The MCU's Weakest Avengers Hero Is Marvel Zombies' Most Terrifying Character
Marvel Studios Animation
This article contains spoilers for 'Marvel Zombies' season 1.
From the very beginning, 'Marvel Zombies' proves that superhero zombies aren't just mindless undead—they're a whole new breed of terrifying force. While some, like Captain America, are simply superhuman versions of ordinary zombies, others manage to mimic classic George Romero-style undead (https://www.slashfilm.com/1055781/george-romero-had-to-reinvent-his-visual-style-going-into-dawn-of-the-dead/) through their eerie mannerisms. But what makes them truly terrifying isn't just their appearance—it's the way they retain every skill they had when alive, now twisted into something else entirely.
Take Zombie Hawkeye, for example. In 'The Walking Dead,' he'd be a walking corpse, but in '28 Days Later,' he'd be a rage virus zombie with no humanity left. Even in 'The Last of Us,' he's just another mushroom-wearing survivor. But in 'Marvel Zombies,' he looks and acts like a regular zombie yet still carries all his old talents: shooting arrows with precision, calculating angles to ricochet bullets around corners, and making smart decisions to stay ahead of enemies.
These aren't powers that work without thinking—Hawkeye has no superpowers of his own. He simply has every skill he had when alive, now dead, difficult to kill, and eager to bite. It's a chilling reminder of what happens when a hero becomes a monster.
Hawkeye isn't alone in this class. Other zombies here are technically more powerful, but they're either mindless powerhouses (like standard fast zombies) or evil versions of their usual selves, controlled by Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), the Queen of the Dead. This makes Hawkeye stand out even more—he's a zombie who sounds like a guttural undead beast, yet he retains his sharp instincts and deadly skills. It's a paradox that raises existential questions: How aware must Clint Barton be of his predicament to function like he did before? Would he still have the same dry humor, or would he be a rotting husk of a human?
The show also shines a spotlight on other heroes, like Mahershala Ali's Blade, who gets a fresh start in 'Marvel Zombies' alongside Todd Williams. Still, it's fitting that Hawkeye is the first superhero zombie introduced, and seeing him perform his signature trick shots while behaving like a typical zombie is a chilling sight the series can't fully replicate, no matter how many mindless powerhouses like Abomination and Namor it rolls out.
'Marvel Zombies' season 1 is now streaming on Disney+.
