Marvel’s New Punisher vs. Spider-Man Series Rewinds the Clock to Explore Why Their Early Partnership Was Doomed to Fail

From the very beginning, it seems like the Punisher and Spider-Man have been at each other's throats. Frank Castle originally debuted in the pages of 1974's The Amazing Spider-Man #129 as an antagonist, one hired to bring down Spidey by any means necessary. They've since butted heads many times over the years, with Spidey sternly disapproving of Frank's lethal brand of justice. Now that rivalry is carrying over to the MCU, as Jon Bernthal's Punisher makes his big screen debut in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. With the movie hitting theaters soon, Marvel Comics has commissioned a new limited series called Punisher vs. Spider-Man. This series flashes back to the early days of Frank and Spidey's rivalry, a time when the conflict between them wasn't quite so fierce. What happened to cause the collapse of what might have been a beautiful superhero partnership? That's something writer Dan Abnett (Imperial Guardians) and artist Matteo Della Fonte (Nova: Centurion) are setting out to explore. IGN recently had the chance to speak with Abnett via email to learn more about the series and how it fleshes out this earlier era in the Punisher/Spider-Man relationship. Check out an exclusive preview of