Penn told the audience at the Graphic Explosion panel that he had originally wanted to include other Marvel characters in his X-Men movies, but was unable to because of rights issues... A problem that doesn't exist in Marvel's shared universe of self-produced movies:

They're doing Captain American and Thor first, and then Avengers is coming out... They want to see that they're all connected, not like the Fantastic Four can't come into the X-Men world, like I was told. I'm taking a meeting next week with the Thor and Captain America people, and we are all going to get together, and I will see what is going to happen. I'll see where they are leaving the characters; it's pretty complicated. ... There's a board that is tracking what is happening. [We'll see] how this movie overlaps in that movie. ... Marvel is autonomous now. It is night and day: Everyone has read every comic. They know how to make a cool movie.

A cool movie, perhaps, but apparently not necessarily a good movie, as this later comment from Penn hinted at nerves over his Avengers script:

It's hard to make a good movie... We all have the best intentions, and it still might suck.

Sounds like he saw Mickey Rourke's Iron Man 2 costume during one of those cross-movie meetings...

X-Men writer Zak Penn breaks his silence about adapting The Avengers [Sci Fi Wire]

Perhaps the biggest revelation was that, despite the lackluster performance of last year's The Incredible Hulk, the character will indeed be returning for The Avengers. Considering the Hulk is a major player in almost every big Avengers story, from their sixties origins to Ultimates, his involvement had long been suspected, but this marks the first official confirmation. Feige also said another standalone Hulk movie is a possibility, but it would need to be more clearly linked with the other film franchises than the last one.

Indeed, with so many of their preceding projects in the newly dubbed Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) underway, Feige is now ready to begin serious work on The Avengers. He explained why the Hulk is returning and what progress has already been made on the movie:

It will have been four years since he was in a movie by that point. By 2012. I'd like to see him in it. I'm not being coy. We're just starting the story. I was on the phone with Zak Penn this morning. He's coming in next week and he's going to work on the outline this summer. It's so intertwined with what we're doing before it. I almost wanted to get done with production on Iron Man 2, and the scripts to Thor and The First Avenger: Captain America well underway, before we even started The Avengers.

Moving further afield, Feige confirmed that director Edgar Wright's Ant-Man project is still in the works. As would be expected from the co-writer and director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Feige emphasized the comedic aspects Wright looks to bring to the movie:

"I want to make Ant-Man one of these days. I think that'll be surprising and funny. I love Edgar Wright. What he likes about it is that when he says he's doing Ant-Man, people go, 'Ant-Man? What the hell is that?' I think that's funny."

It would appear absolutely no part of the Marvel Universe is off-limits for the films. In particular, Feige is hopeful Thor will open the door to the more mystical parts of Marvel:

"I think Doctor Strange would kick ass. I think we've done very well at this street level superhero aspect of the Marvel Universe. I think with Thor, you'll see us cracking into the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe in a very good way that's never been done before in our movies. I'd love to get into that supernatural element. I think that Doctor Strange could be a good lynchpin into that universe with 'Werewolf By Night'. Maybe with Blade again someday. I would like to see that side of the Marvel Universe on screen."

And he confirmed that the Thunder God's alter ego, Donald Blake, won't be appearing in Thor.

As for The First Avenger: Captain America, Feige focused on the casting rumors. He noted that there are very few actors that are both American and well known enough internationally to pull in foreign box office. At the same time, he noted the success of hiring a brilliant but previously non-blockbuster actor, like Robert Downey Jr., or having the freedom to choose an unknown from Australia, like Thor's Chris Hemsworth.

It would however appear that Will Smith is not in the running to play Captain America. Acknowledging the "Truth" storyline, which posited the existence of a black Captain America before Steve Rogers, Feige explained why they wanted to stick with the more iconic version of the character:

"I love the 'Truth' storyline. I think that's very cool. I wouldn't do that as a first Captain America movie though. I think that arc came about four or five hundred issues into the "Cap" run. I don't see us launching with that particular comic."

Finally, Feige touched upon what sort of movie The Avengers will be:

"I think The Avengers is going to have it's own vibe. It'll have a different tone than the other Marvel movies. It is about saving the world, because there's no other reason for characters that powerful to band together. I think the scope and the scale will feel like a much bigger thing."

And he said that Marvel aims to ramp up to putting out four movies a year, drawing on the company's diverse cast of characters. Iron Man 2 is due out May 7, 2010, while Thor and The First Avenger: Captain America are on track for May 20 and July 22 of 2011. The Avengers, which may or may not be the greatest thing in the history of cinema (not that I'm getting my hopes up or anything), is currently scheduled for May 4, 2012.

[Superhero Flix]

The secret to successfully taking superheroes into other media, according to everyone on the panel - Lee, Penn and Iron Man screenwriter Mark Fergus - was to treat action as secondary to character; a lesson learned by Lee during the 1970s Spider-Man TV show:

That was the worst thing ever made! When I saw the first episode, I called a meeting at CBS and said "There's no characterization, there's no way you can care about the characters," I said, "There's no story there!" The next day, the director sent me a note and said "I very much appreciate the things you said, but I cannot fly by the seat of Stan Lee's pants." And the show got cancelled. You have to believe in the characters.

Sadly for moviemakers, Penn still thinks that the comics get it right more often than the movies - One comic in particular:

I have to be honest, when I read The Ultimates, that really changed my thinking. When I read that stuff, I thought, wow, we're really not giving this stuff enough credit. There's a whole other level of realism that we're not getting at. I thought Mark Millar had somehow tapped into what Stan was doing all those years ago and made it real.

Millar may, in fact, be helping out on the next few Marvel movies; Penn made reference to a group of Marvel writers that he couldn't name (but were "the guys who I admire who are writing the great comic book stuff") that are working with him and Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige to plan the story arc lacing through Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers, which are being planned with a strong continuity and storyline running through them. Such experiences, he explained, are unusual in an industry that still, for the most part, doesn't understand comics:

It's incredibly frustrating to deal with some studios who don't like the comic books, who don't like the fans, who don't like me... Or themselves. In Hollywood, when you talk about comic books, they think you're talking about Archie. A lot of these people think that comic books are silly, and they think they're supposed to be silly. And then you get people like Sam Raimi who come along and say, that's comics pre-Stan Lee, you obviously haven't read comics in the last thirty years. It's just stupid, they don't really know the form. And if they did, they'd know that they could make it as smart as possible because the comics are smart.

The ever-enthusiastic Stan Lee, however, sees the future of comic book movies as being very bright:

People ask me, how long will there be superhero movies. As long as there are writers like these two guys who write this stuff like it's Citizen Kane and not like some silly fluff, there will always be superhero movies.

'Nuff said, Stan.