James Franco is reportedly set to star in an upcoming movie as Jamie Madrox, the mutant known as Multiple Man. According to Deadline, the script for the film will be penned by Wonder Woman writer Allan Heinberg, with X-Men franchise producer Simon Kinberg and Franco serving as producers on the project.
A mutant with the ability to create duplicates of himself that can operate independently and later be re-absorbed into his original body, Madrox made his debut in a 1975 issue of Giant-Size Fantastic Four in a relatively minor role, and later went on to become a key character in Marvel Comics’ mutant population during the 1990s. The character was created by legendary comics creator Len Wein and has appeared in various projects over the years outside of comics.
Although he started off as a supporting character in the Marvel Comics universe, Multiple Man played a prominent role in writer Peter David’s X-Factor series, which had him test the limits of his power by sending countless duplicates out into the world to learn and have experiences that he would later absorb when they returned to him. At various points, Jamie was forced to contend with duplicates that had gone rogue or even turned to evil, and reckon with not just their actions but the effect it would have on him to re-absorb them and their memories.
Madrox made a brief appearance in the 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand, in which actor Eric Dane portrayed the character.
The next few years are busy ones for Fox and the X-Men franchise, with the horror-themed spinoff The New Mutants premiering in April, followed by the Deadpool sequel in June, and X-Men: Dark Phoenix in November. In 2019, Channing Tatum is expected to star in the Gambit movie helmed by Gore Verbinski and at some point down the road, the team-up movie X-Force is also expected to hit theaters.
There is no word on the timeline the studio envisions for production on the Multiple Man movie.
