Comic Book Review: Batman/Deadpool #1

In this review of DC/Marvel: Batman/Deadpool #1, the Caped Crusader and the Merc with the Mouth join forces to combat other-worldly dangers and travel through a cacophony of crazy comic crime! Will anyone survive?!

DC/MARVEL: BATMAN/DEADPOOL #1
Written by GRANT MORRISON, SCOTT SNYDER, JAMES TYNION IV, JOSHUA WILLIAMSON, TOM TAYLOR, MARIKO TAMAKI, and G. WILLOW WILSON
Art by DAN MORA, HAYDEN SHERMAN, BRUNO REDONDO, AMANDA CONNER, and DENYS COWAN
Main Cover: DAN MORA
Variant Covers: DAN MORA, LEE BERMEJO, MARK BROOKS, JIM CHEUNG, AMANDA CONNER, NICK DRAGOTTA, JENNY FRISON, ANDY KUBERT, JAE LEE, JIM LEE, ALEXANDER LOZANO, SEAN MURPHY, FRANK QUITELY, BRUNO REDONDO, HAYDEN SHERMAN, BILL SIENKIEWICZ, RYAN SOOK, and SOZOMAIKA
Page Count: 64 pages
Release Date: 11/19/25

This review contains spoilers

Once upon a time, the two cosmic entities governing the balances of reality between the DC Universe and the Marvel universe – Eternity and Kismet respectively – got together for a one night stand.

As a result, in the middle of an investigation into the kidnapping of the wife of one Victor Gover a.k.a. Sportsmaster, Batman encounters Deadpool – an anti-heroic assassin who bears a strong resemblance to Slade Wilson a.k.a. Deathstroke. Realizing they’ve been trapped in a cross-universe conundrum, the two costumed heroes circumnavigate the corners of the next dimension, until they put Batman’s famous plot armor to the test and he’s seemingly killed by arrows. At that moment, the villain of the story Cassandra Nova arrives, revealing that he knew Deadpool was on a mission to kill her and implemented Batman to find the deadly device that could do her in before Deadpool could.

Deadpool drags Batman to a conveniently located Lazarus Pit, whereupon the Amalgam hero Dark Claw emerges. Battling Deadpool in a berserker frenzy, Dark Claw reveals that while the two are trapped inside of Nova’s mind, they’ve got help on the outside. At that moment, Robin arrives and attacks Nova, giving Batman a chance to return and for him and Deadpool to locate the true mastermind of the plot.

They encounter The Writer – a mysterious cosmic being last thought to have been killed during an adventure with the Suicide Squad. With their Cosmic Keyboard, Batman and Deadpool combine to form “Deadbat”, who quickly beheads Cassandra Nova, incapacitating her for a long enough time for Deadpool to return her to his universe. As The Writer exits the story, and Eternity and Kismet awkwardly agree to meet again, Batman returns Victor Gover’s wife to him as a final gift for the holidays.

Analysis

With an almost entirely unserious plot and terrifically wild artwork from Grant Morrison and Dan Mora, Batman/Deadpool is genuinely one of the very best DC/Marvel crossovers in many years. Not just for the fact that we haven’t had these much since the early 2000s, but Morrison knows exactly how to render this adventure, with Deadpool’s penchant for wacky, fourth-wall breaking mania justifying the fun we can have with a refusal to both take things too seriously and acknowledge that this is one in a long line of comic book crossovers that really shouldn’t ever try to make sense. Batman/Deadpool #1 is a ball.

However I worry that it might go over the heads of newer younger readers. Much of the joy in this issue comes from the fact that Morrison and Mora are constantly poking fun at the fact that DC and Marvel used to cross over a lot, with specific references calling back to those adventures. Specifically DC vs. Marvel is recalled here – with the biggest signpost being the return of the Batman/Wolverine hybrid Dark Claw. But there’s also the web-guns Deadpool employs which belonged to Spider-Boy (A Spider-Man Kon-El Superboy hybrid), and the heads of the godlike beings from DC vs, Marvel appearing at the foot of the bed next to Eternity and Kismet near the end of the story. You really have to be a hardcore comic book fan to recognize those, and if you’re not I wonder if it’ll just come across as random nonsense.

There’s other easters eggs as well. Deadpool does the fourth-wall breaking move where he “sees” the reading audience – a reference to Grant Morrison having Buddy Baker do the same thing in Animal Man. That issue also included Morrison themself as The Writer, a fictionalized version who did seemingly die in the pages of Suicide Squad not long after. That gets referenced, along with the fact that this isn’t even the first Batman/Deadpool team-up. We had the Deadpool/Batman matchup just a few months prior, but Morrison has Deadpool both reference and discount it for brevity’s sake, as well as preserving that that did happen, but Batman’s characterization can be different, and multiverse theory dictates that this be a slightly different Batman.

On that note, I love Morrison writing Batman in Batman/Deadpool #1. Morrison’s forever one of the best Batman writers period, and pitches his nonplussed nature perfectly throughout the story. As opposed to the previously mentioned crossover, this interpretation of Batman isn’t bothered at all by Deadpool’s antics, or the fact that he’s flying through a crazed multidimensional adventure. I love this, as Batman has had such a varied career over the course of his history, we’re not bogged down by him grim-facing Deadpool and trying to out-serious the plot. He simply rolls with it and keeps on. In my view, this is the perfect Batman portrayal, and it keeps things fun because he’s only into solving the mystery and rescuing a kidnapping victim, utilizing Deadpool best without getting distracted. It’s terrific stuff.

Morrison does Deadpool justice as well. Much of what I’ve read of Deadpool can fall down on hoary, juvenile humor that varies from clever to gross at times. Morrison keeps the character crass, but in witty, silly ways. He also uses Wade to poke fun at the conventions of both DC and Marvel, by referencing how many Lazarus Pits still exist despite them always being short in supply, and making fun of Batman’s plot armor. It’s great stuff.

There are other adventures in the rest of Batman/Deadpool #1, that were generally enjoyable, from Wolverine and Nightwing’s team-up to Ms. Marvel and Static. I have to say that the Batman/Deadpool main story really met the hype of the concept’s potential. I don’t know if it will work for newer readers who may never have read a DC/Marvel crossover before, especially those who aren’t familiar at all with DC vs Marvel, but I was 100% the target audience for this specific story, and it worked on all points for me.