20th Century Fox’s X-Men Universe is only going to get larger. James Franco is reportedly attached to a new Multiple Man movie.
A new report from Deadline explains James Franco will play Jamie Madrox also known as Multiple Man. Along with Franco, Wonder Woman writer Allan Heinberg is attached to write the scribe. They will be joined by Simon Kinberg and his Genre Films production studio. Franco’s Ramona Films will also produce.
The Jamie Madrox/Multiple Man character isn’t very well known in the mainstream arena quite yet. But he’s an interesting character. A version of his character did appear in X-Men: The Last Stand.
Mutant Ability
Multiple Man as the name might imply has the ability to clone himself many times over. He does this by absorbing kinetic impacts such as punches. In fact, Madrox’s mutant abilities manifested at birth when the doctor smacked him to get him to cry and breathe.
While cloning yourself is a really cool ability, Madrox’s mutation takes it a step further. Each of his clones is an independent and fully functioning being. They have their own thoughts and at times their own lives. He can also absorb his clones and retain all of their knowledge they gained independently. However, he cannot absorb dead clones and when one of his clones dies he experiences psychic feedback and feels the agony of death.
If Franco, Kingberg, and 20th Century Fox stay true to this idea of the character, Franco will have the opportunity to potentially play vastly different people with their own experiences. Franco has an amazing range and talent that few could match. A project like this fits the bill for something he might want to tackle.
What to Expect
I’m imagining a mid-2000s Eddie Murphy film like Nutty Professor where he is playing similar characters, yet different. However, instead of being a straight up comedy it would also have plenty of action. It would be an action/comedy. However, there is plenty of depth to plumb to Madrox as well. In fact, due to his reabsorbing powers, he can be confused and unable to figure out whether he or a duplicate experienced certain events especially when it comes to lovers.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if Franco’s Madrox begins making appearances in other X-Men films. While, he probably won’t appear in New Mutants or The Untitled Deadpool Sequel, it’s quite possible we might see Jamie Madrox make a cameo in the upcoming Gambit film. It’s also possible that Franco’s Multiple Man will play a significant role in Fox’s upcoming X-Force film. In the comics, Multiple Man was on X-Factor, a government sponsored mutant team that also had Strong Guy, Wolfsbane, Quicksilver, Havok, and Polaris. The X-Factor is tasked with bringing in and arresting the X-Force team after a mutant named Stryfe shot Professor Charles Xavier while disguised as the hero Cable. Cable is the leader of the X-Force. As you can see there is also potential for a New Mutants crossover with Wolfsbane, but that might be too far down the road.
20th Century Fox looks like they are moving full steam ahead with multiple X-Men movies. We’ve got New Mutants which debuts on April 13, 2018, The Untitled Deadpool Sequel on June 1, 2018, and X-Men: Dark Phoenix on November 2, 2018.
What do you think, is James Franco a good choice to play Multiple Man? Let us know in the comments below!