Puma is one of the most underrated Spider-Man villains out there, and I’m not just saying that because he’s my absolute favorite. This character has been involved in several great storylines over the course of the Wall Crawler’s existence and even owned the Daily Bugle for quite a while. So today on the Story Arc I’m just going to lay out the Puma’s character history and what issues you should read since sources like the Marvel Wiki don’t seperate appearances where he actually does stuff from background cameo appearances.
First Appearance
Puma’s first storyline has very little to do with why I like the character however it is still worth reading as one of the most important Spider-Man moments twists happened to be revealed in these issues
Issues:
Amazing Spider-Man #256
Amazing Spider-Man #257
Amazing Spider-Man #258
Appearance during Secret Wars 2
And now we get to the story that would begin to send Puma’s character on the path which would make him my favorite Spider-Man character as a villain who know Peter’s identity but had no interest in it. Amazing Spider-Man’s tie in issues for Secret Wars 2 brought back the Puma and used him in a genius way.
Issues:
Amazing Spider-Man #272
Spectacular Spider-Man #111
Amazing Spider-Man #273
Debt to Peter Parker
Nearly every story in this section is why I love the Puma. Puma’s status quo after Secret Wars 2 was as a villain who owed a debt to Peter Parker. Below is a list of issues where Puma appeared post-Secret Wars 2
Issues:
Spectacular Spider-Man #7
Web of Spider-Man #50
Avengers #304
Spectacular Spider-Man #151
Spectacular Spider-Man #154
Spectacular Spider-Man #156
Owner of the Daily Bugle
In a shocking turn of event, this minor Spider-Man villain a lot of you have never heard of actually bought the Daily Bugle in an attempt to settle his debt to Spider-Man. Here are all issues where Puma is shown as the Daily Bugle’s owner. Some of these appearances are major while others are small one page appearances.
Issues:
Spectacular Spider-Man #157
Web of Spider-Man #58
Amazing Spider-Man #326 (Mentioned, doesn’t physically appear)
Web of Spider-Man #59
Web of Spider-Man #60
Spectacular Spider-Man #161
Spectacular Spider-Man #163
Web of Spider-Man #65
Spectacular Spider-Man #166
Spectacular Spider-Man #167
Spectacular Spider-Man #168
Spectacular Spider-Man #169
Spectacular Spider-Man #170
Duel With Spider-Man
One of my favorite Spider-Man stories (and easily the best 90s Spider-Man story) was the grand duel to the death between the Spider and the Puma. If you are to read any Puma issue, read these ones.
Issues:
Spectacular Spider-Man #171
Spectacular Spider-Man #172
Eye of the Puma
After his duel with Spider-Man and selling the Bugle back to Jameson, Puma stopped appearing in Spider-Man issues until this storyline.
Issues:
Spectacular Spider-Man #191
Spectacular Spider-Man #192
Spectacular Spider-Man #193
Return of the Puma
After reading the events of Spectacular #193 I was personally unsure if Puma would ever return because of how obscure the character was as I approached the modern age. He did return though in a two issue storyline I consider to be his worst outing, however things do improve for him after this.
Amazing Spider-Man #395
Spectacular Spider-Man #218
Later 90s-Early 2000s Appearances
While I hesitate to say that there are any more major Puma storylines, the character did tend to pop up from time to time on the 90s and 2000s. Here are all Puma appearances around this time, not including background cameos.
Issues:
Spider-man Unlimited #15
Rampaging Hulk #6
Wolverine #167
Wolverine #168
Sensational Spider-Man #26
Sensational Spider-Man #27
Sensational Spider-Man #29
Sensational Spider-Man #33
Sensational Spider-Man #34
Punisher War Journal #4 (Minor appearance, 1 speaking line)
Modok’s 11
Puma was by technicality on a team book once with the Modok’s 11 Supervillain Team Up miniseries.
Issues
Modok’s 11 #1
Modok’s 11 #2
Modok’s 11 #3
Modok’s 11 #4
Modok’s 11 #5
Modern day Puma appearances
Once again, there aren’t really any stories in this era that I would call Puma storylines but he did appear as a supporting character in Marvel Divas as Black Cat’s boyfriend and has had minor appearances here and there in the Marvel Universe since then. Any appearance after Marvel Divas though is sadly a background cameo without a speaking line whenever a book wants to showcase a lot of villains, so I won’t bother listing them.
Issues:
Marvel Divas #1
Marvel Divas #2
Marvel Divas #3
Marvel Divas #4
