Now that Zombie Day is gone and past

I'd really like to take a minute to talk about zombies.

Specifically, I'd like to talk about Marvel Zombies.

The basic gist is that a mysterious meteorite hits earth and a virus starts turning superheroes into zombies. If a zombie bites you, you become infected. If they eat you, you're just dead. Zombies can't stand the taste of other zombies. When zombies are hungry, they rampage around and feed. Once they feed, they regain their former personality.

Right, so nothing too out-of-the-ordinary in zombie schtick.

The virus digs in and superheroes become super zombies and regular folk become meat. Mr. Fantastic, the smartest guy in the universe, the one guy who could probably find a cure even though biotech isn't his actual field of expertise, well he decides that zombies are a superior form of life so he infects the Fantastic Four and that pretty much spells the end of organized resistance.

And if you think Mr. Fantastic getting a hard-on for the zombie life is out of character, it's amazingly consistent compared to his dickery in Civil War (which happens in the "real" Marvel Universe).

Right. So, super zombies. For some reason I finding the stories a lot of fun. Currently, there's a Marvel Zombie/Army of Darkness crossover. In it, Nextwave makes a brief guest appearance (only to die off-screen and become zombies).

That's when it hits me: Machine Man is just a robot. He can't be infected by the virus. He can be destroyed by super zombies, but there's nothing to suggest that they'd bother. Surely there must be a suite of non-human Marvel characters that would survive the planet's zombification.

For the record: it appears as though Wolverine gets infected so "mutant healing" doesn't appear to affect the virus. If you're a biological creature you can be infected (reminding us all that the Thing is, in fact, biological and not a rock monster). So that rules out a lot of people, including cyborgs (oooh...zombie Deathlok). Silver Surfer and Galactus both get eaten so power cosmic isn't a guarantee.

So I figure the short list includes: Machine Man, The Vision and Ultron. I suppose the Sentinels count too, but they were never really personalities and they were certainly never very effective. I'm wracking my brains for any incorporeal/magical heroes, but I can't think of any off the top of my head.

[EDIT: Ghost Rider might possibly survive if he were in demon--nope, just checked. Somehow he's zombified. Huh...weird.)

I did think of one other bizzare wrinkle: Zombie Marvel Universe is, with the exception of the zombies, supposedly identical to the "real" Marvel Universe. Which means there's a Kang the Conquerer from the 30th Century out there. Now if *he* gets bitten...

"What happened here."
"Well, Kang the Conquerer showed up and then--"
"Wait. Does this involve time travel?"
"Well, yeah."
"Forget it. I don't wanna know."
-- Young Avengers issue 3

Fun stuff
Tom

Now that Zombie Day is gone and past

I'd really like to take a minute to talk about zombies.

Specifically, I'd like to talk about Marvel Zombies.

The basic gist is that a mysterious meteorite hits earth and a virus starts turning superheroes into zombies. If a zombie bites you, you become infected. If they eat you, you're just dead. Zombies can't stand the taste of other zombies. When zombies are hungry, they rampage around and feed. Once they feed, they regain their former personality.

Right, so nothing too out-of-the-ordinary in zombie schtick.

The virus digs in and superheroes become super zombies and regular folk become meat. Mr. Fantastic, the smartest guy in the universe, the one guy who could probably find a cure even though biotech isn't his actual field of expertise, well he decides that zombies are a superior form of life so he infects the Fantastic Four and that pretty much spells the end of organized resistance.

And if you think Mr. Fantastic getting a hard-on for the zombie life is out of character, it's amazingly consistent compared to his dickery in Civil War (which happens in the "real" Marvel Universe).

Right. So, super zombies. For some reason I finding the stories a lot of fun. Currently, there's a Marvel Zombie/Army of Darkness crossover. In it, Nextwave makes a brief guest appearance (only to die off-screen and become zombies).

That's when it hits me: Machine Man is just a robot. He can't be infected by the virus. He can be destroyed by super zombies, but there's nothing to suggest that they'd bother. Surely there must be a suite of non-human Marvel characters that would survive the planet's zombification.

For the record: it appears as though Wolverine gets infected so "mutant healing" doesn't appear to affect the virus. If you're a biological creature you can be infected (reminding us all that the Thing is, in fact, biological and not a rock monster). So that rules out a lot of people, including cyborgs (oooh...zombie Deathlok). Silver Surfer and Galactus both get eaten so power cosmic isn't a guarantee.

So I figure the short list includes: Machine Man, The Vision and Ultron. I suppose the Sentinels count too, but they were never really personalities and they were certainly never very effective. I'm wracking my brains for any incorporeal/magical heroes, but I can't think of any off the top of my head.

[EDIT: Ghost Rider might possibly survive if he were in demon--nope, just checked. Somehow he's zombified. Huh...weird.)

I did think of one other bizzare wrinkle: Zombie Marvel Universe is, with the exception of the zombies, supposedly identical to the "real" Marvel Universe. Which means there's a Kang the Conquerer from the 30th Century out there. Now if *he* gets bitten...

"What happened here."
"Well, Kang the Conquerer showed up and then--"
"Wait. Does this involve time travel?"
"Well, yeah."
"Forget it. I don't wanna know."
-- Young Avengers issue 3

Fun stuff
Tom