Why Marvel Legend Stan Lee Thought The Concept Of Zombies Was Wrong

The concept of the animated four-episode "Marvel Zombies" Disney+ miniseries is in its title. It takes place in a parallel universe where just about all of the previously-established Marvel Cinematic Universe characters exist, except many of them are zombies. The show is based on the comic book series of the same name that Marvel published back in 2005, itself created by Mark Millar, Greg Land, and Robert Kirkman. The "Marvel Zombies" comics proved to be so popular that they spawned multiple sequels and crossover events, including a bizarro comic titled "Marvel Zombies vs. the Army of Darkness," which crossed over with Sam Raimi's 1992 horror/slapstick "Evil Dead" movie. There was also a spin-off titled "Marvel Zombies Supreme," which changed up the zombie formula by porting them into another parallel universe where zombie Nazis had won (zombie) World War II.

That being said, it's worth noting that the zombie virus in the "Marvel Zombies" comic books is a little different from the type we usually see in traditional zombie movies. Marvel's comic book zombies do indeed have a hunger for human flesh, and they do become feral when they're hungry, but once they've eaten, they return to their ordinary, non-zombie selves (albeit, with the flesh still rotting off their bones).

Back in 2015, the now-deceased Marvel Comics head honcho Stan Lee was interviewed by Seattle Magazine, and he commented on the concept of zombies. The interviewer asked Lee if Marvel would ever launch a straight-up zombie superhero. It seems that the interviewer had either forgotten or was not aware that Marvel had already made multiple zombie-oriented comics by that point. Lee appeared to have forgotten this as well, though that was understandable, seeing as he had stepped away from being actively involved in Marvel's publication practices by then.

Be that as it may, Lee admitted to having trouble with the notion of a zombie in general. As he saw it, a zombie would be too elated that they had come back to life to focus on eating people's brains.

Lee has long since retired from any direct involvement with Marvel Comics by 2015, but that certainly didn't stop people from asking him about the current state of the company or what stories he might want to write. But when Seattle Magazine asked him about the possibility of Marvel exploring more zombie superheroes, Lee offered the following food for thought:

"I don't know, 'cause I'm not involved anymore. They may well. I have a funny feeling about zombies. I figure that whole concept is wrong. Because I think if anyone was dead and came back to life, he'd be so happy he's living again, he wouldn't want to kill anyone. He'd want to party!"

A party zombie sounds like a pretty fun idea unto itself. But Lee does have a point. If a zombie was resurrected, and had the wherewithal to acknowledge that fact, the zombie would presumably be relieved more than murderous. Of course, the hunger for human flesh is a factor.

Again, Lee didn't address the miniature menagerie of undead Marvel characters that have appeared throughout the company's history. Lee himself even created a character called Zombie way back in 1953 for Atlas Comics, one of the direct forerunners to Marvel. Zombie, a.k.a. Simon Garth, was eventually resurrected under the Marvel banner in 1973. More recently, in 2001, there was a notable member of the mutant team X-Statix named Dead Girl who was part zombie and part ghost (!). Marvel's history is replete with undead and/or zombie comic book characters. And that's not counting the myriad times that superheroes have died and were then mysteriously resurrected. Lee might've not overseen the "Marvel Zombies" comics line, but he was handily familiar with plenty of Marvel Comics zombies.