Marvel bosses kill off The Hulk's alter ego, Bruce Banner

(WENN) — Actor Mark Ruffalo's Avengers future is looking all green after Marvel comic bosses killed off The Hulk's scientist alter ego.

Ruffalo has become the latest star to play Bruce Banner, the human behind the angry green monster, on the big screen -- but it looks like Banner is no more after he was shot in the head by an arrow fired by his fellow Marvel Avenger Hawkeye in the new third issue of the "Civil War II" comic series.

Banner, who has been The Hulk's alter ego since the character's creation in 1962, has been self-medicating in a bid to control his temper tantrums, which bring his monstrous alter ego to life in the series.

"This is uncharted territory for us," Marvel's editor-in-chief Axel Alonso told 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."

In the comic, Hawkeye fires the shot that kills his friend, believing Banner is about to lose control, turn into The Hulk, and harm mankind. Banner had recently asked his friend to kill him in the event of any disaster.

Unlike Captain America and Spider-Man, Marvel bosses have no plans to bring Banner back from the dead.

Ruffalo isn't the only actor who has portrayed Bruce Banner -- Bill Bixby created the character for the late 1970s/early 1980s TV series "The Incredible Hulk," while Eric Bana and Edward Norton have played the scientist behind The Hulk on the big screen.