While rivalries between publishers have been a constant since comics began, it’s their points of coming together that feel much more monumental. With the initial publication of Amalgam Comics in 1996 and its fusions of DC and Marvel characters and continuities, we could see how the creators at the time would smash their toys together. But there’s been a drought in this kind of cross-over event for years—we’re left only with the parodies and playful jabs writers would send to one another. And yet here in the year of our lord 2025, we’re being brought back to the Clinton years with Grant Morrison, Dan Mora, Alejandro Sánchez, and Todd Klein’s “The Cosmic Kiss Caper!” in the Batman/Deadpool crossover special. 

Framed as the one-night stand of two multiverses, this cross-over has Batman searching for a device with reality-warping properties while Deadpool is looking to kill Cassandra Nova, sister to Charles Xavier. However, when arriving at a remote island in the Mediterranean Sea, things get odd. The duo are no longer in the island forests, but tiled rooms with Fleischer-esque ninjas, booby-traps, and swan boats. This is, of course, a ruse made by Cassandra as she probes through Batman’s brain to find the reality-warping artifact and to keep Deadpool busy. But even with her mind altering powers, she’s still not immune to a Robin sneaking up behind and smacking her in the head. And this is where the Cosmic Keyboard makes it appearance along with a very familiar wielder from the shadows.

Cross-overs bring to mind Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, especially the few moments with Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse. Legally, both characters had to appear on screen for the exact same number of frames to ensure one wasn’t given preference over the other. Comic cross-overs work the same way. Characters like Batman and Deadpool have to be balanced precisely—no one can be above the other as they maintain their status within their respective publishers. While Batman is the lead in this DC published story, this isn’t a competition between the two characters. They’ve come in with different aims and goals, and only by working with one another can they actually achieve what they set out to do. It’s the kind of balancing act that requires precision plotting for characters whose base characteristics are opposed.

And yet, within this cross-over special, there’s a weird kind of harmony that can only come from a writer like Morrison—including the self-insertion. We know a character like Batman always plays the straight man in the bit—just look at his years with the various Robins—and we know that Deadpool does need a more serious character to balance his antics. Between their characters, there’s an opposition, but their core elements are never absent from the other’s stories. The red and blue opposition color-scheme helps too, though. 

Get excited. Get cross.

Drew Barth (Episode 331, 485, 510, 651, & 674) resides in Winter Park, FL. He received his MFA from the University of Central Florida.