There are several parallels between Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead and some classic characters and tales from Greek mythology. Many movies and TV shows have directly adapted myths from the ancient world throughout the years, from 1958's Hercules to the Clash of the Titans movies to Netflix's animated series Blood of Zeus. However, ancient mythology also influences modern tales in more subtle ways, as movies that have seemingly nothing to do with mythical gods also use archetypical stories to tell new stories.
Zack Snyder clearly likes to draw inspiration from classic mythology and old legends to craft his movies. For instance, 300 is a very stylized adaptation of Frank Miller's eponymous comics, which tell an aggrandized version of the Persian Wars. Snyder's Watchmen and his three DCEU movies, Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and the Snyder Cut of the Justice League, follow larger-than-life superheroes who serve as contemporary gods on Earth. The Snyder Cut even features a mix of mythology and comic book lore, with the Olympian gods fighting and beating the New God Darkseid.
Army of the Dead isn't a conventional zombie movie. The virus appears to have come from an extraterrestrial life form, and zombies are incredibly strong, fast, and smart. Besides, they structure a well-defined hierarchy and venerate their own leader, Zeus. Army of the Dead also contains at least four clear parallels to classic Greek myths — here's all of them.
Zombie Zeus and Fatherhood
Army of the Dead's Patient Zero, the first zombie and strongest Alpha Zeus, is even stronger, faster, and smarter than the rest. He basically created all of the zombies in Las Vegas when he spread the virus, and took over the city to reign at the Olympus casino. All of the shamblers bow to him and follow his orders, and Zeus rules alongside his Queen. All of these details are exact parallels to the king of the Greek pantheon, Zeus, who defeated the Titans and became the ruler of Olympus (and Earth), was praised by gods and humans alike, and governed alongside the Queen, Hera. Army of the Dead's Zeus also wears a cape and wields a spear, which resembles the Olympian's cloak and lightning.
The similarities don't stop there, however. Alpha zombie Zeus cherishes his unborn baby, which dies as the Queen is decapitated by the humans. In Greek mythology, Kronos devoured his babies — like a zombie — except for Zeus, who managed to survive and overthrow his father. Fatherhood is important for both zombie Zeus and the Olympian god, but Army of the Dead flips the theme on its head and has the Alpha zombie chase the survivors with a thirst for vengeance after seeing his only child perish.
Mount Olympus and the Casino
The Olympus casino in Army of the Dead does justice to its name. Besides its Zeus statue, it serves as the place where Alpha Zeus and the Queen reside, rule, and are worshipped by the rest of the zombies. As Zeus arrives wearing his cape and wielding his spear, backlit by the scorching light of the dystopian Las Vegas and being admired by the shamblers, the parallel to his Olympian counterpart becomes more evident. When the human survivors propose a truce with the zombies, they offer them a sacrifice: Cummings, who's taken to Olympus by the Queen and bit by the zombies there. In the ancient world, it was a custom to offer sacrifices to the Olympian gods in exchange for their favors.
The survivors' last hope to escape at the end of Army of the Dead is also located at the top of the Olympus casino. In other words, their heaven is at the top of Olympus. But as soon as they get there, they have to fight its ruler: Zeus. Unfortunately for Scott Ward, Kate, and company, zombie Zeus manages to overpower them and turn Scott into a new Alpha, as if reaching the top of Olympus turned him into another Olympian deity. Finally, the humans are punished for invading Zeus' home by crashing back to Earth.
Medusa and the Queen's Head
Bly Tanaka sends Martin to retrieve zombie blood with the intention to weaponize it. The Queen, who rules the land alongside the Alpha and wears exotic clothes, is the zombie who moves and behaves the most like an animal — almost like a snake. Martin decapitates her, and the head is still alive and usable.
In Greek mythology, King Polydectes sent Perseus to retrieve Medusa’s head, which still retained her ability to turn people into stone after Perseus decapitated her. But while Medusa's head became a symbol of victory on Perseus' shield, Army of the Dead takes a gorier turn when Lily drops the disembodied head from the top of the Olympus casino, turning it into mush when it hits the ground.
Bly Tanaka and Prometheus’ Theft
Bly Tanaka's heist, which puts the main conflict of Army of the Dead into motion, also mirrors a classic Greek myth. One of the popular versions of the myth of the Titan Prometheus sees him stealing the gift of fire from the Olympian gods and giving it away to humanity — which helped mortals expand exponentially. Prometheus was then severely punished for his crime by having his liver eaten by eagles and renewed every day for eternity.
In Army of the Dead, Bly Tanaka sends the team to (supposedly) retrieve money from the vault. But what he really wants is to steal the "gift" of the zombies — their power — and weaponize it. The survivors receive the punishment: the team is devoured by the zombies and Vanderohe ends up taking the virus to another country. Hence, the virus, like Prometheus' fire, is carried to the world of humans to expand the zombie race exponentially.
Guzman & Chambers as Orpheus and Eurydice
The roles switch around in the last evident Greek mythology parallel of Army of the Dead, but the theme is still potent. When Martin diverts Chambers’ path with the glowsticks, he leads her to be attacked by the horde just before she and the team exit the zombies' "hibernation" lair. Unfortunately, she realizes she won't be able to make it as she's bitten by multiple shamblers. Chamber's friend Guzman has to turn around and shoot her gas tank. As an act of divine justice, Martin resurfaces next to Valentine the zombie tiger, who mauls him to death.
This follows almost the same tragic story as the myth of Orpheus, who tricked the gods so he couldn’t die. However, as he brought his lover Eurydice out of Hades, he turned around and involuntarily killed Eurydice by looking at her (the only rule he couldn't break) just as they finished exiting the underworld. Eventually, Orpheus was mauled by beasts. Of course, the parallels to Greek mythology in Army of the Dead aren't exact retellings of the ancient tales, but their themes are evident in the movie and imbue the zombie epic with newer meanings and a lot more rewatchability.