Marvel is bringing back Kate Bishop, Kamala Khan, and Ironheart for Marvel Zombies despite there being virtually no demand for them.
With Disney’s Marvel Zombies series on the horizon, fans are asking whether Marvel Studios is doubling down on the so-called “M-She-U”—a wave of female-led superhero projects that general audiences seem increasingly unwilling to support.
Who Are Riri Williams, Kate Bishop, and Kamala Khan?
Unless you’re a die-hard Marvel fan, chances are you don’t instantly recognize names like Riri Williams (Ironheart), Kate Bishop (Hawkeye), or Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel). Compare that to iconic heroes like Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Spider-Man, or Wolverine—characters still plastered across t-shirts, party supplies, and toys at Walmart.
Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan in Marvel Studios’ MS. MARVEL, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
These are the faces casual audiences know and love. So why does Marvel keep pushing lesser-known female superheroes instead of leaning back into the characters that built the brand?
Marvel Zombies: The “Besties” Lineup
A recent post on X from Cosmic Marvel revealed that Ms. Marvel, Ironheart, and Kate Bishop will headline Marvel Zombies on Disn
Kamala Khan, Riri Williams and Kate Bishop are reportedly best friends in ‘MARVEL ZOMBIES’
— Cosmic Marvel (@cosmic_marvel) August 10, 2025
Iman Vellani, Dominique Thorne and Hailee Steinfeld will reprise their roles.
(via https://t.co/9IJvGYi2Zd) pic.twitter.com/IuWLBmo7xA
ey+—teaming up as “besties.”
The original scoop via Nexus Point News also confirmed appearances from Thor, Valkyrie, Zemo, John Walker, and Namor.
But the main villains? Wanda Maximoff and Okoye—again highlighting Marvel’s recent trend of spotlighting women in dominant roles. Meanwhile, male characters are reduced or sidelined. Example: Ant-Man appears only as a severed head kept alive by tech. This casting choice has only fueled the ongoing debate over the M-She-U direction of the MCU.
The Box Office Reality: MCU Decline
If the three Marvel movies of 2025 (Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps) proved anything, it’s that audiences are walking away.
Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm in The Fantastic Four: First Steps – YouTube, Marvel Entertainment
Instead of dominating the box office, all three turned into Disney flops. The estimated combined budget + marketing for these films comes to a whopping $1.25 billion. Worldwide gross (according to The Numbers) was only $1.239 billion.
That means Disney’s take-home cut (about half, factoring in theater cuts) comes to only $619 million. That puts losses at over $500 million in 2025 alone. For a studio that once ruled global box offices, this decline is staggering.
Why Marvel Keeps Going with the “M-She-U”
So why keep producing female-driven Marvel content when it’s clearly not resonating with general audiences? The answer may lie in the production pipeline.
Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin in Marvel Studios’ HAWKEYE. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Projects like Marvel Zombies were greenlit and recorded years ago—during a post-2020 wave of “diverse” storytelling, where Marvel Studios and Disney allowed politically motivated creatives to inject ideology into mainstream properties. Instead of thrilling superhero vs. supervillain stories, audiences got heavy-handed messaging.
Ironheart sat finished on the shelf for years before hitting Disney+ in 2025. Ms. Marvel saw low viewership despite critical praise. What we’re watching now may simply be the last remnants of that creative era.
Can the MCU Be Saved?
That’s the billion-dollar question—and right now, the answer doesn’t look good. To rebuild, Marvel would need a full creative 180°: bringing back characters and storylines general audiences want while stepping away from ideological storytelling.
Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Marvel Studios
But with projects like Marvel Zombies still in the pipeline, it may be too little, too late.
Final Thoughts
Is Marvel’s “M-She-U” strategy killing the brand?
Female superheroes like Ms. Marvel, Ironheart, and Kate Bishop continue to dominate new projects. MCU box office flops in 2025 suggest audiences are tuning out. Disney’s streaming content still feels stuck in an outdated post-2020 creative cycle.
Are you a fan of female superheroes, or do you think Marvel needs to pivot back to its classic heroes to win back audiences Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
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There is literally no reason to do any of this. Disney could just write off these productions as losses and get tax breaks instead. Instead they’re going to waste more time and money and lose more subscribers to D+.
This is why I wholeheartedly believe Disney will be reduced to mere husk of what it is even now by the end of the decade. Despite their desperate spin over last quarter’s earnings, the ugly reality is that they’re still in the red, still losing viewers and visitors to their parks, and it looks like the losses will just keep accelerating.
“This is why I wholeheartedly believe Disney will be reduced to mere husk of what it is”
It hasn’t already?
I guess no one told Disney that Marvel Zombies is supposed to be about, you know, the zombies?
It doesn’t even make sense in any capacity….why not Dr Strange, Blade or even the characters you set up in Werewolf By Night on the Disney Plus special? Characters that would make sense for introducing zombies and more “monster” elements…nothing says “rousing Zombie epic” like fixating on a bunch of plucky young girls.
The MCU itself is a zombie now, dead but unaware of that fact, shambling along.
This DEI trash will fail, obviously.