The Steven Spielberg Film That Inspired One Of Marvel's Scariest Scenes

"Marvel Zombies" has a surprisingly wholesome origin story, as the title was lifted from a term that was coined to affectionately describe fans of Marvel's comic books. As a piece of entertainment, however, the Disney+ series — like the comics series it's based on — is a horrific and bloody affair. With that in mind, it makes sense that the creators of "Marvel Zombies" turned to the work of Steven Spielberg — a director with some serious horror bona fides thanks to "Jaws" and other great flicks — for inspiration while making the undead yarn.

During an interview for Brandon Davis' "Phase Hero" podcast, "Marvel Zombies" director Bryan Andrews revealed that Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" inspired the scene where Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) tries to escape from a zombie and kaiju-plagued San Francisco. The sequence entails buildings falling to the ground and carnage breaking out on the streets, but how did Spielberg's alien invasion thriller help shape it? Here's what Andrews had to say:

"There was the scene in Spielberg's 'War of the Worlds' when the first Martian craft erupts out of the city street and starts frying people. And you're running with people, and people are just randomly turning into dust, and their clothes go flying. [...] There was this urgency, this feeling of there is no escape. There's nowhere you can go. And so I think that was in the back of my head for that initial part of running with them through the city."

It's easy to spot the "War of the Worlds" inspiration in the "Marvel Zombies" scene, as it also involves up-close shots of characters running for their lives while everything around them implodes. The sequence is intense — just like Spielberg's underrated 2005 sci-fi movie.

Based on H.G. Wells' novel of the same name, "War of the Worlds" is one of Steven Spielberg's most complex blockbusters. The film uses an alien invasion narrative to comment on societal fears and anxieties following 9/11 and the U.S.' subsequent War on Terror. As you can imagine, it's a rather bleak movie (at least until the polarizing happy ending). What's more, it marks a departure from Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "E.T. the Extra-terrestrial," both of which present a more optimistic take on alien visitors.

As Bryan Andrews mentioned in the aforementioned conversation about "Marvel Zombies," "War of the Worlds" does a great job of capturing the feeling of widespread panic and destruction during a horrific event. Despite the otherworldly elements of both, though, they treat the terror with seriousness and urgency, employing camera techniques that thrust the viewers into the heart of the action.

Spielberg has made lots of great movies, but "War of the Worlds" is often overshadowed by his numerous classics. Be that as it may, it's the type of movie other filmmakers could learn from when it comes to staging horrific sequences and exploring scary themes through a blockbuster-sized lens.

"Marvel Zombies" is currently streaming on Disney+.