Sonny Corinthos

He's tried to do it himself, countless super-villains have attempted the feat, as have giant, mutated cockroaches. He's even been exiled into deep space, but Marvel this week did what Bruce Banner could never manage to do to the Hulk -- kill off the long-running character.

In the latest issue of "Civil War II," in which the superhero alliance the Avengers -- popularized by Marvel's staggeringly successful movies -- are divided into two opposing teams, Banner's comrade Hawkeye shoots the Hulk's human alter ego in the eye, killing him.

It's a mercy killing, it turns out -- Banner had given the marksman a special arrow and instructions to kill him if he looked certain to go on a rampage.

Banner has been hulking out in Marvel comics since 1962, when he was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, caught in a gamma explosion and given an impossibly powerful alter ego.

But the un-killable Hulk -- or at least his mild-mannered human analog -- has now been brought down.

In the superhero version of an intervention, the team lures Banner -- who has been taking Hulk-supressing medication -- outside and, even though he has yet to cause the kind of mass destruction he's famous for, is killed.

"Oh my god," says Banner, to find a host of heroes on his doorstep. "What -- what did I do?"

Avenger Tony Stark replies, "That's the thing, Bruce. You haven't done anything..."

"Yet," adds Medusa. And then, in the language of comic books -- Pow! Hawkeye's arrow takes down the scientist.

'Uncharted territory'

"This is uncharted territory for us," Marvel's editor-in-chief Axel Alonso is quoted as saying in the New York Daily News.

"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."

It's not exactly uncharted territory -- comic book publishers routinely kill off and resurrect their superheroes -- in an attempt to keep fans engaged and buying books.

In the aftermath of "Civil War II's" predecessor, 2006's "Civil War," Steve Rogers' Captain America was killed and his longtime friend Bucky Barnes takes over the job for a spell. More recently, his friend Sam Wilson -- previously the Falcon -- took over the red, white and blue shield.

Spider-Man has also recently died and of course, the grand-daddy of all superheroes, Superman, was killed off in the early 1990s, only to fly back into the hearts and minds of fans faster than a speeding bullet.

And even if Banner does -- improbably -- remain dead, the Hulk mantle has already been passed on, this time to a Korean-American teenage genius called Amadeus Cho.

It's part of a move -- which many fans say is long overdue -- to diversify the genre. Spider-Man is now Miles Morales, a black-Hispanic teenager, Thor a woman, Ms. Marvel a Muslim and fans recently learned that the Iron Man suit will soon be inhabited by an African-American female teen named Riri Williams.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/14/entert...r-killed-trnd/

And Marvel had the nerve to say this is 'Uncharted territory'. This type of thing is why I quit collecting comic books years ago.

cultshock

Then create new "diverse" characters, don't fuck around with long established characters I've loved since I was a little kid.
Me too, fuck this shit.

Groucho

Can't wait to buy the "Bruce Banner Returns!" issue.

Josh-da-man

That sounds fucking stupid. Who's writing this shit? Twelve year-old edgelords?

madcougar

Don't worry, Banner will be brought back around November 2017.

robin2099

I went into a comic store recently to see if there was anything that could get me back into comics and nope. Marvel's just stupid now and I don't have time to keep up with all the rebirth books.

Trevor

Thanks for the spoiler.

sven

That's all Bendis seems to know how to do these days is kill characters off for shock value.

Luckily for me I've always hated the Hulk/Banner as a character so this doesn't bother me in the least.

I dropped all my big 2 titles from my subscription list last fall and haven't regretted it at all. Image alone has more than enough great stories to keep me satisfied. And then I'll find a gem like The 6th Gun from even smaller publishers like Oni to supplement my Image stuff.

I do still keep up with Marvel through MU but even then most of it feels like a chore to read.

DVD Josh

OP - are you an intentional dick or just retarded?

Timber

Again?

Hokeyboy

A lot of self-righteous anger in this thread lol

fujishig

Nobody cares about new characters. Seriously. We had a thread in the past and very few non legacy superheroes have lasted. Harley and Deadpool were created more than 20 years ago, and you could argue both were highly derivative. Even someone like Ms Marvel wouldn't have the popularity initially without the legacy name despite having little to do with Carol.

If you're not reading Bruce Banner now, it doesn't change anything for you because he'll be back, and you're not reading anyway. Although I like progression in stories if it's done well. Barry Allen basically could barely hold a Flash book up before his sacrifice in Crisis, paving the way for Wally West to take the mantle for decades (before he was stupidly brought back)

The problem with this is that it's a gimmick, so it holds no value, even if they keep him out for a year he'll be back. I remember Thor died in some minor crossover (Fear Itself I think) and nobody cared. The best we can hope for is a great story like Superior Spidey or Brubaker's cap run, or Planet Hulk (which is kinda when they did this storyline last).

I still don't understand the premise. He's under control but he has the possibility of destroying things in the future so they take him out? This is almost as dumb as Civil War's beginning, where any of a dozen other activities that week could have caused as much damage as the New Warriors did.

PhantomStranger

Yawn, more Marvel gimmicks.

