If ever there was a pairing to hipster fan-boys everywhere; it is Michael Cera and Edgar Wright. Think about it, Cera made a name for himself being the awkward hero, and who can write an unlikely hero better than the man who helped write the Blood and Ice Cream trilogy? In an interview with Wizard Universe, Wright got the chance to update the status of his indie-comic feature, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (if you have also been waiting with bated breath for news on his Ant Man adaptation, there are a few tidbits to be had as well). So if you were worried that Pilgrim would fall by the wayside in the light of some of Wright's other projects, fear not, all is well in Pilgrim-land.

The original series was about a young Canadian and wannabe-rock star who falls for an American girl with the memorable name of Ramona V. Flowers (aka, the perfect girl). But in order to win the lady fair, our slacker must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends in hopes of winning a date with his dream girl. Cera plays Pilgrim, the bassist for the terribly titled band, Sex Bob-Omb, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead will star as Ramona. Wright isn't counting on making any more sequels the film as the comic was originally a 6-part series. Instead, Wright told Wizard that, "The script that we've written essentially covers all six. If it was at the level of Harry Potter we might be able to talk about doing six films but in this case our film is very much an adaptation of the entire six."

Everyone seems to have superheroes on the brain this summer, so it's the perfect time for Edgar Wright to pop out of the woodwork to remind us about Ant-Man. In an interview with PiQ magazine about the DVD release of Spaced, the topic drifted to Ant-Man on the big screen.

Wright confirmed that the second draft of the script is still underway, and that the film will be a, "different way of seeing a superhero origin, because you've seen so many of them and we really tried to figure out a fresh take on that story. So it's definitely a Marvel film but it's got a little twist on it in terms of the way that it plays out."

There are stories in which I doubt all that I know about the geek world -- and this is one of them. Ant Man is one of those comic book heroes that I have heard of, but know nothing about -- so bear with me and be kind.

Edgar Wright has been attached to the Ant Man movie since 2006, at least, and he revealed to Empire that the project is still racing right along. "It's written and we're doing a second draft of it," said Wright. "It's going to be less overtly comedic than anything else I've ever done. It's more of a full-on action adventure sci-fi film but with a comedic element -- in the same spirit of a lot of escapist fare like that. It's certainly not a superhero spoof or pastiche and it certainly isn't a sort of Honey I Shrunk the Kids
endeavour at all."

He's also planning to combine the two incarnations of Ant Man -- the goody, two-shoes scientist Hank Pym, and the roguish Scott Lang. No word on who might play the bug-friendly hero, so offer up your suggestions.

Somehow, I can see Ant-Man on the big screen easier than I can see Thor. Maybe it is the Edgar Wright factor. I remember overhearing a comic book geek once saying that "The Punisher should be easy to bring to the screen, it's not like he's Ant Man." And as I type this post, I now see the irony that the world might, in fact, see a better Ant Man movie than they did of Punisher, Daredevil, or Elektra.

As fans continue to cringe whenever more talk of that planned Justice League of America movie creeps online, Marvel is taking a much different approach with regards to their long-awaited Avengers movie. Marvel refuses to move forth on an Avengers flick until all of the characters featured in said movie are well established on the big screen first. Two such characters, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, will debut new looks this summer, while plans to bring the characters of Captain America, Thor and Ant Man are already in the works. As of now, Zak Penn has been tapped to write The Avengers movie script, but no director has ever been announced (probably because the project is still a good two, three years away from becoming a reality). But when it finally comes time to bring someone in to helm, Iron Man director Jon Favreau would definitely like to be considered.

While speaking to MTV, Favreau confirmed that he thinks The Avengers movie is "a great idea" and that he might like to direct it. He also talked a bit about Marvel's intentions, saying, "[But] in the case of Marvel they're pretty clear on wanting to do it with the actors who've established the roles or to not do it at all. That's what they've said to me. I think it's a good idea if you use the characters established in the other franchises that then come together for an event. I don't think they would do it like they're doing 'Justice League' where it's a whole different set of actors and a whole different take on the world." Can I get an Amen on that one, brutha!

So what it sounds like (or at least what's been told to Favreau) is that Marvel will not move ahead with an Avengers movie unless those actors portraying the characters in their individual films reprise those roles for the film. Which is a flippin' fantastic idea, and one that makes sense for a number of reasons. See, as a fan, I'd be more than happy to wait a few years to get a comic team-up movie that was done the right way, like this, than settle for a rush job. And the question now is -- would you want Favreau behind the camera? Or will you hold off on forming an opinion until we see what he does with Iron Man?

Extra Tidbit: A future Avengers flick will apparently be teased in the new Iron Man film, as Samuel L. Jackson is said to be playing a small part as fellow comic hero, Nick Fury.

