Are Deadpool & Spider-Man Friends? Relationship Explained

Deadpool is one of the weirdest characters in Marvel Comics. No matter how insane or brutal he is sometimes, you can’t help but love the guy. I mean, even our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man kind of developed a soft spot for Wade. Their friendship, however, is more of a love-hate relationship than any other. So, are Deadpool and Spider-Man really friends?

At first, Spider-Man hated Deadpool and wanted nothing to do with him. In fact, Wade Wilson took a beating from Peter Parker numerous times before they reluctantly started working together and growing on each other. Now, one can say Spidey and Deadpool are real friends.

It’s actually a very complicated relationship, even now. Spider-Man disagrees with Deadpool’s morals and actions but sees that he’s really trying to be a better person. Meanwhile, Deadpool kind of worships Spider-Man, although he tries to kill him in some instances. I know, it makes no sense when you put it like that. So, let’s break it down over time.

Deadpool & Spider-Man: A relationship overlook

So, the first time Deadpool and Spider-Man met was in ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #611 – and they weren’t buddies at all. As I’ve mentioned, Spider-Man kind of hated Deadpool, knowing who he is and what he does. You see, Deadpool is – or was, at least – a mercenary getting paid to kill people. He usually did the job without asking too many questions.

Despite Spider-Man’s incredible power, he always tries not to kill. Even when fighting the vilest criminals, Peter Parker would do everything he could to apprehend instead of kill. He always holds back his true strength because he knows that most enemies would fall dead instantly if Spidey unleashed his true strength.

Knowing that it’s clear why these two never saw eye-to-eye. Well, at least Spider-Man didn’t see eye-to-eye with Deadpool. On the other hand, we learn that DP kind of worshipped Spider-Man and wanted to be more like him. I mean, people joke about how these two look incredibly similar – and the fact is, Deadpool’s costume was designed with Spidey’s as inspiration.

Deadpool took his admiration a step too far in their next encounter, years later from when they first met. He actually took a massive beating from Spider-Man, who believed that Wade cold-bloodedly murdered a shop owner, Mr. Cheng. 

It later turned out that DP was innocent – of that crime, at least – but Spidey wanted to know why didn’t he fight back when Spider-Man pummeled him like a ragdoll. The answer? Deadpool wanted to see Spider-Man’s moves so that he could be more like him later. I mean, talk about fangirling here!

Later, their relationship didn’t change too much, although they did have several missions together that produced some of the funniest back-and-forth banter in Marvel Comics history. Despite Peter Parker not liking Wade Wilson at all, no one could deny that they worked together – quite well. We also got some epic jokes like this one:

As time went by, the two worked together on numerous occasions. They even got their co-starring comic book series – ‘Spider-Man/Deadpool!’ Now, we could probably go through their encounters issue by issue, and you’d see that the relationship between them never really changed too much. It would go like this:

Deadpool admired Spidey. Spidey resented Deadpool for being a killer. Then he slowly grew on Spider-Man as they worked together, but then, DP would do something way too idiotic, and Spider-Man would hate him all over again. Through all that time, Deadpool was convinced they were real friends – until something like this happened.

Then again, it was obvious that, despite what Peter was saying or doing, he did see something good inside Wade. They may not have been friends, but a bromance was still brewing. It was proven when Spidey had to fight a monkey hitman while Deadpool was in prison. Instead of letting Wade ‘rot’ in jail, he broke Deadpool out and let him escape.

Truth be told, he did tell Wade off later, telling him that he’ll never change and that it would be best for him to leave town and never come back. Of course, Deadpool listened – for, like, a week or two.

And, look, when you put things on fast-forward like this, it seems like Spider-Man was just a douche to Deadpool, who wanted to be his friend. In reality, Deadpool did try to kill Spidey numerous times. And, in some versions of the story and in some universes, he succeeded – like this one, where he literally shot Peter in the head.

Oh, how about the Marvel Ultimate universe, aka Earth-1610? So, in most iterations – especially our main Marvel universe, Earth-616, Wade Wilson is sort of an anti-hero. Sure, he does some questionable things – like, killing people for cash – and is totally insane, but he does genuinely try to be a better guy.

But, on Earth-1610, he’s just totally vile. On Earth-616, Wade Wilson has a very scarred face and body due to his constant battle with cancer. In the Ultimate universe, however, the villainous Deadpool barely has any flesh on his face. And he doesn’t really hide it – he just wears glass protection over his head.

Anyways, in this universe, there’s no love-hate relationship. It’s pure hate from both sides. As Earth-616’s Wade Wilson has redemptive qualities and wants to be better, this version – calling himself Wadey Wilson – has none, which is why he doesn’t care for Spidey like his Earth-616 counterpart.

Back to our main universe’s dynamic duo, as the two spent more time together, Deadpool kind of rubbed off on Spidey. He sometimes let himself loose and spat out some brutal banter, even going back and forth with DP with ‘Yo Mama’ jokes.

