earth 616. Before entering Earth Z he even has cosmic powers that he had attained after devouring Galactus. Even without it, he managed to stop the sinister six with ease.
CONCLUSION
Spider-Man is one of only the Marvel Zombies that can feel pain, as seen in Marvel Zombies Return, when he shoots his veins and arteries out of his wrists, just like he would normally with his webbing. During the construction of the event Spider-Verse, which saw innumerable other forms of Spider-Man collide, zombie Spider-Man was one of around seven Spider-Men that Dan Slott and his colleagues were not authorized to use.