The following contains major spoilers for Marvel Comics' current Civil War II storyline.
Marvel Comics is deeply embroiled in their Civil War II storyline, and as with all of their major crossover events, some big changes are planned. As with all of their major events in the modern media landscape, the changes are being announced well ahead of time. War Machine and possibly She-Hulk have already bitten the dust, but now another casualty from Civil War II has now been made public. We're not sure which is sadder, the one who dies, or the identity of the man who kills him. The Incredible Hulk is gone, and Hawkeye is to blame.
Civil War II #3 was released in stores today, and in its pages, fans may find one of the most heartbreaking moments in the history of the genre. The New York Daily News broke the information that Bruce Banner, The Incredible Hulk, goes down at the hands of fellow Avenger Hawkeye. Apparently, Hawkeye uses a special arrow that Banner himself provided so that the archer could stop the Hulk from going on a destructive rampage if it ever came to that. What makes the moment even more heartbreaking, is that while Hawkeye does believe he's doing what he needs to do to save people, he's not aware that Banner had been medicating himself to help manage his anger, so it doesn't appear the killer arrow was necessary.
Marvel just finished the adaptation of their first Civil War from page to screen, and while Captain America: Civil War did see significant changes to plot and characters in the adaptation, it does mean that an eventual adaptation of Civil War II is more likely than not somewhere down the line. The current comic book pits teams led by Iron Man on one side and Captain Marvel on the other over questions of superhero free will. While Captain Marvel has yet to be introduced in the MCU, we know she's coming, which is just another reason seeing Civil War II on the screen in a few years is a possibility.
While many fans were expecting a comic death, this was not the one they thought would happen. The recent announcement that the Iron Man mantle was going to be passed to a 15-year-old girl led many to assume it meant that Tony Stark would not survive the comic arc. While his eventual fate is still to be determined, even if he does go, he won't be the first.
Thus far Marvel has neglected to kill off any of their major characters on screen, but we all pretty much know that it's only a matter of time until that changes. Mark Ruffalo's Hulk is certainly worried about the damage he could do, so we could totally see him creating the same weapon in order to stop himself. He already helped design Veronica in the films, but that wasn't very effective.
What do you think of the death of Bruce Banner? Is this one for good? It's comics, so probably not, but how long do you think it will last? Let us know in the comments below.
