The Marvel Zombies were a surprise hit when they made their debut, initially invading the Ultimate Universe, then getting their teeth into a mini-series of their own as written by Robert Kirkman of ‘The Walking Dead’ fame. Earth-2149 was an world infected by a zombie virus that turned its inhabitants (or the super-human population, at least) into undead flesh-eaters who retained their intelligence but lost all of their morality.
We already knew the virus was brought to Earth-2149 by the Sentry of Earth-91126, but how did it all play out in the beginning? And what part did Ashley “Ash” Williams of Earth-818793 have to do with it? How did the ‘Chosen One’ assigned by God himself to fight the Necronomicon‘s Deadite ‘Army of Darkness’ play a part in the end of humanity in the world of the Marvel Zombies..?
SCROLL DOWN to the bottom for the KEY COLLECTED EDITIONS for this event!
Crossover/Related Events: The events of the ‘Dead Days’ one-shot take place around the same time as the ‘Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness’ mini-series, but the two can be read separately. The issues of ‘Army of Darkness’ do lead directly into the MZ/AoD series which is the crossover element. Don’t have access to the ‘Army of Darkness’ comics but want to find out how the Marvel Zombies’ story all began? Don’t worry, the ‘Dead Days’ one-shot is all you need!
Must Reads: Story arcs marked with a ✔are must-read stories from this time period, along with any key related stories and often-forgotten tales that are worth a read.
Anthology Issues: When an issue contains multiple stories, the relevant story is denoted with square brackets. For example, [2/5] refers to the second story of the five stories in that issue, so you don’t need to read the other four.
Publishers: The Army of Darkness issues were published by Dynamite Entertainment. Marvel Zombies: Dead Days was produced by Marvel Comics. Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness was produced jointly by Marvel and Dynamite.
Previous events that directly impact this story:
- MARVEL ZOMBIES – The Zombies’ debut (but takes place after ‘Dead Days’)
Want to keep it simple? Here’s the chronological reading order without story descriptions, or spoilers:
- ✔ Army of Darkness #12-13
- ✔ Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness #1-2
- ✔ Marvel Zombies: Dead Days #1
- ✔ Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness #3-5
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| Must Reads | Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Army of Darkness #12 Ashley J Williams has defeated Evil Ash – his evil other self – and travelled to the future to fight Dracula. Now back in his own time after defeating the lord of vampires, Ash relays his origin to his partner, Sugarbaby, and explains how a cult who worshipped the Necronomicon placed a curse on baby Ash which would make him a magnet for evil forces. ‘Evil’ even attacks the duo at the hotdog fast-food chain, Weenieville, where he faces the Cult of Death once again and discovers a secret chamber below it… |
| ✔ | Army of Darkness #13 Ash is confronted by a Deadite version of his ex-girlfriend, Sheila, and is captured by the evil bosses of Weenieville who turn people to Deadites using their hotdog recipe. The Cult of Death cast a spell to disintegrate Ash. Evil Ash rises again to take his place and claim Sugarbaby for himself. But Ash is alive and he’s been transported to another Earth… |
| ✔ | Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness #1 Ash is warned by a Deadite that the world he’s found himself on will die and an army of the dead will rise. Despite being confused by this Earth’s costumed adventurers, he seeks out the Avengers for help in locating the Necronomicon. The Avengers ask Spider-Man to web Ash up and depart. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes head off to confront the zombified Sentry but he quickly turns them into zombies. Spidey is bitten by Colonel America and Ash is dropped in front of some hungry Avengers… |
| ✔ | Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness #2 Spidey rescues Ash and leaves him on a rooftop so he can check in on his wife, Mary Jane Watson. Ash can only watch as the Punisher murders the Kingpin, Owl and Hammerhead in front of him, instead of joining forces with them to fight the zombies. When the Punisher is consumed by the zombie horde, Ash takes his guns and kills the zombie Winter Soldier to save Dazzler‘s life. Together they head to Doctor Strange‘s house, but a zombie Howard the Duck eats Ash’s brains before they can enter… |
| ✔ | Marvel Zombies: Dark Days #1 (pp.1-10) Spider-Man finds Mary Jane and his aunt, May Parker, just as the virus kicks in and he consumes them both. On Asteroid M, Magneto regrets not stopping the zombie Sentry when he first approached the planet and decides to return to the Xavier Institute. Magneto kills the zombie Alpha Flight to save the X-Men. |
| Must Reads | Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness #3 (pp.1-20) Turns out it was Howard the Duck had consumed the brains of Ashley G Williams of Earth-2149. Ash kills Howard and, with Dazzler and the Scarlet Witch, enters Doctor Strange’s house to escape zombie Thor. The Necronomicon isn’t there, but another talking book directs the group to Latveria. |
| ✔ | Marvel Zombies: Dark Days #1 (pp.11-36) The infected Giant-Man kidnaps Black Panther in preparation for when he turns. Thor, Nova and the Fantastic Four head to the SHIELD Helicarrier to join the Resistance where Mister Fantastic begins work on a cure. Instead, he becomes fascinated by the virus and infects the FF with it before allowing them to turn him. Thor destroys Tony Stark‘s dimension-hopping machine before the zombie FF can use it. The FF turn the Resistance, then start fixing Tony’s machine to spreading the virus to another universe… |
