The first season of Marvel Zombies on Disney+ concludes with a devastating twist, revealing that Kamala Khan’s attempt to save the world instead helped Zombie Wanda enslave it. The four-episode animated series, which arrived on September 24, 2025, ends on a cliffhanger far darker than most Marvel stories, leaving the fate of Earth in the hands of a trapped Ms. Marvel and a lone surviving hero.
The finale shows that the happy, restored world Kamala experiences is a complete illusion crafted by Wanda. While Kamala enjoys boba with her friends in a seemingly normal New Jersey, the real world remains a zombie-infested wasteland.
The Final Confrontation at Kamar-Taj
In the final episode, the surviving heroes—including Kamala Khan, Blade Knight, Shang-Chi, and Valkyrie—regroup at Kamar-Taj with the sorcerers and a head-in-a-jar Scott Lang. They learn that Bruce Banner is not dead. Instead, he has become the Infinity Hulk, a being containing the massive energy released when the Infinity Stones were destroyed. He acts as an anchor, preventing that power from destroying the world.
Zombie Wanda, now calling herself the Queen of the Dead, arrives with her army to seize this power. Her goal is to use the Infinity energy to reshape reality. A massive battle ensues, but Wanda’s forces overwhelm the heroes. One by one, they fall, until only Kamala is left standing. Wanda makes a final plea, promising that by joining her, they can bring everyone back and fix the world. With no other hope left, a sobbing Kamala takes Wanda’s hand.
Wanda’s Illusion and the Bitter Truth
A massive energy burst follows Kamala’s decision. She awakens in her bed at home in a perfectly normal world. Her mother calls her downstairs, where she finds Kate Bishop and Riri Williams alive and well at her door. The three friends go out for boba, and Kamala is overjoyed, believing the nightmare is over.
However, the reality quickly begins to glitch. Kamala sees sudden, terrifying flashes of zombies shambling through her peaceful town. The true horror is revealed when the real Riri Williams breaks through the illusion, desperately fighting zombies and calling out to Kamala, telling her that nothing she sees is real. The season ends on a close-up of a hissing zombie Wanda, confirming that Kamala is trapped in a beautiful prison while the zombie apocalypse continues unabated.
Why Wanda Needed Kamala’s Power
Throughout the series, Wanda appeared in Kamala’s dreams, seeking her out. The director of the series, Bryan Andrews, explained that Wanda specifically needed Kamala’s unique abilities for her plan.
Andrews noted that Wanda “can’t wrangle all the power of the six Infinity Stones on her own,” which is why she needed Kamala to channel all that energy. The same way someone might need a gauntlet, she needed something to focus that. And we felt like the hard light was a way to do that.
Kamala’s power to harness cosmic energy and create hard light constructs made her the perfect conduit for Wanda to focus the vast power she stole from the Infinity Hulk. Kamala’s decision to join hands with Wanda essentially allowed the Scarlet Witch to use her as a living tool to create the planet-wide illusion.
The Surprising Return of Riri Williams
A key source of hope in the ending is the confirmed survival of Riri Williams. In the first episode, Riri was bitten by a zombie and injected herself with an experimental formula before seemingly sacrificing herself. Her survival suggests that her cure worked, or that her AI, F.R.I.D.A.Y., was able to save her in time.
Riri is now shown to be alive in the real world, actively fighting zombies and trying to break Wanda’s hold on Kamala’s mind. This makes her and Kamala potentially the last two living heroes left to challenge Wanda’s rule.
A Classic Zombie Movie Ending
The producers intended for the ending to be bleak, staying true to the spirit of zombie genre classics. Executive producer Brad Winderbaum stated that the grim conclusion was always the plan.
“Point to the zombie movie that has a happy ending,” as executive producer Brad Winderbaum put it. He explained that the story was always about survival and how that struggle can change and corrupt a person, a central theme in many zombie films and John Carpenter movies.
The finale leaves the story in a state similar to the end of John Carpenter’s The Thing, with an open question hanging over the fate of the characters. The future of this world now depends on whether Kamala can see through Wanda’s deception and if Riri can reach her in time.
Also Read: Marvel Zombies Season 2: What We Know About Renewal
