Delusions

Out on the prowl again after weeks of recovery, the Black Cat rescues a stray kitten from a pack of alley cats. When the kitten sucks up to her, Felicia decides to keep it for herself before passing out due to her still being weak from her injuries. Spider-Man meanwhile has tracked down a counterfeit credit card ring. After smashing up the operation Jean DeWolff and her men take over and arrest the crooks. Spider-Man leaves the scene to go rendezvous with the Black Cat at the hospital, leaving Jean DeWolff wondering to herself if Spider-Man would ever call on her if he left the Black Cat.

Swinging across the city, Spider-Man mulls over his recent encounters with the Hobgoblin knowing that the villain had common crook Lefty Donovan pose as him and die to make everyone think the Hobgoblin is dead. His thoughts then turn to the Punisher who is being arraigned in court today making work for Peter Parker in the way of photographs for the Daily Bugle. Arriving at the hospital, Spider-Man is shocked to find that Felicia is not there and fears that she may have been attacked by one of his foes. When she returns moments later, Spider-Man is furious that she went out in her Black Cat costume, feeling that she broke her promise never to be the Black Cat again. She tells Spider-Man she promised to go straight, not stop going about in her costumed identity. Spider-Man, fearful that Felicia might get hurt again if she gets into costumed adventuring needs time to think and leaves.

Later at the Daily Bugle, Peter Parker meets with J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Ben Urich and Glory Grant to prep for the Punisher's arrangement later that day. Ben pulls out all the files they have on the Punisher and go over his history: The file explains that the man who is the Punisher is Frank Castle, a former Viet Nam veteran who became a police officer after the conflict. After his entire family was murdered by mobsters he took on the identity of the Punisher to get revenge on all criminals for his innocent families deaths. He had since clashed with the likes of Spider-Man and Daredevil while operating outside of the law. With the report read, Jameson goes off on another triad about costumed menaces and asks his staff to consider when other costumed vigilantes like Spider-Man may snap, a suggestion that shakes Peter to his core.

Later at the arrangement for the Punisher, District Attorney Blake Tower tells the court that he believes that Castle should be tried for all of his crimes as he willingly committed them. However, the defense argues that since the murder of his family Frank Castle has gone completely mad and needs to be institutionalized. Upon hearing this, Frank refuses to believe that he is mad and lashes out, telling the judge that the entire system is crazy for letting criminals walk the street before collapsing in a nervous breakdown.

As they are lead away, Peter begins to wonder if this is his fate if he continues operating as Spider-Man.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Black Cat, Punisher, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Ben Urich, Glory Grant, Jean DeWolff, Blake Tower

Continuity Notes

• Spider-Man recalls his recent battle with the Hobgoblin, that happened in Amazing Spider-Man #245.

• He also recounts how he and the Black Cat battled Doctor Octopus and the Owl, resulting in the Cat getting seriously injured. This happened in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #74-79.

• Spider-Man fears his partnership with the Black Cat will end up like that of Captain America and Bucky. As far as everyone knows, Captain America's partner Bucky died in 1945, as revealed in Avengers #4. However, unknown to all, Bucky is still alive and has been covertly operating as the Winter Soldier, as seen in Captain America (vol. 5) #8.

• Ben Urich states that Frank Castle served in Vietnam. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. Modern readers should interpret this as Frank Castle fighting in an unspecified conflict in Southeast Asia roughly 8 years prior to this story. This has been reinforced since Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Marvel Knights 2005. Per History of the Marvel Universe #2, one could assume that Frank Castle served during the Sin Cong Conflict.

• Urich also recounts the tragic deaths of Frank Castle's family. This was first depicted in Marvel Preview #2.

• Lastly, Urich recounts how the Punisher got arrested after his recent clash with Daredevil. This occurred in Daredevil #181-184. The Punisher had recently broke out of jail in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #81.

• The Punisher's mental breakdown in this story is due to the fact that he was drugged while in prison, as revealed in Punisher #1.