For the many hats James Franco wears — Oscar nominated actor, filmmaker, writer, producer, television star — blockbusters haven’t been part of his usual matrix of projects. Of course, he was in Sam Raimi‘s “Spider-Man” series, and popped up briefly in this summer’s “Alien: Covenant,” but now he’s getting right back into the superhero game. This time, with a character to call his own.
THR reports that Franco is leaping into Fox’s X-Men universe with “Multiple Man.” The character will get his own standalone film, with longtime X-Men franchise staple Simon Kinberg producing, and Allan Heinberg (“Wonder Woman“) writing the script. So, who is this character? Good question. Here’s the Comics Vine rundown:
Jamie Madrox, also known as Multiple Man, is a mutant with the ability to create duplicates of himself through physical contact. These “dupes” can later be reabsorbed, along with all of their memories and experiences. Madrox runs X-Factor Investigations, a mutant detective agency.
It should also be known he was a member of one incarnation of X-Force, and the Professor X is a friend of the Madrox family. Basically, there are lots of ways to weave Multiple Man into the X-verse.
No word yet on a release date, but it sounds like Fox is really willing to roll the dice on X-Men, whether it’s going R-rated with “Deadpool” and “Logan,” or trying genre riffs like next year’s “New Mutants.” It’ll certainly be interesting to see where this goes.