Warning: contains spoilers to Marvel Zombies: Resurrection #3, out now!
In zombie movies, the living survivors tend to have one of two long-term goals in mind: either finding some safe place to call home or eventually discovering a cure for the undead. The latest chapter of Marvel Zombies is no exception, as Valeria Richards, one of the last uninfected members of the Fantastic Four, has revealed her intention to create a cure for this mysterious space virus which has taken over her family, friends, and the world overall.
In Marvel Zombies: Resurrection by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Leonard Kirk, a large conglomeration of Earth's heroes including the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men traveled to space to investigate the appearance of Galactus' corpse following a distress beacon from Captain Marvel. What they discovered was an intelligent virus which had already infected other notable alien heroes, who proceeded to leave no hero alive, continuing their invasion when Galactus' body literally touched down into Earth's atmosphere. The primary story has followed a small group of survivors led by Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, who continues to honor his promise of protecting Franklin and Valeria Richards from harm. They are joined by Nana, a reprogrammed Sentinel and later the vampire hunter Blade as they battle all sorts of creatures on this rapidly evolving planet of the dead.
In Marvel Zombies: Resurrection #3, while the survivors investigate the remains of Atlantis, the ever-tinkering Valeria reveals that since their encounter with Beast at the Xavier Institute back in issue 1, she has been working on a cure for the meta-spawned heroes. Their search for the Galactus Hive is simply so they can understand what it truly is and hopefully live long enough to synthesize a cure. Valeria hopes to remove their hunger and essentially reprogram their infected minds with an imprint of their previous consciousness pre-infection. When others question it, she sentimentally backs up her evidence with the memory of her father, believing that Reed Richards would have found a way if the roles were reversed.
Valeria's hope for a cure line up with what other fictional scientists have attempted in similar situations. Either they hope to help remind the undead zombies of who they were before or use scientific processes in hopes of isolating the elusive virus and creating a cure that they can begin to distribute. Rarely does this ever work, and it usually ends with more pain and loss as the world before begins to feel more and more like a fond memory. As the true nature of the virus is revealed and Valeria and her brother are reunited with their meta-spawn family, Valeria's Marvel Zombies cure feels more and more like a fleeting hope that Marvel's smartest kid can't stop treating like a plan.