Back in 2008, a film adaptation of the zombie survival novel World War Z was quickly gaining steam. J. Michael Straczynski was writing the script and Marc Forster was brought on to direct with hopes of a release some time in 2010, which clearly has not worked out so well. The movie was also moving under Brad Pitt‘s Plan B Entertainment, and many rumors had Pitt set to star in the adaptation as well.

Now comes word out of the Comic Con scene that the movie is still very much happening, and Pitt has gone from rumored star to officially attached to star. MTV was able to talk to the novel’s author and son of Mel Brooks, Max Brooks, who received a call sharing the good news with him.

Earlier this month news broke that Collateral and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind star Mark Ruffalo was in deep talks to take on the role of the Incredible Hulk in Marvel Studios’ The Avengers. According to Deadline, this is now etched-in-stone confirmed.

The reports indicate that Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Marvel have reached an official deal and that Ruffalo is signed and sealed. This would set up a potentially exciting reveal tomorrow during the Marvel panel when the entire cast of The Avengers is expected to appear together.

If you haven’t heard about a movie called Battle: Los Angeles, fear not: not a lot of people knew much about it going into Comic Con this year. During the panel for the movie, however, many quickly became more acquainted with it.

The real-life Battle of Los Angeles took place in 1942, a few months after the surprise Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor forced the United States to enter World War II. In the late hours of February 24, a light appeared in the skies over L.A. and many thought that it might be the Japanese making another attack. It was eventually realized that no one was attacking them, but some conspiracy theorist went on to call it an encounter with a UFO spacecraft. It was later determined to all be a big case of “war nerves,” and that the “aircraft” was actually just a weather balloon…as most UFOs are dubbed.

Battle: Los Angeles is a movie that takes that situation and turns into an actual alien invasion on Los Angeles. The film will be presented in real-time from the perspectives of the Marines as the encounter and battle unfold.

The cast of CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory were on hand to answer questions from uber geek-turned writer Wil Wheaton at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.

The real surprise came as Wheaton announced that Barenaked Ladies would be performing the show’s theme song along with over 4,000 in attendance who read from a lyric sheet passed out just prior to the panel starting.

I’ve managed to upload a video of the performance, but the rest of the panel will have to wait until I find better Internet. Check it the performance here below…

Yesterday during the Visionaries Panel at San Diego Comic Con ’10, which featured two of the most popular names in geekdom today, Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams, Whedon confirmed that he was in fact directing The Avengers for Marvel. But that was just a small-but-crucial part of the panel worth specific mention, and I’m here to recap the rest of the panel here and now!

On Abrams’ side of things, the big topic that he spoke about was he inspired by and collaborated with secret Steven Spielberg movie, Super 8. Along with discussing their big upcoming projects, the duo also discuss big current issues like 3D, where it’s good and not good, and what they’re doing that may or may not use it. They also get into internet-based content, TV shows, and briefly touch on previous and much-loved works like Lost, Dollhouse, Star Trek, and so on.

Keep on reading for the full recap. Be warned: this is incredibly long, but let’s be fair, we all could listen to/read anything these two want to discuss about entertainment.