Thinking about it all, the possibilities are endless. Why should the Hulk be stuck fighting other Marvel superheroes when he could do so much more? Below are just four ideas of how Marvel could better use their unstoppable jade muscle machine and take the character to a whole new level.

Hulk Vs. Superman: Sure, they belong to different comic book companies, but that doesn't mean that it's never happened before. And what could be more epic than a clash of the titans where an alien represents the best in humanity faces off against a monster that personifies the destructive horror of man's creativity? They could even call it "When failed movie franchises fight!"

Hulk Vs. Hulk: No, I'm not talking about an animated version of Jeph Loeb's current "Red Hulk" storyline - although that might be fun, come to think of it - but instead a sensitive look at the psychological issues that have fragmented Bruce Banner's mind to such an extent that he feels the need to create alternate personalities that happen to be green and monstrous. Bring Dr. Phil in to make that long-awaited breakthrough or something. But with additional punching.

Hulk Vs. The Beyonder: The closest that we'll ever get to "Hulk Vs. God" without the religious right trying to destroy Marvel Comics, bringing back the omnipotent being behind Secret Wars and Secret Wars II in order for him to get the cosmic crap beaten out've him could be the ultimate capper to the series. And for an additional plus, Hulk can then go after Galactus, who was once rumored to have started out as another stand-in for the Almighty. And then he could take on Jesus, just for fun.
Hulk Vs. Institutionalized Racism:This is the one what will win awards, trust me. Hulk comes face to face with the prejudice rampant across America, as Marvel can finally answer the oft-asked question "Which is more destructive? A giant green monster tearing apart real estate in a blind rage, or the hatred hidden deep in man's heart?" head-on. It practically writes itself, as well; who wouldn't want to see the scene where the Hulk stares down some old rich white guy and says, "Puny human hates people who aren't white like him? Well, Hulk is green! What is puny human gonna do about that?" before, well, smashing something. And once he's taken care of that problem, the sky really will be the limit. Think about it: Hulk Vs. The Housing Crisis, Hulk Vs. The War On Terrorism, Hulk Vs. The Main Story On That Day's NPR's Morning Edition...

Watch the First Hulk vs. Wolverine Animated Trailer! [Marvel.com]

Death Race:

Here are some new promo stills from the prison race-for-your-life movie, Death Race. More of the Frankenstein mask, more of Tyrese looking grimly determined (with scars!) and Statham looking just grim. Cars going boom, flames, etc. But mostly, Joan Allen as the sexy warden who flounces around the prison yard in high heels. Even without points for pedestrians, it manages to be sleazy. [SpoilerTV-Movies]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

The Transformers comic book we mentioned the other day, a prequel to Transformers 2, confirms that the new movie's villain is actually called The Fallen, who turned against Primus and decided to serve the evil Unicron instead. And we'll learn how Sector 7 formed into a group, and the backgrounds of Optimus Prime and Megatron. The comic also mentions that Starscream returned to Cybertron with data accessed by Frenzy, hoping to create a new Allspark Cube. Interestingly, the comic writer was forbidden to use rumored movie stars Soundwave and Arcee. [Slashfilm and Tformers]

Star Wars: Clone Wars:

Here are a few new TV spots for the animated Clone Wars movie, hitting theaters August 15. Fun Ahsoka/Anakin dialog: "You've got that 'We're in trouble' look." "There's a look?" "You can't miss it." And also: "This is where the fun begins!" Also, Ahsoka confesses she's on a mission to prove she's not too young to be a Padawan, then tells Anakin: "I'm improving your technique." (If only.) [Superhero Flix]

Repo! The Genetic Opera:

Did you know Paris Hilton was in the organ repossession musical Repo! The Genetic Opera? I didn't, until I heard she was at Comic-Con. Anyway, if you're curious to see her singing a gothy nursery rhyme about drugs and surgery, here's a new clip, which I think showed at Comic-Con:

Dollhouse:

AfterEllen was among the lucky media outlets that got to tour the set of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse last week, and they posted some new details, plus a few nice pics. Among the snippets: Adelle, the head of the Dollhouse, has her desk facing away from the door and toward the windows, the opposite of the traditional approach-the-desk setup. This means she doesn't have to look at you, which is a power thing. She has a little hidden niche with screens which allow her to watch everyone in the Dollhouse. She's not ruthless, just ruth-deficient, Joss says.

