All 5 Powers The Walking Dead’s New Zombies Have—And Why They’re More Terrifying Than Ever

The Walking Dead‘s long-running franchise has included many types of zombies, but the new variants have powers far beyond what audiences witnessed when the main show first started. With a vast range of spin-offs and 11 seasons of the main show, The Walking Dead characters have faced various types of zombies, from regular walkers to the grotesque “rat king-like” zombie in The Walking Dead: Dead City. Despite the apocalypse survivors developing tactics to avoid their demise, such as covering themselves in walker guts, more recent zombie types have changed the game.

Particularly, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon elaborates on walkers first briefly explored in The Walking Dead: World Beyond. In the latter, zombie variants are revealed to originate from France, indicating scientific experimentation, assumedly to study the virus for a cure. Alternatively, the Civic Republic Military (CRM), also predominantly explored in World Beyond, could be potentially chemically engineering the virus into a weapon. Through all the scientific intervention, zombies in The Walking Dead universe possess abilities that enhance them as more powerful threats.

5Running

While zombies with a bit of speed aren’t entirely new, the reason for it has changed. In season 1 of The Walking Dead, walkers are faster since they’re more freshly turned. Additionally, the Wildfire virus, which started the zombie outbreak is explained. Most notably, this virus requires the host to die, ceasing all higher thinking and amplifying primal aggression and desire for human flesh. Because of this, their speed makes sense since it’s driven by instinct, abandoning more human qualities like stamina and fatigue.

However, later, due to experimentation explored in World Beyond‘s finale and Daryl Dixon, zombies are quicker for more reason than just recent reanimation. World Beyond‘s French scientists created speedier variants accidentally while trying to manufacture a cure, establishing France as a starting point for a more challenging enemy as survivors no longer have a pace advantage. Audiences also get to see this engineered speed in World Beyond when the recently turned French scientist rushes at a metal door, trying to kill the gunman who shot her. This sets up space for Daryl Dixon‘s cohort variants, seen in episode 3 when a French doctor observes a test subject who hastily dashes forward.

4Intelligence

Although World Beyond co-creator, Scott Gimple, clarifies that even newer zombie variants aren’t actually smart, he shares that there’s “something going on” (via ComicBook). This leads into how signs of zombie intelligence are also a result of the scientific intervention already mentioned. Despite Gimple’s remark, variants seen in the main show certainly indicate a level of intuitive thought, such as walkers’ ability to retain memories, seen when Morgan’s wife lingers around their house as if remembering her life before reanimating.

A more terrifying instance occurs in the aptly named final season episode, “Variant.” Here, Aaron, Jerry, Elijah, and Lydia encounter zombies that show signs of intelligence, which can give them an advantage when pursuing humans as prey or when facing off with them. For example, when one tries to take Lydia’s weapon away or senses humans from a distance and diverts from a herd. This increases the new zombies’ threat level as it shows they have a keen sense of self-preservation and can clearly identify how to achieve this goal when it’s challenged, like countering attacks.

3Climbing/Using Items

Hand-in-hand with intelligence, the newer variants exhibit enough forethought to avoid obstacles or utilize objects around them to help improve their skills. As early as the main show’s season 1, episode 2, a walker picks up a rock and bangs it against a department store window as Rick and Glenn hide. More recently, this includes shifting away from wandering mindlessly into peril, as audiences have seen numerously, such as when Rick and Michonne drive parallel to each other with a long wire between the two of them and walkers get sliced instead of evading the obstacle.

In the “Variant” episode, a walker climbs a fence to get into the Renaissance fair’s main structure, indicating a high level of dexterity and strategic thinking. Plus, echoing that season 1 episode, a zombie picks up a rock to hit Jerry but is intercepted by Aaron. This type of thinking not only echoes how much of a threat newer zombies are but also how unprepared American survivors are since Aaron originally thinks the zombie that attacks may be a Whisperer. Equating the variant abilities with that of humans emphasizes the power of these new zombies.

2Super-Strength

Originally, zombies were fairly easy to overpower if the survivors were quick on their feet and used smart maneuvering, but this has since changed. Again, a notable introduction to the new zombies’ strength is seen in World Beyond‘s finale since, once the scientist turns, she’s shown to dent the metal door she bangs against. While the experiments seem to elicit intelligence, speed, and strength in conjunction, there are more recent examples that specifically exhibit how much stronger the new zombies are.

In Daryl Dixon, season 1, episode 3, villain Genet’s scientists are shown experimenting and documenting changes that the zombie subject undergoes based on whatever biochemical testing they implement. This zombie is chained at the wrists to the walls, yet is able to break free with minimal effort. Moreover, in the “Variant” episode, when Aaron first strikes the walker, it fights back, indicating a level of strength and self-defense previously unheard of in the franchise. To add to their strength, Daryl Dixon‘s episode 3 reveals their resilience, too, since a new variant, burners, fall from a multi-story building’s windows, smashing to the ground, yet getting up to attack anyway.

1Acidic Blood

If super-strength and intelligence didn’t make the zombies in The Walking Dead universe more challenging to defeat, the burners, a type of acid variant in the Daryl Dixon spin-off, certainly do. Already teased before the show’s premiere, these zombies’ acidic qualities instantly burn through anything they touch, as seen in the pilot when Daryl encounters them and tries to block one by holding up his arm only to get burned. The cause of this is related to the experiments scientists ran and the ongoing ones Genet and her head doctor are carrying out, also signifying Genet’s plan to boost walker speed and overall strength.

A version of The Walking Dead zombies that are even more unapproachable, and therefore potentially harder to defeat, isn’t entirely new. In Fear: The Walking Dead, nuclear walkers roam around, which can lead to radioactive poisoning and harm to humans that come near them. By adding more powers and decreasing walkers’ limitations in The Walking Dead universe, there’s a bigger need for survivors in the spin-offs to be much more creative in how they handle zombie threats. Luckily, Daryl has started trying new tactics to traverse these higher-level zombies in France, like using a burner to clear vines blocking an exit.