In February, when DC Comics and Marvel Comics made the surprise joint announcement that they’d be attempting their first crossover comic in 22 years, you could feel the electricity in the air. While EICs Marie Javins and C.B. Cebulski were light on details, the very idea of the publishers jamming their universes together seemed rife with possibilities. What characters would clash? Who would the creative teams be?
Well, now we know, thanks to a more official joint announcement yesterday (May 27) — or rather two press releases — that the comics will take the form of Deadpool/Batman and Batman/Deadpool… The former published by Marvel on September 17, written by Zeb Wells, with art by Greg Capullo; the latter published by DC Comics in November, written by Grant Morrison, with art by Dan Mora. So why did that initial announcement drop like a bomb, while this second announcement hit like a thud?
The answer, I’d venture, is that the publishers are playing it too safe.
To be clear, everything that’s been announced so far is logical. Batman is the most marketable character from DC, and Deadpool is so hot right now, thanks in particular to the massive success of Deadpool & Wolverine. Given that, on the creative side, getting Zeb Wells, who co-wrote Deadpool & Wolverine but has never written a Deadpool title for Marvel Comics, despite anchoring flagships like Amazing Spider-Man for years, makes sense. And getting Grant Morrison to turn in their first mainstream comic work in a long time on a character they defined for years — that would be Batman — makes sense. Similarly, Greg Capullo is a name artist known for his work on Batman, who is now over at Marvel; and Dan Mora is a well-respected and beloved workhorse who is (conservatively) penciling 99% of the comics coming from DC. Not only that, but Mora previously worked with Morrison on their wild Santa Claus reinvention, Klaus.
Like I said, this all makes sense from an editorial perspective, and you can see how the marketing departments of both companies were likely drooling over getting Batman and Deadpool together on the stands. For anyone who is not a comic book fan, right now, you know who both Batman and Deadpool are at a glance. They are instantly recognizable, and if you’re trying to draw non-comic book fans or movie fans into a comic book shop, Batman and Deadpool are your guys.
The problem is that while this is all logical, it isn’t eliciting any particular emotion. Deadpool versus Batman seems like something crafted by a spreadsheet, not a thrilling creative swing by two big mainstream publishers. And frankly, given the state of the comic book industry, that might be the point. Marvel crossing over with DC seems like a no-brainer to the faithful, but the threshold for best-selling comics at the moment is 400,000 copies (unless you’re pulling what is likely some sort of scam). That’s what Absolute Batman #1 sold over multiple printings in 2024, and that’s what Battle Beast #1 sold this year thanks to a wild blind bag program.
Though 400,000 is more than the JLA/Avengers crossover sold back in 2003 (the first issue of that got to 200,000 copies), it’s far from some of the million-copy-selling comics of the ’90s and 2000s, which is — I’d venture — the number Marvel and DC have in mind. Comics, ultimately, is a business, and particularly with a capital “E” Event like DC and Marvel crossing over, these comics both need to sell a ton of copies. Batman and Deadpool guarantee that, at least for some lookie-loos who will go by their local comic shop for the first time to pick up Deadpool/Batman. Will they return for the similar-sounding Batman/Deadpool? Maybe, or maybe they’ll think it’s the same book because that’s a confusing way to title things.
But I digress. The point here is that I, personally, have no financial stake in DC Comics or Marvel Comics other than the amount of money I’ve given them over the past several decades. And having two eagerly anticipated books seem like they were determined by an algorithm and market research is not as thrilling an announcement as it could have been, particularly given how excited comic book fans were after that February surprise. Sure there’s little to no chance that everyone’s personal fave idea for a crossover would happen (I’m sadly shelving Detective Chimp vs. Jeff The Land Shark for the moment), but the general reaction online from yesterday’s announcement was “yeah, I guess that makes sense” rather than the raw excitement that powers a fanbase.
Part of the joy of crossover comics is when they get weird. When they challenge the creative teams in some way, where the readers say, “How will that work…” And then it does. Sure, there are obvious mashups like the aforementioned JLA/Avengers, but that was one of the last ones after decades of anticipation. In the lead-up, we got stone-cold classics like Darkseid vs. Galactus: The Hunger and The Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans. And non-Marvel/DC crossovers have gotten even weirder with great results, like the Superman/Aliens or Archie Meets The Punisher. I’d also throw in there most of the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossovers with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Stranger Things, and Masters of the Universe, all of which have allowed their creative times to go hog wild. Heck, even DC has gotten in on the act recently with the delightfully fun DC x Sonic the Hedgehog, which turned Team Sonic into the Justice League.
As a not insignificant side note, the Batman and Deadpool stories are far from the only part of the announcement. The one-shots will also contain TBA mash-ups from TBA creative teams, and those undercard matches may be more rousing than the main event (TBA). There are also more one-shots to come in 2026, and the tease that this may lead up to something even bigger… Not for nothing, but 2026 is the 30-year anniversary of the Amalgam event, which jammed the DC and Marvel universes together. Amalgam 2: Electric Boogaloo is the sort of thing that could thrill comic book fans new and old, and would certainly tie back to the impetus for this crossover: that the recently released DC vs. Marvel omnibuses were massive bestsellers, even at a $150 price tag.
But this first announcement of Batman and Deadpool feels like the two biggest publishers in mainstream comics aren’t coming out swinging, they’re hugging the ropes and waiting to see who makes the first move. To paraphrase the co-star of one of the most famous crossover comics of all time, Superman vs. Muhammad Ali, DC and Marvel are floating like a butterfly. Here’s hoping subsequent announcements about this landmark crossover sting like a bee.
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