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While undead superheroes have been seen in both Marvel Zombies and DCeased, Marvel Apes presents an interesting and unique new scenario.
The Marvel Zombies had a moment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe spotlight on a recent episode of the Disney+ series What If…?, returning for a brief appearance in the season finale. While it’s not a faithful recreation of the Marvel Zombies comic books, it at least adapted the concept for a new medium.
Given that any future cinematic adaptations will never match the dark humor of the original Robert Kirkman/Sean Phillips comics, it might be better to look elsewhere for genre mash-up concepts. One that might have more legs is the Marvel Zombies’ follow-up, Marvel Apes, which is an oddball concept that might have more life left than its predecessor.
Marvel Apes acknowledges its absurdity. There’s even an mock apology from Marvel publisher Dan Buckley in the credits page of the first issue. Instead of using a variant of the Fantastic Four to introduce a universe where every Marvel character has a simian analogue, Marvel Apes enlists reformed Spider-Man villain the Gibbon at a particularly low point in his life to do the deed. Answering a classified ad for superpowered test subjects thrusts the Gibbon into the Marvel Apes’ reality.
While he’s an appropriate choice for the main character, the Gibbon’s involvement sets up expectations that Marvel Apes will be a funny animal comedy similar to Spider-Ham. Writer Karl Kesel quells that expectation in the climax of the first issue, when the Ape-Vengers savagely beat Doctor Ooktapus after the Gibbon helped Spider-Monkey apprehend him. The leader of the heroic team is then revealed to be Baron Blood in disguise, hailing from another alternate reality where the Nazi vampire defeated Captain America and dumped his body in the Arctic.
Blood planned to use the Gibbon and his companion, Dr. Fiona Fitzhugh, to open a portal back to Earth 616 and invade it. The Ape-Venger Speedball helped the duo escape after Blood framed them for Reed Richards’ murder. Gibbon’s knowledge of Captain America’s time in suspended animation helped Speedball’s resistance group, the Outcasts, retrieve their Captain from the ocean. The Outcasts defeated Blood and his vampiric Invaders in a brutal battle. The Gibbon, Fitzhugh, and a gravely injured Speedball were able to escape back to Earth-616 during the chaos.
While it seemed like the day had been saved, Speedball revealed that his society always operated under the law of the jungle. It was only a matter of time before the surviving apes found a way to reach Earth-616 and wreak havoc. Subsequent Marvel Apes spin-offs followed the main characters from the original while also adding in the Red Ghost and his Super Apes to the story. It also set up a battle between the Apes and the Marvel Zombies, which culminated in the Marvel Zombies: Evil Evolution one-shot.
Marvel Apes never loses sight of how absurd its premise is. The Gibbon decides against telling people he saved the world when he realizes his story involves vampire apes, for instance. It also creates a seemingly wholesome cartoon universe with a dark undercurrent that isn’t as bleak or gore-heavy as Marvel Zombies but still subverts superhero genre expectations. It also offers a fresher genre-mashup than zombies, which may be reaching the point of overexposure.
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