What Does the "Z" in "World War Z" Stand For?

The commercials don't mention zombies, so maybe it's something else?

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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One look at any of the trailers and commercials for World War Z and it's obvious: The movie is about zombies. It's easy to intuit as much knowing that the Marc Forster-directed action flick is based on Max Brooks' ambitious 2006 zombie novel of the same name.

Yes, the movie version is mostly about Brad Pitt bringing his larger-than-life A-list clout to the summer blockbuster arena for the first time, where he's saving the world without his Samson-esque locks ever looking less than finely groomed. But, behind Pitt, there are those swarming CGI legions of supercharged ghouls.

So why won't the film's marketing team just come out and say that the "Z" in its title stands for, yes, zombies? Instead, terms like "global pandemic" have taken the place of "zombies," or "the undead," or "the infected." Which leads one to presume, is World War Z really about some other kind of worldwide threat that we haven't seen in any of the pre-release footage? Does Brad Pitt go head-to-head against a different Z-antagonist?

If not zombies, what does the "Z" in World War Z stand for? Perhaps it's one of these options. And if so, they should've told the world about it all along. We'd watch the hell out of all of these.

Artwork by Erin Kelly

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