James Franco Says ‘Multiple Man’ Will Push Superheroes Movies “Into A New Genre”

You, like many of us, were probably taken aback when it was revealed that James Franco is producing and starring in a superhero film for Fox, as part of their X-Men Universe. Franco has always been known for making interesting career choices, and choosing to do “Multiple Man” seems to be par for the course. But Franco isn’t content with just making your typical PG-13 superhero spectacle film. No, he’s going for something different.

In an interview with THR, Franco said, “Our bottom line MO is, how can we push this into new ground? A little bit, but still make it entertaining? [But] what I love about what [producer] Simon Kinberg and Fox and the X-Men people have done with ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Logan’ — it took a while to get there, maybe 10 years — but they are going to go hard R. And we’re going to take this superhero thing and really just push it into a new genre. So we’re working with Simon Kinberg on an ‘X-Men’ property.”

Obviously, we know that property is “Multiple Man.” For those that might not be familiar with 50+ years of X-Men lore, like the nerd writing this article, Multiple Man is the superhero name of Jamie Madrox. He has the power, as you might guess, to create multiple “dupes” of himself. While this might seem like a silly power that wouldn’t lend itself to a “Logan” and “Deadpool” hard-R, there is some precedent in the comics for a more serious take on the character.

Back in the mid-2000s, Marvel wanted to try something different with Madrox. Writer Peter David made him the lead private investigator at X-Factor Investigations. Madrox, along with several other lesser-known X-People, would investigate crimes related to mutants. It was a hard-boiled-detective-noir-meets-superhero story.

They also introduced the idea that Madrox’s “dupes” each had their own unique personality based on a fear, feeling, or anxiety that the original Madrox has. This would definitely give Franco the room to chew up scenery like we all know he loves to do.

Clearly, this is all in the early stages, but the idea of Fox venturing out and really pushing the envelope on what a superhero film can and can’t be is exciting. They must know that with Marvel and DC holding all the major superhero cards, they have to be different to survive. Signing James Franco to do a “Multiple Man” film is about as different as you can be.