WARNING: Spoilers for Army of the Dead.
In Army of the Dead, how does the Zombie Queen become pregnant? Zack Snyder's Netflix movie doesn't explain the biological specifics, but some scenes suggest there's a particular process involved that's less human. The Zombie Queen's pregnancy and ultimate death drives the narrative and influences Army of the Dead's ending, which will naturally make some viewers curious about the stages of a zombie pregnancy.
Athena Perample portrays the Zombie Queen in Army of the Dead, after previously working as a stunt double for Kat Dennings and Kathryn Hahn in WandaVision season 1. As Scott Ward (Dave Bautista) and his team prepare for a $200 million heist at Bly's casino during a Sin City quarantine - the result of a zombie outbreak - they spot the wild-eyed Zombie Queen but aren't entirely sure about her intentions. In this world, intelligent Alpha zombies are most invested in protecting their own, and won't necessarily attack humans. However, when a member of Ward's team beheads the Zombie Queen in Army of the Dead, they earn the wrath of her partner, Zeus (Richard Cetrone ). The Zombie King recovers his beloved's corpse, and screams in agony while removing a fetus from the deceased's body.
Related: Army of the Dead: Is [SPOILER] Really Dead?
At first, it may seem like the Zombie King and Queen in Army of the Dead need Burt Cummings, the security officer Lily offered as a trade, for their mating ceremony, but that's not the case. The Zombie Queen was already pregnant when Cummings was taken, and according to Snyder in an interview with Esquire, the zombies in Army of the Dead's universe do indeed have sex. Exactly how that works - how something that's dead could procreate - is unclear, but until a sequel reveals the specifics of zombie mating, zombies in this world apparently reproduce the same as humans. Of course, that itself raises several more questions about zombies and the lore of this franchise.
Another possibility for the Zombie Queen being pregnant is that she was already pregnant when she was turned into an Alpha zombie, similar to the zombie baby that was born in Snyder's first film in this genre, Dawn of the Dead. But in that case, the baby was on the verge of being born, not gestating. In this universe, zombies - at least Alpha zombies; the smarter, faster ones - can have children. In a way, that tracks with the concept of growth and evolution with the zombies; Zeus himself grew hair in the time between the initial outbreak and when Army of the Dead's main story takes place, so it seems their cells aren't dead. Whether or not they can age, though, is also unclear.
Snyder also suggested to USA Today that, because zombies can procreate, maybe humans aren't needed at all. If humans were no longer needed, then zombies could evolve independently and amass a sizable army to attack the rest of the world. That itself would given another meaning to the film's title, Army of the Dead. The intriguing thing is that Army of the Dead's pregnancy reveal elevates the stakes and long-term conflict. Humans must strategize against regular zombies (or shamblers), but also need to learn about the proper rules of engagement with Alphas. Incidentally, the power dynamics will be incredibly complex in future installments, as Zeus's successor may have a grand plan that transcends the typical zombie narrative. During the aforementioned Army of the Dead interview, Snyder acknowledged that the Zombie Queen's child "does not survive... Not this one," which implies that an heir to the throne will emerge in a future film.
More: Army Of Thieves: Everything We Know About The Army Of The Dead Prequel
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/34fUJMc
No comments: