Marvel Exclusively Previews Punisher Running Afoul of Spider-Man's Webbing

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Published Jul 10, 2026, 7:51 PM EDT

CBR senior staff writer Brian Cronin has been writing professionally about comic books for twenty years now at CBR (primarily with his “Comics Should Be Good” series of columns, including Comic Book Legends Revealed). He has written two books about comics for Penguin-Random House – Was Superman a Spy? And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed and Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia! and one book, 100 Things X-Men Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, from Triumph Books. His writing has been featured at ESPN.com, the Los Angeles Times, About.com, the Huffington Post, Vulture and Gizmodo. He features legends about entertainment and sports at his website, Legends Revealed and other pop culture features at Pop Culture References. Follow him on Twitter at @Brian_Cronin and feel free to e-mail him suggestions for stories about comic books that you'd like to see featured at brianc@cbr.com!

The hype around Spider-Man: Brand New Day has brought the Punisher into a fascinating period at Marvel Comics, where the armed vigilante is now appearing in a number of comic books meant to tie in with the Punisher's upcoming appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

One of those miniseries is Punisher vs. Spider-Man, by writer Dan Abnett and up-and-coming star artist Matteo Della Fonte, and CBR has an exclusive preview of the first issue, due out next week from Marvel!

PUNISHER VS. SPIDER-MAN #1 (OF 5)

Dan Abnett (W) • Matteo Della Fonte (A) • Cover by JONAS SCHARF

FOIL VARIANT COVER BY DAVE JOHNSON

VARIANT COVER BY WHILCE PORTACIO • VARIANT COVER BY NETHO DIAZ

VARIANT COVER BY DIKE RUAN • VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY TBA

A WALK DOWN MEMORY PAIN!

THE PUNISHER AND SPIDER-MAN, two of the most notorious names in New York City with very different approaches to making the Big Apple safer (or not, depending on who you ask!). Join us now for a trip to the days of their earliest encounters with returning fan-favorite writer DAN ABNETT (PUNISHER: YEAR ONE) and your new favorite artist, MATTEO DELLA FONTE! Brought together by happenstance and forced to stay that way by an ally from Frank Castle’s past in need, will the web-slinger and the gunslinger be able to begrudgingly set aside their differences before they find themselves at one another’s throats?!

32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$4.99

The preview pages show the Punisher on a roof where he is setting up a sniper rifle. As he looks into his sight, Spider-Man swings by into the scope, and Spider-Man then uses his webs to block the sight. Amusingly, Punisher is about to curse when the scope is blocked (this is referencing the fact that Punisher will get his mouth webbed whenever he tries to curse in Spider-Man: Brand New Day).

We then see that Punisher actually wasn't aiming at Spider-Man. He was waiting there to meet Spider-Man, as he had asked the wallcrawler to meet him. The two are obviously uneasy allies, as Spider-Man naturally doesn't agree with the Punisher's methods.

This is relatively early in their time working with each other, as the Punisher is surprised to learn that Spider-Man has a Spider-Sense that warns him of danger (that is information that the Punisher had learned over the years). Spider-Man inadvertently offends the Punisher by joking about how the Punisher has nothing to lose, and then, of course, he recalls that the Punisher has "nothing to lose" because his family was murdered.

They quickly instead talk about their first meeting, and Abnett and Della Fonte recreate their first meeting, where the Jackal tricked the Punisher into thinking that Spider-Man was a murderer. Since the series is called Punisher vs. Spider-Man, though, there might be another case where the two are forced to go against each other. To find out WHY the two are at odds, you'll have to pick up a copy of Punisher vs. Spider-Man #1 next week!

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