Moon Knight and Punisher's First Team-Up Was Bizarrely Wholesome

Moon Knight and the Punisher's first comics team-up was not only strangely wholesome, but happened under some truly bizarre circumstances.

The Punisher and Moon Knight’s first team-up happened under bizarre but surprisingly wholesome circumstances. In 1989’s Punisher Annual #2, the Punisher crosses paths with the Fist of Khonshu while working on his strangest case yet: a “doctor” who is allegedly “curing” drug addicts—by turning them into serpent people. The story was part of the “Atlantis Attacks” crossover event running through Marvel’s 1989 annuals.

By the mid-1980s, the Punisher, who began life as a villain and had previously been relegated to the fringes of the Marvel Universe, had become wildly popular with fans, leading Marvel to not only give him his own regular solo title, but introduce him to the other heroes in its universe. The first year of the Punisher’s solo title saw him take on the Kingpin for the first time, as well as finding himself involved in the “Evolutionary War,” which ran through Marvel’s 1988 annuals. The following year, Marvel followed up that event with “Atlantis Attacks.” The evil god Set uses the citizens of Lemuria, as well as the Serpent Crown, to try and take over the planet. While the Punisher might at first seem to be out of place in such a story, he nevertheless participated—and met Moon Knight in the process. The story, titled “Knight Fight,” was written by Mike Baron, illustrated by Bill Reinhold, lettered by Janice Chiang and colored by Gregory Wright.

When Marc Spector is window shopping in the city, he walks by a pet store and notices a patron inside eat a gerbil. This immediately trips Moon Knight’s “alarms” and he goes off in pursuit. Meanwhile, the Punisher is pursuing a criminal, Ralph Newton. After learning that Newton has been working at a private rehab clinic downtown, the Punisher sets out to investigate. After dark he tries to break into the clinic, and it turns out Moon Knight had the same idea, having tracked the gerbil eater to this clinic. The two acknowledge each other, and rather than fight, they shake hands and exchange polite greetings. Realizing they have a mutual enemy, the two team up and discover the horrifying truth: the clinic is a front for the cult of the Serpent Crown, which has created a special serum that is turning drug addicts into serpent people to do Set’s bidding. The Punisher is injected with some of the serum, but Moon Knight is able to shake him free of it; the Punisher recuperates at Moon Knight’s headquarters. As the Punisher leaves, Moon Knight tells him, “You know where to find me.” The Punisher replies, “Maybe we’ll do this again sometime.”

Both Moon Knight and the Punisher are known for their short fuses and it is shocking that the two do not immediately fight when they first met, opting for a wholesome handshake instead. The two vigilantes work outside of the law more often than other Marvel heroes, giving them common ground. Their reputations precede them, and there is a sense Moon Knight has been looking forward to this meeting. And while their first encounter is wholesome, it is downright bizarre as well. The Punisher normally only goes after street-level crime, rarely going after super villains, but here he is forced out of his element and into the rest of the Marvel Universe. Fighting serpent people may not be that novel for Moon Knight, but for the Punisher it is pretty out of place.

The issue ends with the Punisher having gained a new ally in Moon Knight. The two vigilantes have more in common than they realize, and it all began with a bizarre, but wholesome, meeting.