German actor Thomas Kretschmann, who is playing Baron Von Strucker in next year's Avengers: Age of Ultron, has signed on for the villain role in Agent 47, a reboot of 20th Century Fox's Hitman video game adaptation.

Rupert Friend stars as the title character, a deadly assassin with a barcode tattooed on the back of his bald head, with Zachary Quinto and Hannah Ware co-starring in unspecified roles. Thomas Kretschmann is portraying LeClerq, the chairman of Syndicate International, an organization which is striving to create an army of unstoppable agents.

Paul Walker had initially been attached to play the lead before he tragically passed away in November.

Aleksander Bach is directing from a screenplay by original Hitman writer Skip Woods and Michael Finch (Predators), with Charles Gordon, Alex Young and Adrian Askarieh producing. The reboot is based on the Square Enix video game, which has sold more than 20 million units worldwide. Production is currently under way in Berlin.

Thomas Kretschmann can currently be seen in Stalingrad.