In the second part of the Marvel Comics-Shonen Jump collaboration Deadpool: SamuraiFans were introduced to Hida Hakara, or Sakura Spider, the latest addition to the growing group of Spider-Man heroes and villains commonly known as the Spider-Man family.
One of the reasons Sakura-Spider isn’t more active in Spider-Man’s household chores is because she’s not in Tokyo. She is a member of the Japanese Avengers, a previously unknown team of Japanese Avengers also known as the Samurai Squad. This team seems to be the brainchild of Iron Man and Captain America, who believe in delivering the Avengers’ footprint in Asia, while reducing the need for the main Avengers team in New York to deploy anywhere. which poses a threat to the Earth.
Deadpool encounters Missile after becoming the newest member of the Samurai squad. Initially, Iron Man was hesitant to consider Deadpool on the team, but at Captain America’s urging, he decided to investigate more deeply into Deadpool’s worth as an Avenger. Fortunately, at the same time Deadpool was on a mission in Japan. While Iron Man is impressed with Deadpool’s ability to complete quests, he’s still apprehensive about Deadpool’s propensity to cause death and destruction in his quest. Despite this, Iron Man hired him to join the team, but then tasked Sakura-Spider with stopping his tendency to chaos.
Unlike the rest of the Spider-Man family, Spider-Man Sakura shares a pedigree with the founding member of the family, Peter Parker. She is also bitten by a radioactive spider, which gives her powers the scale of a spider. In the comics, she exhibits superhuman strength, agility, and the ability to climb walls and cling to surfaces like a spider. Somehow, she developed a fabric and a wrist-mounted web starter that allows her to fire webs to wrap around villains, tie up objects and swing over them, like like the original Spider-Man. In addition, she also possesses superhuman “spider-sense”.
Perhaps the biggest difference between Hida and Parker is their mentality. Hida has an almost Captain America-like mentality of doing the right thing, doing whatever it takes to ensure justice is served. This makes her pairing with Deadpool even more interesting. Either way, Deadpool is all about winning, while Hida is more concerned with winning properly or not. If fans find this to sound like a tense repeat between the other Avengers, Iron Man and Captain America, they won’t be mistaken. But so far in the comics, it’s a new, clever, and fun approach.
For a comic that’s primarily focused on Deadpool, introducing an entirely new character might seem a bit strange. In fact, Spider-Man Sakura probably never saw Deadpool, nor was it introduced to fans, due to his propensity to cause death and destruction wherever he went. But, as the comics suggest, Deadpool’s “kill and kill” attitude is exactly why a character like Sakura Spider makes sense, especially in a Marvel Comics-Shounen Jump collaboration. Each character provides an anchor that fans of both types can relate to and relate to, which will hopefully lead to both parties being more interested in what the other has to offer.