Crave Online did a lengthy, but very interesting interview with writer Zak Penn. In the interview he talks about the hits and misses with comic book movies in recent years and gives a few updates about Captain America, Thor, Iron Man 2 and how they play into the Avengers movie, along with some other good topics. You can check out the excerpt below and then read the full interview over at Crave.

CraveOnline: Should Wolverine have been R?

Zak Penn: That was our frustration. He’s got razor sharp claws and you can’t show blood. So what does he do? In every scene, he’s running around blocking, hitting you with the claws and not cutting you. Where do you go with that? There’s no way to do it.

CraveOnline: Do you think you need to be deeply familiar with the comic book to write the script.

Zak Penn: I wish that that was the only requirement because I know a lot about comic books and video games. That’s what I spend my time doing. I wish that were the rule but it is crazy when it’s not like it’s that hard to catch up on the mythology of some of these characters. It’s no harder than adapting anything else. By the way, you know who wasn’t? Bryan Singer was not a fan of any of those comic books. He admits it I think. Sometimes the people who are the biggest fans of it are the people who screw it up the most and vice versa. I had somebody start screaming, “You killed Cyclops” at me. First of all, it’s just an actor and he’s wearing a costume and he’s fine. Second of all, I didn’t kill him. It’s crazy but you know what? I more often find myself on the other side of that which is sitting with some people who don’t actually give a sh*t. For the most part, there’s a lot of people who are making these movies who are fairly cynical, who don’t actually care about characters. My big argument is if there’s something that’s actually good, why are we arbitrarily changing it? There’s a lot of that in Hollywood. That, to me, is the real argument, when you’re trying to say, “Okay, look, there’s a reason why all these fans are apesh*t for certain elements of it. They like the core idea of X-men tremendously. Let’s not mess with that.” When you get into the crazy “Cyclops’ visor has to be 4 inches” or whatever, I kind of say that’s part for the course. That’s what they pay you for. It’s not worth complaining. It is sad sometimes that people get so worked up about it but they are the people who are going to go to the movie so many times so you try to make them happy as best you can. What else can you do?

CraveOnline: Have you fought with directors of your other comic book movies?…