At the age of 39, Lionel Messi is currently jointly leading the goalscoring charts in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. His antics no longer come as a surprise to the footballing world, who seem to have reached consensus that the Argentine is beyond human. However, even demigod Messi has his own heroes that he looks up to, at least on screen.
Messi recently shocked fans by appearing in a short promotional video for the upcoming movie ‘Spiderman: Brand New Day’. The fourth part of the Marvel Studios franchise is set to release in theatres on July 31, and will once again feature Tom Holland as the protagonist.
In the promo, Holland is seen starstruck by Messi when the latter enters a cafe, so much so that the actor trips over himself. When Messi reveals that he is searching for Spiderman, Holland quickly skedaddles to return in his superhero get-up.
A brief awkward interaction between the two ensues. However, before Messi can say much, he is taken on a ride through the skies. His face, a picture of terror, adds the perfect humorous touch to the video.
Messi’s well known struggles with speaking English means the football superstar rarely appears in mainstream media. The cameo thus took fans by surprise and quickly created a massive buzz online.
However, perhaps the best thing that came out of it was a fan-made concept kit.
An X post featured Messi and Spiderman standing back-to-back, both donning a gorgeous Argentine jersey. The base of the shirt retained the traditional dark blue Argentine colours, with Adidas’ hallmark white stripes running along the shoulders.
The innovative part was a light blue web pattern, centered around Argentina’s team crest and spreading outwards. A retro Adidas lotus logo with the number 10 written under it and the world champion badge in the middle completed the jersey’s immaculate look. The poster version of it had the words “Defend the World” inscribed on top of the image.
The impressive design unsurprisingly garnered much love online.
“Marvel really needs to hire this artist already”, a comment on the post read.
“This would sold out in SECONDS,” another user echoed the sentiments.
“Spiderman and talented man” aptly described the two men in the frame.
The designer of the image goes by the name PRKR (@xPRKRx) which fittingly reads out as Parker, the name of Spiderman’s character in the comic books. PRKR is based in Canada as per his Twitter bio and has 10.3K followers on the platform, having been a part of it since 2017. The graphic designer churns out edits across a wide range of sports, varying from basketball to cricket, American football, and UFC amongst others.
Unsurprisingly, the Messi-Spiderman edit is on of his most popular works till date. With the nature of the social media world at present, it won’t be a surprise if the edit reaches Messi himself.
Nevertheless, Messi’s focus right now will be solely on Argentina’s World Cup campaign. The talisman is set to take on Cape Verde in the Round of 32 on July 4. Notably, the fixture is in Miami, where Messi also plays his club football.
