Can you imagine a world where Spider-Man and Deadpool are relegated to relic status? Where they’re too old and crotchety to save the world?
If you said:
A. Deadpool’s healing factor makes aging normally seem unlikely.
Or:
B. Seeing as they’re two of Marvel’s biggest moneymakers, the likely answer seems “no.”
Then we tend to agree with you. But Spider-Man/Deadpool #26 does the unthinkable and introduces us to the Senescent Spidey and Decrepit Deadpool. “They’re super old! And totally retired,” said writer Robbie Thompson (Silk, Venom: Space Knight) in a recent interview with Marvel. “They’ve hung up their web-shooters and katanas and live in a retirement community, playing Bingo and working on their crochet skills. The world has changed because it’s seemingly moved on without these two heroes, but we’ll soon see they’re still needed in a big way!”
A strange premise for the intended demographic, but one that took even Thompson himself by surprise. “I have to admit, when I first pitched the idea, I thought the tone would be much lighter. More of a spoof, really. And there’s still plenty of the type of humor folks have come to expect from this team-up in our future story. But I was surprised to find the scripts were a lot more emotional. Getting to hear these guys talk at the end of their careers proved really fascinating.”
Joining Thompson for the first time will be artist Scott Hepburn (Deadpool, Nova), who Thompson met at New York Comic Con, where they hashed out aspects of the storyline together. “He has so many great ideas,” said Thompson of Hepburn. “And put together some incredible character designs for some ‘future’ Marvel characters we’ll be seeing down the road. We’re also collaborating with Ian Herring on colors–I had the great fortune to work with Ian on all of Silk, and his work here with Scott is outstanding.”
When asked who would be evil enough to mess with geriatric versions of Spidey and DP, Thompson revealed, “There’s a ‘big bad’ that brings our heroes out of retirement in the future. The last page of issue #26 reveals our “big bad,” and it’s off to the races from there.”
Despite being set in the far future, the crux of the book remains the relationship between the two titular characters. “One of the things I found myself most drawn to in pitching on this book was trying to drill down on why Spider-Man and Deadpool are friends. I get why Deadpool loves Spidey–I mean, who doesn’t love Spidey? But Wade can be tough to love–he doesn’t make it easy. And yet, despite it all, Spider-Man does have Deadpool’s back.”
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What sort of future do Old Man Peter and Old Man Wade live in? Will we see any other familar faces (Old Man Logan, perhaps?) Who is the “big bad” that brings the two old farts out of retirement? Spider-Man/Deadpool #26 hits stands on January 26th, 2017.
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