Edgar Wright, otherwise known as the lovely man who brought us the zombie butt-kicking Shaun of the Dead, has been busy. We have been covering the long-awaited arrival of his latest, Hot Fuzz, a British poopoo platter of talent that, frankly, excites me a lot more than most Hollywood power casts. While we still have a few months until the film hits North American shores, we can expect a lot more of the man in our future. Wright is already getting started on a number of other features that will have him penning his heart out.

Next on the docket is Them -- not to be confused with the other Them. The director has teamed up with none other than Mike White to co-write the screenplay. I can't think of much better pairing than having the man who brought us Chuck & Buck (forget about Nacho Libre) pair up with Wright. As he told IGN, White is "simply brilliant when [it] comes to creating quirky characters," so between that and his own ability to create crazy scenarios, it should be a fresh bit of moviemaking. While things are bound to change as they bounce ideas off of each other, the film has been described as "a conspiracy comedy about one woman's journey to unmask the secret rulers of the world."

As if one script wasn't enough, he's also got two comic book adaptations on his plate. The first, Ant Man, "is in a bit of a holding pattern" as the script is developed, but there should be more word soon. The pic will be about a biochemist who develops an instrument that allows him to communicate with and control insects. As for the other, he's also teaming up with Sean O'Malley on Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, which is in the early idea stage. That one is basically about a man named Pilgrim, who starts dating a new girl and must battle her seven evil exes. And yet, there's more! He's already scheming his next film with Simon Pegg: "We have ideas we're tossing around, as we always do. We just haven't decided which one it's going to be."

Marvel Comics tends to walk a fine line between comic book continuity and movie continuity. Everyone realizes they aren't going to go all Sin City and do a frame for frame, word for word adaptation of their decades-old titles, but it's vitally important for the films to maintain a reasonably strong resemblance to their comic counterparts ... or else they'd have a geek riot on their hands. Every now and then it works in the opposite direction, with the movie storylines leaking into the pages of the comic books. In saying that, it appears Marvel is at it again:

• After the events of Marvel's massive Civil War crossover, Peter Parker will toss his current costume (no, it isn't the red and blue one -- it's a Tony Stark build) in favor of the classic black (aka Venom) outfit. Amazingly, this costume just so happens to be a major feature in Spider-Man 3. However, Marvel insists this is only a tiny part (10%) of the decision to move the comic book Spidey into black. (Add to that a big old corporate wink.)
• Marvel is also gearing up for the launch of a few new titles, most notably The Irredeemable Ant-Man. This comes after the announcement that Marvel will also back an Ant-Man movie. Coincidence? I think not.

If you've been a follower of Marvel comics for any length of time you are quite aware of Marvel's love of storyline crossovers. Sometimes this means a character or two showing up in someone else's book (like Wolverine, who seems to appear in every Marvel title written these days) and sometimes it means a whole new book focusing on a crossover team-up such as the current "Cable and Deadpool" series. Some crossovers are established firmly in the Marvel world -- characters such as the Silver Surfer and Namor (for incredibly obvious reasons) are regularly seen running through the pages of the World's Greatest Comic Magazine (that's the Fantastic Four, for the comic illiterate among us). So my question is, how long until we get some crossover action in our comic book movies?

A problem with the crossover potential of Marvel comic films is the movie licensing rights to the characters which have been granted to several different studios. The Incredible Hulk, for instance, is with Universal; X-Men and the Fantastic Four go with Fox; Spider-Man is famously tied to Sony (as is Ghost Rider, if memory serves); and The Punisher belongs to Lion's Gate. However, this does not spell death to any potential cross-over action thanks to the large deal currently inked between Marvel and Paramount. Paramount has quite a number of Marvel flicks in the works right now -- meaning a good collection of the Marvel pantheon will all fall happily under the same umbrella.

Marvel is on the move, although their two priority projects right now (at least, according to IGN) don't belong to the fabled new "war chest" of Marvel films. Paramount will be nabbing the newly assigned Iron Man while Universal gets a Hulk sequel. However, action is starting to happen on a few other films as well, and the writing assignments go as follows:

• Hollywood Reporter confirms the crazy news (also first coming out of IGN) of Edgar Wright (yes, the Shaun of the Dead guy) will be writing and directing Ant Man.
• Zak Penn has started scriptwork on Hulk 2.
• Marvel hopes to make Captain America the next major focus after Hulk 2 and Iron Man.
  
• Mark Protosevich will be scripting Thor, and hopes to create a Tales of Asgard sort of film. Awesome.
• Andrew Marlowe is working on the Nick Fury script.

It seems as though it is a good time to be an Avenger, doesn't it? A fair amount of these assignments were already known-ish through rumor, but it sure is fun to look at them all in the same place and get excited about the upcoming geek-stravaganza in American cinema. It is a good time to be a comic book nerd.