The Punisher has become one of Marvel Comics’ most popular antiheroes, and his first appearance came in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man. It all started when Jackal tricked Punisher into believing Spider-Man was a villain, prompting him to try to gun the hero down. When he learned Spider-Man was not a villain, but a hero, it set up an uneasy future between the two. Punisher later gunned for Spider-Man again when he thought the Wall-Crawler was drifting, and Spider-Man went after Punisher when he felt Frank Castle was using his family’s deaths as an excuse to be a murderer.
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With the two Marvel Comics characters randomly looking at each other like villains, it has caused the Punisher vs. Spider-Man battles to look drastically different, while remaining entertaining almost every time.
10) The Amazing Spider-Man #129
The first appearance of The Punisher came in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #129. In this issue, Jackal was still trying to ruin Spider-Man’s life and decided he would use a new vigilante in New York City to do his dirty work for him. He convinced Punisher that Spider-Man was a common criminal. However, this was also the issue where Punisher proved to be an honorable vigilante. He will kill criminals, but he has a code he follows, and it doesn’t align with Jackal. Punisher had a chance to kill Spider-Man, but the fight ended with no winner, as Punisher realized Jackal was lying to him and allowed Spider-Man to live and began to go after the real villain instead.
9) Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15
Spider-Man and The Punisher also had a battle in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15 when Spider-Man goes after Punisher after he kills a man and leaves a little girl to possibly die as a result. It was all a misunderstanding since the little girl was poisoned, and Punisher knew he could get a cure if he found it. Luckily, Spider-Man gets his hands on it and can save the girl and stop Punisher. However, this issue is even more important than that. Punisher found himself surrounded by police and surrendered without a fight since he wouldn’t kill cops. The last sight of The Punisher here is chilling, as he sits in the back of the police car and asks how many criminals he will have access to while in prison.
8) The Amazing Spider-Man #134-135
In The Amazing Spider-Man #134, a new Spidey villain shows up called Tarantula, and then The Punisher returns. In this case, Punisher believes that Spider-Man is the villain Jackal previously hinted he was and thinks that the Wall-Crawler has taken a boat hostage (when it was really Traantula). The two fought, but it ended up stopping when Punisher realized what was going on. By the time they figure out the truth, the two offer to work together. The Punisher shockingly helps Spider-Man stop Tarantula and his men without killing them. It was a rare Punisher story where he acted more like a regular hero, and was one of the few times he and Spider-Man worked together without any conflicts (outside the opening scene on the boat).
7) Punisher War Journal Vol. 2 #13
After years of Garth Ennis refusing to allow his Punisher to interact with superheroes, Matt Fraction did a complete 180. He brought in heroes and major villains for Punisher to go after. In Punisher War Journal Vol. 1 #13, Rhino is coerced into helping with a bank robbery, and a guard dies during the heist. Punisher kills the criminals and then starts to try to kill a remorseful Rhino with a rocket launcher and missiles. Spider-Man then shows up to save Rhino before having to fight the villain himself. Punisher is fun here with his reactions to Spider-Man saving the villains, only to find them trying to kill him. Spider-Man ended up stopping Punisher from killing Rhino by webbing him up. While Spider-Man only appears in this one issue, it does lead Punisher into a battle with Kraven in the following two issues.
6) Amazing Spider-Man #201-202
The Amazing Spider-Man #201 began a two-issue storyline with Spider-Man and Punisher teaming up. At this time, Punisher still used mercy bullets (rubber ones) on common criminals, and saved his real bullets for the main bad guys. When Spider-Man first encounters him here, he learns Punisher is gunning for a drug dealer named Lorenzo Jacobi and wants to kill him. When Spider-Man says he is not okay with this, Punisher shoots him with a mercy bullet and flees. Soon, though, both men are fighting on the same side after Punisher admits that Jacobi was responsible for murdering someone Punisher saved once, and he has a score to settle. Punisher and Spider-Man worked together after their initial battle, and the Wall-Crawler even stops him from killing Jacobi. However, the drug dealer dies in a car accident anyway, allowing Punisher to see justice without pulling the trigger himself.
5) Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #81-83
One of the most shocking Punisher storylines came in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #81-83. In this three-issue storyline, Spider-Man is busy trying to stop Cloak & Dagger from murdering Kingpin. However, while he is working so hard to stop them, he has to worry about The Punisher, too. Spider-Man takes a beating here, almost finding himself consumed in the darkness of Cloak’s powers while also getting beaten down by Punisher. However, the best part of this story came when Punisher got to Kingpin first and threatened Vanessa Fisk. Kingpin showed his power by beating Punisher almost to death. The most significant moment came in the last issue of the storyline, where Punisher was tried in court and had a nervous breakdown when he realized no one could see that his way was the only one he thought would save society. It was sobering and showed the level he had fallen to.
4) Punisher Vol. 6 #32-34
Garth Ennis hated adding any superheroes to his Punisher stories, and it was clear when he had them in the stories that he hated them. In Punisher Vol. 6 #32-34, Ennis added three Marvel Comics heroes to his series with Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Wolverine. However, Ennis made sure to show that Frank Castle was always in control, and that the three heroes were mostly buffoons to be made fools of. By the end of the storyline, all three of the heroes ended up looking like idiots. Punisher suckered Wolverine into trying to kill him, knowing that Daredevil and Spider-Man wouldn’t let him, and as the three fought, he slipped out and killed the sex traffickers he was targeting all along.
3) Punisher: War Zone Vol 3 #1-5
Punisher: War Zone Vol. 3 was a five-issue miniseries that saw Spider-Man finally tired of watching Punisher kill people. A member of The Avengers now, Spider-Man convinced them to help him bring in Punisher. None of them cared to help, but by the time they agreed and started approaching Frank, they all wanted nothing more than to stop him by the fifth issue, since he proved too much for most of them to handle. Spider-Man was unhinged here, and this was the series where he called Punisher a murderer who only used his dead family as an excuse. This was also a case where Spider-Man won (with The Avengers’ help), but it wasn’t that easy. Punisher helped a person find freedom by delaying the Avengers and only surrendered when Captain America stepped u,p since he refuses to fight Cap.
2) Giant-Size Spider-Man #4
In Giant-Size Spider-Man #4, Spider-Man was able to hunt down Punisher after Frank had saved Spidey’s life in a fight with some kidnappers. However, when Spider-Man learns that Punisher would have let the kidnapping victim die if it meant following a lead, he attacks. Punisher quickly proved to be more than enough by shooting Spidey with a tranquilizer. However, as with many early stories with Spider-Man and Punisher, their fight always led to them teaming up in the end. In this case, they were battling a terrorist named Moses Magnum, a man planning to sell a lethal gas to the highest bidder. This was one of the most shocking team-ups with the two because Punisher shot a canister of poison gas at Magnum, and Spider-Man helped seal the room closed, likely killing all the terrorists. It was the only time Spider-Man willingly helped Punisher kill someone.
1) Ultimate Spider-Man #157
The most tragic Spider-Man and Punisher fight happened in the Ultimate Universe. This came during the Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates storyline. Nick Fury’s Avengers (Black Widow, Hawkeye, War Machine, Punisher, and Blade) battled the New Ultimates (Captain America, Carol Danvers, Iron Man, Giant-Man, and Thor). Things were getting violent, and then Spider-Man showed up. Fury had ordered Punisher to take out Captain America. Punisher refused to kill Cap, and aimed his bullet to incapacitate Cap, but not kill him. Spider-Man didn’t know this and sacrificed himself, throwing himself between the two and taking the bullet. Despite the gunshot wound, Spider-Man returned home to save Aunt May from the Ultimate Goblin and then died after the fight from blood loss. In this storyline, Punisher killed Spider-Man.
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