Superman/Spider-Man (2026): the DC-Marvel crossover, 50 years after 1976

Superman/Spider-Man (2026): two issues, two publishers

The 2026 crossover doesn't fit in a single comic. Each publisher released its own special issue, a one-shot, and each one puts its own hero first in the title. At DC, the full title is DC/Marvel: Superman/Spider-Man #1; at Marvel, it's Marvel/DC: Spider-Man/Superman #1. To keep them straight, remember one simple rule: when Superman comes first, it's the DC issue.

Both issues follow the same model. A lead story opens the lineup, then short stories each pair a DC character with a Marvel character. The DC issue gathers eight all-new stories, and the Marvel issue offers nine. Each one costs $7.99 in the United States in its standard edition, and DC also sells card stock variant covers at $8.99. The two publishers present their issues as a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of their first superhero crossover.

Watch out for the printed dates: the covers are dated May 2026 for the DC issue and June 2026 for the Marvel issue, even though the two comics hit stores as early as March 25 and April 22.

1976: when Superman crosses paths with Spider-Man

It all starts with an oversized comic book, a “treasury” co-published by DC and Marvel and released on January 2, 1976: Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man. Gerry Conway writes the script and Ross Andru handles the pencils. Lex Luthor and Doctor Octopus join forces in it, and a ruse by Luthor pushes the two heroes to fight before they team up. During that first fight, a ray that mimics the light of a red sun weakens Superman.

A sequel comes out in 1981 under the title Superman and Spider-Man, in the Marvel Treasury Edition line. Jim Shooter writes it, with help from Marv Wolfman on the plot, and John Buscema draws it. Doctor Doom teams up with the Parasite, Superman's enemy, and both Wonder Woman and the Hulk join the adventure.

Of the meetings that follow, two work on a whole new scale. In 1996, DC versus Marvel pits the heroes of both universes against each other and lets readers vote on the outcome of several duels. From 2003 to 2004, JLA/Avengers brings together the Justice League and the Avengers. After that, it takes more than twenty years for a new crossover to see the light of day.

From Batman/Deadpool to the facsimiles: the 2025 relaunch

In February 2025, DC and Marvel announce their joint return, and on May 27 they unveil the first two titles. Marvel goes first on September 17, 2025, with Deadpool/Batman, written by Zeb Wells and drawn by Greg Capullo. DC answers on November 19, 2025, with Batman/Deadpool, by Grant Morrison and Dan Mora. The 2026 formula is already in place: one issue per publisher, a lead story and short stories in which other characters cross paths. That is how, in Deadpool/Batman, the 2025 Marvel issue, Krypto, Superman's dog, gets to meet Jeff the Land Shark.

On October 2, 2025, the two publishers announce the follow-up for 2026, built around Superman and Spider-Man. The rollout starts with the past. On January 7, 2026, DC publishes a facsimile of the 1976 treasury, also in oversized format. On February 4, 2026, the reprint of the 1981 sequel comes out. The two all-new issues follow, in March at DC and in April at Marvel.

Waid and Jiménez: two reporters against Brainiac

The DC issue opens with “Truth, Justice, and Great Responsibility,” written by Mark Waid and drawn by Jorge Jiménez, with colors by Tomeu Morey. Waid knows the Man of Steel well: he already rewrote his origin in Superman: Birthright, launched in 2003. The story's title blends Superman's motto, truth and justice, with the great responsibility that guides Spider-Man.

The story turns Clark Kent and Peter Parker into two journalists chasing the same lead in Metropolis. Behind the scenes, Brainiac has approached Doctor Octopus, and a string of thefts targets kryptonite. The two villains' plan broadcasts a kryptonite-based signal that weakens Superman and also strikes humans, Spider-Man included.

Waid then flips the expected matchups. Superman takes on Doctor Octopus, Spider-Man's enemy, while Spider-Man deals with Brainiac, Superman's enemy. Buried under rubble, Spider-Man has to dig deep into his last reserves of strength to break free. Jiménez's art, praised by critics, follows these two fights waged in parallel.

Lois, Jimmy and Pa Kent in the DC issue

Several stories in the DC issue push Superman into the background to follow the people close to him. In “The World's Finest,” Tom King, the writer of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, brings Lois Lane and Mary Jane Watson together in the middle of a battle. While they compare their lives, Superman and Spider-Man fight a Sentinel, a mutant-hunting robot. The art is by Jim Lee, DC's president.

Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott then pit Lois Lane against J. Jonah Jameson, the boss of the Daily Bugle, in “Bias,” a televised debate about masked superheroes and the way the press treats them. Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber, for their part, send Jimmy Olsen on assignment for the Daily Bugle; along the way, he runs into Carnage, a killer bonded to a symbiote. Their story, “Jimmy Con Carnage,” plays it for laughs.

Finally, in “The Bridge,” Jeff Lemire and Rafa Sandoval travel back in time. Jonathan “Pa” Kent, Clark's adoptive father, crosses paths there with Ben Parker, Peter's uncle, and the two men bond in the face of adversity. The story shows where Superman and Spider-Man get their sense of duty: from the two ordinary men who raised them.