Then came a time when Spidey really rubbed off on DP, too. There was an instance where Deadpool, for maybe the first time, really did a selfless act for Peter Parker, and Peter didn’t leave it unnoticed. He let Deadpool know he appreciated the gesture – with a hug.

Yeah, Wade made it awkward only instantly! Still, one might say it was the beginning of Spider-Man realizing that Wade is trying to be better and succeeding. That’s when their relationship started to turn from love-hate business associates to ‘love/maybe-we-can-be-friends-but-I’ll-think-about-it’ one.

And then, we fast forward to ‘Spider-Man/Deadpool’ #12, where we finally got to see what we’ve been waiting for – the guys embraced each other as ‘not NOT best friends’ in a cool and cheeky Christmas issue.

So, there was a huge, buffed-up Santa on steroids going wild all over town, killing people for ‘ruining his holiday.’ Naturally, it caught the eye of Peter Parker and Wade Wilson, and they found each other in the city, trying to figure out who this guy was.

‘It’s like Santa stopped eating cookies and started doing CrossFit.’ – Deadpool said, while Spidey added: ‘He looks like Zack Snyder made a movie about Santa, but instead of delivering presents, he works out and murders.’

See? That’s the banter I was telling you about that makes their dynamic so awesome! Anyways, it turns out it was actually Saturn, a Roman god whose holiday – Saturnalia – was originally celebrated around Christmas time before, as he said – ‘it turned into one of fat men and commercialism.’

Our guys fight tooth and nail and eventually manage to stop the raging Saturn by following Spidey’s idea – with a Deadpool twist. Spidey wanted to show Saturn the real Christmas spirit and why the holiday still rocks – while Deadpool then took him to see that people still get wasted, gamble, and go unhinged.

It settled the ol’ Saturn down, who revived all those he killed and let Christmas be Christmas. Meanwhile, these two guys sat down and talked a bit, delivering this fine conversation and finally admitting they were not becoming best friends. They even inadvertently bought each other the same ugly Christmas sweater.

So, there you go! Although they went through thick and thin, Spidey and Deadpool are now real friends – bad besties for life, if you will.

Who is Deadpool’s best friend?

Although Deadpool said that Spider-Man was his best friend for years, it wasn’t true until recently. And, well, both of them actually had people closer to them than each other. So, who is Deadpool’s best friend?

Well, you could say there are several. For instance, in the comics and the two Deadpool movies so far, Wade has a love-hate-love relationship with several characters, like Wolverine or Domino. However, the one that stands out is with Cable.

There’s also this guy called Weasel. He was just a nerdy, laid-back kid that went to high school with Spider-Man before he met Deadpool and went unhinged. We saw a version of Weasel appear in the movies, too. Anyways, they are close friends, but it’s kind of a toxic relationship. One time, Deadpool literally stabbed Weasel over a cheesy puff.

Weasel was recently killed off in the comics, and it hurt Wade pretty bad, but it’d mean he’s not his best friend anymore. His real best friend, if you ask me, is Blind Al. Yes, we’ve seen Blind Al in the movies, too. Sure, their relationship is kind of toxic – like, literally, Blind Al tries poisoning Wade numerous times. But, in the end, they are always there for each other, as roomies and friends.

Who is Spider-Man’s best friend?

That’d be a tough question to answer without context because it had changed over the years. Depending on the version of the universe we’re referring to, Peter Parker has had multiple best friends. The original would likely be Harry Osborn, Pete’s best friend from high school and Norman Osborn’s son.

We saw a version of Harry portrayed by James Franco in the Sam Raimi – Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy, but their relationship, the same as the one in the comics, turned sour when Norman Osborn was discovered to be the Green Goblin, and killed in a fight against Spidey, so Harry sought revenge and became the Green Goblin himself.

The MCU version of Peter Parker, portrayed by Tom Holland, has a different best friend – Ned Leeds. Ned Leeds exists in the comics, too, but he wasn’t really Spidey’s best friend and secret keeper as he is in the MCU.

Finally, a new Spider-Man emerged over the past decade or so and kind of took over the mantle in the comics and the awesome, award-winning animated series known as the Spider-Verse. Miles Morales, aka the Earth-1610 Spidey, has a different best friend in both the Spider-Verse, and the comics, and his name is Ganke Lee.

The two are roommates and very close, although Ganke usually just keeps Miles’ identity a secret and gets annoyed when they’re late to class due to Morales’ superhero shenanigans.

And, there you have it – everything you need to know about the relationship between Deadpool and Spider-Man, including their best friends for life. Now, you can’t really get a real feel of that epic dynamic between those two unless you read the comics, so I urge you to do so and enjoy some of the best jokes that Marvel Comics offers.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!

Liked this article? Join the community on Reddit for the latest Marvel & DC news!