Also, the famous coed showers were just in the first episode, to show how innocent the mind-wiped "actives" are, but now they're in pretty much every episode because the writers like them, and they allow us to see the "Garden of Eden" innocence falling away. The Dollhouse's doctor, Claire Saunders (Amy Acker) has a lab that's cut off from the rest of the space, because Claire is "slightly damaged." The programmer, Topher Brink, has a messy, windowed laboratory, and is a genius who "can't stop playing around." [After Ellen]

Lost:

This guy, who has posted some semi-reliable Lost spoilers on his Livejournal in the past, says a somewhat reliable source tells him one of the Oceanic Six will die next year. So, you know, grain of salt and all that. [Hellhound's Lair]

Smallville:

Tess Mercer, Lex Luthor's hand-picked successor as head of LuthorCorp., is sort of a mixture of Ms. Teschmacher from Superman: The Movie and Mercy from the comics. But she's mostly a new character, and her drive matches Lex's. [Sci Fi Wire]

Chuck:

On nerd-spy show Chuck, our hero finally gets a date with sexy secret agent Sarah in the first episode of the new season. But it ends up being 86ed, thanks to the other sexy secret agent, Casey. Also, as we've mentioned, John Larroquette plays a retired spy who schools Chuck, and in that same episode Melinda Clarke has a wacky Russian accent. [EW]

Eureka:

Next week's Eureka, "What About Bob?" is about a missing-persons case that reveals more about what happens in the bowels of Global Dynamics. And the following week's episode, "Best In Faux," is about a unique dog show. (With, I'm guessing, those robot dogs that were plastered all over our front page recently.) [Visit Eureka]

Hulk Vs. Thor:

Now that you're pumped up for the cameo-filled Hulk Vs. Wolverine, here's the trailer for the next installment, Hulk Vs. Thor. [Superhero Flix]

Perhaps unsurprisingly, a lot of fans had a lot of questions about the upcoming Marvel movies, but answers weren't always forthcoming; when asked for a hint as to who will play Captain America in the upcoming The First Avenger movie, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige teased the audience with "You guys want to see Ben Affleck play Captain America?" only to be faced with a room full of boos. More seriously, he replied, "We've had ideas, there've been discussions, but we're going to hire filmmakers before we start making those decisions. But I guess it won't be Ben Affleck."

Will the success of the movies mean that Marvel's publishing operations will move to the West Coast? Joe Quesada isn't sure:

I never gave it any thought, I don't know. There are so many people key to us in publishing... to relocate several hundred people, you'd probably end up losing lots of key people. But the weather's nice out here, so you never know?

Marvel's publishing president Dan Buckley:

I'm not saying anything's impossible, but I don't think it's just an operational or business decision, but it would affect the books, New York is such a character in our books.

In a less physical sense, will future movies stay as close to their comic sources as Iron Man? Kevin Feige says yes, kind of:

We always try to stay true to the comics, but we do make changes. I mean, Obidiah Stane didn't work for Stark Enterprises in the comic books. We try to stay true to the core aspects of each character.

On a similar note, Carla Hoffman, a Southern Californian retailer, asked why none of the Hulk comics out at the time of the release of The Incredible Hulk seemed to reflect what people could see in the film. Joe Quesada admitted that that had maybe been a misstep:

If you look at our track record, we normally do a good job of that. We can't bat a 1000 all the time.

Dan Buckley was less forgiving:

With Iron Man, we didn't have to change a lot with what we were already doing, and we thank Matt [Fraction, writer of The Invincible Iron Man] for that. With the Hulk, we've been publishing that kind of story for years and years, so we'd point people back to the trade paperbacks for that... We don't want to get to the point where we're corporately dictating to people what they're writing.

Did The Incredible Hulk movie live up to expectations? Feige:

It did, it absolutely did. We were very pleased with the response. We always said that if it made one dollar more than the last one did, it would be a success, and it made more than one dollar more. The Hulk will return.

Will he return in the Avengers? And, more importantly, who else will show up in The Avengers movie? Feige wasn't sharing:

We have [all the cast lined up], and you'll see them pop up together. That's the idea.

Could anyone confirm Jon Favreau was definitely working on Iron Man 2? Feige:

I can't comment on that. But it comes to, do we want fans back for Iron Man 2? There'll be an announcement soon.

