Bruce Banner/The Hulk meets his demise in latest issue of Marvel's 'Civil War II'

NEW YORK, July 14 (UPI) -- Marvel has killed off one its most iconic and fan favorite characters, Bruce Banner, aka The Hulk, in the latest issue of Civil War II.

The tragic event takes place in Civil War issue No. 3 released Wednesday when psychic character Ulysses predicts that the towering green giant will go on a murderous rampage.

In order to prevent the Hulk from losing control, his Avengers teammate and trusted ally Hawkeye shoots Banner with a specially made arrow he helped design in case of an emergency.

"This is uncharted territory for us," Marvel Editor in Chief Axel Alonso said to the New York Daily News regarding the death. "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."

"Fans may be outraged, and there are probably 'Hawkeye' writers who I'm very good friends with who will also be offended," said writer Brian Michael Bendis. "But the point is that everything that happens in this issue is in character when you discover the hows and whys and wheres. We'll let people argue about it."

With Banner gone, a recently introduced character, Korean-American Amadeus Cho, will step up as the new Hulk and unlike Banner, he can transform into the green giant at will using a device in his left arm.

The Hulk's passing is the latest drastic change coming to Marvel's comic book line after it was revealed that Captain America is a secret Hydra agent in his newest comic book series and following the reveal of Riri Williams, a 15-year-old African-American MIT science genius who is set to replace Tony Stark as Iron Man.

Despite comic book characters historically coming back to life after they have been killed, Bendis maintains that this death is for real.

"Right now I can tell you this is the real deal," he said. "I can't speak for the future, I honestly can't, who knows what will happen? But I already have plans for the body (in upcoming issues.)"

The Hulk is still alive and well in the Marvel cinematic universe, however, and will next be seen alongside Thor in next year's Thor: Ragnarok, due in theaters Nov. 3, 2017.