Although 20th Century Fox’s X-Men movies created some division among comic book movie fans, the studio found a new direction for its mutant-focused films when it greenlighted the R-rated Deadpool and Logan (New Mutants also looks like a must-see). Moving away from the core X-Men franchise and focusing on solo characters turned out to be a good decision.
But today's announcement that James Franco will star in a Multiple Man spin-off came out of nowhere. Franco, who directed and starred in The Disaster Artist, previously appeared in the original Spider-Man trilogy as Harry Osborn. At the time, his lack of experience really didn’t fit the role.
Deadline was first to report the news. They added that Allan Heinberg (who wrote the screenplay for Wonder Woman) will create the Multiple Man screenplay. Along with Franco, Simon Kinberg (who’s produced X-Men films since the First Class reboot) will produce.
According to Deadline, the idea for this movie came after Kinberg and Franco collaborated on 20th Century Fox’s The Hardy Boys. Obviously, we have no further details about the project at this point.
It’s clear that 20th Century Fox is looking to expand the X-Men Shared Universe well beyond the core franchise. The Untitled Deadpool Sequel is on its way, and its first teaser has been released. New Mutants already has a teaser trailer; Gambit is moving forward, although we don't know how fast; and X-Force is just beyond the horizon.
So far, we don’t have a release date for Multiple Man, but we’re certainly looking forward to learning more about it!
To be noted, Multiple Man appeared in the X-Men Shared Universe’s The Last Stand. But, given how that film was, a character reboot was long overdue.
