Marvel Entertainment responded Wednesday that they will not be collaborating on a new Super Terracotta Warriors film, contrary to widespread media reports.

"Recent media reports associating Marvel Entertainment with a new Chinese superhero film 'Super Terracotta Warriors' are inaccurate," Marvel Entertainment said in a statement to China.org.cn, "'Super Terracotta Warriors' is not a Marvel Entertainment film nor is it associated with any of its producers or distributors in any way. Mr. Avi Arad, named as a producer on the project, has not had any connection with Marvel Entertainment since 2008."

Previous reports on Monday stated that the Shanghai Film Group and Marvel Entertainment, which is behind multimillion-dollar movie franchises such as "Spider-Man" and "Iron Man," will collaborate to create a new superhero film starring Super Terracotta Warriors.

Shanghai Film Group CEO Ren Zhonglun revealed that over the past two months, executives from Paramount Pictures, Marvel Entertainment and Pinewood Studio all approached Shanghai Film Group seeking collaboration, the Shanghai Morning Post reported.

While Pinewood Studio will collaborate with the Shanghai Film Group to build a world class film studio base, Marvel proposed the superhero film project, according to the report. Ren said several such projects have entered a "substantive stage."

The Terracotta Warriors are a massive collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the army of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. They are a form of funerary art, and were buried with the emperor in 210-209 BC. The collection is located in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, and is considered one of the wonders of the world.

According to a press release dated Dec. 11, 2012, Seven Stars Entertainment, led by Chairman Bruno Wu, will form a joint venture with prolific producer Avi Arad and his company Arad Productions, to develop the superhero franchise project, "Rise of the Terracotta Warriors," which is based on an original story idea by Arad and inspired by the history and mythology behind China's legendary Terracotta Army sculptures. Avi Arad is a former CEO of Marvel Entertainment who founded the comic giant's film arm in 1993. It is not known if "Rise of the Terracotta Warriors" is the very project that is still going on and Shanghai Film Group is the new collaborator.

Instead of being excited, China's Internet users found the news hilarious and started to make fun of it. "The Super Terracotta Warriors' super power is immediate petrification! Their weakness is also obvious: they break into pieces when you hammer them," one wrote on his microblog. Even a photo of Chinese director Zhang Yimou, who had been an actor in an early film "Fight and Love a Terracotta Warrior," was posted and retweeted by others, and quoted as "Super Terracotta Warriors: the Comeback of Yimou."

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