In the desolate New York City, Punisher tracks down and kills
Deadpool—for the 33rd time; this time he thinks dismembering the
Merc and burying the parts in widely separated locations will keep him from
coming back….
Punisher (Frank Castle) relates how it all began: with
Spider-Man battling the Rhino and reaching Madison Square Garden during a
Rangers game. Spidey took down the bad guy—and then bit into his throat and
drank his blood. The Fantastic Four captured him and Reed Richards analyzed him
and found Spidey to have been infected with a pathogen that turned him into a cannibalistic
predator. Over the following days increasing numbers of people showed the same
infection and the same outcome: vicious murder. By the time it was recognized
it was too late. People panicked. Superheroes tried to fight the monsters but
succumbed themselves. Infected heroes formed tribes and preyed on the dwindling
uninfected populations or fought one another for territory. And the Punisher
hunts the predators in the desolate city….
Hunting for “Zero” (Spoiler: it’s Spider-Man a/k/a Patient
Zero), Castle finds a message from his quarry: an uninfected man dead, murdered
as a clue for the vigilante….
Punisher then explains how he came to be immune: Russian
gangsters smuggled into New York what they thought was a bioweapon, instead it
was a gene therapy that would enable the recipient to survive in extreme
conditions. The gangsters were carrying vials in their pockets so when Punisher
gunned them all down, the virus was released and Castle received an extra-large
dose, making him immune to any illness. The pathogen found its way into the
water supply and spread throughout the world before Spider-Man turned and it
was too late….
And now, Zero has let Castle know there are more survivors
out there and is challenging him, a challenge the Punisher can accept, standing
in his lair full of dead heroes’ heads mounted on stakes….