The Marvel Universe is a place of unlikely friendships, where heroes who wouldn't normally work together not only find themselves reluctant allies, but eventually genuine confidants. One of the best examples of this is the friendship between Spider-Man and Deadpool, who, much to Spidey's chagrin, became quite close in Spider-Man/Deadpool.

Now, in the aftermath of Marvel's event series Secret Empire, Wade Wilson and Peter Parker are in very different places, and from where Pete is standing it appears that Deadpool hasn't changed at all. In fact, his friend has become even worse than he was before he started hanging out with Spidey.

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So when the new creative team of writer Robbie Thompson and artist Chris Bachalo take over Spider-Man/Deadpool in November, the characters' blossoming bromance will be over and the driving relationship of the book will be Spider-Man VERSUS Deadpool! Of course, CBR had to ask Thompson all about his and Bachalo's plans for Marvel's not-so-dynamic duo.

CBR: The big news in the world of Spider-Man and Deadpool is their bromance is about to come to an end. 

Robbie Thompson: I’m a horrible person! Nick Lowe and Jordan D. White tried to stop me! But I love chaos! Kidding! Mostly.

Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness did such an awesome job launching this book. They told the type of story we were all hoping for -- big action and big laughs -- but they grounded it all in a really emotional narrative that brought out the best and worst from these two characters. When Nick called me up about working on the book, he caught me up with where the characters would be headed in their main books, and he and Jordan both had a great sense of where to take these two next in this title, and going head-to-head was a logical next step and a great way to raise the stakes. On that first call, I got really excited, because they wanted to test these two characters’ unlikely friendship and see if it could withstand the pressure.

EXCLUSIVE: Chris Bachalo's art for Spider-Man vs Deadpool #23

Spidey's vendetta against Deadpool will begin with the characters in two very different places. Peter Parker is now broke and reviled by the general public after losing his company during the events of Secret Empire, while Deadpool is now hated by the hero community for the role he played and actions he took during Secret Empire. What's your sense of where your protagonists are when you pick up with them? What's it like writing them in their new status quo?

I’m really grateful to Dan Slott and Gerry Duggan for what they’ve done in their books. They really positioned Spider-Man and Deadpool in really interesting ways. You’re right, they’re both down in the dumps, but they are both dealing with it in their signature opposite ways.

For Spider-Man, he’s trying to get back to what he knows, all the while still confronting what went wrong and finding his way back to being a friendly neighborhood hero again. But it’s not easy. Digging his way out will take a while. Deadpool is kind of the perfect place to start for Spider-Man -- Wade has gone too far, and Spider-Man feels it’s up to him to bring him in once and for all. This should be easy, but nothing is easy with Deadpool.

For Deadpool, he’s in a darker place because he tried to be good and epically failed. So, he too, is going back to what he knows -- which is being a mercenary. Being a bad guy. He’s not really doing any soul searching like Spider-Man. Outwardly, he doesn’t care what anyone thinks about him in the Marvel Universe... except, of course, Spider-Man.

So, it’s been fun writing “back to basics” versions of the characters, largely because it puts them in direct conflict with one another.

This is, in fact, my first time writing Deadpool, and he has been an absolute gentleman to work with. I am so grateful for the chance to get to write this character, particularly interacting with Spider-Man and particularly with where Deadpool is in his life right now. Deadpool has nothing to lose, and it shows. Spider-Man is determined to bring Deadpool to jail, and Deadpool has zero interest in any of that. And yet, he still has nothing but love for Spider-Man, so it’s going to be tough on the Merc. And yes, he can change a scene’s tone on a dime, which has been really helpful in the early issues. Spider-Man is all business with the task at hand, and for Deadpool, he’s just trying to keep the laughs going.

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What can you tell us about the inciting incident that sends Spider-Man after Deadpool? How angry is Peter initially with Wade?

Deadpool killed Agent Coulson, and while he did it under the direction of Stevil Rogers, Wade still murdered an innocent man. So, everyone is out to find Deadpool. But what particularly sets Spider-Man over the edge is a late-night infomercial for Deadpool’s new stolen weapons business. Seeing the commercial, Spider-Man concludes that Deadpool has stepped into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s absence and is making a profit. Not cool.

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From Spider-Man’s POV, it’s too much. It’s time to make things right. Deadpool has to go to jail. But Spider-Man also believes he saw Deadpool’s true nature when everything went down with Itsy-Bitsy. He feels that deep down Deadpool can be a good guy... if he’d just stop being so bad all the time. So, Spider-Man wants to get Deadpool into a good old-fashioned rehabilitation program.

