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#10: A Horde of Zombie Movie References
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This horrifying “What If?” episode contains parallels to plenty of iconic zombie movies. Seeing protagonists deal with undead inside and around a train made us think of the gripping “Train to Busan”. Speaking of great zombie movies, Spider-Man’s apocalyptic survival tips felt a reference to the rules Columbus created in “Zombieland.” These great parallels and more build up to the episode’s shocking conclusion. The remaining heroes fly towards the safe Wakanda before it’s revealed the city is overrun. While a few zombie movies end this way, the episode’s downer ending felt like a direct shoutout to 2004’s “Dawn of the Dead”. That memorable scary movie concludes with survivors arriving at a place they thought was safe...before discovering they were horribly wrong.
#9: Peter Wore a Cape Before in a Bizarre “What If?” Story
The cloak of levitation took a break from being the MVP of the episode to attach itself to Peter. Although we’re still debating if he pulled off the look, we know for sure that works better for him here than it did in another alternate universe story. There's a “What If” story where Spider-Man becomes famous after stopping the man who would have doomed his Uncle Ben. The fame quickly goes to his head and he’s even seen appearing in front of cameras with a gaudy cape. Fortunately, this cocky and unlikeable Spider-Man eventually ditches the extra fabric and starts doing some good. Maybe the webhead just isn’t meant to continuously wear a cape in any reality.
#8: Another Giant Wasp Meets a Terrible Fate
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Despite all the heroic acts Hope performs in this apocalyptic world, she still ends up infected. She uses her remaining time as a human to get her friends to safety by growing big and carrying them forward. But the giant Wasp eventually succumbs to the horde and infection. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first titanic version of the heroine to meet a terrible fate. During the Secret Invasion storyline, Janet Van Dyne’s Wasp gets a tainted version of the growth formula. She discovers this after she and her friends start dying as soon as she gets big. Sadly, Thor has to take her life to stop her. If the live-action Wasp ever grows to large sizes, we hope her story has a happy ending.
#7: Spider-Man Leaves Easter Eggs in His Movie Subtitles
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During Spider-Man's hilarious orientation video, he includes a few blink-and-you’ll-miss-them gags about several MCU characters. Peter describes Happy as a boxer in the subtitles. This was a great callback to his disastrous boxing lesson in “Iron Man 2”. After Happy's description, We see Bucky's subtitle mentions the World War II vet is a heavy sleeper. That sounds like a grim reference to the fact that the winter soldier was forced to remain unconscious on ice for years. But the darkest joke of all comes when Peter describes Sharon Carter as a great eulogist. Although she admittedly gave a fantastic eulogy at Peggy Carter's funeral, we're not sure she’d appreciate Spider-Man bringing that up in the video.
#6: Happy & Sharon Both Have a History With Armored Suits
It was fun to see Happy wearing a variation of the Iron Man Gauntlet. Unfortunately, his cool sound effects couldn’t prevent him from meeting a tragic end. The show makes up for his demise by giving us the awesome sight of Sharon Carter with the gauntlet. Although both characters only get a part of the full suit, they've gotten more coverage in the comics. Happy has a long history of wearing the armor to help his boss Tony Stark get out of tight spots. Sharon Carter also wore the Iron Patriot suit to help save the day. While both characters did the best they could with one gauntlet, they really could’ve used more armor on the show.
#5: Twists on Classic Train Scenes
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Both Spider-Man and Bucky have appeared in their own iconic train scenes. The show managed to put spins on both their memorable moments on the rails. While Peter strained to stop a train in several stories, the show has him desperately working to get one moving in time. After his success, Bucky confronts zombie Cap in one of the cars. The two soldiers went on a mission together on a train that ended with Bucky’s loss in the main timeline. Steve couldn’t do anything but mourn the man who had been his best friend. Not only does the show pit them against each other instead, but it has Bucky dispatching Cap while putting a sad twist on an iconic line.
#4: Baba Yaga Might Be a Real Threat
Upon seeing the zombified Scarlet Witch, Kurt immediately assumes she’s the terrifying supernatural figure known as Baba Yaga. At first, his reference just seems like it's continuing a running gag from the “Ant-Man” franchise. But Baba Yaga actually does have a history with the Marvel universe. In the comics, she's shown up a few times to battle Avengers and other heroes. This magical villain often tried to consume the people she targeted. Since zombie Wanda also wanted to munch on victims, we completely understand why Kurt called her Baba Yaga. And honestly, this insanely twisted version of Scarlet Witch would probably get along well with the scary mythical being.
#3: Not Every Hero in the Show Made It Through the Original Zombie Comics
While the episode definitely shared a lot of elements from the original “Marvel Zombies”story, it also had some pretty notable departures. In the comics, both Hulk and Spider-Man were members of the undead horde. The show’s Bruce seems to nod to that shocking Peter twist early on in the story. But there’s another major difference that we wanted to give you a...heads up about. In the chaotic comic world, Black Panther finds what’s left of Wasp and helps get her into a mechanical body. The show notably has the team find Ant-Man’s head instead before letting a cape help him get around. This twist and more helped keep the show’s narrative fresh for anyone who read the original “Zombies” comic.
#2: Return to Camp Lehigh
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All the surviving heroes decide to journey to Camp Lehigh in the hopes of finding a zombie cure. This location is a huge deal in the MCU. Not only was Steve picked to become Cap after training at Camp Lehigh, but he also discovered the truth about Hydra there. This significant location became crucial once again in “Avengers: Endgame”. When the Avengers need the Space Stone, they travel back in time and go to Camp Lehigh to pick it up. The episode gives a nice parallel to the “Endgame” mission by having its heroes acquire the mind stone there. Camp Lehigh just seems like a magnet for major historical events in the MCU.
#1: The Zombies May Shamble Into Another Universe
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What made the “What If?” zombies so terrifying was the knowledge that some of them could still use their powers effectively or think of creative ways to feed. These intelligent members of the horde could become a tremendous threat in the future. There’s been a few times in the comics where Marvel zombies run low on food in their own world. So, they decide to find ways to enter alternate universes full of humans to munch on. Brilliant beings like the zombified Thanos could figure out how to travel between worlds. And if he does, he could send legions of the undead into a“What If” world we’ve already seen or the main live action universe.
