Millar, who made his name writing for comic books including Superman, the X-Men and Spider-Man, plans to hire local actors and crew for the as-yet-untitled film, which will be filmed this summer.

The 40-year-old has already tasted Hollywood success with the 2008 adaptation of his Wanted comic, which starred Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman and fellow Scot James McAvoy. Later this month, the £40m big screen version of his comic Kick-Ass starring Nicolas Cage will be released.

The Coatbridge-born writer plans to cast the new movie next month and film at various Scottish locations in the summer. It is expected to be released in late 2011.

Millar – who grew up the youngest of six children on a council estate in Coatbridge –said: “I want to do a superhero film set in Scotland but not make it a comedy. The most obvious thing to do with superheroes is to make it funny or silly, and in Scotland there are all sorts of obvious jokes. But District 9 is a movie about aliens set in South Africa and it’s treated with a bit of integrity. I’d like to do something similar with superheroes but set it in Scotland.”

In a radical departure from traditional big budget superhero films, like Spider-Man or the X-Men franchise, Millar promises there will be no skin-tight costumes and the end result will more closely resemble a Ken Loach film.

He added: “It will be done totally straight and will be a team of five teenage super-heroes each with superpowers in the west of Scotland. You won’t think you’re watching a superhero film but then something amazing will happen and it will be quite shocking. You will see someone moving at superspeed or someone flying through Glasgow city centre. People will be taken aback.

“I want to make a 21st-century Trainspotting kind of thing about people with superpowers and make it epic, make it big and grand in scope.”

Despite being one of the most successful comic book writers of the past 20 years, having written for publishing giants DC and Marvel, this will be the first time Millar has written anything set in Scotland.

He said: “I realised everything I’d written was set in New York or Los Angeles, even though I’m a Scottish guy from Coatbridge.

“I thought that’s quite weird; normally people will do something that is a wee bit to do with where they came from, so I thought it was odd I’ve never done that. It’s a lazy shorthand to always set something in America that everybody understands.”

Film versions are also planned of other Millar titles, including his American Jesus and War Heroes comics.

Millar’s father, a blue-collar worker, died when the artist was just 18 and a student at Glasgow University.

He promptly dropped out of university and began a career in comic book writing.

Since then he has written for 2000AD, The Avengers and Marvel’s best-selling Civil War series.

Kick-Ass, which goes on release later this month, has attracted controversy. The film features an 11-year-old girl, Hit-Girl, who has a propensity for foul language and extreme violence.

A critic said: “The language is offensive and the values inappropriate – without the saving grace of the bloodless victory of traditional superheroes.”

Mark Millar’s CV

Born in Coatbridge in 1969, he grew up on a council estate as the youngest in a six-child family.

He developed an early interest in comic books, and has said he was inspired to enter the industry himself after meeting English writer Alan Moore at a signing in Glasgow.

He dropped out of Glasgow University and started writing commercially in the late 1980s. By 1994 he had been approached by US giant DC Comics to work on projects in America, including the critically acclaimed Superman: Red Son.

Frustrated by restrictions at the publisher, in 2001 he moved to Marvel to launch the Ultimate X-Men series.

He later returned to DC, and has tackled some of the biggest names in the comic book world, including Spider-man, X-Men and Superman, in between creating original titles.

His most successful project to date has been Kick-Ass, a controversial superhero series that has been adapted for the big screen. The film, starring Nicolas Cage, will be released later this month.