Zombie, aka Simon Garth is in Marvel’s slate of supernatural characters, possessing super strength and the ability to mystically heal from most injuries. True to his name, the Zombie is practically mindless, however he can be mystically controlled.

He was originally created by Stan Lee and Bill Everett for Atlas’ Menace #5 (July 1953), then he was reintroduced at Marvel in Tales of the Zombie (1973). Garth was the executive of Garth Manor Coffee, a New Orleans-based company. A disgruntled former gardener wanted revenge for being fired, so he kidnapped Garth and took him to a voodoo cult to be their human sacrifice.

Layla, the cult’s priestess, tried to save Garth because he was her boss and she was in love with him, but they were caught during her attempt to help him escape. As a punishment, the cult forced Layla to mystically turn him into a zombie, with the added twist that he would wear the Amulet of Damballah and must obey whoever held the duplicate.

Under the control of the amulet, Zombie was forced to hurt and sometimes kill people, including Layla. He is not the typical zombie, though, retaining some of his soul and personal awareness. So when he wasn’t being controlled by the amulet, he sought revenge against those who used him.

Layla and her grandfather, Papa Doc Kabel, helped him when they could. They did a ritual that turned him back into a human for 24 hours so that he could attend his daughter’s wedding and set his affairs in order from his previous life so that he could be laid to rest.

The voodoo witch Calypso resurrected the Zombie, and she soon realized that he now had free will and wasn’t always controlled by the Amulet of Damballah. Calypso had killed Papa Doc Kabel to resurrect the Zombie, so when she tried to control him, he ignored her orders and freed Papa Doc’s captive soul.