EYES OF WAKANDA, MARVEL ZOMBIES, and the future of MCU animation

The following contains spoilers for Eyes of Wakanda and Marvel Zombies, as well as the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe to date.

The past two months saw Marvel Animation release two very different miniseries on Disney+: Eyes of Wakanda, an anthology exploring the secret role the Black Panthers’ kingdom played in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s history, and Marvel Zombies, a continuation of a What If…? episode where most of our favorite heroes and villains become ravenous, decomposing monstrosities. Both shows are excellent, but represent very different potential priorities for future animated MCU releases: stories canon to the greater MCU, or more What If…? scenarios.

Achilles (Adam Gold) and Memnon/B’Kai (Larry Herron) in Eyes of Wakanda episode 2, “Legends and Lies”

Over four gorgeous episodes, Eyes of Wakanda reveals the MCU’s version of legendary and historical events like the Trojan War and the Italian invasion of Ethiopia; reintroduces the Iron Fist mythos; and wrenches a stunning time travel twist into the backstory of the first Black Panther movie. The coolest part is (given when it’s set) that it’s canon, for every branching timeline of the MCU: no matter what happens in each project, it holds true for all of them, unless someone at the Marvel Studios brain trust decides retconning storylines is worth the bother.

Zombies, meanwhile, is an intense, thrilling and emotional ride that offers up more of the characters we love, on a large-scale, post-apocalyptic adventure that’s essentially an animated, TV-MA Avengers movie split into four chunks (no pun intended). Well before Avengers: Doomsday, the unannounced Champions project, or the indefinitely-delayed Blade reboot, it gives us the fun of Kamala Khan, Kate Bishop, and Riri Williams going on an adventure together, Yelena Belova flirting with Shang-Chi, or a Mahershala Ali-style Eric Brooks slicing and dicing the undead.

Blade Knight/Eric Brooks (Todd Williams) dispatching a zombie Ghost/Ava Starr on Marvel Zombies episode 1

However, it was a bittersweet experience, even before the downbeat ending characteristic of many a zombie movie, knowing all the excellent work the cast and crew had done was largely irrelevant to the greater MCU. That’s not to say canon is the main determinant of whether a story is worthwhile or not. But when every minute counts, especially in a heavily siloed post-Endgame MCU, the show’s presence comes across as slightly indulgent. Better yet, if it had to be produced, why couldn’t it have existed outside the context of the MCU, ala X-Men ’97, or (for the most part) Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man?

So while I wouldn’t mind a second season of Zombies, Eyes of Wakanda‘s canonical status, and more cartoonish yet painterly art style that offers a welcome departure from the realistic house style What If…? established, provides a superior vision of what future animated MCU releases could be. As Marvel slows down and focuses on ongoing shows like Daredevil: Born Again instead of miniseries like WandaVision or Moon Knight, it falls to the animated side to explore or reveal more of what viewers haven’t seen. Their lower profile means it’d be easier for Marvel to avoid accusations of giving audiences homework, as well as a far less expensive way for them to revisit older storylines.

Thanos (Josh Brolin)’s recreation of his homeworld in Avengers: Infinity War.

Let’s be realistic: Marvel probably won’t do a live-action series depicting Thanos’s backstory, as it would be too pricey, and it’d be very costly to bring back Chris Evans for a show about Steve Rogers returning the Infinity Stones during Endgame‘s denouement. An Eternals sequel, a third Captain Marvel movie, or a second season of She-Hulk (or hell, any solo Hulk project) are very unlikely too.

But realizing them in animation would be a different story. While the medium’s not without its own challenges, they would not become an undertaking the way rendering a photorealistic Titan is, or physically recreating all of Endgame‘s sets, locations, props and costumes would be. There’s so much else forgotten, not covered, or glossed over by the movies that you could easily sustain a series as large and expansive as Lucasfilm‘s Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

The animated Star Wars series are very much the model that can be followed here: like Zombies and Wakanda, Clone Wars (and its current successor, Tales of the Jedi/Empire/Underworld) was generally made up of three or four-part story arcs, highlighting different characters and corners of the galaxy far far away.

Detail of Lucasfilm Animation’s 20th anniversary poster from Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025

Unlike those shows, which have generally followed the marionette-inspired look of Clone Wars, Marvel can continue the route they’ve taken with Eyes of Wakanda and their non-MCU cartoons, letting their crews pick the aesthetic they like best, which would always be refreshing: just imagine Flying Bark Productions (Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur) or Studio Mir (My Adventures with Superman) getting to explore the MCU with their trademark flair.

When Disney+ launched, it made a lot of sense for What If…? to be Marvel Studios’ first foray into animation, because it was such a storied part of Marvel Comics history. With the frequency of live-action releases decreasing, the end of the main series itself, and non-MCU cartoons a thing again, it makes far less sense to prioritize its premise.

The MCU has faced so much disruption lately, between the COVID-19 pandemic and the SAG-AFTRA & WGA strikes, but it’s so bizarre that in the four years since we met, say, Shang-Chi, we’ve had more appearances from multiversal variants of him in What If…? and Zombies than the “real” deal. Basically, the ratio of canon to non-canon cartoons needs to be reversed: Marvel Zombies was fun and all, but shows like Eyes of Wakanda are better.