THQ and Marvel in it for the long haul?

After THQ announced its new deal with Marvel for

up-and-coming kids’ franchise Super Hero Squad

, Variety’s games blog is reporting that the two firms are set to make their partnership a long-lasting one.

The Cut Scene interviewed both THQ CEO Brian Farrell and Marvel’s head of videogames Simon Phillips – and reports that both hope this is the start of a longer-term relationship between the two”.

Marvel hasn’t yet signed away video games rights for it upcoming movie slate, which includes the likes of 2010’s Thor and 2011’s Captain America and The Avengers.

The latest movie adaptation of a Marvel licence is Sega’s Iron Man, which reached 11th spot in this week’s ChartTrack All Formats UK chart.

THQ this week announced that it had won the rights to Dreamworks’ 2010 movie release Master Mind – effectively ending the animation studio’s exclusive six-year relationship with Activision.

The two enviable licence deals with Marvel and Dreamworks represent an impressive turnaround for THQ, which may soon lose its relationship with Pixar.

However, THQ CEO Farrell said in the firm’s full-year/Q1 earnings call this week that the publisher’s Pixar movie titles – including Ratatouille – had largely disappointed in FY 2007-2008.