U2 have revealed that the band's musical adaptation of Spiderman could open this year.

Guitairist The Edge said he and frontman Bono had already written a number of songs for Spiderman: The Musical and hoped it would open on Broadway by the end of 2009.

He said: "We've written a lot of the songs at this point. It's in a pretty good state, and I hope it'll open this year. We're not sure where in the world, but most likely it will be in New York."

Speaking to Q Magazine, he added: "I think the musical had its heyday back in the '40s, '50s, '60s era.... we've always harboured this sneaky ambition that maybe one day we might try our hand in that area."

The duo have been working on the project with scriptwriter Glenn Berger and Julie Taymour, who won a Tony award for the Broadway and West End hit, The Lion King.

The Edge said: "The overall story was really Julie working with Glenn, and Bono and myself riding shotgun with the odd idea here and there."

He added that the "core" of the musical, about the webbed superhero, would come from "a rock'n'roll band", and there would be 20 musicians rather than a full orchestra.

He said: "The core will be a rock'n'roll band. But it is going to be interesting to write for other people."

Bono and The Edge have previously composed songs for a Royal Shakespeare Company production of A Clockwork Orange in the 1990s.

With the other two members of the band, they also wrote the theme song for the 1995 Batman Forever film - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me.