• Written by: Jimmy Palmiotti
• Art by: Tommaso Bianchi
• Colors by: Bryan Valenza
• Letters by: VC’s Joe Sabino
• Cover art by: Kendrick Lim (cover A)
• Cover price: $4.99
• Release date: November 26, 2025

Daredevil/Punisher: The Devil’s Trigger #1, by Marvel on 11/26/25, kicks off with Daredevil strung up like a bat above a mob summit while Punisher plays architect of a murderous morality lesson that the legal system is too broken to pass.

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First Impressions

The opening pages drop you straight into Daredevil waking chained in a warehouse with a gun in hand, which is a strong hook that immediately frames the story around a forced moral choice. As the book flashes back to Matt’s day job with the Gnucci case and his looming concern over Punisher, the premise of “the system is flawed” lands clearly and fast. Punisher’s presence, however, feels oddly undercooked from the jump, since he functions more like an off-panel threat and plot trigger than an actual character sharing this stage.​

Plot Analysis

In this issue, Daredevil pieces together how Punisher trapped him by thinking back to a warning from Joe Malizia, who alerts Matt Murdock that Ma Gnucci believes Punisher is coming for her family after Carlo’s death. Matt sets strict legal boundaries in the office, then heads out as Daredevil to check on Dino Gnucci, the last Gnucci son, who is holed up in a hotel with heavy security despite being innocent of the current charge. Daredevil easily cuts through those defenses, confronts Dino about his foolish “safe house,” and pushes him to relocate and change his patterns, underscoring how fragile any protection is when Punisher is involved.

Later, Malizia’s death under a truck strongly signals Punisher’s involvement, and on Dino’s court date Matt spots Frank Castle in the gallery. When Punisher slips out early, Daredevil follows, climbs to higher ground to track him, and attacks from behind near the courthouse, trying to end whatever Frank has planned. The fight is brief but brutal, and Punisher uses an ultrasonic device to overload Daredevil’s heightened senses, knocking him out and pivoting the narrative fully into Punisher’s premeditated scheme.

Daredevil wakes chained in a new location with a gun forced into his hand, and Punisher presents him with a supposed choice: one bullet to stop Frank from killing Dino, or inaction and a death Matt will have to live with. Matt argues for law and due process, but Punisher treats the whole debate as a lesson, then takes the shot anyway, revealing that Daredevil’s gun was never functional and that the “choice” was always rigged. Dino dies under police protection, proving in Punisher’s eyes that the system fails and that Daredevil’s moral high ground cannot save certain people.

When Daredevil comes to again, he finds himself hanging from the rafters above a secret meeting of four criminals, including Gina Russo and Big Tony Rizzoli, who are calmly planning to unite and seize control of New York’s underworld in the power vacuum Punisher created. Daredevil recognizes some of them as people he helped put away, confirming that his courtroom victories did not keep them off the streets, which is exactly the point Punisher wanted to drive home. The scene awkwardly relies on none of the mobsters noticing Daredevil hanging right above them, but it closes the issue by showing how Punisher’s actions and Matt’s belief in the system have combined to birth a new criminal alliance, leaving Daredevil vowing to clean up this mess and then go after Castle.

Writing

The pacing splits cleanly into three movements: legal-office setup, hotel and courthouse maneuvering, then the Punisher trap and mob summit, with scene transitions that are easy to follow and a clear cause-and-effect chain from Malizia’s warning to Dino’s death. This structure keeps the issue readable, but it also leans heavily on narration from Daredevil’s inner monologue to explain ideas that could have landed harder through action or subtext, especially when hammering home Punisher’s “the system is flawed” thesis. Dialogue is functional and often sharp, especially in Dino’s defensive banter and the bickering mob meeting, yet Punisher’s lines are largely confined to outlining his philosophy and explaining his trap, so his voice comes off more like an essay on vigilantism than a distinct personality.​

