Marvel Zombies is a collection of comic mini-series involving an alternate reality where all the Marvel superheroes become zombies and end up terrorizing the world instead of saving it.
In this universe, a random super-powered man appears and falls from the sky in New York. When Captain America and his team of Avengers arrive to the scene, he ends up bitten by the man and immediately suffers an insatiable hunger for flesh. He turns on his own Avengers, infecting them as well. With superheroes rapidly turning into zombies, the planet quickly falls to their craving for flesh and blood.
Marvel's version of zombies are not the brain-dead type; on the contrary, they maintain their original minds, memories, and superpowers, able to essentially "live" the same as they did before becoming infected. They are considered undead, as they no longer need to breathe or eat. And they don't suffer if/when their bodies rot or are torn apart. However, they suffer an insatiable hunger that overpowers all rational thought, causing them to binge on living flesh before coming back to their senses. They are only free of the hunger for a few moments before the pain and desire start gnawing at them again.
This is a very dark universe in the Marvel continuity. You experience the story from the perspective of the super-powered zombies as they deal with the horror of their new-found cravings. Superheroes become the plague that ends the world, and they won't stop until they've consumed all flesh in the entire multiverse. The end to the original storyline explains how it all started, which is a shocking and sad revelation.
I absolutely love this series of comic books! They're well worth the read. Definitely a unique take on the concept of zombies. If Marvel made a live action movie out of this story, that would be the greatest thing ever!
