Comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis explained why he killed a major Marvel Comics figure in Avengers vs. X-Men No. 11, declaring in a frank interview: “I was very happy that we voted to whack…”
SPOILER ALERT: Below, we will include excerpts from the interview and reveal who is the character killed in the comic.
Over the course of the issue, the founder of the X-Men, Charles Xavier, is killed. Xavier first appeared in Uncanny X-Men No. 1, published in 1963. Bendis explained his storytelling decision in an interview:
When I joined the X-Men office I was quite surprised what a polarizing figure Charles Xavier had become among the editors, creators, and readers. Maybe it’s because he’s bald but I never have a problem with him. Analyzing it, it is clear that the franchise just simply outgrew him. All of the characters had moved on to a place where Charles himself wasn’t really needed anymore. I don’t think anyone did it on purpose; it was just one of those organic storytelling things. I spent a lot of time championing his place in Avengers Vs. X-Men only to find that I was really one of the only [people] who cared how he felt about the whole thing. After one of our retreat days a small group of us got together and the question was brought up that maybe he would be more interesting dead post-AvX than he was in life pre-AvX. Knowing what my plans were post AvX [with ALL-NEW X-MEN], the death of Charles Xavier made every scene I have coming up for the next year more passionate, more interesting and more controversial. I was very happy that we voted to whack the man.
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