Curtis Jackson, a.k.a. 50 Cent, is making an interesting foray into the world of superhero films. The rapper/actor/entrepreneur has acquired the film rights to writer Christopher Priest's "Xer," which was first published by DC Comics, and will produce the film under his G Unit Film & Television production firm. Furthermore, the idea is to make this a full-fledged series rather than simply a single picture. What else has changed?
The film(s), according to Deadline, will be based on Priest and CrissCross's series of the same name. "Xer" originally ran from May 1997 to June 1998, making it a relatively short run in the mainstream comics industry. Needless to say, he is a somewhat obscure figure, albeit one from a well-known author. Priest was the first African-American writer to work for both Marvel and DC Comics, creating characters like "Spider-Man," "Green Lantern," and "Deadpool" along the way. His work on "Black Panther" is particularly well-regarded and significant. The report includes a logline for the film, which goes as follows:
The plot is around a Black government assassin who uses invisibility as a weapon by disguising himself as a white man in order to blend in anonymously with the exotic Casino Royale haunts of the international elite. Trane Walker is a man living in two worlds but taking control of neither, spanning the chasm between that and the disenfranchised city streets of East St. Louis, Illinois. Xero recounts his moral enlightenment and the life-or-death dangers it offers.
"Christopher Priest is the ideal person to bring G-Unit Film & Television into the world of comic book superheroes. Watch as we work with Christopher and Color Farm Media to turn Xero into a franchise. I can't wait for the rest of the world to meet Trane Walker in a whole new way."
