Marvel Zombies is a five-issue limited series published from December 2005 to April 2006 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Robert Kirkman with art by Sean Phillips and covers by Arthur Suydam. It was the first series in the Marvel Zombies series of related stories. The story is set in an alternate universe where the world's superhero population has been infected with a virus which turned them into zombies. The series was spun out of events of the crossover story-arc of Ultimate Fantastic Four, where the zombie Reed Richards tricked his Ultimate counterpart into opening a portal to the zombie universe only for the latter to contain the former from ever coming to his universe. Following an adaptation in the episode "What If... Zombies?!" of the Disney+ animated series What If...?, an upcoming animated series of the same name is in development, both of which are set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Publication history While writing Ultimate Fantastic Four, Mark Millar decided to introduce an alternate Earth populated by zombies in the "Crossover" story-arc, featured in issues #21-23. Marvel Comics liked Millar's idea so, as he wrote the issues, Marvel sought out pitches for an spin-off miniseries featuring that world entitled Marvel Zombies. To revisit the zombie world, Marvel hired Robert Kirkman to write and Sean Phillips to illustrate it. Kirkman was Marvel's first choice to write Marvel Zombies, an offer Kirkman immediately accepted because of his love for zombies and Marvel comic books, feeling that he couldn't pass up such an opportunity. He also expressed excitement upon learning which artist would be in charge of illustrating the series; Kirkman was a longtime fan of Phillips' work, like in DC Comics' Sleeper. Kirkman also didn't fear being typecasted as "the superhero guy" or "the zombie guy" due to his work on the series, feeling that there was enough variety in his superhero work to keep things interesting. Kirkman wrote the series in a way that would work for readers who hadn't read the Ultimate Fantastic Four issues featuring the zombified superheroes, despite noting that readers of that series would have more insight with spin-off's characters, especially Magneto, due to his larger role in the first issue. Comparing the protagonists with the "slow moving, mindless Romero style zombies" he used in The Walking Dead, Kirkman reasoned that the Marvel characters, either heroes or villains, retained their usual personalities and