Art

The art clearly distinguishes the three main arenas: the clean, controlled office, the moody nighttime rooftops and hotel infiltration, and the drab industrial setting where Daredevil awakens chained, which helps readers track time and place without confusion. Composition during the Daredevil-versus-Punisher fight conveys motion and impact well, and Daredevil’s sensory captions pair effectively with panels that emphasize city lights, shadows, and verticality to sell his unique perspective. The mob meeting sequence uses body language and facial expressions to underline tension and dark humor, but the paneling choice that leaves Daredevil hanging above them unseen undercuts the visual logic, since the staging makes his presence too obvious for hardened criminals to miss.​

Character Development

Daredevil’s characterization is consistent and grounded: he is the lawyer who believes in due process, the vigilante who still tries to keep a guilty man alive for his day in court, and the exhausted hero forced to confront the limits of both roles when Punisher manipulates him. The issue gives Matt clear internal conflict as he tries to reconcile his faith in law with the reality of repeat offenders like Gina and Big Tony walking free, which keeps him relatable even while he narrates big-picture ideas about justice. Punisher, by contrast, functions almost entirely as an ideological blunt instrument; the book shows his planning and ruthlessness, but provides little insight into his personal stakes or emotional state, so his name on the cover oversells how much actual character work he receives.​

Originality & Concept Execution

The central concept of forcing Daredevil into a rigged moral test to prove the justice system’s failure is not new, but the issue executes it cleanly by tying Dino’s case, prior convictions, and the returning mobsters directly into Punisher’s argument. Where the book aims to stand out is in the scale of Punisher’s orchestration, from Malizia’s “warning” to the courtroom bait and the final criminal summit, all designed as one big demonstration for Matt. However, by keeping Punisher emotionally distant and using him primarily as the unseen hand behind events, the comic undercuts the promise of a true dual-character study and leaves its “Daredevil vs. Punisher” hook feeling more like Daredevil versus the thesis statement on the cover copy.​

Positives

This issue delivers a coherent, self-contained thriller setup with clear stakes, walking readers step by step from a tense client meeting to a courtroom showdown and then into a brutal proof that the system cannot keep certain criminals off the board. The writing keeps Daredevil’s voice consistent and thoughtful, the art sells motion and mood, and the central philosophical clash is easy to track even for newer readers, which means you are not paying to decode a puzzle box. For a single issue, you get a full arc of setup, escalation, and a nasty payoff in Dino’s fate that honestly earns the “the system is flawed” title line, giving the book a clear identity instead of generic costumed punching.​

Negatives: (Buyer Beware)

Punisher’s role is the biggest value problem: his name shares the title, yet his page-time and characterization are thin, so anyone buying this expecting a two-hander character piece is really paying for a Daredevil story with a Punisher-shaped device stapled on. The rigged gun choice and the final reveal at the mob summit make the theme feel pre-decided, leaving little room for nuance or true ideological pushback, which lowers the sense of discovery and makes the outcome feel less earned than it could. On top of that, the visual logic break of Daredevil hanging above a table of career criminals without a single one noticing chips away at the grounded tone the story wants, and in a book selling itself as a serious look at systems and consequences, that kind of staging reads as a cheap contrivance.

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About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

Follow @ComicalOpinions on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

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The Scorecard

Writing Quality (Clarity & Pacing): [2/4]
Art Quality (Execution & Synergy): [3/4]
Value (Originality & Entertainment): [1/2]

Final Verdict

Daredevil/Punisher: The Devil’s Trigger #1 is a solid albeit flawed buy if you care more about Daredevil wrestling with broken institutions than about actually spending time in Punisher’s head, because the book commits to Matt’s crisis and delivers a full narrative loop in one chapter. If you are hoping for a balanced co-lead drama or a truly surprising ethical puzzle, the one-sided execution, underdeveloped Punisher, and the strange “no one sees the guy hanging from the ceiling” moment drag down the return on your time and money.

6/10

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