Remember how, in his first appearance, the Punisher was a villain who allied with Jackal to kill Spider-Man? Well, here he succeeded, and he's not happy about it.
In this universe, the Punisher finds out about the Spider-Sense, and sets a trap that bypasses it (or rather, makes Peter think it's going off for a different reason than it really is), but when he sees Peter's dead body and realizes that he's actually innocent and just a college kid, he realizes that he's been used. But Frank isn't the only one pissed about Spider-Man's death. Every hero in New York shows up looking to turn Spider-Man's killer into fine red paste, and they don't realize the Jackal had tricked Frank. Frank is able to escape long enough to kill Spider-Man's rogues gallery, including the Jackal, before being shot himself.
What If the Punisher had Killed the Troper?
- Boom, Headshot!: How the Vulture bites it when Frank shoots him in the head from behind while Toomes is horrified by Frank's massacre of his fellow villains.
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: The Punisher killing Spider-Man gets the entire hero population of New York out for his blood. He barely evades them long enough to kill the Jackal.
- The Cameo:
- During the big splash page of the heroes in New York coming after Frank, The Human Torch, Daredevil, The Cat, Captain America, Luke Cage, Hawkeye and The Thing all appear.
- Then, when Frank is invited by Adrian Toomes to the Bad Guy Bar, the villains are Doctor Octopus, Shocker, Beetle, Mysterio, Scorpion, Kraven the Hunter and Chameleon
- Everyone Has Standards: The Punisher barely escapes from the police, firing a burst over their heads to buy time while thinking to himelf that however low he's sunk he's not about to become a cop-killer.
- The Farmer and the Viper: Spider-Man's Rogues Gallery welcomes the Punisher after he kills Peter... unaware that Frank is a Knight Templar who had to be tricked into it. He massacres them at their Bad Guy Bar. He thinks of it as his one compensation for how badly things have gone for him.
- Killed Off for Real: Spider-Man, most of his Rogues Gallery, the Jackal, and finally, Frank himself.
- Logical Weakness: Frank gets around the Spider-Sense by misdirecting it; he sets up booby-trapped Doctor Octopus dummy, so Spidey thinks his spider-sense is going off because he's about to tangle with one of his tougher villains, not because of the bomb.
- My God, What Have I Done?: A subdued example, but Frank is horrified that he'd killed an innocent and furious at the Jackal for tricking him.
- Never Speak Ill of the Dead: When Spidey was alive, headlines were 'Threat Or Menace?', but now that he's dead, it's all, 'hero's life tragically cut short' and hatred for his killer.
- Once More, with Clarity: The story opens with Frank, who has a tattered uniform, confronting a shadowy figure and pointing a gun at him, saying Frank's waiting for the cops. At the end of the story, the figure was Miles Warren who Frank's confronting after Miles's scheme tricked Frank into killing Peter Parker. At the start, Frank lampshades this in his Internal Monologue with "Funny how things sometimes end right where they started. Sometimes, even before they get started."
- Pyrrhic Victory: The Punisher kills Spider-Man... but not only was Peter an innocent and someone Frank shouldn't have targeted, now every single hero Spider-Man had befriended is after his ass.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Every hero against Frank, and then Frank against the Jackal.
- Suicide by Cop: The last panel of the issue is Frank, with his gun aimed at Jackal while a cop aims his gun at Frank, telling the former that he’ll See You in Hell.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The Punisher is able to kill one hero, but that just gets every other hero in the city to come after him — most of whom are way out of his weight class. He only just manages to survive long enough to kill the Jackal.
- That Man Is Dead: to commit to taking out Spider-Man, Punisher destroys his family home, becoming a vigilante full time.
- Unwitting Pawn: The Jackal convinced the Punisher that Spider-Man was evil so that Frank would remove the hero and take the brunt of the other heroes' anger.
