"Runaways" Film Shelved Due To "The Avengers"

At first it was put on hold--now the film adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan's sci-fi action comic book  Runaways has been scrapped entirely--thanks to the success of "The Avengers".

The comic follows five Los Angeles teens who form their own fringe super-team when they learn their parents are actually members of a big-time supervillain group called The Pride.

Peter Sollet ("Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist) was set to direct the pic

During a recent segment of The Q&A with Jeff Goldstein podcast (via THR), "Iron Man 3" co-writer Drew Pearce says the film was shelved post-"The Avengers". 

"We were really close to being made, and then this movie started to happen called The Avengers. Oddly, it pulled focus from the unheard-of brand Runaways, and it really did kind of consume the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's there -- maybe it'll be a phase three movie. I really hope so. I'm really proud of it and I think it'll be a brilliant film, but I think it all depends what Kevin Feige,, the president of Marvel, his master plan is. They make two [movies] a year, but that's still at least three years down the line [until they run out of films already in progress]."

"Runaways" was Pearce's first gig at Marvel."Iron Man 3" director Shane Black calls its script one of the better ones currently sitting on a shelf.