Spider-man comics, especially those of the Spider-Verse variety, for the past few years have become known for introducing new variants of the famous hero. Most of these variants don’t get to appear for more than a single Edge of Spider-Verse issue but there are a rare few who have been graced with the opportunity to have multiple appearances, such as today’s Sakura Spider.
Sakura Spider, civilian identity Hida Haruka, first debuted as a major supporting character in the 2020 manga Deadpool Samurai, published by Shonen Jump and Viz Media. Here she was a part of a Japanese branch of the Avengers known as the Samurai Squad and became an ally to Deadpool. She later appeared in 2022’s Edge of Spider-Verse #3 where her backstory and origin was further expanded upon.
Now she has once again appeared in the manga Spider-Man Octopus Girl by My Hero Academia Vigilantes authors Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court. The manga’s premise has the famous Spider-Man villain Doctor Octopus wake up in the body of a Japanese middle school girl named Otoha Okutamiya.
During the manga’s second chapter he robs an old Parker Industries building to retrieve his neural scanner so he can return to his body, but on his way out he has an encounter with Sakura Spider who makes an attempt to stop him. The chapter ends on a cliffhanger before the two can have a proper battle which we will most likely see when the third chapter releases on July 18th.
Sakura Spider’s appearance in this manga came as quite a shock to readers because there was previously no indication that it took place in her homeworld, Earth-346, however now that she has appeared readers can look forward to what is likely going to be the most screen time she has gotten since Deadpool Samurai.
Spider-man Octopus Girl has yet to be licensed for an official translation, but here’s hoping that it will get picked up by Viz sometime in the future like Deadpool Samurai!
