Marvel Knows How to Pull Off a Cameo, But Its Best One Yet Hails From an Anime

Marvel Comics unabashedly loves anime and manga. The company has had frequent crossover partnerships with Shōnen Jump+. The Spider-Man franchise alone has inspired numerous sentai television series, anime, and manga. However, once Deadpool decided to star in his own manga series, his fourth-wall-breaking powers earned him Marvel’s coolest cameo yet. After Deadpool finds himself on the opposite side of Thanos, only Japan’s Number One Hero can save the day.

Deadpool: Samurai – writtenby Sanshiro Kasama, with art by Hikaru Uesugi – is a two-volume manga series in collaboration with Shōnen Jump+, starring none other than the Merc With a Mouth.

Conscripted by Iron Man and Captain America to join a Japanese branch of the Avengers called the Samurai Squad, Deadpool joins the Sakura Spider on her quest to fight Tokyo’s supervillain activity. Teaming up with a J-Pop singer and her symbiote named Kage, the three band together to stop Loki from destroying the Multiverse. After Loki summons a clone of Thanos to his side, Deadpool is suddenly saved by a timely Detroit Smash.

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In their most desperate time of need, Deadpool pulls out a communicator that can summon the Avenger’s most powerful hero. Thanos lunges to grab the device, accidentally sending the distress call to someone else. Within an instant, an explosive smash erupts, releasing a shock wave powerful enough to send Thanos flying. As the dust settles, Deadpool looks up to see All Might, gently holding the mercenary in his arms. Deadpool quips that kidnapping the creator of My Hero Academia, Koehei Hirokoshi, finally paid off.

All-Might reassures Deadpool that they can defeat the Mad Titan by working together, sending Deadpool over the moon with childlike glee. The pair match pace, preparing to launch a two-front attack, when Deadpool accidentally trips over a pebble. Soon, he finds himself landing on his face while his partner unleashes a 100% “United States of Smash,” sending Thanos flying backward. Then, as fast as All-Might came, the Eight Wielder of One For All left to defeat more villains. In the end, Deadpool didn’t just get a simple cameo, he got an entire fight sequence with the World’s Greatest Hero.

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This isn’t the first time Marvel and My Hero Academiahave shared a crossover. In 2023, Marvel Comics and Shōnen Jump+ released Spider-Man: Octopus Girl. The series’ creators, Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court, are the same creative team behind the My Hero Academia: Vigilantes series. Additionally, Koehei Horikoshi has actually gone on record saying that Spider-Man’s characterization in Sam Rami and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man 2 was a direct inspiration for the tone of My Hero Academica. Yet, as inspirational as Spidey might be, it was Deadpool who broke the fourth wall to grab Marvel’s best cameo to date.

Deadpool: Samurai Vol.1-2 is available now from Marvel Comics and Viz Media.

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  My Hero Academia

  Movie(s)

  My Hero Academia: Two Heroes (2018), My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (2019), My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission (2021)

  First Film

  My Hero Academia: Two Heroes (2018)

  Cast

  Daiki Yamashita, Kenta Miyake, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Ayane Sakura, Yûki Kaji, Aoi Yuki, Kaito Ishikawa, Toshiki Masuda, Marina Inoue, Yoshimasa Hosoya

  TV Show(s)

  My Hero Academia

  Character(s)

  Izuku Midoriya, All Might, Katsuki Bakugo, Ochaco Uraraka, Shoto Todoroki, Tsuyu Asui, Tenya Iida, Eijiro Kirishima, Momo Yaoyorozu, Fumikage Tokoyami

  Video Game(s)

  My Hero Academia: Battle for All, My Hero One's Justice, My Hero One's Justice 2

  My Hero Academia is a multimedia franchise that follows a young boy named Izuku Midoriya, who dreams of becoming a hero despite being born without superpowers. These superpowers, known as "Quirks" are found in most people after birth, but Izuku wasn't so lucky - until a fateful encounter with All Might, Japan's greatest hero, Izuku inherits his Quirk and enrolls in U.A. High School to learn the true meaning of heroism. Alongside his classmates, each endowed with unique abilities, Izuku faces rigorous training and lethal threats from villainous forces.

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  Deadpool

  Alias

  Wade Wilson

  Created By

  Fabian Nicieza, Rob Liefeld

  POWERS

  Healing factor, regeneration, superhuman strength and agility,

  Franchise

  Marvel

  Birthday

  November 22

  Height

  6'2”

  The merc with the mouth first appeared in an issue of New Mutants in 1990, and since then has gone on to get his own series and a massive cult following. With his incredible powers of healing and regeneration, Deadpool was initially depicted as an X-Men villain but went on to become an anti-hero. After getting his own movie series starting in 2016, the third Deadpool movie finally brings the wisecracking, fourth-wall-breaking character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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