A Predator is taking trophies in New York City in Predator Vs. Punisher #1, which Marvel Comics released this week. The 4-issue miniseries from writer Frank Tieri and artist Jesús Saiz has the hunter working through the city's crime bosses before it settles on Frank Castle. Tieri marked the release yesterday afternoon. Check out the official post down below:
Marvel's solicitation reads: "For the first time ever! The Punisher takes on the Predator! New York City becomes a hunting ground when a Predator arrives looking for worthy prey and finds Frank Castle! As crime bosses fall, the body count rises and the streets run red." The solicitation bills the series as a showdown "decades in the making."
A Hunter In Frank Castle's City
The Predator does not go after Frank first. It goes after the men he hunts. Marvel names Kingpin, Jigsaw, Silvermane and The Owl among the villains in the book, and Tieri has said the Predator is effectively starting a mob war, with every dead boss giving rivals and loyalists a reason to go after each other.
The issue opens with a flashback to Silvermane's first encounter with the Predator. Tieri has said the veteran crime boss knows what the city is facing because he and the hunter share a past, and that Frank does too. In the present, Frank sets out to hit a sit-down between the Owl and Jigsaw brokered by Silvermane, and the Predator arrives at the same meeting with the same plan.
Silvermane, Silvio Manfredi, is a Maggia crime boss who became a cyborg in a bid to extend his life. Jigsaw, Billy Russo, has been the Punisher's archenemy since his first full appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #162 in 1976. The Owl, Leland Owlsley, dates back to Daredevil #3 in 1964, and Wilson Fisk's Kingpin to The Amazing Spider-Man #50 in 1967.
Tieri has not pretended the fight is even. "The Predator is 7 feet tall, has superhuman strength, has better weaponry and is invisible half the time," he said before launch. "And the Punisher... is just a dude."
The Humans Who Have Beaten A Predator
Tieri pointed to the franchise's survivors when asked whether Frank stands a chance: Dutch, Mike Harrigan, Naru and the cast of Predator: Killer of Killers. Each comes from a different chapter of the series that began with John McTiernan's Predator in 1987, where Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch leads a paramilitary rescue team into a Central American rainforest. Predator 2 followed in 1990, with Danny Glover as police detective Mike Harrigan facing a hunter in the streets of Los Angeles.
The films that followed were Predators in 2010 and The Predator in 2018. Prey moved the hunt to the Northern Great Plains in 1719 in 2022, with Amber Midthunder as Naru, a young Comanche woman trying to prove herself as a hunter, and 2025 brought both the animated anthology Predator: Killer of Killers and the live-action Predator: Badlands. The franchise has also crossed over with Alien in 2 films, Alien Vs. Predator in 2004 and Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem in 2007.
Issue Details
- Writer: Frank Tieri
- Pencils, inks and colors: Jesús Saiz
- Letterer: VC's Travis Lanham
- Main cover: Dustin Weaver
- Page count: 31
- Price: $5.99, with variant covers at $8.99
- Rating: Parental Advisory
Frank and the Predator come face to face in issue #2, which goes on sale December 16.
Marvel's Other Predator Hunts
Marvel has sent the Yautja after its heroes several times. Benjamin Percy wrote Predator Vs. Wolverine, in which a single hunter stalks Logan across a century, followed by Predator Vs. Black Panther in 2024 and Predator Vs. Spider-Man and Predator Kills the Marvel Universe in 2025. Frank Castle has no healing factor, vibranium or spider-sense, and relies on his Marine Corps training and the arsenal he has built during his war on organized crime.
Which Predator survivor would you put up against the Predator alongside Frank Castle, Dutch, Harrigan or Naru?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.