In an unexpected turn of events, Gwenpool is the only one who can save Christmas. Gwenpool Holiday Special: Merry Mixup #1 arrived on December 14 to bring shady holiday joy and mixed messages about the holiday season to all. Gwenpool, Spider-Man, Red Skull, Punisher, Deadpool, Galactus, Thanos, M.O.D.O.K., and Hawkeye make appearances, resulting in the exact kind of rampant, multi-plot, glorious mess you’d expect.
This post contains spoilers for Gwenpool Holiday Special: Merry Mixup #1
When Gwen Pool arrived in the Marvel Universe from the “real world,” she was at least expecting her old holiday rituals to stay the same. But, this Christmas, she finds that turkey has been replaced with booty shorts and “the Feast of Fish” is the most exciting part of the Christmas season. While no one else seems to find these developments out of place, Gwen soon becomes concerned — she was in the Marvel Universe for Christmas last year, and things seemed normal back then.
So, she sets off to the North Pole to investigate. The magical one, not the “OTHER North Pole (the magnetic one).”
Readers soon find out that these Christmas oddities have affected everyone’s holiday. The story jumps to Miles Morales at the mall with his buddy Ganke. Galactus, Consumer of Planets, has taken the role of Santa Claus (literally) and is now the cheery, do-gooding entity that children believe in for Christmas.
Miles has to don his Spider-Man mantle when Fin Fang Foom — an extraterrestrial dragon — pops into the middle of Times Square in New York City. He’s just defeated the monstrous, acid mist-breathing lizard, when evil-doers M.O.D.O.K., Thanos, and Red Skull show up to take over NYC while all the superheroes are off celebrating the holidays with their families.
Luckily, Galactus shows up, vanishes the trio, and thanks Spider-Man for “basically just being nice and chill to people.”
Galactus plays a prominent role, scaring away M.O.D.O.K., Thanos, and the Red Skull before Spider-Man has to take them down.
Jumping plot lines again, Red Skull goes on a A Christmas Carol-esque journey with Hitler’s ghost to rediscover the true meaning of terrorism (right after flinging Hawkeye out a window with a catapult for mouthing off).
And, finally, things return to Gwenpool. She’s made it to the North Pole, battling monsters along the way, to find out that Santa Claus is the reason behind all these odd changes in the world. Santa was tired of delivering presents to millions year after year, so he decided to take a year off and use his magic to change Christmas. But he made a mistake, and changed every holiday because his magic is so powerful.
Thanks a lot, Santa.
But, wait, there’s more! Deadpool shows up at the very end with a Halloween special, featuring none other than the fast-talking, lovable Squirrel Girl and her pet squirrel, Tippy-Toe. Check out the comic to find out whether or not the scantily clad, villainous Leather Boy manages to get away with this week’s dastardly deed.
Gwenpool Holiday Special: Merry Mixup #1 is now available.