| ✔ | Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness #3 (pp.21-22) The Scarlet Witch flies Ash and Dazzler to Doctor Doom‘s castle in Latveria, just in time to witness a super-zombie attack… |
| ✔ | Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness #4 While Quicksilver spreads the virus across the globe, Ash insults Doom who sends him to the dungeons of his castle. Doom wipes out the attacking super-zombies, making Doomstadt a safe haven. He puts on dinner for Dazzler and the Scarlet Witch. The Witch sneaks out and frees Ash who locates the Necromincon while disguised as Doom. The book reveals to Ash that he’s not the cause of the virus and can’t stop it. The distraught Ash frees another of Doom’s prisoners, the Enchantress, but her appearance is an illusion… |
| ✔ | Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness #5 Dazzler saves Ash from the zombie Enchantress, but she’s bitten. Doctor Doom obliterates both the female zombies and reveals that the hordes of super-human zombies are now at his door. Punisher eats the Scarlet Witch while Mister Fantastic attacks Doom. Ash tricks the Necronomicon into raising an ‘Army of Darkness’ to fight the ‘Marvel Zombies’. Ash and Doom help the uninfected Latverians get to safety through a portal to other Earths. Ash escapes to another New York, only to realise it’s a world of ‘Marvel Werewolves’ (Earth-7085). Doom’s machine is destroyed on Earth-2149 before he’s bitten by Mister Fantastic. The abandoned Necronomicon is used by the Hulk as toilet paper. |
| Must Reads | Issue & Fallout | Event / Crossover |
| ✔ | Army of Darkness #1-4 (2007) Ash somehow returns to Earth-818793, rescues Sugarbaby and kills Evil Ash. | |
| ✔ | Ultimate Fantastic Four #21-23 (2005) Zombie Mister Fantastic makes contact with Mister Fantastic of Earth-1610; the zombie Fantastic Four make it over to Earth-1610, but are captured and imprisoned by that world’s Fantastic Four; the Sentry’s role in bringing the virus from Earth-91126 to Earth-2149 is first revealed. Marvel Zombies #1-5 (2006) Zombie Giant-Man consumes Black Panther bit by bit, while preventing him from turning; Zombie Iron Man, Wolverine, Power Man, Giant-Man, Hulk and Spider-Man and Wolverine struggle with their hunger until they consume Galactus and gain the Power Cosmic, allowing them to travel to other worlds; Black Panther gains a cyborg body; Colonel America is ‘killed’ by the Red Skull. | MARVEL ZOMBIES |
| Exiles #85-86 (2006) A zombie Wolverine from another infected Earth (Earth-6195) joins a team of reality-hopping Exiles made up of Wolverines from various realities. | ||
| ✔ | Ultimate Fantastic Four #30-32 (2006) The zombie Fantastic Four escape incarceration on Earth-1610; the team are defeated by Doctor Doom of Earth-1610 who returns them to their own reality. | |
| Black Panther #27-30 (2007) The cosmic zombies meet the Fantastic Four of Earth-616 when both groups end up on the Skrull homeworld of the Marvel Zombies reality. | FOUR THE HARD WAY THE INITIATIVE | |
| Ultimate Civil War: Spider-Man #1 (2007) A zombie Spider-Ham from another infected reality (Earth-7044) is introduced. |
| Must Reads | Issue & Fallout | Event / Crossover |
| Marvel Apes: Speedball #1 (2009) The Marvel Zombies of another reality (Earth-21050) are first revealed before they clash with the Marvel Apes of Earth-8101. | EVIL EVOLUTION | |
| Marvel Zombies Destroy! #1-5 (2012) ARMOR agents from Earth-616 discover another zombie-infected reality (Earth-12591). | ||
| ✔ | Amazing Spider-Man #9 (2015) Werewolf Spider-Man of Earth-7085 is consumed by the Inheritors. | SPIDER-VERSE |
| Secret Wars #2 (2015) Zombies from numerous realities make up the zombie-infected Deadlands of Doctor Doom’s Battleworld (Earth-13264). | SECRET WARS | |
| ✔ | Marvel Zombies 2 #1-5 (2007-2008) The cosmic-powered zombies of Earth-2149 return to Earth 40 years later; zombie Wasp saves the Back Panther from an assassination attempt by turning him into a zombie; Colonel America’s brain is transferred into the body of T’Channa (son of the Black Panther); war breaks out between the ‘good’ zombies who no longer eat flesh and the ‘evil’ zombies who do; zombie Hawkeye gains a robot body which is destroyed by the zombie Hulk; zombie Hulk transforms back into Bruce Banner and allows himself to be killed; Malcolm Cortez (son of Fabian Cortez) sends the cosmic zombies to Earth-91126 using the machine designed by Mister Fantastic. | |
| ✔ | Marvel Zombies Return #1-5 (2009) The Marvel Zombies of Earth-2149 learn how the zombie virus spread across Earth-91126 before coming to their world; zombie Wolverine is killed, but his abilities are used to make the antidote that frees Earth-91126 of the zombie plague. |
The key collected editions for Dead Days…
| Collected Edition Title | Includes… |
| Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness (Marvel/Dynamite) | Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness #1-5 |
| Marvel Zomnibus (Marvel) | Marvel Zombies: Dead Days #1 |
| Marvel Zombies: Dead Days (Marvel) | Marvel Zombies: Dead Days #1 |
| Marvel Zombies: The Complete Collection vol.1 (Marvel) | Marvel Zombies: Dead Days #1 |
| Collected Edition Title | Includes… |
| Army of Darkness: Ash vs the Classic Monsters (Dynamite) | Army of Darkness #12-13 |
| Army of Darkness Omnibus vol.2 (Dynamite) | Army of Darkness #12-13 |
Reading Order ©OmniverseComicsGuide 2023
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