On the comic side on things, apparently suggesting that Spider-Man made a deal with the Devil to retcon his marriage away in One More Day isn't something that makes people at Marvel happy. When a fan brought up the subject, Dan Buckley interrupted:

I think it's unfair to burden this all on Joe. I think it was incredibly brave of Joe to [draw it]. First of all, that story's not over... The consequences of happiness versus unhappiness haven't been dealt with. He didn't do a deal with the devil, [Mephisto] isn't the devil, he's a supervillain in the Marvel Universe.

Joe Quesada disagreed:

Go back and reread One More Day and tell me who made the deal with the Devil. Peter didn't make the deal with the Devil, Mary Jane did. This was a story that we HAD to do to get Peter to a particular place. The idea of a Faustian pact... This is a classic part of literature. I think it's great to bring up a conversation, if you have a 5 year old, it brings up a great conversation. They're all morality plays that bring up different ideas for you to deal with as you raise a child. I think it's a matter on how you deal with it.

For people looking forward to the upcoming Wolverine And The X-Men cartoon, producer Craig Kyle was happy to talk it up:

It's 21 episodes of continuity and five specials. The pay-off lasts four episodes, it's a really, really big show. I'm very proud of the show, it works the only way the X-Men works: Like the comic book. My plan was to kick the hell out of [the '90s cartoon].

The last question of the panel also proved to be the biggest surprise to the audience; asked if the Thor movie would play up the Norse God aspects of the character more than the superhero trappings, Kevin Feige said that, well, Thor isn't actually a god at all: He and all the other citizens of Asgard are actually just interdimensional beings. So now you know: According to Marvel, neither gods nor devils are anything more than interdimensional beings in supervillain outfits. I expect the new Mighty Marvel Age of Revised Aethiestic Morality to overwhelm America immediately.

Hulk Vs comes out on DVD in January 2009. Comic-Con goers will be treated to the first half of the Wolverine/Hulk fight at the Marvel panel. But more importantly, will this be the moment we get to see The Hulk rip smart-mouthed Wolverine in half comic book style? It's a cartoon, so maybe not. But we can dream can't we?

Iron Man Armored Adventures features teen Tony Stark in his Richie Rich years learning to appreciate humanity and working for a living fighting crime. How will he balance puberty and battling the evil Mandarin? Together with teen War Machine and little Pepper he fights evil across the globe. Here's hoping they address teen drinking super early in this series, so Tony can get an early start on his future demons.
The 26-episode series will premiere on Nicktoons in 2009.

[Marvel]

We were wondering if you watch Heroes, and what you thought about it.

I love it. LOVE it! I haven't watched all of them because I don't have a lot of time with all the writing I'm doing, but I love it. I even did a cameo in the first season.

That's right, you were a bus driver who picks up Hiro. Would you come back if they asked you?

Of course! I'd be angry if they didn't. I just love doing those.

Well that brings up a good point. Watching the Marvel movies now has become a game of "spot Stan Lee." Will we see you in Iron Man?

Oh yeah, I've already done that role, and it's a very funny cameo. I'll give you just a hint of what it is: I'm dressed like Hugh Hefner, and I've got my arms around three beautiful blonde women who are as close to me as you can get without being on the other side. Plus, I'm smoking a pipe like Hugh Hefner. So when you see it, remember that you heard it here first!

If the Thor film keeps going forward and they want me in it, then they'll probably have me swing a hammer. I'd don fur and leather or do anything they wanted me to do in order to get back on the screen.

In Heroes, the people get their powers through genetics, it isn't supernatural in origin or from cosmic rays or anything. In all of the characters you've created, do you have a favorite origin story?

Well, I think they're all great. I mean... probably Spider-Man being bitten by the radioactive spider. It's so simple, and he was the first teenaged superhero, in my recollection. Plus he faced all the problems that a teenager would encounter; girls, schoolwork, friends. He was the most realistic to me and will probably always be my favorite.

Where did your catch phrase "Excelsior!" come from?

I used to have a lot of expressions that I would end my comic book columns with: Hang Loose, Face Front, 'Nuff Said, and I found that the competition was always imitating them and using them. So, I said I'm going to get one expression that they're not going to know what it means, and they won't know how to spell it. And that's where excelsior came from, and they never did take up on it, thank goodness.

Well, that's good because now it's your unofficial slogan. Thank you for your time.

It was my pleasure. Excelsior!