Power Girl, Superboy-Prime and the Legion on the DC side

The DC issue also makes room for other heroes from Superman's universe. In “Blind Date,” Gail Simone and Belén Ortega send Power Girl on a set-up date, in a bar where the Punisher has gotten himself hired as a bouncer to keep an eye on its criminal clientele. Simone presented the story as a tribute to Gerry Conway, the writer of the 1976 crossover, who had co-created Power Girl and the Punisher. Conway died on April 26, 2026, at age 73.

Christopher Priest and Daniel Sampere bring back Superboy-Prime, a Kal-El from an Earth where superheroes exist only in comics. Created in 1985 by Elliot S. Maggin and Curt Swan, he breaks into Peter Parker's home, back in the black costume era, to seize the symbiote. An avid comics reader, he already knows the hero's story, and he drags him on a journey across parallel realities.

Sean Murphy, flying solo, races into the future with “Beyond the Cobwebs of Tomorrow.” The Superboy of the Legion of Super-Heroes crosses paths there with Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man of the year 2099, in a story where Bruce Wayne also plays a part. This story and Priest's both end on an open note, something several critics held against them.

Our Kryptonite: Superman possessed by Venom

The Marvel issue opens with “Our Kryptonite,” written by Brad Meltzer and drawn by Pepe Larraz, with colors by Matthew Wilson. A novelist and the writer of Identity Crisis at DC in 2004, Meltzer here delivers his first complete story for Marvel. Facing the two heroes, Lex Luthor teams up with Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, Spider-Man's enemy.

The trap springs shut in a cave. There, one of the Green Goblin's pumpkin bombs doesn't explode: it spreads kryptonite radiation that weakens Superman, while Spider-Man holds up the collapsing ceiling. Trapped, the two men talk about what drives them to risk their lives. Then the real plan comes to light: Luthor and Osborn wanted to make Superman the new host of Venom, the alien symbiote from the Spider-Man universe.

Covered in black, Superman then turns against Spider-Man in a fight across the city. When the kryptonite radiation stops, he takes back control: his heat vision attacks the symbiote, then a deafening clap of his hands blows it apart, because Venom fears loud sounds. The story ends on a family scene, with Clark's and Peter's loved ones.

Steel, Lana Lang and Supergirl on the Marvel side

Several short stories in the Marvel issue pair Superman with other Marvel heroes, sometimes in another era. Dan Slott and Marcos Martín go back to the 1930s: Spider-Man Noir, that era's version of the hero, meets the Golden Age Superman there. Geoff Johns, co-writer of Superman: Last Son, and Gary Frank deliver “Identity War,” in which Mysterio turns heroes against one another and the Thing, from the Fantastic Four, plays opposite Superman. Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli, the creators of Miles Morales, team this young Spider-Man up with Superman. Jeph Loeb and Jim Cheung close out the issue with two pages of conversation between the two heroes.

Other stories put the spotlight on Superman's loved ones and allies. Joe Kelly and Humberto Ramos bring together Gwen Stacy and Lana Lang, Clark's childhood friend, on a campus. Louise Simonson, who co-created Steel with Jon Bogdanove, pits John Henry Irons against the Hobgoblin, one of Spider-Man's foes, under Todd Nauck's pencils. Stephanie Phillips and Phil Noto pair Supergirl with Ghost-Spider, a Gwen Stacy from another world. Finally, Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman send Jane Foster's Thor and Wonder Woman against Darkseid's army, Parademons boosted by symbiotes, as it invades Metropolis.

Superman/Spider-Man (2026): sales and reviews

Both issues found their audience. In ICv2's monthly chart, based on sales from a sample of comic shops, Superman/Spider-Man #1 comes out on top for March 2026, in both units and dollars. In April, Spider-Man/Superman #1 takes first place, and the DC issue, released the month before, still ranks third.

Both publishers also went back to press. On April 13, 2026, DC announces a second printing of its issue, with a new cover by Dan Mora, in stores May 27. Marvel announces its own on the very day its issue comes out, April 22; it reaches stores on that same May 27, with covers by Jim Cheung and Martín Cóccolo.

Critics mainly praised the lead stories. The website AIPT gives the DC issue 9 out of 10 and the Marvel issue 8.5 out of 10, ComicBook.com awards the Marvel issue 4.5 out of 5, and Comics Beat recommends buying both. The short stories are more divisive: at AIPT, “Jimmy Con Carnage” and “Blind Date” score 10 out of 10, while several critics find the Priest and Murphy stories unfinished.

Conclusion

Fifty years after their first meeting, Superman and Spider-Man got two issues instead of one. In the DC issue, Mark Waid sends them into battle together against Brainiac and Doctor Octopus; in the Marvel issue, Brad Meltzer hands Superman over to Venom before letting him be himself again. Around them, fifteen short stories give a voice to Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Power Girl, Steel and Lana Lang.

To trace it all back, start with the 1976 treasury, then move on to DC versus Marvel and JLA/Avengers. And if you want to get to know the DC issue's villain better, Brainiac has been fighting Superman since 1958.