Zombie Captain America

What If... Zombies!? Captain America's team were the first responders to the zombie outbreak - and its first victims. Some people are just dying to change the world! In the normal MCU, Janet van Dyne spent years in the Quantum Realm, but really suffered no side effects other than being infused with energy; in this universe, she contracted a Quantum Virus that mimicks the symptoms of classic zombism: decaying flesh, a hunger for the living, numbness to pain and damage, etc. Basically, it was an excuse to do Marvel Zombies in the MCU for real (rather than just as a Mysterio hallucination in Far From Home). And naturally, you can't do Marvel Zombies without a zombified Captain America. What If...? Zombie Cap has one distinctive difference from comic Zombie Cap: namely, he still has the top of his head. It doesn't seem like they'd be worried it would be too violent or disgusting - not with everything else in the episode - so our assumption is they knew the average fan, understanding the way to kill zombies is to destroy the brain, would be mildly confused about why Cap could have a partially destroyed brain and yet still be functional. Spoiler alert for the end of the review: there's no BAF piece here, because so much of the figure is unreusable new molds. His face is decaying, sure, with the jaw open wide and the cheeks and nose rotted away, but that's just the start of things. His right boot is missing, leaving a bare shin and foot, he's got no sleeve on his left arm or right forearm, and has even managed to lose his left glove somewhere. Considering he was infected in San Francisco and turned up in New York City, it's no surprise he's been through a lot - guess that explains why he's got big rips both front and back that expose his ribs, plus literal holes that go all the way through the legs! Holy crap! His left leg is longer than his right, leaving even plain stances lopsided. If you've ever tried to walk around wearing only one shoe, you get why this is a brilliant move. Cap's skin is blue, because that's what Quantum zombies look like? (Being inhuman probably made it easier to sell the idea of dead humans being a major plot point on a family cartoon show.) The blue of his uniform is bright, but the "white" stripes on his stomach are now a dirty yellow. There's a surprising amount of blood painted on this mass-market Hasbro toy intended to be sold on the shelves at Walmart and Target. Even his included shield gets blood on it, which is something "Great Value" Captain America should have gotten but didn't. The shield is the model with the flat, segmented star and the big molding error on the back. Like we said, there's no part for the Watcher Build-A-Figure here, but that hardly matters. Zombie Captain America is done incredibly well, and is something we never thought we'd see in the normal Marvel Legends line. -- 12/27/21

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