Deadpool is not at all interested in any of that, but he’s more than happy to hang out with his bestie, which only makes Spider-Man more pissed. Deadpool is also pissed, but not at Spider-Man -- he’s pissed because while yes, he is selling weapons... that’s not him in that late night ad.

How will Spidey and Deadpool's initial conflict unfold? Will this series have the same mix of action, emotional moments and humor that we saw in previous arcs?

Absolutely. While they are at odds from the jump, the book will still be what we all know and love about these two knuckleheads. Just with a little bit more outright antagonism between the two, particularly from Spider-Man. It all gets rolling really quickly as Spider-Man tracks down Deadpool in our first issue and we meet Deadpool’s crazy new crew. He’s stolen a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier and populated it with a bunch of really fun Marvel characters. So, right from the first issue there will be all kinds of weirdness, action, humor and emotion -- we really want to keep up the fun and intensity that Joe and Ed established and everyone else has built on in the most recent issues.

Helping you deliver those moments of action, humor and emotion is the great Chris Bachalo. What's it like working with Chris? What do you enjoy most about his style? It seems like with his flair for bringing the strange and unusual to life you could have a lot of fun with some absurd situations in this series.

Working with Chris is an absolute dream come true. Way back in college, I’d scrape together whatever change I had in order to buy the one comic I could afford -- Generation X. I loved that book and it made me a huge fan of Chris’s work. He’s one of my all-time favorite artists. He’s a brilliant storyteller and to get to collaborate with him on this story has been ridiculously fun. I cherish every e-mail that has an attachment! Whether it’s character designs, new pencils or a cover -- to get to see behind the curtain of his process has been so inspiring and educational. And he’s the perfect partner to push this book into crazy absurd situations and moments.

I’m also eternally grateful to Nick Lowe for getting us all together before we started work on the book. Nick was in L.A. on Marvel business and we all met at the greatest place in the world to break story... Disneyland! While waiting in line for the Haunted Mansion, the Matterhorn, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, we broke the initial arc of this run and planted tent-poles to guide us for the first eighteen issues. I was jotting down notes in my notebook as we waited for each ride. We had a blast -- and even got to see Spider-Man in person as well as my personal favorite, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. I had never met Chris in real life and it was a great way to break the ice and get the book going in earnest. It was clear we were all on the same page right away. Nick is a story machine and Chris has so many fantastic ideas for these characters and so many great stories -- plus, he’s a huge hockey fan to boot.

One of the characters Chris will draw in this initial arc is the Chameleon --s one of the few original Spider-Man villains you didn't tackle in Spidey, correct? What's it like writing the Chameleon? What made you want to bring him into this story?

I never got to write Chameleon in Spidey and I’m so psyched to be doing so now!

When we first talked about the book, Nick and Jordan had the great idea that while this will be Spider-Man versus Deadpool, we still wanted to see them together as much as possible. So, uniting them against a common enemy felt like the best fit. The dynamic being, Deadpool knows he’s a criminal, and knows Spider-Man is right and he should be in jail.

But he also has no plans on going to jail, like, ever! So Wade will use a common enemy to keep Spider-Man distracted and then give him the slip before Spider-Man gets him cornered. Nick had the great idea to have a familiar villain early on and I’m so grateful for that because it led us to Chameleon. I love Chameleon as a classic Spider-Man villain and he really brings a great dynamic to our duo’s story. We’re ratcheting him up as a character -- this is a dark version of Chameleon and it’s been fun playing with what a master of disguise can bring to this story.

Finally, can you leave us with some hints and teases about some of the other villains, heroes and supporting characters that will get drawn into Pete and Wade's new rivalry in this arc and the months ahead?

We are going to some really fantastic places visually in our second and third issues! We wanted to unleash Chris and he’s absolutely killing it on this book. If you are a longtime fan of his Marvel work, you will see a very familiar face from Chris’s past in our second issue!

We’re also working on a story set in the future -- Scott Hepburn is drawing it and it’s insanely beautiful! Basically, every three or so issues we’ll flash-forward to Old Man Parker and Old Man Wilson... living in a retirement home. They go on one last adventure together that will eventually tie back in to our “present” day story setting up a huge new arc in July. Scott’s designs for these two old farts are so amazing and I’m really excited for people to see his work on this. He’s created a future that’s really grounded and unique. I have his designs printed out above my desk, and I just love these two old dudes so much. I met Scott a year or so ago, but we got to hang out at NYCC last weekend and it was so great to talk face to face and hash out what’s to come together. Old Man Parker/Old Man Wilson forever!