<p>Corrosion is required for biodegradable metals during their clinical services, but it could also affect their mechanical performance and might even lead to premature failure. In particular, for some newly developed biodegradable metals like zinc-based alloys, their corrosion-associated mechanical behavior is of critical relevance, although it remains unclear. In this study, long-term corrosion/degradation-associated mechanical behavior of hot-extruded Zn-Cu and Zn-Cu-Fe alloys, two promising Zn-based bio-metals, was investigated from the perspective of load-bearing biomedical implants application, compared with pure Zn. The immersion degradation and mechanical assessments verified that the evolving corrosion profile of bio-metals governed their mechanical performance. Nonetheless, alloying with Cu and Fe turned out to be effective in mitigating this impact, as the grain-refined microstructure helps alleviate localized corrosion attacks compared to pure Zn. In addition, the evenly distributed fine second phases may work as a cathodic part of the galvanic coupling corrosion cells and therefore facilitate the uniform corrosion. Likewise, the presence of Cu and Fe helps to form more protective products against corrosion of the underlying Zn matrix. In short, the overall suppressed corrosion, especially the localized type, could reduce the susceptibility to stress concentration of Zn-based biodegradable metals (bio-metals), therefore delaying the mechanical decline and maintaining the structural integrity as long as desired. The findings not only provide new insights into better understanding the correlation between the degradation process and mechanical evolution of zinc-based bio-metals, but also raise concerns when developing new types of bio-metals for clinical translation.</p>