When asked for probably the 4,543rd time about how he got into shape to play a superhero, Seth Rogen didn’t even try to bring the funny.

“I dieted a little and worked out. It’s an answer that’s so boring, I’m not even going to try and make it interesting,” Rogen said while speaking before a roomful of reporters about “The Green Hornet” at Comic-Con International: San Diego. Rogen is one of the funniest guys in Hollywood in any kind of interview setting, but he had bigger fish to fry at that point than poking fun at his workout routine.

His main objective at Comic-Con was to reverse the pessimism surrounding the long-in-the-works ‘Hornet’ and get people excited about seeing a film he’s devoted more than three years of his life to developing as star, co-writer and executive producer.

“The Green Hornet” movie has endured more adversity than the character ever faced in the radio shows, film serials, TV programs and comic books he’s starred in since he was created, back in the 1930s, by George Trendle and Fran Striker.

First came all the changes in the cast and crew list. Stephen Chow was first onboard to direct and co-star, but eventually was replaced in the director’s chair by Michel Gondry. Nicholas Cage was cast as the villain for about five minutes before he left and Christoph Waltz was tapped for the role.

The script reportedly underwent numerous rewrites, and the film’s release date kept getting pushed back. It’s now locked in for January 2011, not the greatest indicator of studio confidence, but at least it’s a firm date. Getting shuffled across the calendar though, hurt “The Green Hornet” in the arena of public perception. The movie also appears to have been damaged as much by plain bad timing more than anything else.

“I had no idea who the Green Hornet was,” admitted Waltz, the Academy Award-winning scene-stealer from ‘Inglorious Basterds.’ “I am not a comics-educated person.”

The actor is a well-known comic book aficionado, who in a recent interview with the L.A. Times, admitted he’s more of a Marvel guy than a DC fan.

“I’m at the comic book shop just about every week. I read very few books without pictures of men in very tight clothes,” he said. “It’s weird that everybody knows who Deadpool is [now]. It’s weird that everyone’s talking about the things me and my friends talk about,” he said. “But it’s cool, and its fun that we’re able to participate in it.”

That chance to finally do a movie about capes was ultimately what drew Rogen and Goldberg, his longtime writing partner, to the Hornet’s nest. In “The Green Hornet,” Rogen plays Britt Reid, a carefree rich party-boy who gets a rude awakening when his wealthy newspaper mogul father dies. He gets inspired to do something more than just go clubbing, so he decides to use his financial resources to fight crime. The clips screened in San Diego displayed a markedly lighter tone than the typical superhero movie. It’s not camp or parody, as Gondry pointed out. Just a different take on the genre, which was necessitated by the fact that its star happens to be a very funny guy.

“It became very clear [early on] that there was no way this could be a serious movie. The Green Hornet isn’t even that dark a character,” Rogen noted. “His parents weren’t murdered. He’s more of a lighter character. It was more about capturing the fun of being a superhero. We wanted to write a superhero film and felt Green Hornet and Kato’s relationship was interesting,” he said.

Adding to the lighthearted tone is the fact that, despite the weight loss, Rogen isn’t exactly the first person you think of to star in a superhero movie.

”I think [co-star] Cameron Diaz could kick the s&*! out of me. She could whoop my ass pretty good,” said Rogen, who aside from a few scenes in the stoner action-comedy “Pineapple Express,” has never done action film work before.

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