MCU news: ‘Marvel Zombies’ has dropped - but are audiences sick of superheroes?
Marvel Studios’ latest instalment to the timeline, Marvel Zombies, landed on Disney+ on Wednesday, with the full season available to watch now.
And yet, the buildup to the project on social media has been fairly tame, compared to the hype of previous Marvel projects.
Why is that? Film News Blitz writer Rhys Rogers explores the phenomenon of ‘Marvel fatigue’ in audiences.
What is ‘Marvel Zombies’?
Marvel Zombies is a direct spinoff of an episode from Marvel’s What If…? series that was released way back in 2021, where some of our most beloved superheroes were transformed into mindless zombies.
What If…? and Marvel Zombies both use the same animation style, which brings something exciting and different to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Plus, the series sees the return of fan favourites in the form of voice-acting, such as Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd and Florence Pugh.
The series also makes history as Marvel’s first TV-MA rated series, which is exciting for fans - the rating marks a departure from the PG past of Marvel and signals a more intense horror aspect.
Audience reception
But even with all of that exciting stuff, the current reception to the series is lukewarm at best.
As the project has literally just dropped, it’s important to remember that this might change; however, the lack of press coverage and promotion of the show signals that audiences are not excited by this new project.
The series doesn't even feature in the Top 10 picks for UK audiences, and this is a change from the splash that Marvel projects used to make.
Evidently, there has been a change in how audiences respond to Marvel projects - and some have dubbed it ‘Marvel fatigue’.
The rise of ‘Marvel fatigue’
A relatively new term, ‘Marvel fatigue’, describes the lack of excitement surrounding new projects in the MCU.
This became apparent in lockdown, with Marvel Studios turning to streaming to release their new films as well as releasing projects in television form to entice audiences and try something new.
While initial shows like Wandavision and Loki left an impression on viewers, the TV format became highly overused.
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Since 2021, Marvel Studios has released 20 TV series, not to mention countless films.
This has resulted in audiences struggling to keep up with characters and storylines across hundreds of projects.
Instead, they would much rather quality storytelling and properties rather than a large quantity of movies and TV shows.
The future
The future of the MCU looks very exciting - especially with Tom Holland’s fourth Spider-Man instalment in the summer of 2026 and the highly anticipated return of Robert Downey Jr. in Avengers: Doomsday.
What will be interesting is whether the MCU listens to its fans (who have big expectations) and focuses on producing quality creative content.
You can stream Marvel Zombies and all MCU projects to this point on Disney+ now.
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