James Franco set to play the lead in X-Men spin-off Multiple Man

Fans of comic book movies have seen two X-Men movie trilogies come and go, but our favourite mutant superheroes are still providing fodder for the big screen. Fox has just released a trailer for New Mutants while wrapping up production on Dark Phoenix, while things are finally looking up for the long-awaited Gambit movie.

Now, Deadline is reporting that the studio is developing yet another spin-off called Multiple Man. James Franco is set to play the role of Jamie Madrox, the titular Multiple Man. Wonder Woman writer Allan Heinberg will write the script, while Simon Kinberg is expected to join as a producer along with Franco.

Multiple Man, a.k.a. Jamie Madrox, will be familiar to long-time fans of the X-Men comics. He has the mutant power to produce perfect copies of himself with the snap of a finger, and those copies can in turn also duplicate themselves. He can also absorb a copy of himself at will, while simultaneously absorbing the memories, knowledge, and skills the copy has acquired.

This isn’t Franco’s first superhero job. Way back in the days before social media, Franco played Harry Osborn in the first Spider-Man movie trilogy, facing off against Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker. While he was sufficiently slimy and conflicted as Osborn, I never really bought him as the Green Goblin.

In fact, I thought that he was too self-absorbed to play Jamie Madrox until I realised that the whole point was that Multiple Man *does* actually absorb his clones back into himself. Ugh. I still think Franco’s ill-suited to play the role, but since it’s early days yet, we shall see.

Do you think James Franco will be able to pull off the role of Multiple Man? Tell us what you think in the comments!

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