If you really want to have a fresh gimmick, Marvel and DC should trade one or two characters for a year. How about Green Arrow for the Hulk? The Hulk would show up in the DC universe for a year and Green Arrow would disappear. Much hilarity ensues when Hawkeye gets dropped by the Avengers for Green Arrow.

sven

Look at this way Banner fans atleast your favorite character hasn't been buried by Marvel for the last decade like mine has been.



The Secret Wars AoA tie-in wasn't even that good but I loved it anyway because Clarice was in it.

fujishig

Eh if your favorite is an alternate universe version of a character who died in her first appearance, and whose universe is similarly dead (or not, hard to keep track)... Well, you get what you deserve.

Plus she's one of them mutants that we don't like to talk about, at least until Fox plays ball.

Speaking of movies, I was thinking that if the cinematic universe continues, it could be a good way of forcing progression on the comic universe. Chris Evans and Robert Downey are done, replace them in the movies and comics. Probably would spell the end of the cinematic universe but at least that way there wouldn't be pressure to revert to the norm in time for the next movie.

majorjoe23

They're are a ton of great comics being published right now. Just not by Marvel or DC.

sven

They'll probably bring her back for Death of X just to kill her off with Cyclops. That is how much Marvel hates me.

Undeadcow

Bruce Banner was always more or less disposable to The Hulk anyway; he's just an 'every man' grappling with self control and so long as there is a Hulk I don't see Banner's death changing much. Instead of super smart Banner wrestling with his Hulk alter ego we now have too similar super smart Cho wrestling with his Hulk alter ego - seemingly the only thing that's changed is the name and skin color.

It is disappointing that Disney/Marvel continues to disintegrate their characters with cheap replacements - ballsy retirement of some characters makes sense but replacing them with identical archetypes continues to be a silly retread of the same stuff. At least when the 'Ultimate' line was up Marvel had a nice 'Elseworlds' outlet to tinker with in a separate continuity.

I can't decide if I respect they haven't brought 'real' Wolverine back or not yet (also Professor X).

Bummer about the initial thread title spoiling this plot twist.

Red Hood

I agree is not uncharted territory but nonetheless it sells and gives a little more realism to comic books. I wish the characters stayed dead for years at least instead of being brought back when the new movie comes around.

Like someone said above, almost no one cares about true new characters. People care about the legacy, as Miles Morales, X-23, Ms. Marvel, Nova and others have proven. And it's understandable. It's the same way different generations care about different Flashs or Green Lanterns, Robins or Blue Beetles or Atoms. Which leads me to say, that Hulk is one of the characters that has had variations throughout the years other than Bruce Banner - She-Hulk, Red Hulk, A-Bomb, and now Amadeus Cho Hulk.

You are probably to old school to like the new stuff and it's understandable but sadly the industry has to let customers like you go to bring in the new generation. Basically, this type of changes is what has happened in comic books for over 80 years. Golden Age fans complained about the silver age, silver age complained about the bronze age, bronze age complained about the copper/modern/dark age, and now this crowd complains about the new generation.

Bendis is not the one that kills them, is Marvel/Disney. They are killing at least a character per quarter as it unfortunately brings sales. I don't like Bendis as a writer and feel that Civil War II #3 is a mediocre book with a good premise in part because Bendis can't do anything other than deconstruction on every single book he writes. That's his style, but I don't like it.

I also agree with you that sometimes, things out of the big two are better. Image is doing great books and so is Black Mask. Still don't dismiss Marvel or DC just because of event books. The Vision from Marvel is one the best written books in years.

DC has none, right? Rebirth.. cough.. cough...


Basically, Marvel has to do these summer events the same way Hollywood does their blockbusters: they bring money. New readers like them too and sometimes they are just fun. The status quo rarely changes for the long term so basically, it's comic books. There are tons of them, enjoy them. With so many publishers, there must be some that fit each person's style and taste.

fujishig

Wait there's a new generation of comic book readers? I figured they were just milking the same aging fanbase over and over.

cultshock

Ha, this is nothing I would actually get angry about. Even though I love the characters, I haven't read a Marvel comic since the 90's. So at this point they can do whatever they want and not a fuck will be given by yours truly, I'm not reading anyway. As long as they keep making cool movies.

cultshock

I fully understand that new characters don't cut the mustard anymore and haven't in years. But if it makes them feel all warm and fuzzy inside, create characters with diversity anyway, and if they don't become popular, at least the folks at Marvel can just shrug their shoulders and say "Hey, we tried."

Red Hood

Why do that when the other formula of using already established names with new diverse characters has worked? It has been like this for over 30 years now. Venom is another version of Spider-Man and Carnage is just another version of Venom. Danny Ketch was the new Ghost Rider for a while. We had a new Deathlok in the 90's. New Captain Marvel each decade. James Rhodes was Iron Man for a big part in the 80's. Eric Masterson was Thor and before that we had Beta Ray Bill. How many Spider-Woman there have been? Spider-Gwen is one of today's hottest characters. It's going to happen the same way it did 60,50,40 years ago. Its' the way the business works. Even Dick Grayson was Batman for over a year.

Sonny Corinthos

This story was all over social media today. Facebook, Twitter, just about every news wire was running the story as well. The link I provided was from CNN of all places. With that kind of coverage, how did anyone miss it? Maybe if you would pull your head out of your ass from time to time, you might catch on to today's events as they take place.

The Valeyard

Hulk is dead? I didn't realize Fox owned his movie rights.