Marvel comics kills off beloved Professor X, founder of X-Men

British actor Patrick Stewart attends a news conference for [U.S. director Brett Ratner]'s out of competition film 'X-Men: The Last Stand' at the 59th Cannes Film Festival May 22, 2006.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Professor X, the Marvel comic book character who formed and led the superhero mutant team known as X-Men, has been killed off.

The latest issue of comic book "Avengers VS. X-Men," out on Wednesday, saw the wheelchair bound and telepathic character, whose full name is Charles Xavier, get killed by Cyclops, a member of his very own X-Men team.

"When we first crafted 'Avengers VS. X-Men,' we didn't set out to kill any characters, but as the story progressed it became obvious that this had to be the last stand of Charles Xavier," Axel Alonso, editor-in-chief of Marvel Entertainment, said in a statement.

"Rest assured his death will reverberate across the Marvel Universe, leading into major launches like Uncanny Avengers and All-New X-Men this fall," Alonso added.

The storyline's dramatic conclusion will occur in the follow-up issue, due out October 3.

The X-Men characters have been brought to the big screen in a series of films starring Patrick Stewart as Professor X and James Marsden as Cyclops including 2000's "X-Men," 2003's "X2" and 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand." Last year, a prequel to those films, "X-Men First Class," had British actor James McAvoy as the professor.

(Reporting by Zorianna Kit; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Lisa Shumaker)