Back in May, the summer movie season kicked off withMarvel’s blockbusterCaptain America: Civil War, which has taken in over $1.1 billion worldwide. This superhero adventure is based on the iconicCivil Warcomic book byMark Millar, which was published back in 2006, but Marvel Comics unveiled a new series in May entitledCivil War II, and the latest issue features the death of a beloved and iconic hero. There will be plenty of spoilers forCivil War II, No. 3below, so read on at your own risk.
TheCivil War IIseries kicked off in May with a free Comic Book Day preview issue, where another beloved Avenger, War Machine, played byDon Cheadlein theMarvel Cinematic Universe, was killed by Thanos. His death was confirmed in the series' No. 1 issue in June, while She-Hulk is on life support after slipping into a coma in the second issue.The Hollywood Reporterreveals that in the third issue, which was released today, the Hulk himself, Bruce Banner was killed by Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, who shot Dr. Banner in the head with an arrow. Hawkeye believed that the Hulk was about to unleash massive death and destruction.
The second issue ofCivil War IIalso features the Inhuman known as Ulysses, who can predict future events and remains a vital part of this comic book story. Ulysses predicted thatHulkwould kill all of the other heroes, which prompted Captain Marvel to visit Hulk after Ulysses made this prediction. Before the issue was released, Marvel teased Hulk’s death with the tagline “One of the biggest heroes in the Marvel Universe will fall!”
It isn’t known ifBruce Bannerwill be brought back from the dead or not, which frequently happens in the comic book world, but even if he isn’t, the Hulk will still be a part of this universe. Marvel announced last year that an Asian character named Amadeus Cho would take over as the new Hulk in a comic series dubbedTotally Awesome Hulk, which debuted in December. This character was also recently confirmed for this fall’s Marvel Now! series. For the past year in the comics, Banner has been medicating himself to keep his anger issues under control, which lead to teenager Amadeus Cho taking over as the new Hulk. Here’s what Marvel editor in chiefAxel Alonsohad to say, teasing what will come next after the death of Bruce Banner, who has been Hulk’s alter-ego since 1962.
“This is uncharted territory for us. Only two things are for certain: It will take a long, long time for our heroes to come to terms with his loss, and the circumstance surrounding his death will leave a huge scar on the superhero community.”
We reported last week that another huge change will be coming at the end ofCivil War II, with a young African-American woman named Riri Williams taking over as the newIron Manfrom Tony Stark. This 15-year-old character built her own Iron Man suit in her college dorm room, which caught the attention of Tony Stark. We don’t know for sure if this means that Marvel plans on killing off Tony Stark as well, but we’ll have to wait and see.
