Marvel Heroes and Villains Bring Out Their Inner Punisher in New Variants

2 days ago 8

The Punisher looks stoic while wearing his iconic vest

The 2026 calendar year will be a white-hot one for Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios alike, the latter set to enjoy what will undoubtedly be the blockbuster success of Avengers: Doomsday, but the former is reveling in the success of several projects of its own, and the latest will have comic books stores smiling from ear to ear.

Announced for February release by Marvel Comics comes a reimagining of superheroes based upon The Punisher's never-ending aura of violence, as viewed through the eyes of Ario Anindito (Star Wars: The High Republic). So for anyone who ever wondered what the X-Men, the Avengers and/or our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man would look like if they were dropped into the evils of Hell's Kitchen (something special coming in 2026 for Frank Castle as well) — wonder no more.

On sale Feb. 4, 2026:

Avengers #35 Hell's Kitchen Variant Cover: Ario Anindito
Uncanny X-Men #23 Hell's Kitchen Variant: Ario Anindito
Wolverine #15 Hell's Kitchen Variant: Ario Anindito

On sale Feb. 11, 2026:

Marc Spector: Moon Knight #1 Hell's Kitchen Variant Cover: Ario Anindito

On sale Feb. 18, 2026:

Amazing Spider-Man #22 Hell's Kitchen Variant Cover: Ario Anindito
Knull #2 Hell's Kitchen Variant Cover: Ario Anindito
Uncanny X-Men #24 Hell's Kitchen Variant Cover: Ario Anindito

On sale Feb. 25, 2026:

Infernal Hulk #4 Hell's Kitchen Variant Cover: Ario Anindito
Punisher #1 Hell's Kitchen Variant Cover: Ario Anindito
Thor #7 Hell's Kitchen Variant Cover: Ario Anindito

Marvel Is Cooking Up In Hell's Kitchen

Jon Bernthal as The Punisher from the Netflix series

The variant covers above are stunning, and truly stoke the imagination toward Anindito's goal of darkening even the shiniest of Marvel superheroes (not exactly a thing for Knull, but you get the point). In a recent press release for the covers, Anindito could not have been more excited about what he's presenting to the world throughout the month of February.

"I was really excited and honored when Marvel asked me to do the Hell's Kitchen cover program! It’s such a cool chance to dive deeper into the characters and give them a darker vibe, designing a gritty look and adding a badass tactical goth-rocker twist. These characters are already iconic, so it’s definitely a challenge, but also really fun to do. I drew inspirations from re-reading the Punisher MAX series and re-watching the '98 Blade movie. Let’s just say these Hell's Kitchen versions are the last ones you’d want to mess with!"

That means February will be on fire for Marvel, especially with the coming of Death Spiral for the Amazing Spider-Man series by Joe Kelly, Al Ewing, and Charles Soule. Between that and Anindito's variants, if anyone is looking for us in a few weeks, we'll probably be in our local comic books store grabbing all of these — our happy place — at least until maybe July, when Spider-Man: Brand New Day peels us away.