Wade Wilson, better known as Deadpool, is one of Marvel’s most popular characters, mainly because of his unorthodox nature and general strangeness. Still, despite being exceptionally brutal and violent, Deadpool has been acquiring more and more fans over the years and has become of Marvel’s most valuable assets. But this guy is generally weird and based on his endeavours, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if you asked yourselves – is this guy a hero or a villain? Or, perhaps, an anti-hero? If you want to know the answer, keep reading our article!
Although Deadpool was meant to be a parody of Deathstroke, artist Rob Liefeld once stated that he based his costume on Spider-Man’s, which ultimately changed a lot in how we perceived Deadpool’s actual origins.
In today’s article, we are going to be examining why Deadpool’s costume looks so much like Spider-Man’s. You’re going to find out why that is, but also what is the exact relationship between Spider-Man and Deadpool, i.e., why Deadpool likes Spider-Man so much and if the two of them are (still) friends. Keep reading for more information!
Why does Deadpool look like Spider-Man?
The origins of the Deadpool character are, like the character himself, quite humorous. Namely, Deadpool was – surprise, surprise – designed as a sort of mock character, a parody of several other characters, with writer Fabian Nicieza stating that “this is Deathstroke from Teen Titans”, once he saw Rob Liefeld’s original sketch and description of the then-unknown character. This is how, actually, Deadpool became a parody of DC’s Deathstroke and Nicieza soon came up with the name Wade Wilson, as an inside joke and a reference to Deathstroke’s real name, Slade Wilson. Luckily for us, the name stuck.
Despite being as much a parody of Deathstroke as possible, Slade Wilson is not the only character that inspired Deadpool. Artist Rob Liefeld explained that he drew inspirations from Spider-Man, Wolverine and Snake eyes, stating:
“Wolverine and Spider-Man were the two properties I was competing with at all times. I didn’t have those, I didn’t have access to those. I had to make my own Spider-Man and Wolverine. That’s what Cable and Deadpool were meant to be, my own Spider-Man and my own Wolverine.”
And also adding:
“G.I. Joe was my first obsession. Those were the toys in the sandbox with me, kung fu grip, eagle eye, I had them all. G.I. Joe is a world of characters that I have always aspired to participate in. Snake Eyes was a profound influence on my creating Deadpool.”
These statements do, actually, explain a lot and add a lot more to the character’s lore any mythology. Although initially a parody of Deathstroke, it seems that Deadpool does have a much deeper set of influences, which adds more substance to his colourful backstory and really does explain why he is so special and so quirky, i.e., why we love him so much.
Why does Deadpool like Spider-Man so much?
Now that we’ve established why Deadpool’s costume looks so much like Spider-Man’s (oh, there was even a planned joke for the Deadpool movie where Deadpool said that his mask was actually Spider-Man’s, only turned inside out, but it was ultimately cut), we can dig a bit deeper into the relationship of the two.
We know that Deadpool is a big fan of Spider-Man. He admires him, he genuinely loves him and he wants nothing more than to be best friends with him. The first time the two of them met was in Amazing Spider-Man #611 (2010) and since then, the two have collaborated on many instances and have proven to be a great team.
They even had their own series in which their friendship deepened. They’re both quite similar in many ways – they fight against crime, they love to joke and throw witty remarks, they don’t take life very seriously, but know when they have to, they have a similar costume – and these similarities functioned as a solid foundation for their friendship. Surely, Deadpool is way more brutal than Spider-Man, but with time, Spider-Man learned to live with that side of Deadpool and he managed to ignore it completely. They work great as a team and that is what is important in this instance.
Also, Deadpool never forgets Spider-Man’s birthday and each year, he sends him a very special gift that shows just how much he likes him.
Are Deadpool and Spider-Man (still) friends?
Well, they are! Okay, we are going to disregard all the occasions when they fought one another, as well as Deadpool’s killing spree in Killology, during which even Spider-Man perished, but they really are great friends and there are numerous examples that confirm that. Interestingly enough, Deadpool has a top-five free pass list and Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man, is number five on that list, so go figure.
Despite not agreeing with him all the time, Spider-Man likes Deadpool deep down. He considers him a friend; heck, they even teamed up to save Christmas on one occasion, so go figure how close they are. They even have a daughter together. Yes, you’ve read that correctly – Deadpool and Spider-Man have a daughter together. Okay, it wasn’t any natural process, but the supervillain Itsy-Bitsy was given Deadpool’s and Spider-Man’s DNA by an evil scientist so, technically, as the bearer of their genetic code, she could be described as their daughter. Oh, she also wants to kill them. Like all teenage daughters do. Okay…
But, the real depth of their relationship was revealed when Deadpool used a magic spell that summoned his “heartmate”. Deadpool thought it would be Shiklah, but the spell summoned none other than Spider-Man, proving what had been suggested earlier in the comic books – that Deadpool loves Spider-Man romantically. Nothing has happened between the two, but Deadpool really does love Spider-Man and the two of them are portrayed as being true soulmates, so we can freely assume that they are still great friends.
And that’s it for today. We hope you had fun reading this and that we helped solve this dilemma for you. See you next time and don’t forget to follow us!
