Ender's Game Coming to Comic-Con...Without Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card won't be part of Summit Entertainment's Ender's Game panel this year at Comic-Con, reports Deadline. The studio, best known for its Twilight movies, will bring their film adaptation of the science-fiction classic to San Diego this year, with a panel and a presence in the city's Gaslamp District the week of the convention--but the controversial author won't participate. Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, and Abigail Breslin will join co-star Harrison Ford, along with the film's writer and director, for the panel, which takes place on Thursday, July 18. Summit is hoping to set the Ender's Game stories up as a franchise. Card, has drawn fire views on gay marriage and prominent position in the National Organization for Marriage, an anti-gay organization labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. While many suggest that his views on that one issue aren't anyone's business but his own, his position with NOM coupled with repeated comments about making armed insurrection against the government if same-sex marriage were made legal have left a sour taste in the mouths of even some opponents of the practice. Earlier this year, Card was announced as the first writer on DC's digital-first anthology Adventures of Superman, with Chris Sprouse providing the story's art. After nearly a month of nonstop controversy and protests, Sprouse bowed out of the issue, saying that his doing so was born out of a desire to stay clear of the controversy, and shouldn't be interpreted as an attack on Card. DC said at the time that Sprouse would be replaced and the story resolicited at a later time, but no date has yet been set or artist named.