The animated series Marvel Zombies has unexpectedly become the flagship of the Disney streaming service.
Marvel Studios usually avoids explicitly adult content, focusing on family-friendly projects. However, on September 24, the studio released the first Marvel Zombies animated series with a TV-MA rating — the television equivalent of the R category ("adults only").
The project is a development of the fifth episode of the anthology "What If...?", in which various Marvel heroes turn into zombies, and the surviving superheroes confront them. The series contains many scenes of graphic violence, dismemberment, and other harsh moments, which led to the corresponding age rating.
Since its release, Marvel Zombies has held the leading position in the Disney+ charts, ahead of both new premieres and long-running platform hits. According to FlixPatrol, the series ranked first in the US for the first three days, and dropped to second place on the fourth day. Analysts note that this is not due to a decrease in interest, but to the short duration of the project — only four episodes with a total duration of about two hours have been released.
In the FlixPatrol rankings, Marvel Zombies leads by a wide margin, scoring two to three times more viewer interest points compared to other Disney+ projects, including "Alien: Romulus", "Big Shot", and "Grey's Anatomy."
Previously, Marvel executive Brad Winderbaum confirmed that the studio is ready to continue Marvel Zombies if the first season shows decent results. Judging by the current success, the probability of a second season looks very high.
