Thanks to the blockbuster success of "Iron Man" since it blasted off in theaters in May, there are items related to the movie everywhere you turn, from action figures and Halloween costumes, to video games and museum-like collectibles.

But for screenwriters Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus, the merchandising of "Iron Man" goes far deeper than the famed Marvel comic book superhero's titanium exterior.

"I'm wearing 'Iron Man' underwear right now from Kmart," joked Fergus, who joined Ostby to talk about the Sept. 30 release of the film on DVD (Paramount Home Entertainment) in a recent @ The Movies interview. "It is amazing, though, going into a store and seeing 'Iron Man' towels, and when you drive through the neighborhood seeing kids playing with 'Iron Man' stuff."

"Iron Man" is the first big venture into the movie merchandising world for both of the filmmakers, who previously wrote the screenplay for the futuristic thrillers "First Snow" (which Fergus also directed) and "Children of Men" -- which earned the duo a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination. In other words, they're the types of films you normally don't associate with action figures.

"I've told my friends, 'We've sold out! Woohoo!" Ostby added with a laugh. "But really, it has been cool. When we were down at the San Diego Comic Con, it was cool to see the 'Iron Man' presence there. The large action figures are pretty incredible and there are others that are more like sculptures. It's like, 'Wow, these are little works of art.'"

Neither of writers have rejected the marketing of their work in "Iron Man," mainly because the huge reception of the products is a positive reflection of how the film has resonated with fans. But what makes the fan frenzy especially satisfying for Fergus and Ostby is that the efforts of their labors were interpreted with authority under the direction of Jon Favreau and acting of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man.

"It was a very collaborative experience from start to finish, which is a real unusual and amazing job for a writer," Fergus said. "Jon calls it his '$140 million' independent movie, and the movie was done in that sort of spirit. It was extremely fun to work on it. We learned so much while collaborating."

Based on the classic Marvel Comics character co-created by Stan Lee, "Iron Man" traces the origins of Stark, a billionaire weapons industrialist who is kidnapped by a band of Middle Eastern terrorists in Afghanistan to build a missile that will be used to dominate the region. Compelled by the shocking revelation that the terrorists are using weapons from his very own Stark Industries, Stark constructs a titanium alloy suit to escape his captors and embark upon a new mission -- to right the wrongs against the people he had sworn to protect.

At the heart of Favreau's independent spirit of filmmaking is the notion of strong characters, which is normally a dream for any screenwriter, including Fergus and Ostby. But because "Iron Man" was a film cast in the action-adventure drama, the duo admitted that they worried that they overdid the character aspect a little bit.

"When we first saw the rough cut, I was a little fearful that we didn't have enough action in the film," Ostby recalled. "I was worried that we didn't give the audience, whose appetite is so large for stuff, that we were giving them weak tea. But we were so thrilled when it came out to find that people still cared about character. It didn't have to be about giant buildings falling down and huge explosions."

Ultimately, Fergus said, they needed to justify any action in the story.

"It was about the good old-fashioned stuff for us," Fergus said. "It's about an idea we really hold dear: If you great actors, they will play great characters. If there was going to be any action, it had to be for a reason. It had to be about, in this case, someone's struggle."

Despite all the positive notices they've earned from co-writing the screenplay, Fergus and Ostby said they'd be remiss to not mention that at the beginning, the idea of "Iron Man" was all borne of the fertile imagination of Stan Lee. They've had the opportunities to meet with Lee, of course, and are continually blown away by the Marvel icon's humility.

"I've been on some panels with him at Comic Con and all he does is give credit to the filmmakers and writers who translate his work," Fergus said. "We're always like, 'Are you kidding me?' He's the man. He's done all of the heavy lifting and has given us these great characters to work with."

Floored by Lee's praise, Fergus, also speaking for Ostby, say the first thing on their mind when writing the script was, "We can't screw this up."

"You need to make sure that you realize Stan's vision and his collaborators' vision with class," Fergus said. "But he's just cool about people caring and appreciating the work, and adapting it well. He just says, 'Hey, I'm only up here (on the panels) because of these great guys as we points to all of his geek writers.'"

While they won't be penning the screenplay for the "Iron Man" sequel, pegged for a 2010 release, Fergus and Ostby's Marvel-ous dream is still very much alive with the development of a film project that they can't quite yet reveal.

"We're talking with Marvel with about another one of their characters," Fergus said. "Of course, we were very interested in the second 'Iron Man,' but Marvel also had some other characters we were interested in. Marvel, Hawk and I are all dying to work together. They want to create a universe of characters around the Marvel A-list, and we have a lot of ideas of how we can get involved in that."