What If…?: 10 Strongest MCU Zombies, Ranked

Episode 5 of Marvel’s What If…? gave fans a glimpse into a terrifying alternate reality where the earth’s mightiest heroes have been turned into zombies. Despite becoming mindless bloodthirsty creatures, the superheroes still kept their powers, which was bad news for anyone they encountered.

From a sharpshooting Hawkeye to a hostile Captain America, the zombified heroes made it hard for Bucky Barnes, Dr. Bruce Banner, Peter Parker, and the rest of the survivors to find a cure. The strongest zombies from the episode showed that they still had the skills to slow down the protagonists, wielding their powers once used for good in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in dark and horrifying ways.

10 Happy Hogan

Happy Hogan is one of the most underrated supporting characters in the MCU who gave viewers some much-needed comic relief in the dark episode. Iron Man’s reliable chauffeur and friend still carries around a repulsor glove, which he might have snagged after Tony Stark turned into a zombie.

Despite saying “blam” out loud with every shot from his glove, Happy’s attacks aren’t enough to fend off larger groups of zombies, especially when they include Hawkeye. As part of the undead, he still says a distorted version of “blam” but combines it with even slower reflexes. It’s easy to anticipate his attacks and evade them.

9 Hawkeye

Hawkeye’s dramatic entrance in the episode underscored just how dangerous his sharpshooting skills can be in a zombie apocalypse. After dragging Happy into the darkness, he pins Sharon Carter on the wall with an arrow. She manages to escape after using Happy’s repulsor glove against him and pulling the arrow out.

Hawkeye’s long-range attacks are undeniably useful for hunting down victims and injuring them from afar. However, if they’re not immediately killed, there’s a good chance they’ll find a way to escape during Hawkeye’s slow walk towards them.

8 Hank Pym

Hank Pym’s journey into the Quantum Realm to search for Janet van Dyne led to the start of the dangerous virus that would wipe out most of humanity. Hank’s ability to shrink at will made it easy for him to take a bite out of Captain America’s neck, turning America’s beloved hero into a mindless zombie.

On top of the fact that he’s partly responsible for unleashing the quantum virus, Hank is formidable as an undead enemy. The episode highlighted how his tiny body can have a large impact on the population, as all it really takes is one small bloody nibble to turn a noble hero into a flesh-eating member of the undead.

7 Hope Van Dyne

After a messy family reunion, Hope van Dyne is left feeling guilty about not doing enough to stop the spread of the quantum virus. This motivates her to sacrifice herself for the group after she’s fatally wounded in Camp Leigh, using all of her energy to turn into a giant and carrying the survivors to safety.

Hope stays in her giant form even after she’s zombified, which catches audiences by surprise when she reaches out and almost crushes T’Challa’s jet. It’s not clear if she can still summon swarms of insects in her undead state, as shown earlier in the episode. Even if she can’t, a giant bloodthirsty zombie is more than enough to defeat most survivors.

6 Iron Man

Tony Stark’s appearance in the episode is definitely not one of Iron Man’s most heroic scenes, even though it starts out looking that way. The zombified billionaire seems to come to Bruce’s rescue when the Hulk refuses to appear to fend off Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian. However, it becomes clear that something’s wrong when the attack turns into a gruesome bloodbath.

With his armor completely intact, Iron Man still has to ability to fly and use his repulsor gloves to take down his victims. It would be interesting to see him control his other suits to round up the remaining survivors in time for dinner with an undead Pepper Potts.

5 Falcon

Okoye really shouldn’t have asked the group to separate so that they didn’t have to fight against Hawkeye and the Falcon in two separate locations. Like Hawkeye, Falcon has a dramatic entrance, with a flock of birds serving as his entourage.

Sporting a slightly cracked head and damaged wings, the Flacon is still a force to be reckoned with. He gives Bucky and Okoye a challenging time, swooping around to evade their attacks and chasing them around the station. There are a few close calls before the general of the Dora Milaje is able to slice him in half.

4 Doctor Strange

Despite his short screen time, the zombie variant of Doctor Strange is a strong version of the Sorcerer Supreme. He worked with Wong and Iron Man to devour Maw and Cull and likely would have taken down Bruce Banner if the Wasp and Spider-Man hadn’t shown up in time.

Doctor Strange’s mastery of the mystic arts doesn’t go away in his undead state, which means he can teleport, cast spells, and possibly manipulate time to his advantage. While he’s definitely weaker without his intellect and photographic memory, he’s still a dangerous zombie who can track down his victims no matter where they are in the world.

3 Captain America

Seeing the leader of the Avengers turn into a mindless zombie with a pinprick bite from Hank Pym solidified the fact that the entire world was in trouble. Captain America’s valiant efforts to save humanity with the Avengers just accelerated the apocalyptic event.

His intense fight with his best friend, Bucky Barnes, was a fast-paced hand-to-hand combat sequence that likely drove viewers to the edge of their seats. He still had his strength and reflexes, and at times seemed like he would overpower the Winter Soldier. Thankfully, the scene ends with Bucky holding Captain America’s shield, taking a moment to claim it as his own with both Cap and Falcon out of the picture.

2 Thanos

As Peter, T’Challa, and Scott’s head make their way to Wakanda to work on the cure, the almost hopeful ending is ruined when fans are reminded that in this universe, Thanos is still searching for the mind stone. The genocidal supervillain is shown in the middle of his undead army, holding up the Infinity Gauntlet that’s only missing one more Infinity Stone.

Although viewers never see the genocidal supervillain in action, he’s unquestionably one of the strongest zombies in the show. An important question for fans to consider is whether or not his plan to snap away half of the universe remains the same – wouldn’t he rather double the population to satiate his hunger?

1 Wanda Maximoff

Despite not being affected by the virus, Vision unleashes a deadly force of his own in the form of the Scarlet Witch. When his cure doesn’t work on her, he keeps her locked up and feeds her by luring survivors to Camp Leigh. Kurt senses her presence and ends up becoming a victim of the “Baba Yaga.”

Wanda’s undead version has tapped into the Scarlet Witch’s Chaos Magic, which fans have seen her develop further in WandaVision. She’s an unstoppable force who can telekinetically pull anyone close to murder them, just like she does with Kurt and Okoye. She could’ve destroyed Thanos in her human state, which means she can definitely obliterate him now that they’re both undead.

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